I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.

Let's start by telling everyone that I have been promoted at Sur La Table to a shift manager. Pay increase, steady hours, and somewhat of an improvement in job responsibility. Yay me.

Financially, this is a wonderful thing. I have been doing some scheming lately to pay down some debt, and this couldn't help more.

I'm trying to get my finances on track because, honestly, they are holding me back from doing anything that I could ever want to do with culinary school and my career otherwise.

On to the real reason for this post...

I have a plan. This is rare for me. For those that know me best, I change my mind about what I'm doing more than I would like... I usually just jump right in and throw all caution to the wind and just know that "somehow it will all work out." That, my friends, is the stressful way to do things. If you want to make yourself all worrisome and frantic, by all means, choose this mode of operation. However, if you would like to remain sane, a plan is a good place to start.

On the heels of my mother's advice, I have created a 12 month financial/goal plan to get me to where I want to be. It's written down. In ink. In a book that I can't lose.

Unfortunately, for many reasons, I cannot publicly post the majority of my plan until a later date. Here's what I can tell you...

1) We are still on the road to Paris. Just not quite the way I originally intended it... (Hence the title of this post.

2) It would involve a move.

3) I would be going to culinary school.

4) I would not be moving to Paris to go to culinary school.

My plan is designed so that I can choose at the end of 12 months to execute this plan or to remain in my current positions... But all good things are leading up to this destination... I plan on paying down a significant part of my debt. All of my credit cards and part of my student loans. I plan on purging a great amount of my stuff... I'm only hanging on to what is necessary. I'm trying to simplify a great number of things. Who really needs a box full of stationary? I never write anyone...

So, that's sort of my plan. I apologize for the vagueness, but it is somewhat necessary at this juncture since, like I mentioned earlier, I tend to change my mind really really fast.

So here's to 12 months. I'll keep you posted.