Al Olio

It's been a gruelling couple of days at the shop. I have my summer sale on and people have been going crazy over the recycled children's clothing. Weird because it sat there for the last 4-5 months and didn't budge, now all of a sudden it's on sale and they're swarming like bee's. I don't think I could have fitted any more women in my shop this morning. Mum's with kids, there mum's tagging along watching the little ones who insist on trying to run off out the door (luckily I have a child gate locking them in).

By 11am (I open at 10am) I had met my sales target for the day. Brilliant! Now I can sit back and relax. Wrong, wrong wrong! I check my emails and 3 suppliers want me to go to viewings of Summer 2012/13 stock. What! This summer is not even over. This is something I've learnt. You buy 6 months in advance and designers design 9-12 months in advance. Lucky I'm an organiser so planning this far in advance is kind of fun. Although I've already forgotten what I bought for winter 2012.......

Hubby had an overnight installation job (he works in IT) so I feel like I've hardly seen him the last couple of days. We wave at each other in the driveway and kiss each other when we get a second. Because of the type of work he does and who he works for he often has trips away. Unfortunately we are both away one week or another for most of February and Miss E will be in a one parent household for most of the month. Great timing since she's decided to be super clingy now.

So to unwind tonight I thought I'd make myself a late supper of Spagetti Al Olio with a little chilli, relax in front of my laptop and catch up on my blog. I love cooking. There's something so relaxing and cathartic about creating something special to sit and enjoy at the end of a hectic day. Well I put way too much chilli in the spagetti and now my mouth in on fire! All I can do is laugh.

Life is busy and throws us challenges every day. It's how we handle them that matters.  How do you unwind?

Goal Setting

Today is all about goal setting. I'm reading lots of "I'm not doing New Years resolutions" on a lot of blogs at the moment and it got me thinking. In my head I know what I want to achieve this year but I've never publicly written it down and ticked off what I've done.

I have some personal goals (the usual) and some business goals I want to achieve so I'm writing them down and I'm going to tick them off as I achieve them all.

Here's my personal list:

1. Loose 10kg (I think I start all lists like this!)
2. Sort out my superannuation
3. Pay off credit card
4. Change Miss E from disposable to cloth nappies (she's incredibly tall and needs a narrow width so it's actually harder than it sounds)
5. Finish the back garden beds
6. Go on a holiday!

Here's my business list:

1. Finish my 2012 Business Plan
2. Finally conquer the paperwork and bookwork mountain
3. Get one on-line sale a day
4. Fix website so it's "prettier" and easier to use
5. Add two new brands into the "New" section of the shop
6. Sort out a new advertising budget and advertising that is consistent and targets the audience I want
7. Become the Number 1 destination in Albury Wodonga region to buy kids clothes!

I really love the idea of sitting back at the end of the month, quarter or year and saying "Wow! Look what I did!". My list will probably grow and evolve over the course of the year and that's OK. As long as I have goals to achieve I'm moving forward rather than backward.