Image Credit: Success Magazine

Hello, everyone!

This post is several days later than normal – I’m sorry if I disappointed some of you when this post didn’t show up on May 1st.

The last couple of weeks have been challenging, in a word. My work department lost a great team member to a bigger and better opportunity, and his very sudden departure has been upsetting and tumultuous. We’re picking up the pieces now, but I haven’t had a lot of energy to write recently, especially after long days at work. I hope all of you understand. Thank you for continuing to read, like, and comment. I really appreciate it!

Here are my goals for May:

1. Celebrate Melissa’s graduation from William & Mary!
2. Attend Tidewater Comicon.
3. Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!
4. Attend PEO Virginia State Convention.
5. Research more uses for essential oils.
6. Celebrate Mother’s Day!
7. Make at least three new recipes.
8. Help prepare for our 100th blood drive!
9. Figure out a new, effective workout plan.
10. Read at least three new books.

Here’s the breakdown:

Celebrate Melissa’s graduation from William & Mary!

• My best friend is earning her PhD! In physics!
• I’m beyond proud of her!
• We can’t wait to celebrate with her mom, friends, and family at her mom’s gorgeous house!

Attend Tidewater Comicon.

• We’re excited to attend this year!
• We missed 2016 entirely, so we’re looking forward to seeing what’s happening.

Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!

• I’ve made an official appointment for May 18th!

Attend PEO Virginia State Convention.

• This is not my first Convention, but the first for me in several years.
• I’m excited to be carpooling with Cindy, a new transfer from Florida!
• Between my chapter and Mom’s chapter, we are celebrating multiple “Golden Girls” – Sisters who have been in PEO for 50 years!

Research more uses for essential oils.

• I want to explore more uses for the oils that I have.
• I’m currently diffusing “Peace and Calming!”
• I want to especially look at more cooking options with them.

Celebrate Mother’s Day!

• We’re planning to take my mom out to dinner!

Make at least three new recipes.

• I want to dive back into Megan’s cookbook!
• There are so many recipes on Facebook – I know I can attempt at least a few of them!

Help prepare for our 100th blood drive!

• We are just weeks away from our 100th blood drive. Wow!
• I want to work with my parents, and other members of the blood drive team, to make this one the best!

Figure out a new, effective workout plan.

• I got stuck in a cardio rut for a while.
• I enjoyed the structure that bodybuilding.com offered for a while, so I want to find something like that again.

Read at least three books.

• I’m currently deep into this new book I bought when we were visiting Al’s parents.
• I want to continue the Robert Langdon saga.
• There’s a few books in my Lady Lounge begging for attention!

Do you have any goals for the month of May?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: Pinterest

The end of April snuck up on me – I barely had time to pull this post together. But, I did it! I feel accomplished.

Here’s the link to my April Goals post:

• Getting Personal #66: April Goals

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Ready?

Here we go!

1. Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class. – Accomplished!
2. Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards). – Accomplished!
3. Buy my desk! – Did not accomplish.
4. Tackle the garage, once and for all. – Accomplished!
5. Finalize plans for our second wedding anniversary getaway! – Semi-Achieved.
6. Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation! – Did not accomplish.
7. Celebrate birthdays! – Semi-Achieved.
8. Start designing my custom shelving system for my American Girl dolls. – Did not accomplish.
9. Read at least three new books. – Did not accomplish.

Here’s the breakdown:

Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class. – Accomplished!

• I successfully completed my class at the beginning of the month.
• I was nervous going into the exam, but I had a lot of people rooting for me.

Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards). – Accomplished!

• I took the exam on Saturday, April 8th. It was nearly six hours long, but I felt decent about my performance when I left.
• Via email, I learned the following week that I PASSED with a 76 percent score!
• It feels amazing to be finished, and certified!
• Thank you so much to Al, Shana, my family, and several others who were pulling for me!

Buy my desk! – Did not accomplish.

• We don’t have space for it at the moment!
• My Lady Lounge has several items in holding from our garage clean-up, and I need to find permanent places for those things first.

Tackle the garage, once and for all. – Accomplished!

• We blocked off a Saturday morning and went to town.
• It only took us four hours, and we had fun!
• It feels great to have more space in there!

Finalize plans for our second wedding anniversary getaway! – Semi-Achieved.

• We are in agreement about where we want to go, and roughly the time when we want to go.
• We plan to go to our travel agent who helped us with our honeymoon on a Saturday in June to make the arrangements!

Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation! – Did not accomplish.

• This didn’t happen – I plan to do this on a Thursday in May!

Celebrate birthdays! – Semi-Achieved.

• We thoroughly enjoyed Chinese food at Szechuan Inn with my parents, as well as Kathy and Perry for Dad’s birthday.
• We had a good time with my parents, Debbie, Michaela, and Chris at the Commodore to see Beauty and the Beast. We look forward to seeing again soon! Chris is a great guy.

Start designing my custom shelving system for my American Girl dolls. – Did not accomplish.

• Since the Lady Lounge is still thoroughly full of stuff, this design process didn’t get off the ground.
• However, there’s plenty of time!

Read at least three new books. – Did not accomplish.

• I finally finished the one book I was working through just last night.
• I look forward to reading more next month!

Final Thoughts

• I was able to put Accomplished next to three out of nine goals. Score!
• The two goals that were Semi-Achieved: I’m happy with this. I need to make more phone calls, and make things happen that way!
• The four goals that I didn’t accomplish: That’s okay! This month caught me by surprise. May is gonna be absolutely nuts! I look forward to working on these soon.

Did you have any goals for April?

Come back tomorrow to see my goals for May!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: Goodbye Bread and Cheese

Welcome to April! It’s hard to believe we’re already in month #4 of 2017!

Here are my goals for April:

1. Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class.
2. Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards).
3. Buy my desk!
4. Tackle the garage, once and for all.
5. Finalize plans for our second wedding anniversary getaway!
6. Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!
7. Celebrate birthdays!
8. Start designing my custom shelving system for my American Girl dolls.
9. Read at least three new books.

Here’s the breakdown:

Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class.

• I only have two classes left!

Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards).

• I take the exam one week from today!

Buy my desk!

• Thanks to Wayfair.com, I’ve finally figured out what I want. Once I pay my credit card bills this month, this is one of the first things I’m buying!

Tackle the garage, once and for all.

• We want to empty the garage, finally. We want to find places for everything!

Finalize plans for our second wedding anniversary getaway!

• We have a good idea of where we want to go and what we want to do, but we want to call Jody at AAA. She helped us plan our honeymoon, so we want her input!

Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!

• I’m going to call the academic advising department next week to make an appointment!

Celebrate birthdays!

• My dad’s birthday is on Monday!
• Our friend Michaela Leigh’s birthday is also on Monday, so we’re seeing Beauty and the Beast tonight with my parents, her mom, and we get to meet Michaela’s boyfriend, Chris, for the first time!
• My Uncle Richard’s birthday is next week, so I definitely want to call him and catch up.

Start designing my custom shelving system for my American Girl dolls.

• My dad’s offered to help me!
• He found some nice quality birch wood at Lowe’s recently.
• I want to make the measurements soon, and then go pick it out.
• I’m so excited!

Read at least three new books.

• I’m six chapters into my latest book!
• But, I also want to visit the library at least once this month to pick out a totally new book.
• Look for these Book Reviews soon!

Do you have any goals for the month of April?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: Live, Love, Simple.

Here’s the link to my March Goals post:

• Getting Personal #63: March Goals

—

Ready?

Here we go!

1. Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class. – Semi-Achieved.
2. Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards). – Did not accomplish.
3. Be a volunteer for the 2017 District Orchestra Assessment at my alma mater. – Accomplished!
4. Write at least 1,000 new words for my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. – Semi-Achieved.
5. See Kong: Skull Island. – Accomplished!
6. Positively geek out over Beauty and the Beast. – Accomplished!
7. See Power Rangers. – Accomplished!
8. Finally implement my receipt organization system. – Semi-Achieved.
9. Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation! – Semi-Achieved.
10. Celebrate birthdays! – Accomplished!
11. Move at least my American Girl dolls from Mom and Dad’s to our house. – Did not accomplish.
12. Make progress with emptying / organizing the garage. – Did not accomplish.

Here’s the breakdown:

Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class. – Semi-Achieved.

• I’ve learned a lot in this class! It’s been a really good experience.
• Due to some class members not signing up for their required membership in a timely manner, the test had to be rescheduled from March 25th to April 8th (Argh!).
• The good news – The class was extended for two more weeks, so I have class sessions through the first week in April.

Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards). – Did not accomplish.

• I only put this because the test hasn’t happened yet!
• Say a prayer, send good vibes, wish luck for me on April 8th!

Be a volunteer for the 2017 District Orchestra Assessment at my alma mater. – Accomplished!

• I had so much fun on this Saturday – I want to volunteer again next year!
• I absolutely crushed my FitBit goal that day – I logged 11,000 steps!
• It was great seeing some familiar faces – Students, teachers, and some parents, too.

Write at least 1,000 new words for my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. – Semi-Achieved.

• I wrote approximately 100 new words!
• I feel great with those 100 words. I’m planning to set similar goals from here on out. It’s a good motivator!

See Kong: Skull Island. – Accomplished!

• We went out with our friends Mike, Shana, and Austin. Austin was home from college on spring break, so it was great to see him.
• It was a really good movie – It’s a true adventure / survivalist film!
• There were a few moments where I had to close my eyes, but mainly because I’m a visual person and didn’t want to have nightmares!

Positively geek out over Beauty and the Beast. – Accomplished!

• I proudly wore my “Beauty is found within” shirt!
• We went to see it with Kathryn, Christine, and John at Paragon in Newport News.
• I thought it was going to be a shot-for-shot remake of the 1991 animated film, but I was pleasantly surprised with what they did.
• Emma Watson was an awesome Belle, but the cast as a whole was great!
• We’re seeing it again this weekend at the Commodore Theatre to celebrate Michaela Leigh’s birthday!

See Power Rangers. – Accomplished!

• Al and I saw this last weekend, just the two of us.
• It’s a nostalgia trip, updated for 2017!
• If you have memories of the TV show, I recommend seeing it. It’s a fun ride!

Finally implement my receipt organization system. – Semi-Achieved.

• I labeled all my envelopes. I need to get a bulletin board now.
• Stack of receipts – Vanish!

Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation! – Semi-Achieved.

• I took a Friday off of work to go out to the Virginia Beach campus. I knew it was spring break, but the college was scheduled to be open.
• I got to the Student Center right after 9:00 a.m., and there was only one person working on the Academic Advising floor. That wasn’t a good sign.
• I asked, and she said that all the Academic Advisers were in training! Noooooo. Major bummer!
• Small consolation – I discovered, after I left, that I didn’t have my transcripts folder. So, I’m getting better organized now and planning a return trip for a Thursday or Friday in April! And, I’m definitely calling ahead to make an appointment!
• The day was not lost – I went shopping at the local Goodwill, met Al and two of his coworkers for a delicious Mongolian BBQ lunch, and enjoyed return trips to Barnes & Noble and LUSH at MacArthur Mall!

Celebrate birthdays! – Accomplished!

• Al’s mom had a good birthday – She’s almost fully recovered from her knee surgery. We’re hoping to go see them in either April or May.
• The birthday shindig at my parents’ house on the first Friday was fun, although I didn’t feel well through most of it. We were there until 10:30 p.m.!

Move at least my American Girl dolls from Mom and Dad’s to our house. – Did not accomplish.

• Every weekend was basically booked solid!
• I’m going to take a few days off work in April, so I’m hoping this will happen on a weekday soon.

Make progress with emptying / organizing the garage. – Did not accomplish.

• We did everything else with the house this month – Moved some furniture, cleaned out some clutter, did a deep clean, and a few more odds and ends.
• The garage is on our list for April – Starting this weekend. Al’s tired of it, too.

Final Thoughts

• I was able to put Accomplished next to five out of 12 goals. Woohoo!
• The four goals that were Semi-Achieved: I’m happy with them. A few were completely out of my control, but I’m happy that I made progress!
• The three goals that I didn’t accomplish: This was far better than a month ago! Wow. I’m very pleased with myself!

Did you have any goals for March?

Come back tomorrow to see my goals for April!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: Entrepreneur Delights

It’s already March 1st! Is it just me, or does the year seem to be flying by?

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Here are my goals for March:

1. Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class.
2. Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards).
3. Be a volunteer for the 2017 District Orchestra Assessment at my alma mater.
4. Write at least 1,000 new words for my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor.
5. See Kong: Skull Island.
6. Positively geek out over Beauty and the Beast.
7. See Power Rangers.
8. Finally implement my receipt organization system.
9. Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!
10. Celebrate birthdays!
11. Move at least my American Girl dolls from Mom and Dad’s to our house.
12. Make progress with emptying / organizing the garage.

Here’s the breakdown:

Complete my Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam Prep class.

• This opportunity presented itself in the beginning of February. One of our friends, Shana, took this class last fall, and passed her exam (boards) on the first try!
• I was lucky to get a slot – I paid about a third of the cost of a typical CPC exam prep course, and my work department graciously bought my books.
• So far, so good: I’ve been in class since February 20th, twice a week, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on campus.

Take, and pass, my CPC exam (a.k.a., boards).

• I’m scheduled to take the test on Saturday, March 25th. I have five hours to answer 150 questions. Fortunately, it’s paper-pencil, and multiple-choice. That, I can handle!
• I should know my results about a week to 10 days after the test, since it has to be fed through a Scantron machine at another location.

Be a volunteer for the 2017 District Orchestra Assessment at my alma mater.

• I wasn’t able to do this last year, so I’m excited to help!
• This weekend (Friday and Saturday) is when all the middle school and high school orchestras in the city of Chesapeake descend upon my alma mater, Oscar Smith High School, to perform several pieces and be assessed by a panel of judges.
• I’ll be working the registration table for a few hours on Saturday. I’ll be rocking my Rehearse-A-Thon T-shirt from my orchestra days!

Write at least 1,000 new words for my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor.

• I think I set this goal too high for the last two months, so I decided to scale it back a bit. I think I can handle 1,000 words!

See Kong: Skull Island.

• This is one of those movies that we’ve been excited to see for a long, long time.
• We first saw glimpses of this when we were on our honeymoon in Orlando in November 2015 – There’s a new ride based on the movie opening soon in Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

Positively geek out over Beauty and the Beast.

• I can barely wait until the 17th, you guys. This movie looks so good!
• I’m currently searching for a shirt online that will be worn to the movie.
• I always dreamed of having the Beast’s library!
• Personally, I think Emma Watson, as Belle, is a perfect fit. As well as Luke Evans (Gaston), Kevin Kline (Maurice), and Josh Gad (Le Fou).

See Power Rangers.

• Originally, I was a little skeptical about this one. I didn’t watch a lot of Power Rangers as a kid, but I’m actually excited for this movie. It looks really sleek and modern. Bring it on!

Finally implement my receipt organization system.

• It may be just a series of envelopes, but hopefully it will eliminate a lot of the stress I’ve had! Stacking the receipts for the month, by date, has not been helpful! Fingers crossed.

Visit TCC to review my transcripts, make sure everything is straight, and apply for graduation!

• Oh, boy. Here we go!
• I’m really excited, and a little nervous. I think I only have one class left (Legal Writing), but I want to be absolutely sure!
• If that’s the case, I plan to fill out my application for graduation and make sure everything is in order, all in one fell swoop.
• It’s so close, I can almost taste it.

Celebrate birthdays!

• My parents are having a big shindig for a family friend this weekend. I’m excited! We’re bringing angel food cake and Cool Whip!
• We want to call Al’s mom this weekend to wish her a Happy Birthday!

Move at least my American Girl dolls from Mom and Dad’s to our house.

• I’m tired of not having all my dolls (I have five total) in one place! It’s definitely happening this month – Hopefully this weekend!

Make progress with emptying / organizing the garage.

• The warmer weather we’ve had recently is giving me the itch to finally empty out and organize our garage.
• I want to put one of our cars in there by the end of the month, hopefully! That’s the ultimate goal.

Do you have any goals for the month of March?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂