Bonjour! Allo! Dear Readers!

En Francais: Petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.

In English: Little by little, the bird makes his nest…

This is a translation of an idiom I am found of, “every little bit helps”

As with so many things in other languages, there are things lost in the translation to be sure… but in this particular case, this idiom is perfect for me and the stage I am in in my life. I am pregnant so we are literally nesting for our baby bird coming to The Haston Love Nest on September 28, 2016. I am ardently in love with my husband so I coined the term “Haston Love Nest” when we moved into our first place together in 2011. It has stuck.

But I digress, this post is about how you can have great intentions but unless you take steps, you will NEVER get to where you want to go.

Case in point, on this very blog, my first mention of the desire to speak fluent french was noted in April 2013. Here it is if you would like to read it-

https://jenniferhastonsays.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/the-words-you-use-matter/

The next mention was on my facebook because I joined a meet up group but made exactly three meet ups..(they are on Sundays and try as I might, things kept getting in the way)

I tried to figure out a way to work on French at work but met a roadblock, we don’t offer it anymore.. so I kept looking but my heart wasn’t fully in it. I have colleagues at work who speak French and I would occasionally send emails in half French/ half English.. but nothing consistent.

Every single time I would go to a meet-up I was SERIOUSLY intimidated and extremely frustrated because I was not perfect right now. Absurd, no?  I kept poking at it here and there and other things have taken greater precedence but on Friday a casual conversation (as a result of his flyer about a school that teaches your 4 year old French (I told you I like to plan!) with a work colleague led to the question, “do you speak french” and I said, “enough to get me in trouble” sort of laughing the question off…. I bemoaned the lack of meetups and was just making excuses all over the place  and he said, “why don’t we have lunch with you (he and his fluently speaking French wife) and you can speak French to her and she can correct you and you can get practice? WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! I am so excited about this. I feel like I am FINALLY taking steps in the right direction.  However, I realize that beating myself up about what I have NOT done is not the path to success. Recognizing that “little by little the bird builds her nest” is a really important piece of this particular pastry….

What would you like to do but feel like it’s WAY out of reach? Maybe it’s closer than you think…

Think about it…..