<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2012/01/05/wish-with-me/olympus-digital-camera-683/" rel="attachment wp-att-8892"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-8892" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PC230003-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>Back in 2011, I formed a <strong><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/10/25/day-364-would-you-like-to-join-my-wishing-club/" target="_blank">Wishing Club/Book Club</a></strong> and hosted an off-off-Martha-Stewart <strong><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/12/20/let-me-entertain-you-although-id-rather-you-entertain-me/" target="_blank">Holiday Tea</a></strong>.  (After reading that post, my dear cousin, Rhonda, actually commended me on my tea hosting skills.  This thoughtful yet obviously nepotistic compliment nearly made me snort my cappuccino out of my nose.)

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As promised, today I present to you Act Three:  Wishes for 2012.

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Our Wishing Club decided to mimic the ritual performed by <strong><em><a href="http://www.changinghands.com/book/9780812975505" target="_blank">The Wishing Year</a></em></strong> author, Noelle Oxenhandler.  As part of her wildly wishful year, Noelle -- a self-proclaimed skeptic -- succumbs to the pleas of her artist friend and builds a shrine to manifest her wishes.  (Noelle and her friend live in Northern California, so the woo-woo factor is high.)

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Intrigued by the woo-woo, my Wishing Club agreed to shrines or -- for those of us less artistically inclined (that would be me) -- vision boards.

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If you are familiar with The Most Woo-Woo Movie of All Time aka <a href="http://thesecret.tv/"><strong><em>The Secret</em></strong></a>, then you are familiar with vision boards.  You hunt for images of that you want to manifest in your life -- mansion, sports car, hot husband/wife, 2.2 kids -- post them on your vision board, and wait for them to miraculously appear.

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Personally, I thought the movie was a bunch of crock-a-doodle-doo.  Its obsession with materialism was tiresome.  And are we really to believe that "if we think it, it will come"?  We don't have to set goals, take personal responsibility, and work towards them?

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<span style="font-size: medium; color: #800080;"><strong>Then why aren't we all living the life and sipping mai tais on a beach in Hawaii?  (You've had that dream, right?)</strong></span>

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Even though I, too, am a skeptic, I <em>do</em> like the thought of Putting It Out There (as Noelle puts it) through a shrine or vision board to remind us of our dreams on a daily basis.  Then we might actually get off our bums and take a step or two towards those dreams.  And if Lady Luck happens to smile, then good for us!  We all deserve a little bit of woo-woo luck every now and then.  We've earned it.

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My Wishing Club gathered magazines, scissors, glue, push pins and scrapbooking decor, and met in the living room for our woo-woo art project.

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<span style="color: #800080;"><strong>Wishing Club Hot Tip:</strong>  </span>When purchasing glue for your Vision Board Building, make sure to have your ID handy if, for whatever reason, you are called to buy rubber cement.

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[caption id="attachment_8889" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Thanks for the laughs and the PSA, Tiffany! :-D"]<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2012/01/05/wish-with-me/olympus-digital-camera-680/" rel="attachment wp-att-8889"><img class="size-medium wp-image-8889 " title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PC100018-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

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Glue-sniffing is for kids!  Our Wishing Club is more than of age to enjoy legal kicks at our party.

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<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2012/01/05/wish-with-me/olympus-digital-camera-681/" rel="attachment wp-att-8890"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8890" title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PC100017-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>

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After a little bit of book discussion and a lot of socializing, we started to envision our wishes.

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Becky Jo, practically perfect in every way, built a real shrine.  Isn't it darling?

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[caption id="attachment_8883" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Becky Jo dreams of a cozy cottage vacation home in her home state of Minnesota."]<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2012/01/05/wish-with-me/olympus-digital-camera-679/" rel="attachment wp-att-8883"><img class="size-medium wp-image-8883 " title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PC100014-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

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And . . . .

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Becky Jo was the only one to complete her project.

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Many of the women felt they weren't ready to begin.  They were unclear as to what to wish for.  Others were afraid to wish.  If life is running fairly smoothly, could you hex yourself by wishing?

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I left them alone with their wishing struggles.  Noelle had similar internal conflicts.  Wishing is a very private affair.

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I, on the other hand, have absolutely no issues with wishing.  Dreamers are in a constant state of wishing, are they not?  I simply have issues with completing a vision board when I'm sadly attempting to hostess with the mostess.

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<span style="color: #800080;"><strong>On an interesting woo-woo of a side note:</strong>  </span>When <em>The Secret</em> was popular 5 or so years ago, I built a vision board with a friend.  Technically, I created two vision boards because I couldn't fit all of my dreams on just one.

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I located the old, dusty boards in my office closet and brought them down to reinvent them at the party.  I was amazed at how many of these former "wishes" materialized:

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<ul>
	<li>my job at Noble Publishing Superpower</li>
	<li>a dog similar in look to Little Miss B</li>
	<li>my first passport</li>
	<li>a man and a woman walking arm in arm -- <strong><a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2011/12/13/gifts-from-my-man-from-far-far-away/" target="_blank">the man's arm loaded with bags of gifts.</a> </strong> (This was a first for me.  I kind of liked it.  I could get used to this.  :-D )</li>
	<li>books with my name on them.  (I don't have a published book.  Yet.  But I'm self-published on this blog.  I didn't even know what a blog was when I made those vision boards!  WOW, how life changes!)</li>
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I finished my 2012 vision board a few days later.

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[caption id="attachment_8891" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Want to see a supersized, readable version of my 2012 vision board? Click the photo once, wait for the photo to open in a separate page, then click once again."]<a href="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/2012/01/05/wish-with-me/olympus-digital-camera-682/" rel="attachment wp-att-8891" target="_blank"><img class=" wp-image-8891     " title="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" src="http://www.diaryofalatebloomer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/PC230006-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>[/caption]

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I have my vision board out as a personal reminder and inspiration.  Woo-woo, if you'd like to come my way, that's cool!  In the meantime, I'm working on my <strong><a href="http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/2011-annual-review-the-beginning/" target="_blank">Annual Review a là Chris Guillebeau.</a></strong>  The Review involves reflection, wishing, goal setting, and follow through.  Wishes and dreams are too important to be left entirely to chance.

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<span style="color: #800080; font-size: large;"><strong>What are <em>your</em> wishes for 2012?</strong></span>

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I leave you with my favorite quote from <em>The Wishing Year</em>.

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"But what I do know is this:  our wishes do come true, <em>mais il faut s'èlancer dans la vie.  </em>You have to throw yourself into life."

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Best wishes for 2012!

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