Reflection:

A couple weeks ago I was watching Modern Family. Which is genius by the way. They took off to go to Hawaii and the next night I had a dream about going to Hawaii. No, I've never been, but I had a dream that on our way home from Southern California we took a detour and drove to Hawaii.

Because that's what you do when you are driving four hours from the beach in California home to Las Vegas...you drive to Hawaii.

So I started thinking that I wanted to go to Hawaii, this in conjunction with a friend of mine and a family member recently posting about her awesome trip to Hawaii.

But Hawaii will have to wait.

Adam is currently getting a masters degree in curriculum development in Technology. We are paying for his degree out of pocket, sans loans and a credit card because that's just how we roll. This means no Hawaii for us.

We are starting to landscape our back yard. We had a landscaper come and look at it and tell us that we couldn't do what we wanted to do with our budget--however, if we paid 3,000 dollars over our budget we could do something we didn't want to do either! Great deal? No...so we are doing it ourselves within our original budget (also sans credit card/bank loan) which means--you guessed it, no Hawaii for us.

Then there is Australia. We've been DYING to return to Adam's mission ever since we started dating. Adam has been back once but would love to go back again on a three week trip during his break which would be great...but like Hawaii, Australia costs money that we are pouring in to school and home and life etc.

Sure, we have money in savings just collecting dust--but it is just waiting for the next semester to roll around so we can once again, pay UNLV...we also have a very large credit card limit--and a 0 dollar balance...tempting...yes but worth it, probably not.

My point is, there are lots of things we want but HELLO we are in the middle of experiencing things we want right now! We've been planing for Adam to go back to school, we've been looking forward to getting a back yard that we can relax in! So they are not just expenses, they are the fulfilling of desires.

So why am I complaining?

Human nature I guess.

There is always something worth looking forward to. In the words of a very wise philosopher:

There's always gonna be another mountain I'm always gonna wanna make it move Always gonna be a uphill battle Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose Ain't about how fast I get there Ain't about what's waiting on the other side It's the climb

Ok...so it is a Miley Cyrus song. But isn't it true. Once the backyard is done, and Adam graduates in August I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to start saving for Hawaii, or Australia. I'm planning on taking an awesome fun trip in 2012 to one of these destinations. When 2012 comes will I be content and happy sitting on a beach (both Australia and Hawaii have beaches) or will I be thinking about the next step? What is coming next?

I think it is important to feel satisfied and grateful, but I also think it is important to look ahead. It gives us a little motivation, a little determination to move forward and accomplish the tasks.

Today I'm focusing on today, but I'll have a little corner of my brain dedicated to some beach.