I did it. I’ve had this goal since 2005, when I completed the Mount Mitchell Challenge Ultra for the first time. I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains that weekend and told my young children that one day, that when they launched, I was going to move to Western North Carolina.

Those of you who know WNC can understand the draw of the mountains. Those of you who have not yet found WNC for yourselves may not understand exactly what it’s about. The Blue Ridge Mountains dominate every view from the town of Brevard. They overlap. They change colors. They are shrouded in fog and you can’t see them and then they show you the most perfect sunset that you have ever seen. They hide waterfalls and creeks and rivers among their folds. They protect and shelter birds, and animals, wild flowers and exquisite native moss and mushrooms. It’s all right there, at your feet, over your head and in the air. I feel like I am still gulping it all in so that I miss not a thing.

My children launched a few years ago and while they remain in Virginia and Washington D.C., they gave me their blessings and well-wishes. They remembered the story I told long ago- that one day I would move when they were ready. They have launched well and I miss them greatly which makes me wonder if I was ever truly ready to separate from them? They have launched and we speak of the closeness of time of when they will come and visit and stay for a spell. We plan to hike and bike and drink good beer. We plan to eat good food that they will cook for me, for like many talents and traits, things skip a generation and cooking well skipped over me. Luckily for their sakes, they both like to cook and do it well. I am looking forward to their meals shared over our dinner table that is now sitting in a new location.

I miss my friends in Virginia and the routines that we had. The hikes and dog walks, the bike rides and shared beers afterward. The easy camaraderie of walking into The Bike Lane and seeing the faces of so many people that I have shared so many years and events with. I miss that greatly; and yet I find myself so utterly happy with my decision to move to Brevard.

New beginnings are hard and scary. And there is an element of excitement wrapped deep within as well. While I will acknowledge the hard and scary, I chose to look at the excitement and goal that I have reached.

My next goal is to build my community and start contributing to the existing Brevard community; to connect and to build the new friendships that will carry me into the next season of my life. And truth be told… I am working hard on getting all of my Virginia friends to move down here or at minimum to come and visit. Brevard will like them as much as I do.

set goal.break goal. repeat

I like the start of each New Year and the anticipation of what events will unfold and what memories will be made. It’s an undeniably good season for regeneration and renewal.

What I don’t like is all of the talk of New Years Resolutions. Nothing says failure to me like a resolution…”I’ll loose ten pounds”, “I’ll save more money”, “I’ll pay off my car loan this year”… The list is rather endless. Resolutions remind me of things we should or should not be doing. Who wants to be ruled by a “should”? We’ve lived with the implied “should” our entire lives. It sounds like judgment under a new name.

Rather than wasting our time on creating resolutions that go unmet, allowing regret and shame to enter our mindset, let’s look at setting New Years Goals.
Goals- just the word alone makes me think of good things, accomplishments, challenges that are made to be met, benchmarks just waiting to be hit and surpassed. Set GOALS for the aspects of your life that you like and even those parts that you don’t like. I bet it will help to make the parts of your life you don’t like into parts of your life that you’re now proud of, hurdles overcome, bad habits changed- Goals are life affirming and clarifying.

If you can write down a list of 12 Goals for 2017 and keep them visible and in front of you, I bet that you will enjoy December 2017 much more as you review your goal list and check off all of the ones you’ve accomplished.

I set personal goals … Read 13 books a year… easy for some- a good goal for me.
I set activity goals … Run three marathons, race in two 100 mile mountain bike races, join cross fit… training for events keeps me motivated and not to mention that “resolution” of eating better and losing weight will naturally happen as I have to conscientiously think of how I fuel my body for competition.
I set work goals…reach x amount of households with my craft…this means I have to get out of my introverted shell and learn marketing strategy and expand my reach into areas I’m not automatically comfortable with.

Take the next week to write out as much as you can and then scrub the list down to 12 Goals, setting both short term and long term goals for yourself and your family. And, if you have kids age 6 and up, get them into the habit as well. Goal setting and accountability can be family focused and character builders.

Do it! and then let me know how you did!

Browning Design Group provides Realtors and their clients with a full compliment of services to assist in bringing a home to the market, fully prepared to show and sell at the highest sales price. We walk your customers through the presale steps to prepare the property for showing.

We have three To-Market Plans to prep a home for sale.

1- An initial interior and exterior consultation between one of our staff members and your client. We walk through the entire property making recommendations on repairs, furniture arrangements and home updates. We provide both you and your client with the to-do list and BDG invoices you for the flat rate consultation fee.

2- BDG provides an interior and exterior consultation, giving the client their to-do list within a manageable time schedule. We work with you, the Realtor by providing you with a proposal, based on an hourly rate and we bill you directly for the assistance we provide to the client. This is one of our more popular services.  We work with the client to manage the to-do list. This benefits you by freeing up your calendar as you touch the client fewer times. We stay on target with project status and completion dates.

We work with your client directly and help them to stay focused on the to market sell timeline. We provide service pros as needed; we solve problems, we help pick out fixtures and arrange furniture. We pick paint colors and schedule repairs, updating you on a weekly schedule. Think of us as your in-house client management assistant.

3- This plan is our most comprehensive plan to bring a home to market. After an initial consult with your client, Browning Design Group steps in as the general manager on the project. We contract, schedule and complete according to our proposal with the client. Think of us as your Home Inspector, before the home inspector shows up.

Our services are valued on reliable repair information provided to the client, to increase sales price. Benefits include our expertise on recommendations for exterior and interior work. And the final product is a professionally staged home, ready to sell.

Call or email us today for an appointment.

julie@browningdesigngroup.com

703-895-1976

 

 

I’ve had many friends and co-workers tell me over the years, that as they were getting their home ready to sell they decided to repaint the family room, fix the bannister on the outdoor stair…

Source: Home Love! (Don’t wait until you move to fix up your home).

The humanKindness Project has taken a foothold on social media this summer due to the compassion of two inspiring and very human millennials from Boston, MA.

I have the privilege of knowing Ella Pestine and it is an honor for me to be counted as one of her friends.  Ella and my daughter shared a couple of years of college together and became fast friends and it is easy to see why my daughter was drawn to Ella as they have remained close.

I became aware of The humanKindness  Project @thehumankindnessproject via face book, last month.  The idea for the movement was started by a (step)mom and daughter on a Chicago to Boston phone call. One challenged the other to reconnect with an old friend that week, sparking an impassioned exchange of ideas centered around actively engaging with each other and the world around them. Ella and Naomi decided that the mission for the project was theirs to carry forward and to develop into a grass roots organization to show love and compassion to friends and strangers alike. The two have decided that the best way forward in this world is to challenge each other to do good, be kind, expand their limits, and in the process inspire others. 

It’s easy to make the parallel between our current United States conditions and the need for compassion between friends and strangers. We are not able to pass the day without hearing about #BlackLivesMatter, #AllLivesMatter, politics and the DNC / RNC fighting between themselves, neighbors living as strangers with each other; it could be said that our communities are breaking down everywhere we look. Yet, I know so many people who pour into their communities, their lives, their children’s lives on a daily basis to make sure that community stays strong. It’s little acts like this, that can become big movements, that can create positive, life changing habits- to create community and kindness.

Like and follow them on FaceBook and start sharing some of that human kindness that we all have inside. You’ll be glad you did!

I can’t wait to hear your story on how you made someone’s day and gave them a smile. @thehumanKindnessProject

 

 

I’m listening to the Diane Rehm show today and the discussion that guest host Indira Lakshmanan held with her four panelist. (See their bios and credits below).

It’s a good discussion on how we can live with less, if we want to. All four panelist agree that big houses full of belongings does not guarantee happiness or joy to living; rather it was shared, it can bring stress of upkeep and compulsion to fill space and buy more. Inwardly or outwardly we can fall into competition on who has more stuff and create that sense of feeling of “I’ll be happy when I have that new couch, that new bike, that new…you fill in the blank.” Does it really bring happiness?

In the Diane Rehm discussion today, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn share their stories on how they decided to let go of homes  filled to the brim with great things and seek out a minimalist lifestyle.  They have collaborated on books, a documentary and a movement that they call ‘The Minimalist’. Interesting testimonials to having more with less.

Is minimalism and downsizing the right thing for all of us? Continue reading →