Updates...and Wedding Planning

Alight, let's jump into it, shall we? The past 6 months have been like a whirlwind for me. I've truly tried to do it all, and in doing so, I may have jeopardized getting some great results. So what's more important, trying to do it all and hoping a few things come through well, or trying to do a few things and making sure they all turn out well? Not sure which is better, but I had been focusing on trying to do it all the past 6 months, and frankly I'm EXHAUSTED. So here’s a run down...

1. The love and I decided to go ahead and get the house that we've been pondering about the past several years. Given the fact that we were not where we wanted to be financially, we knew it'd be hard, but I insisted that we actually needed to go ahead and do it, otherwise the year would be over and we'd still be in the same situation. So we had been saving, and surprisingly we were able to get a nice change together and they started building the house in February. Now it's a 3 family in the GHETTO of Irvington, so believe me when I say we will DEFINITELY not be moving there. This is meant more for investment, so hopefully when it's done, we'll be able to get some decent tenants and get the next phase of our lives cracking. I'll keep you all updated.
2. I realized I really wanted to go back to school to get my MBA. So realizing that I wasn't the model undergrad, I needed to make sure I knocked the GMATs out of the park. So, I started taking Princeton Review classes at the beginning of March. This was an 8 week course, and I have to say that though those 2 months were extremely challenging in terms of time and homework, etc, I actually had a lot of fun. It was a good feeling being back in the classroom and re-learning some of the concepts I hadn't thought about in 4 years. I actually believed I was going to take the GMATs, but unfortunately since the class has been over, I haven't registered for the test, which is probably one of my biggest disappointments of this year to day. (I'm actually going to register at the end of posting this blog, so hopefully I won't have it weighing on my chest any longer). The ideal time to take the test after completing the course is within a month, and it's going on 3 months now for me. I hope I haven't wasted money I didn't have to start with.
3. In all fairness to moi, part of the reason why I hadn't registered for the test is because I wanted to have more time to go over all the materials I had learned, but I had been bogged down with a lot of "to dos" with the business that love and a couple of other people we know are working on. Now, I know the whole reason I started this blog was because of the idea of me starting a new magazine, which I'm still really interested in, but know it's hard for a family to work on 2 different projects at the same time, so when Love came to me with something he was really excited about, I figured I should try to support him to see where he was going to take the plan. The fortunate thing is along the way, I bought into the idea, and just somehow got involved with the business. So for the past 5 months, we have been running full speed working on the business. A lot of people are starting to get excited about it, which in turn is making us more excited. No worries, I'll let you know all about it when the time is right.
4. One of my New Years resolutions was to lose the bulge. For those who know me, you can all agree that it's about time that I start to get my shape back. I had been pregnant for the past 2 summers. The summer of 2005, when I was pregnant with my first child, I gained a total of perhaps 40 pounds, maxing out at 170lbs. The summer of 2006, I believe I gained a total of 70lbs, maxing out at about 205lbs. So after having my second child and she weighed on 7lbs, I knew I really had to get to work to lose the rest of the weight. Unfortunately, I thought the weight would naturally come off, but I was sadly mistaken. By the end of December 2006, when I was still tipping the scale at 180, I knew something drastic had to happen. So I joined a kickboxing class that I was actually committed to going to atleast 5 times a week. The weight slowly came off, until I became extremely bored with all things kickboxing by the third month. After that, I figured I'd just go get a bike to ride around to switch up the workout, but I've yet to do that. The good news is the last time I weighed myself, a week ago, I was down to about 150lbs. Which is not that bad…losing 30lbs is 5 months. The only thing is I need to lose another 20lbs or so in time for a wedding I'm going to in mid July. I'm going to be seeing some people I haven't seen in ages, so it'll be good if I can pull my body together by that time
5. Another one of my New Years resolutions was to be a better person to my loved ones. I wanted to be a better daughter, sister, cousin, mother, Fiancée, and Friend. In trying to do that, I have been pulled from one corner to the next constantly the past 6 months. The more I do, the more people require of me, and the more unable I able to attend to everybody, and then the worse I feel. It's a vicious cycle, but one I feel is important. Being a truly selfish person at heart, it's not natural for me to think about other people and what help I can be to them. So while I feel like I'm going out of my mind with all the requests I'm getting lately, I guess it’s something I have to put up with because it makes me feel important to feel needed. I guess in some selfish way, I'm trying to be a better person to these people to make myself feel better about my importance. Go figure..., even when I'm supposed to be helping other people, all I can think of is how it's helping me. I guess that's why people say when you help others, you're helping yourself.
6. Along the lines of being of service to others, my best cousin is getting married in November!!! Can you hear the panic in my writing. The problem is we have NOTHING planned, so we pretty much have to start planning everything right now. Also, Lovey and I planning of our big bash for next year in Miami, so I pretty much have to start planning now as well. As much as I love wedding planning, I for some reason do not want to be involved with mine. It just seems like such an overwhelmingly daunting task, that my only solution is to hire a wedding planner. So I'm searching for a wedding planner as we speak, and I'll keep you updated on the progress.

So that's what I've been up to. As you can see, I've been attempting to do a lot and not quite doing any one thing well. But as I go down the list of what I've been up to, there are some areas I can definitely tighten up, but I'm glad I've challenged myself to take on some new things and get better in other areas. I think I'm for pushing yourself to the limit of what you think you can handle. You may eventually start to slack in some areas, as I've obviously done, but at the end, you'll probably have more accomplished than if you were to just focus on a few things.