What is it?

Once upon a time I really felt that I knew what I wanted out of life and was well on my way to establishing these goals.  I had graduated high school, overcome the feeling of abandonment from my family, moved away, started college - graduated from UOP with a BS in Business Admin., married, started a business, and bought our first home.  Things were going great and life was as busy as it could possibly be. 

However, as it often does, life happened and my basket was turned upside down!  I found myself re-evaluating my life and myself trying to figure out what I really wanted in the second half of my life!


I went back to school to acquire my MBA and with a few bumps in employment due to the poor economy and I started my business in 2009. Then I decided to move home to be closer to my Karen so I decided to rent out my house and purchase one back home. 


Now, here I sit again needing something more, feeling like something is missing but unable to put my finger on it. 

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be," -Abraham Lincoln.

A Little History on Guardian Services

 When Gaurdian Services Owner Toni Burleson started her Virtual Assistant business many of her family and friends were afraid she had made a serious mistake.

Toni Burleson is a virtual assistant and her decision to become one and operate her own business was not just a career change it was a life style change!

Toni Burleson was the General Manager for a small internet provider firm, when she decided to uproot her life and charge in a new direction that would allow her more time to devote to other interests in life such as volunteering, animal rescue and spending more time with her friends and family! 

Burleson has clients all over the U.S. and U.K. that she assists and growing at a rapid speed! Her years of experience in business administration as well as her education have helped her to succeed! Burleson is an independent entrepreneur who works remotely and uses technology to deliver services to clients!

Burleson works from her home offices and receives project instructions by phone, fax, e-mail or even instant message. Many of the clients are interested in secretarial services, but as more clients with diverse backgrounds discover virtual assistants Burleson has been able to utilize her skills in such areas as management, administration, marketing, IT support making her a unique partner to have in your arsenal!

Burleson is skilled in the following areas:

   Bookkeeping & Financial Reporting
• Experience in supporting executives with administrative needs 
• Keen business decision-making skills 
• Outstanding customer service techniques 
• Crisis management 
• Multi-tasking ability and prioritization skills 
• Project management skills 
• Self-discipline 
• Knowledge of corporate protocol
• Awareness of need for sensitivity and confidentiality 
• Proficiency in business English, business law, ethics and intellectual property
• Proficiency in office practices regarding letters, manuscripts and other documentation

She has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and her Masters in Business Administration through the University of Phoenix

Reflecting on the Random Journey - Part 1

While life has never been easy for me; I have some how managed to survive and succeed by my own definitions. The best part has been that I have survived and succeed with very little help from anyone and have worked long and hard for everything I have been able to accomplish and achieve. 

     Now, this is not to say that I have not had a great support system since I was about 16 years old because I have had the best woman I know standing behind me cheering me on and encouraging me every step of the way since I have known her! She has become a second mother to me! 

However, since my divorce in 2005 life has been a struggle in many different ways because I had to learn to cope with the betrayal of someone I trusted, how to recover from someone who stole from me even as I struggled to be as fair as possible and how to continue on in the wake of the destruction he tried to create. It was difficult to keep up financial obligations made on 2 incomes now that I was down to one income again. It was difficult to clean up and sell the property after the "mysterious" fire. It was difficult to locate new employment in the wake of being a business owner and self employed in an economy that was slowly disintegrating. 

Somehow though I managed.  I cleaned up and sold the property, I found employment, life began to get back on track and I went as far as to be able to go back to school and accomplish my MBA, start my own business and purchase a 2nd home as well as move back to a community in which I thought I would flourish even more! 

I wake up each day, hoping that it is better than the last. Even if the previous days was excellent! I have grown to be more at peace with the life I have chosen. I have grown to enjoy the person I have become. I learn each day more about who I am and what I want in life. Sometimes though one of the most difficult things  to deal with are the people in my life. Some are very negative, some are very selfish, some are full of encouragement, some are judgemental some are closed minded and I have tried to learn to accept person's for who they are rather than who I want them to be. This is not an easy task and often times my actions and words do upset others even unintentionally.  This does cause stressful situations for me because no matter what we will never be able to make everyone happy all of the time and sometimes we just have to realize that making ourselves happy may be the best thing we can do in a given situation. This doesn't mean we don't love our friend or loved ones but sometimes we have to love ourselves more.

Just a little funny

If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of him and never says its not quite as good as his mother made it... 

..    Then buy a dog. 

If you want someone always willing to go out, at any hour, for as long and wherever you want ..... 

..    Then buy a dog. 



If you want someone who will never 
touch the remote, doesn't care about football, and can sit next to you as you watch romantic movies ..... 

..    Then buy a dog. 


If you want someone who is content to get up on your bed just to warm your feet and whom you can push off if he snores ... 

..    Then buy a dog. 


If you want someone who never criticizes what you do, doesn't care if you are pretty or ugly, fat or thin, young or old, who acts as if every word you say is especially! worthy of listening to, and loves you unconditionally, perpetually ...... 

..    Then buy a dog. 

But, on the other hand, if you want someone who will never come when you call, ignores you totally when you come home, leaves hair all over the place, walks all over you, runs around allnight, only comes home to eat and sleep, and acts as if your entire existence is solely to ensure his happiness.................... 
 

..      Then buy a cat!

Now be honest, you thought I was going to say....then marry a man

An area of life that has always left me with few answers and little understanding has been my biological father.

This man has never really held any kind of significant place in my life because he was never there. Even after my mother passed away and I had no choice but to live with him and his 2nd wife he still did not hold a significant place in my life because even when he was physically there he was never mentally or emotionally there.  Even as an adult he has never held a significant place in my life because he was never there and never made any significant attempt to be a part of my life or get to know me as a person.

For many years of my life I simply just moved on without him because when I expressed to him what I needed from him as a father he continued his same behaviors and actions.  Over the past year or so he has made appearances in my life again now that I have moved back to the same town he lives in and I find this difficult because there is no true relationship there. He doesn't know anything about me from where I went to school, who I was married to, why I am still not married, what I want from life, what my interests are, what type of volunteer work I participate in, etc.  I realized that his idea of a relationship is a superficial relationship to me and superficial relationships have never been something I have been very good at maintaining. To be completely honest superficial relationships are not something I have time nor the desire to maintain in my life.

Each time I see him (once in the last 4 months) all he talks about is gossip about people and situations that I don't care about or even know or to brag about how wonderful he is doing and how much money he has. Never once has he asked me how I was doing, was I ok, did I need anything, how was my work, school, etc. I don't know how to maintain this type of relationship and I find it more and more difficult to try and do so. I hate when they (he & his 3rd wife) tell me to come to outings they plan because I don't view them as my family and they don't seem to understand the reality that he has missed the opportunity to be part of my life and continues to misuse the attempts I have allowed to try and rebuild some type of a relationship.

I think about the little bit I do know about his life and his family and his background trying to understand how to have a meaningful relationship with him but I continue to return to the fact that he is a grown up and circumstances do not have to dictate behavior. He can change himself just like everyone else can but he doesn't seem to want to or even understand.

Free Women's Self Defense Class Offered

Free Women's Self Defense Class Offered

Wednesday, 04 May 2011 13:25 | Written by PSA |  |  | 

Life

Heart of Texas Martial Arts announces a women's self defense class which is offered at no cost to the public on May 14th from 11am to 1:00 pm.

This free class will take place at Heart Of Texas Martial Arts, located at 211 Fisk Avenue in Brownwood, Texas.

Call 325-649-0989 to reserve your place in this free class.  Enrollment is limited, so reserve your space now.

What do you not understand?

Putting myself out there romantically has never been an easy task for me. My entire life I have had issues with trust. However, I have always tried to deal with the issues of my past and continue on in my life trying to be successful in all the things I do from work, family, friends, romantic relationships, to fun and adventure. For some reason though the one area I continue to struggle in is romantic relationships.  

I don't think I am too demanding and I think I have excellent partner potential but finding someone who has the same qualities and definitions of dating/courting has been the greatest struggle of all.  Is it just me or when a man wants to take a woman out should he (with minimal dating history i.e. 0 previous dates)

A. wait till 5pm on a Friday night and text asking what she's doing & let's do something

B. contact her a few days in advance and ask her to an event/outing etc.

C. wait till the last minute & contact her & say "let's do something" & then appear to be upset when she     responds she's involved in various other activities

My personal thoughts are B. contact her a few days in advance and make plans. Now, I am not saying that when you have been dating someone for a period of time last minute plans are not appropriate but I think in the beginning a man should always give a woman notice and not expect her to either drop what she's doing to go out with him or be sitting home waiting on him to contact her at the last minute to do something with him.  

There has been a gentleman (we'll call him Scott to protect the innocent or should I say guilty?) who I recently met and he asked for my #. I was interested in getting to know him so I gave him my #. Now ever since that time he has waited till 5pm or later to contact me to see what my plans are for the evening. It just so happens that a few of the times I have been attending my niece's baseball games, been out with friends, or been with family or have been working around my house/yard at the time of the text.  Now, I am not one of those girls who sits by the phone waiting for someone to call. I go on with my life. My life didn't stop just because I am no longer in a relationship. I also am not one of those girls that ditches family or friends to go off to be with a guy.  I am one of those girls however, that expects a little notice from a prospective suitor before going out with them in the beginning. 

Last week Scott texted me again on Friday night (after 6pm) asking me what my plans for the weekend were. I informed him that it was my "brother's" 40th birthday and I would be out of town for his celebration that weekend.  Again Saturday evening he texted me again (@6:17pm) asking me what I was doing. I responded that I was at the birthday celebration I had told him about the night before. 

The new week came & went and Friday was here again..  I received another text from Scott @8:34pm asking me what I was doing that night. It just so happened that I was helping a family member with yard work that particular evening.  I responded by telling him this and he texted me back saying, "you really don't want to go out with me, do you?"  I responded by telling him that I was interested but that I would prefer having a day or 2 notice so that because by the time he text me on the weekend I have made other plans.  

Am I asking too much? Let me know what you think!