Starting back at the beginning: What from my original Ideal Day 15 or so years ago worked out? What was most important and what could change?

I don’t live in a 2-story house on the Texas gulf coast (a future goal for a vacation home perhaps?), but I do own my own home in a historic artist community.

My current business is online, though I have co-owned a (successful) gift shop in College Station. I say successful because we were earning a profit when we made the decision to close the shop so myself and my co-owner could both move away from College Station.

Supporting other artists is still an integral part of my goals, and now thanks to affiliate marketing, I’m able to do that.

Living in an artistic community is also still a priority, which is why I chose the house and neighborhood where we live now – walking distance to an arts community, glass-blowing studio, deli, restaurants and bars, and festivals twice a year – not to mention live (usually jazz) music almost every weekend. None of this was expected and now I couldn’t imagine living without it.

What priorities do I still hold dear?

• Community
• Artistic Creativity
• Artist Co-operative
• Helping Others
• Learning
• Business
• Cooking
• Animals
• Math & Programming

In my Ideal Day, these were all key factors and my day incorporated each with a perfect balance. What I find interesting are the things I included without realizing their importance at the time, much less my own abilities. I had only started making jewelry, but had never painted or drawn anything (not counting grade school, up to grade 6) much less thrown a pot or worked on ceramics. That’s right. Never. These were only things I wanted to do. And since I wrote my original Ideal Day, I’ve done all of them and managed to keep them in my life in one form or another. I didn’t own half the cookbooks I have now, had never written one (or considered writing one) and had never written my own recipe for a cooking contest. Yet, somehow, cooking dinner for friends was a priority then, without realizing how much of one it would become now. I included a database of my own making at the time because I thought I would use an existing program I was familiar with, such as FileMaker Pro (an excellent application for both PC and Mac), never dreaming I would one day write my own programs in Visual Basic.

Since my goal now is much the same as it was then, it’s easy to see the importance of Business and Community in my life. I strongly feel you can’t have one without the other. I believe I’m closer than ever before to achieving my dream of financial independence through multiple income streams while maintaining community support and connections. That’s what our sites are all about.

• Rock Salt Journals
• Yellow Rose Gallery Designs