my horoscope today and my response to it

HOROSCOPE: What changes have there been in your life since this time last year? Take a good look at your life and think about the events that have taken place. What have you accomplished? What decisions have you made? And most importantly, how much you have grown as a person? Try to make changes by following your intuition. Even though it seems stressful and sometimes painful, change means growth!

This time last year, I had just started a new job as a marketing writer for a large hospital system, a job that seemed tailor made for me, was a HUGE step forward salary-wise and responsibility-wise. I got a job pretty easily at a place that a lot of people want to work at and have a hard time getting an interview at. I think the universe stepped in a big way, as I'll say later.

I was just coming off working from home, which I hated, and having to fly back east every other week for my job, which I also didn't like.

I was just coming off the third move in as many months. We had no savings, because so much of my money kept getting eaten up in plane tickets back east for work.

Since this time last year, I have grown a lot professionally. I am a lot more confident now, I speak up, I know how to manage vendors, I don't just sit back and be quiet. This has also applied to my personal life, I am no longer the shy little wallflower I've been for a long time.

We moved yet again (for the fourth time since may 2005), this time to an area we really like and are now considering buying a house in this part of town.

We are now in a much better financial situation. I finally finally made a budget and we learned how to stick to it. We have started saving a lot, towards a house, mostly. I am so proud of us, and watching our savings grow makes me feel really good. My parents have made a lot of bad financial decisions, and I feel like I have taught myself how to have good financial habits based on not doing what they did.

Since this time last year, I "broke up" with the girl who was supposed to be my best friend but who disappeared whenever I had something real going on in my life. I stood up for myself, and I told her how she was treating me wasn't acceptable. It was hard, but I know it was for the best for me.

I went through a period where it seemed like I couldn't keep friends, and I was feeling like Kellyfixit a lot of the time, that people only wanted to be my friend when I would fix their problems for them. I've since learned to put my energy into people who are not energy drainers, people who don't need or expect me to solve their problems, people who return the effort I put into a friendship. I feel lighter and healthier as a result.

We had a really bad stretch, where T's best friend's wife died, we had to buy an emergency plane ticket back east, we were moving again and I had to deal with a landlord who was at best bitchy, my wallet was stolen, I broke up with my best friend, T's other best friend got divorced, and I was coming home from work crying every day, because people were fighting all the time. But we got through it, by being there for each other, by taking it one day at a time, and by always believing things were going to get better, we just had to keep driving through the storm and working on making a better tomorrow for ourselves.

And now, the boy and I are making plans to start our own business-- focusing on healthcare and technology, something my boy and I know very well. We are excited for where we are going, and excited to try and shape our future more.

I look at this, and I see a year of growth. A year of taking more responsibility, of standing up for myself, feeling more confident in my job, feeling more confident in me. Learning to focus on what is really important and letting go of things that aren't healthy for me.

I am proud of how far I've come in a year, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future hold.