5+ year plan??

Hey guys. Today, as I packed up some stuff in my apartment in preparation for moving to Cali, I started really thinking about what the next few years to next decade will look like for me.

I'm basically telling you all so that 1. you know and 2. you can help keep me accountable.

This is my ideal plan from here. My dream plan. 

1. I'm going to Vanguard, and will graduate with my bachelor's in English in the winter semester 2011 (due to credit problems I'll probably have to graduate a semester later than my class)

2. At some point during my 2 years at Vanguard, I think I may study abroad at Oxford. It's an option at Vanguard, and is seriously my dream. I just want to be in the places C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolken hung out. Oxford and just England in general would be great places of inspiration for my writing. 

I am, however, super scared about leaving the country, especially for a whole semester. 

3. Once I have my bachelor's degree, I want to do a summer internship for International Justice Mission, which is a Christian organization that travels to other countries to help free victims of human trafficking.

4. Once my internship is done, I think I'll return to Vanguard for grad school, because I really want (and probably really need) to get my master's. So that'll be 4 more years of Cali.

5. I really don't think I'm going to stay in California once school is done. I'm a Colorado girl.

This is where the plan gets a little squirrly. At this point, I want to move back to Colorado after grad school and live in Dillion, CO or somewhere in summit county. I just love it there. I know that there are lots of ski bums and pot smokers, but I love the snow and the beauty.

6. In Dillion, I'll (hopefully) have some kind of writing job or prospects for publication. I'll probably have an actual job at a coffee shop or waitressing, but still pursue writing until I get famous :)

7. At some point in the future, I want to open a Vision 139 shelter. If you haven't read my fiction series, you don't know what that means. But you do know that I am a feminist and I believe that women working in the porn industry, as strippers or hooters girls need other options.

  Vision 139 is an organization that one of my characters created that helps women get out of jobs like stripping, and gives them new options, financial help, counseling, medical care, legal help if they are in trouble or scared or being stalked, helps them go back to school, etc. The shelter is a place for battered women/ex strippers and porn stars to stay with their children during their time of transition. Ultimately, I want these women to be able to be independent and find an apartment/house to stay so they can have their own life.

I seriously have this vision for the lobby/foyer of the shelter with a big plaque with this quote on it:

"A woman should have enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own, even if she never wants to or needs to." -Maya Angelou 

To learn more about this, I am hoping that I can find jobs or volunteer opportunities in California to work at a women's shelter.

8. I'm not entirely sure when I will found my shelter. I'll need so much help and so much business knowledge. I am thinking that this project will have to come after a while. 

I sort of have some tangent plans.

I may move to New York City instead of Dillon after grad school. It's a shithole, yes, but it's a great place for writers to go. 

I really want to be a published fiction author some day. It's not really about the money, but I am hoping to earn a lot so that I can conquer another dream.....

I want to adopt a little girl from Malaysia one day. On my own. 

At this point in my life, I really don't think I'm going to get married. Unless God sends someone completely exceptional, I think singleness is my route.

But I am okay with raising a daughter on my own. In New York, where we can live in a trendy loft and she can go to an amazing private school and go to dance classes and I can write books or columns. 

I realize that kids need a father. I'm not try to defy that fact. But I really think that God can sustain that absence. If I teach her about her heavenly father, she won't lack anything. 

I also must point out that the biggest hurt in my life comes from my broken relationship with my father. As unorthodox as it may be, I think I want to be a single mom. I really believe I can do it, and she will turn out just fine.

I will say that my Vision 139 shelter would be much easier to do with a spouse's support. But if need be, I'll do it on my own. 

If for some reason I decide to be stupid and fall in love, my Christian husband must be up to ALL of my standards and be one of the following:

-A police officer

-A pastor or youth pastor

-A movie star (I think I am the perfect candidate for a celebrity wife because I live life in the shadows, behind the scenes so well)

-A lead singer of a popular alternative band (same reasons)

-A general contractor or carpenter.

SO if you friends out there want to hook me up with someone, make sure you know what he does for a living. I don't do military guys. They have the highest statistical rates for domestic abuse, and I don't want to move all the time. I don't do computer guys. I don't do doctors.  

I read a book called Bella, a novelization of the movie that recently came out, and the main quote in it sticks out right now:

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."