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Time for a little update on my previous post about my New Years resolutions!

Okay, so resolution number one was to be more healthy. Well, I guess you could say I'm taking baby steps in that direction. I haven't completely cut all of the bad things out of my diet, but I am more aware of what I am eating and therefore make more of an effort than I did previously. I'm also eating less meat after watching this crazy documentary on where our meat comes from. It's hard to completely cut it out of my diet, but I find myself not wanting it as much and often times even being completely disgusted with it.

Resolution number two was to get the ball rolling on my business, which I have done! I have created B.B. Cole's Gift Boutique! Right now, it is all about custom hand painted objects. I'm slowly getting a base of inventory, which officially contains monogram canvas paintings and custom chalkboards at the moment, but is soon to include a few other objects such as custom coat hooks, memory boxes, photo frames, and wall letters. I am beyond excited for this! There is a facebook fan page, so pleaseeee be sure to check it out and "like" it and suggest it to all of your friends!

And on a less optimistic note, I think I'm getting sick. Boooooooooo! I've been "stuffy" for the past few days and have woken up with a headache the past two days that will only temporarily go away before returning. About an hour ago, I noticed my sinus area felt really irritated and my chest hurt. Great. Lets hope this passes soon!

At least in times like these, I find a new appreciation for my bed. For some reason, sleeping in my own bed brings me the greatest joy when I'm not feeling great.

PS-Please excuse my lame title, I couldn't think of anything better :( Haha

An Almost White Christmas and The End of Twenty Ten

The month of December for most is an exciting time of the year. Up until this year, it wasn't for me. I dreaded Christmas and hated everything about it. It's just too much pressure and I miss holidays the way they used to be when I was little and we spent them with my grandma and something just seemed magical about them. This year was a little different. I can't really put my finger on what exactly made it so, but I didn't completely dread the holidays this year. I actually got extremely excited about Christmas lights and decorated trees. Christmas music was slightly more tolerable. I even made a point of spending Christmas Eve at my dad's house rather than at home alone. It was a pretty nice Christmas too, spending the day relaxing and enjoying company. I must say though, it was made extremely better when it started snowing that night and we sort of had a White Christmas. We had one of the biggest snowfalls we've had in quite some time too, dumping around a foot of snow in our area, and leaving me snowed in for two days (so far). Not that I'm complaining, it's been a nice two days and I actually made my first snowman ever yesterday. (Is it sad that I'm 20 years old and never made a snowman before yesterday?)

So now, once all this snow melts at least, we get to prepare for the new year. It always kind of amazes me to see yet another year go by and think of how many I have seen so far. It doesn't seem possible that I have seen 20 years go by already. Granted, that probably makes anyone significantly older than me laugh or feel old, but still. It's just a little mind boggling.

But anyways, when people think of a new year, they generally try to come up with "New Year's Resolutions." The past few years I've blown that off with the mindset that I've made them before and never stuck with them, why make them now? I'm pushing that aside this year. I think in the past my problem has been making unrealistic or unachievable goals. Goals that I don't have to focus on daily or ones that aren't already important to me, so I just let it slide after a month. I will be making two goals this year. One of them will have to be followed through on a daily basis and one is just something that is extremely important to me.

Goal #1:

My first goal is the one that will have to be followed through on a daily basis. I'm not really sure what to call this, because I don't have a firm foundation for it yet, but it will be along the lines of being more healthy. I want to start eating better and working out more. I'm constantly exhausted, even with plenty of sleep, and I truly believe that it is because of my diet and lack of physical activity. I don't have it all set in stone yet with what my goals are, but I'm working on it. I thought about going vegetarian for a couple of months just to see if I could do it and how I feel, but I don't think I will. As much as I have said I would love to do it, it would inconvenience those around me during meal times. (I.E. Going to someone else's house at meal time and them having to prepare food with my limited vegetarian diet in mind) I don't want to do that to others, so I think I'll stick with something less radical. As for exercise, I have a free 3 month gym membership that I've used all of once. I need to get back on that!

Goal #2:

Start working on developing my own business. This is the thing that I'm already excited about. I've been slowly working on this for a few months now and gaining ideas, but I want to hit it as hard as I can in the coming up year. I have toyed with the idea of owning my own business for years but never really thought it possible or even really knew what I wanted to do. I couldn't seem to find my niche in the business world, but I have finally settled on something. I am going to open my own store. I want it to be kind of like a gift store with candles and soaps and jewelry and just little things like that. I'm going to start it off through an online store, but hopefully I will eventually run my own brick and mortar location. I already have a name in place, "B.B. Cole's Gift Boutique." (because when I was little, my uncle would ask me my name and I would try to say Brittany Nicole, but always said "BB Cole!" I thought it'd be cute for a store) I've already started researching some wholesale companies to buy from and found a couple I want to really look into. Now it's just a matter of money and time. I plan on putting as much as I can of both into this in 2011.

Those are my goals for the new year. Comment and tell me yours!

Playing Catch Up

So I really slacked on the 365 project...really really slacked. Whoops....Well at least I'm making an effort to catch up! So here's another picture!

This is Jackson, my nephew. This evening after dinner, I decided I wanted to go for a bike ride down the boardwalk and so I went out the back door to get a bike out of the shed. Well Jackson saw me go outside and decided to follow...when I picked him up to take him back in, he would not let go. He was determined not to let me go outside without him! I stood in the kitchen for a few minutes trying to put him down with my sister telling him to get down and him just clinging as hard as he could to me...I finally caved and asked if he wanted to go on a bike ride with me, which of course he got very excited about. So we went through about ten minutes of getting the bike out, attaching the stroller thing, and getting him ready while he is constantly saying "bike ride! bike ride!" We finally got going and it was a very nice bike ride down the boardwalk while the sun was setting.

Ok and now on a side note...Virginia Beach is going amazingly well. I tried imagining early today how I would feel if I had the opportunity to move back to NC and I definitely do not think I would take such an opportunity. I love it here and I'm finally happy with life.

And right now, I'm jamming out to some Jack Johnson. LoveLoveLove...his style of music is such that truly makes my soul happy.

So yeah, life is good. That's all :)

365 project, day 2.

365 Project Day 2: Starbucks.

It seems like whenever I spend time with my sister, I become addicted to Starbucks. That is a direct result of her being addicted to it and going everyday; so therefore, when I'm with her, I end up there as well. This morning on the way to work was no different.

My drink of choice (during summer when it's hot out) and pictured here is an iced white chocolate mocha. I like it because the coffee taste in it isn't overwhelming. Another good one, when you're looking for something hot is a caramel macchiato.

Look forward to posting another picture tomorrow! Goodnight internet!

365 project, day 1.

Ok, so I really want to try the 365 project. You know, the thing where you post a picture everyday for 365 days (a year!) We'll see how it goes because I'm liable to forget quite often, but here's my first picture!

This is my nephew, Jackson, fast asleep. He's a cutie, that's for sure. My sister and I picked him up from the babysitter today after work and then headed to Knotts Island to look at some possible office furniture and I ended up sitting in the car for a while so he could stay there and sleep.

Virginia Beach?!? Say Whattt??

It has been over a month since my last post! Oh my...that's simply unacceptable. Little update on my life since my last post, because...well things have changed quite a bit. The summer camp season ended last Friday and, as such, my job there did as well. That Friday I went straight to Currituck, packed up my room, and left Saturday night for Virginia Beach. That's right kids, I'm no longer a Currituck resident, I am now living in Virginia Beach...again. For those of you that were there with me last year when I attempted this move only to end up back in Currituck, this time it's the real deal. There's no sadness about leaving, there's no close family member dying (I pray that doesn't change), there's no uncertainty. I am loving it up here and I am determined, no matter what life throws at me, to make sure I do not end up back in good ol' Ctuck. I love it there and I will most definitely be visiting often, but it's not my home anymore. I need to get out and be somewhere where I can make a life for myself.

On that note, I'm not attending school this semester, more than likely not this year at all, and I'm not really sure when I will be going back. Right now I am working for my sister and Spirit Fingerz (check them out! http://www.spiritfingerz.com/). I am excited about this job and anxious to really get underway with it. I know a lot of people are going to be disappointed in my decision to put a hold on school, but honestly...school is the conventional way, true, but nothing about my life has EVER been conventional. I have to find a way to make a life for myself and a way in this world with what I have and right now school does not fit into that equation. It will eventually, do not think I've given up on it entirely, but for now getting my foot in the door is top priority.

Anyways, back to living in Virginia Beach. I am loving it. I am living with my sister, brother in law, niece, and nephew. I love them and living with them is definitely awesome. It hasn't even been a week yet and I already have funny stories of the kids. They are the cutest. We live walking distance from the oceanfront which I'm definitely taking advantage of. I went on a bike ride pretty much the whole length of the boardwalk yesterday, from 5th street to 4oth, and then back again. My legs were hurting something awful afterwards, but it was still fun.

And on one final note of this life update before I head to bed, I am officially dating my best friend. Not trying to get all gushy with this because, well if you're truly my friend, then you know that's so not my style but...let's just say it may have only been a little over a week now that we've been dating but it's going amazingly well and I'm extremely happy about it.

That is all for tonight because it is nearing 1am and I more than likely will have to get up early to head to the office with my sister to get some work done! So goodnight everyone :)

Weekend Adventures!

This past weekend at home has been absolutely fantastic so I thought I'd update my blog with a little summary of it! So Friday I left camp around 2:30 and made the drive home to get ready for Justin and Summer's wedding. I unfortunately missed the first half of the bachelorette party so I went straight to the church to hang out during the rehearsal. That was exciting because I got to see some of my best friends who I hadn't seen in at least a month, but annoying because everyone was stressed and tension was high. After the rehearsal was over, all the girls left for the second half of the bachelorette party. We went and had dinner at La Fogatas, which was on my list of the 3 places on the OBX I had to go to this weekend, and then we went to Gear Works, the laser tag place on the beach. Now, I've never been laser tagging before, so this was definitely an experience, but I loved it and I'm definitely going again sometime! We also took a break to go over to Dunkin Donuts which was nice too. We left around 10:30 and went home to catch some sleep.

Saturday morning me and Olivia had planned to either go to the beach or go out in the boat. Neither one of these happened because 1. The sound was too rough to take the boat out and 2. We were already going to the beach Sunday so instead we went down to the semi new TJ Maxx in Nags Head. All I have to say about that adventure is we spent way too much money in there. I then went back to my old house and got ready for the wedding with my brother and sister. The wedding was a lot of fun and I'm soooo happy for Justin and Summer! Congrats you guys! I unfortunately had to leave early to take my brother and sister to Moyock to go to my dad's house and then had to take Halie, my brother's girlfriend, home. I then went home and went to bed.

Sunday I got up and went to church. It was the first time in a while that I had been to my home church so it was nice being there and seeing everyone. Afterwards, me and Olivia jetted home to change into our bathing suits and then headed off for lunch at Five Guys. I must say, I really do not miss beach traffic at all. We were both starving and it took us forever to get there. Oh well, I'm just glad we eventually made it because that marked off my second thing on the list of places to go on the OBX. Five Guys is my recent food obsession, which is probably not good because that means consuming greasy burgers and fries, but they are amazing. But anyways, after eating there we went to the beach. It was crazy hot and the water was freezing, but we managed to force ourselves to stay for about two hours before we got sick of it and headed off to Ritas. There goes the 3rd and final place on my list to visit this weekend. After we ate there, we then ran over to Red Box and ended up renting four movies; The Bounty Hunter, I Hate Valentines Day, Remember Me, and The Blind Side. We ended up only watching the first two so we wasted our money on the last two but oh well. The Bounty Hunter was hilarious, I would recommend it to anyone...I Hate Valentines had potential, it was just predictable and insanely cheesy. Not to mention the acting was horrible and made a lot of the scenes awkward and forced. It still provided a good laugh just because it was so bad, so I actually would recommend seeing that one too if you're looking for something comedic.

And as for today, my last day of the weekend...this was my lazy day. I woke up realllyyyy late and so far haven't done very much. Me and my favorite doggy, Bridgette, had some quiet time in the living room for a little while....and I've done a little laundry and made lunch, but that's about it. Here soon I'm going to have to get up and get stuff ready to go back to camp though. I might make a run down to the beach and go see everyone in Harris Teeter as well, but I'm not sure yet.

Ok, that's the end of my weekend adventures. I'm even more excited for next weekend though! It's going to be a good one :)