My book club is better than yours....

I have a confession....I belong to a book club.  Okay, that's not much of a confession, but what if I told you that it really isn't about books?  It's more about a couple of women (some of my favorites out there) that get together and talk about each other, themselves, and pretty much anything but the book at hand?  What if I told you that we weren't even supposed to read books every time?  I know, you're jealous aren't you?

Here's how it works, each week a different person chooses the "assignment" (80% of the group is made up of English teachers).  We then have a month to complete the assignment and report back on the following Monday where we sit around and munch on sweets and drink wine.  We're only a little over two months in, but so far we love it.  The first month my friend SS had us read the book Shelf Discovery, which talks about all of the books  that we read as young women - including my favorite two childhood authors Cynthia Voigt and Judy Blume.  We then had to reread one of the books mentioned in the book and bring it in along with an embarrassing picture of ourselves in jr. high.  Although I could find absolutely no embarrassing pictures of myself from that time period (yeah right....more like I couldn't decide between the thousands of terrible self-portraits I performed - and kept no less!), I did find an entire box of my precious old novels.  I decided to reread Deenie by Judy Blume and I was only more thrilled when I opened the front cover to find not only my name stamped inside, but also a fantastic throwback sticker of Donnie(y?) from New Kids on the Block.  ANYWAYS I have lost track of why I'm writing this..... our last assignment was to make a Vision Board.
I'll be honest....I've read The Secret, and I'm not opposed to the idea of bringing positive energy my way, but I have always thought the idea of a vision board was a little cooky.  (And that is coming from someone who made it through high school sports by spending time before each game envisioning the basketball going through the hoop.)  We didn't have to read anything - we just had to envision our goals and fit them all onto a board that was small enough that we would want to display it in a place where we would see it everyday.  My board was 26"x30" (not small) and has been hidden in the corner every since our meeting three weeks ago.
I put a lot of thought into my vision board.  I did research - i.e. If you want washboard abs then you don't want to put something that says literally - "Fight stomach fat" because you'll actually be attracting stomach fat.  It's a dangerous game, these vision boards. :) Also, I didn't want to put things on there that I knew would happen, or things that were just plain crazy.  (i.e. I know we're going to have more children - no matter how we decide to go about it, but it would be just plain crazy for me to say I want above mentioned wash-board abs (mostly because I don't want the work that goes along with said "abs")).  However, I must say that this assignment couldn't have come at a better time.  Just when I feel like my dreams have to sit on the back-burner, and have Idisplaced the time to pursue them - even losing the interest and inspiration behind them, I NEEDED this assignment.  I NEEDED to have to think about my goals and the actuality of them - the reality of them.  I NEEDED to lay it all out on a giant piece of foam board in front of me so that I could see what was worth pursuing, and what my heart actually wanted.
Most vision boards I think are meant to be secretive....but not mine.  I'm putting it out there now - mostly for two reasons.  First, because I want my children to see that their mom has goals outside of just being a mom and wife and teacher.  I want them to know that I believe in dreams and goals.  Second, because I want to be held accountable.  It's easy to get sucked up into everday life - who would even consider that my creative side is suffering except myself?  I figured if I put it out there on a public spectrum, then it will remind me that I am in charge of making it happen.

The best part of making this vision board was deciding what WAS important to me...what I really wanted.  Do I believe all of these things could possibly happen?  Sure.  Do I think I need a vision board to do it?  Nah.  But it is fun to have it documented all the same.  And the best part was when I walked into the bar we were meeting at with my ginormous board of dreams.  No shame. :)