My Intentions for A Newer Car

My 14 year old car tried to act like it was going to breakdown on me while driving to the cabin in the Sierra last weekend. My thermostat appears to be going out and says the car is overheating when it actually it the car is NOT overheating -- talk about stressing out just a little.

My kids and I travel a lot by car and I have put over 100,000 miles on my Ford Taurus -- this car has served us well. But it is time, I would like a newer car now.

... So here, I share with you my intentions for a newer car. I wrote down exactly what I desire in a new car and ... I'll keep you posted when this becomes a manifestation! I did this for the house I am currently living in. You can read my article titled ... (I have to find it) ...

My Intention for a Newer Car:

"I create the perfect car within 6 months from today or sooner; with the perfect terms and features that meet all my desires and more"!

• 2004 or Younger
• Power Windows
• Power Seats
• AC
• CD Player/Radio/Stereo Speakers
• GPS
• Low Millage
• Mechanically Clean/very good condition or better
• Clean Body/very good condition or better
• Body Paint -- Colors like: blues, greens, reds, opal white, burnt orange or prettier
  
• Under Market or Blue book Value
• Tire in good condition or better
• 4 Wheel Drive
• Seats at least 5 people with cargo space interchangeable with additional passenger seating
• Terms: "Gentleman's Handshake" and $250.00 an month or less.
• One of these Makers:
• BMW, Audie, Mercedes, Chrysler, Lincoln, Lexus, Land Rover, Porsche, Dodge
  

Writing the First Issue of my FREE Monthly Journal

Well, I do feel I have another rewarding accomplishment completed, yet just beginning ... "Phew" and "Wow" at the same time. I had a lot of fun creating this first issue of my journal (newsletter)!

Right now the only way you can get it is to subscribe to it. You can sign-up here on this blog. Just go to the top right of the page and you will see the sign-up box.

I decided to name this newsletter: "From the Pages of Copia's Journal". I write about all areas of a woman's life; her family life, social life, lots about her financial life, her health, her spiritual life (not religion) and the life styles we choose, which is a culmination of all of the above. ... just thought about her sex life ... hmm will have to add this one later ...

I really feel like I have found my life's purpose and have begun a journey to great and wonderful accomplishments! I invite you to join me, follow me and subscribe!

Enjoy,
Jules

Personal Finance From the Inside Out

I finished teaching my beta three-week course today! I'll be asking my students if they are willing to write a review and then share what they said with you.

I am going to make a few changes and improvements based on the feedback from those ladies who took this first class from me. Thanks ladies for all of your constructive feedback and support!

I am offering two more (but for four-weeks this time) Personal Finance From the Inside Out courses on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at two different times.

Do you realize that more than 85% of the households in this country are run by women? Yet where did we learn to do this? Slowly over the last 40 years, men have turned this job over to the women!

This class is a lot of fun ... we take a closer look at the household income and expenses; Like my friend Ahnalisa says, "Cash in and cash out, it is like the breathe of the household". In this class, we take a look at our attitudes around money, ask our selves what financial freedom means to us. We take a look at how simple or not as difficult as it may seem to achieve financial freedom. We learn some simple guidelines for how to set up a budget and follow the budget. We learn some goal setting and list what needs to happen to obtain those goals. Journaling happens! W e take a Money Personality Test; get to know your personality around money. Learn to start thinking about how you can invest and empower yourself around money! ... and more!

If you live local in the Monterey Bay area and want to sign up, please email me directly at: jewleyd@comcast.net I will eventually teach this course over the internet, so keep in touch if you are interested!

Cheers,
Jules

Nature by the Drop Blending Lab

"Make something sensual for your special Valentine"!

I hosted a blend lab last night. For those of you who have not read about this yet, a dear friend, Holly and I came together over a year ago and began hosting what we call blending labs in my home. We invite everybody we know to come (and to bring friends) and learn to blend personal products with 100% organic chemical free bases and Young Living's essential oils.

Last night we featured the essential oil Jasmine: "Queen of the Night". Did you know that for centuries women have treasured Jasmine for its beautiful, seductive fragrance? Jasmine has been studied by university researchers for its uses to dramatically improve mental accuracy and concentration. The ladies who used Jasmine in their personal blends last night will be sure that their man will be paying attention!

Until next blending lab!
Jules

"Join hundreds of other women who are moving in new directions!"

With the New Year ahead most of us make new resolutions and set new goals. I am certainly doing that! I love this feeling of reflecting on the past year and bringing it to a close. Then, I ambitiously make new plans for the coming year and set new goals. One of my projects is to create a FREE monthly Journal where you will find articles, tips, stories and more about women and how they manage finances, hold successful careers, nurture and raise healthy families, keep themselves healthy too, find time to socialize with friends, keep the fire in intimate relations and devote time to important causes in their communities -- "how we balance it all".

How to do YOU balance it all? I bet you are closer than you think, but if you are not sure, my FREE monthly Journal will show you how I am doing it and how others do it too! So join my community of women who want to focus on one or more of these areas in their lives during the New Year to come. Sign up for my FREE monthly Journal!

My other aim for the New Year is to share my expertise on budgeting (dry boring word - maybe you can help me come up with a new word) and teach workshops on streamlining household cash flow. I can see a demand for this with the changing economy. And I am writing a book somewhere in all of this too!

How about you? What’s important in your life? Which areas of your life will you be focused on in the new year ahead? I would love to know!!

Please participate in the poll on the right column of the blog page and share with me.

Warmly,
Jules

Investment Club Meeting: November Open House

Yes! ... Ahh! It was a very success evening and I had such a good time. I really do love being in a group of women where we discuss money; the entire topic and all the that this topic encompasses.

We had 15 women come to our investment club's Open House! That alone I feel is worth celebrating! We have 7 open seats for new members in the club and I have every reason to believe we will fill those seats!

The responses from all the guests were positive and enthusiastic. We do have a process to join. Prospective members must attend at least two regular monthly meetings. We will have a regular meeting next month since we held the Open House in place of our regular meeting.

My Mission for this Blog: Sharing my Path

So after these past several months, it has become clearer to me what I am doing here; writing entries for this blog. I really do want to share my day to day doings with those who are genuinely interested. I want to share my path of how I make changes in my life to get to where I want to be in all aspect of my life.

Here is a “catch-you-up” paragraph: A few years ago I had read the Power of Focus (written in 2000) by Les Hewitt, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. Later I took an online course taught by Les Hewitt. The course was based on the book. I really enjoyed the course, but I kept finding myself saying that his content really speaks more to business owners and to men in general. Basically as a woman who has an entrepreneurial spirit (I always have a project brewing) and a mom of two kids I felt he was not speaking to me and maybe others like me. Anyway, I took his advice and suggestions and tweaked them to fit me better.

Thus, I have six (6) areas in my life to focus on; to plan for, to goal set for, to nurture, to balance, and to simply enjoy. Those areas are: my spiritual life, family life, social life, my health, my financial life and my life style. At the time I took the online course I had written several essential goals for each area. I listed each goal in order of importance and took the top three to in each area to focus on. In another blog entry I will detail how that looks. It is time for me to do this exercise again!

Also I had written a personal purpose/mission statement; Les Hewitt called it a Life Purpose. I just reread what I had written (in 2005 - wow time flies). I’ll share that later too after I amend it.

Later I discovered that Les Hewitt and his wife Fran Hewitt wrote in 2003 The Power of Focus for Women. That is now on my current reading list of books to read.

A Quote for Today: June

F.E.A.R.

False Evidence Appearing Real

90% of what stops people from realizing their dreams is FEAR

I have heard this said many time in various places. Thought I'd share it here.

Investment Club Meeting: June

I went to my monthly investment club meeting tonight. Our current president opened up the discussion about increasing our membership. We currently have five women in the club and our by-laws allow for 12 members. After discussion of this, some of the members like the small group and the rest of us (including me) would like to see more women join. I made some suggestions for changes ... I think everyone will consider. I'll let you know if we implement this changes. I think they are exciting and over all improvements!

We also talked about what will do as a group for community service this year. It looks like we will volunteer at the local food bank in September.

We did not journal this evening due to our journaling leader is out of town.

Moving Day is Nearing

It is amazing how life works. I have been sharing all along that I am getting a divorce -- husband moved out. My kids and I have to move out of our house too because we rent and the owner is putting the house on the market. We have to move out by July 1. I have not yet found a place to move to. I did make a list of all that I want in a house and all the criteria I need in order to make this move a smooth transition.

I did find a house just down the street, that fits my needs, but I would have to have a roommate! I have someone in mind, but I am getting a feeling about it – you know one of those gut feelings. Anyway on the same day I found this house and spoke to the owner another friend calls me up and tells me about a fantastic house in Carmel. A mutual friend lives in the house and is moving out of state. But I really think I want to stay in Pacific Grove, plus I think I found this house down the street. Well my gut feeling keeps gnawing and the idea of moving in the house down the street no longer seems effortless. So I call my other friend back and tell her I want to see this house in Carmel.

I go today to see this house and my friend who lives there – Wow! I am impressed! It is a big house! It is a nice house! … with a view of the lagoon from every room being rented under market value. The house has everything on my list to meet my desires in a house; you know things like a garage, laundry room, at least two bedrooms etc… Now I just have to meet with the owner of the house …

I want to rent this house! I have 20 days left to find a place! … and honestly I am not stressed about.

Looking for a Job ... part II

And this tops the email I received on Monday from a friend about a job!

So, I was at my kids’ school earlier today. It is “soup day” and I was there helping my son’s 3^rd grade class serve homemade soups to other students for lunch when someone from the office came down to the classroom to see me. She whispered that the person who was hired to take the office assistant job in July had just called to say she can not take the job after all and asked if I was still interested!

You bet I am still interested! As a single mom to be this is my interim dream job! I will work the same hours my kids are in school and have the same holiday schedule too!

I immediately contacted a member of the hiring committee and scheduled myself and interview!

Looking for a Job ...

So this morning I was pondering on what do to about finding a job. Well, that seems obvious; get the paper and look in the help wanted section, or go to Craigslist and see what might me posted, put the word out to friends that I am looking for work ... blah blah blah. But, I loathe the whole job hunting process; filling out applications and hoping for a job interview and then sitting through a job interview hoping I made the perfect first impression (of course I am qualified otherwise I would not be applying for the position). It is just not in my nature to jump through the hoops. I would rather create a business and my own hoops. I am doing that with my friend. We have Nature by the Drop as a budding side business that I have every reason to believe will blossom into something fabulous. But right now, this month and next and the one following that, I need cash flow from a "job" -- maybe for a year or two at the very most. I will do what ever it takes ... as long as the process to get there is "effortless and easy" as my friend Pam would say.

So how am I going to do that?

The job I really would love to have is the office assistant position that begins in July at my kids' school. That could very well be the dream job of any single mom of elementary aged children -- It is definitely my interim dream job! Well the day I turned in my application I was told they had just filled that position. I was bummed but asked them to please keep my resume because you never know what might happen.

Anyway, I did mention to one of my friends who is a doctor just building her practice that I could help her out in her office ... she is thinking about it ...

So how am I going to do create myself a job effortless and easily? I just will!

* * * * * * * * * *

So you are not going to believe this! I am so excited (I get excited easily, but this is pretty cool)! I left this blog entry about two hours ago to runs some errands. I came home and checked my email. There I find an email from a friend I have not talked to since October so she doesn't even know I am looking for a job or even getting a divorce and someone she knows is looking for a stay-at-home mom who can help sell ad space for her local radio show. I can do that! You bet, I replied to that email! I called her on the phone too -- job sounds very interesting and very flexible. I've got to have flexibility in a job while I have two young children . I am meeting with Deborah on May 27 to talk more about what she is looking for.

Now that was effortless and easy! Yay!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

My nine year old son made scrabbled eggs and orange juice and served me in bed! My six year old daughter brought me flowers from the garden and drew me a picture! And they each presented me with a gift they and made in school!

We went for a bike ride; rode along the bike path which follows the shoreline of the bay.

I truly felt honored and had a wonderful day!

I hope yours was just as blessed!

Purging and Sorting

I have never liked clutter, yet it has always seemed to build-up around me. I went through a bunch of our belongings. I took four loads to St. Vincent de Paul! I took some of the kids clothes and toys to a local re-sale shop. I found some items I think are worth selling on Ebay. I have sold things before on Ebay it is fairly easy. It is a hit or miss on getting a good price, but at least I don't have the clutter and the items are being enjoyed by others. And I will have some much needed cash in my pocket!

I signed up for a community garage sale I heard about from my friend Holly. The garage sale is set for Saturday, May 17.

Then there is Craigslist, what ever doesn't sell that I think is worth $5 or more I'll put on Craigslist.

No job yet. The job I really would like to have is a part-time office assistant position at my kids' school. But the HR committee told me that they filled the position last week.