The List

I love making lists. Absolutely. Not only do they help you get things accomplished and stay organized, but they can give you a life driven by purpose and commitment. Whether it is a list of my favorite movies (coming soon),  people to pray for, or the places I want to travel to during my life, a list gives me a goals to accomplish. I want to end up an old lady who can look back over my life with joy and not have to regret all of the things I never did.

So- after finally finishing my undergraduate degree, my graduate degree, and the CPA exam, I am free to find a new purpose and additional goals for my life (see my previous post). I'm one of those people who, if I'm not careful, can watch 8 episodes of LOST in one sitting... that is a lot of time wasted that could have been spent doing something a little better. Not to belittle LOST though because it is amazing. Like, oh-my-goodness amazing. Nonetheless, I would rather have something to fill up my evenings than watching TV. Sooo.... to all of the people who have asked me, "What are you going to do with all of your free time now that you are done with school and your certification?", I have made a list! *cue triumphant trumpet sound*

                                        ~The List~

• Read straight through all seven Harry Potter books- Since they began being published in 1998 and continued until 2007, it was difficult to read them in a continuous and flowing manner. 
• Learn a new skill (or several)- I am considering learning a language, learning to decorate cakes, making stained glass, taking piano lessons, taking Taekwondo lessons... Hopefully I will do several of these things!
• Start exercising on a regular basis
• Start a Bible study- Ideally, I would like to read through the whole Bible in a year and journal about it. 
• Find joy and contentment with where I am- This is definitely the most difficult for me.

So there you have it. I will do updates as often as possible about my progress through this list, and some updates will be fairly soon since I have already started on several of these items!

Peace and blessings. 

Freedom

For those of you who know me, you are well aware that I have tried to keep a blog or two in the past. Has it worked? Absolutely not. However, with all of my new-found freedom, I am going to try to be serious about blogging.  I LOVE reading my friends' blogs, and while I'm not naive enough to think boatloads of people are going to read mine, I would like to give friends and family the opportunity to keep up-to-date with my daily happenings, shenanigans, triumphs, and failures.

I would like to dedicate this first post to my new freedom. Let me explain: For the past 23 years of my life, I have always had some type of school, homework, or studying looming overhead. But for the first time ever, I can proudly state that I am DONE! Even after I was done in graduate school, I knew I still had to study for the CPA exam. (For those of you who don't know, it is a very difficult, four-part test that takes most people anywhere from several months to several years to successfully pass all four parts.) Starting last July, I have sacrificed my weeknights, Saturday mornings, Sunday afternoons, and oftentimes my happiness to studying for this exam. On Monday, more than a year after I started this long process of studying and testing, I received my last score... from the section I was positive I had failed. When I saw the score and read the magical words, "Passed All Sections of the CPA Exam", I was breathless- I was free!

As soon as I turn in some paper work and the fair state of Texas gets my license in order, I will be Kristin Bell, CPA! Free to watch TV in the evenings, do crafts, read a book, cook dinner, or be with friends. And I'm not going to lie, when I got in my car after work that day, I echoed the great words of Mel Gibson in Braveheart... "FREEEEDOOOOOOOM!"