Thanksgiving weekend-the kick off of Christmas

There is always something to be happy about!! Even more so there is always something to be Thankful for. 

Here is my list of thanks...

1. Family and that we were all able to spend Thanksgiving with Justin and Kaitlyn

2. Ryan and how he always comes through for me 

3. Hunter and Moka because they love me unconditionally

4. my job, that although stressful at time, because the paycheck helps put food on the table, a roof over our head, gives me a car to drive, presents to buy at this time of the year and still allows me to save for our dreams

5. Christmas trees and the beauty these things add to life

6. My friends and how we can spend time with each other doing nothing and just laughing..or watching Charlie Brown on Youtube :)

7. Setting goals and keeping them. This year I am super thankful for new years resolutions

8. This year I am thankful for learning how to budget

9. The spirit of Christmas

10. my health and my family and friends Health

11. Helping those in need no matter how small

12. Being able to end my facebook addiction. No farmville this year

13. Living a "greener" life

There are so many more but these are the recent and bigger ones. I am thankful for many more things.

I am also hoping to start blogging a bit more. Maybe on Santa Claus, the meaning of Christmas and spirits!!

Frugal and Green

Yup...I have been green for a quite a few months now. I only dry 50% of our clothes in the dryer. The other 50% hang dry. I grew my own tomatoes and basil this year and today I actually made a homemade sauce. We have the cable box plugged into a power strip and turn off the power strip when not in use as to not use phantom electricity to run the time and light on the television. All of our other appliances that keep time...like the coffee maker and microwave are unplugged when not in use. That is the way to roll. 50% of the time I use reusable bags at the supermarket (50% because I need bags to empty the cat box). I also recycle like a maniac. Next year my plan is to an electric bike for Spring-fall and to save on emissions and gas. I will do it. So this being green stuff is frugal...why? A lower electric bill and a lower grocery bill. I also clip coupons to save money...not green but frugal.

I did another FRUGAL thing today. I watched an infomercial for WEN a $30.00 hair care product per month. There is a blog that teaches me how to make it from scratch saving you $400.00 a year. And when I run out of my next product I am so going to. I am going to to look great on dimes :)

I have been so good at keeping my goals this year for 2010. I cannot to build on them for 2011. My debt will be paid off by the end of this year as I had planned. Ryan and I had a talk and we are saving for a house. So the money that was spent in debt last year will be put into a new smartypig account for our down payment on a house. When I look back on this blog wow how I have matured :)

WOW! Do you know what you are worth???

When I get frustrated with my job I go on career builder and monster.com and search for other jobs that are available in my field. Last night after work was one of those nights. I stumbled upon a correlating job in my field. The starting base salary with same experience that that I have was $32,000 more than I make at my job. I am certain that I am one of the best in our industry. I decided to go on salary.com and fill out the survey for my job. I was more than honest about my education, my work history etc and I am being paid the lowest possible salary in the 10th percentile for what I do. 

So Tuesday I am pulling all of the emails that I have received with compliments from the accounts that I manage. Get a time line of goals my department has set and broken in the last year. Make a bulleted list and  give boss the job description for my position vs what I actually do. 

 I don't need to get a $32,000 raise but I am not going to take a another $.75/hour raise this year.

26 Days!

26 Days until I am credit card DEBT free. That is right. In less than a month I have paid off all 4 of my credit cards :) Well I actually have 3 of the 4 credit cards paid off. Next month I have accomplished a New Year's resolution I made January 1st :) I am pretty proud of myself.


Just a quick update: 21 days until I am credit card debt free. I have $406.00 left to pay off. It feel so good to be this close. I am over the hump. I can say looking back a couple of years ago that I could not imagine this day being here but now it is and it feels so good. I was in so much debt when I was with Brian because he didn't know how to manage his money...but now with Ryan and I on top of everything I have managed to get here.

You can have it all, just not all at Once!!!

Yesterday I am sitting at my computer, pushing the papers around my desk when an email rolls in. It is my Motivational Quote of the day... I read Oprah's words of wisdom " You can have it all, just not all at once." Wow! I read a quote that I think just changed my life. I posted the quote on face book. I printed it out and taped it to my computer monitor. Today I am making sure that I update my list of short term goals, make a list of mid range goals, and long term goals.  I can have it all but I need to build on my successes. 

My most recent yearning is for a home. I love love love my apartment but I feel like our property manager acts like my mom. She needs to do know what I am doing while I am in "the house" or in this case on the property of Cornfield. I want to have my own house where I can live by rules Ryan and I make together...not what Devcon says I must do. I want more space!!!  I am really working on my carbon foot print and I feel like I am maxed out here. I cannot use solar panels or wind mills. I cannot replace out ac with energy star air conditioners. I just feel like I am stuck in a rut!!!

AS for my short term goals...I am on track with my 2010 goals to pay off my credit cards. I will have them all paid off by September!!! I am so proud of my self. I need to be debt free by the time I buy a house!!! :) Well I don't have to but I want to :)

I am just going to keep working towards my dreams :) 

I want you all of keep working towards your "ALL"

Green, Green, Green... One small step by a lot of people makes a huge difference

I know being Green is not new! I continuously work on being more and green all of the time. Last winter Ryan and switched all of our light bulbs over, bought an energy efficient shower head, and energy saving power strips. That was last years accomplishments!! Last weekend we went to the flea market and I got a laundry drying rack. Today I have saved electricity and the air (by not pumping the chemicals out of the apartment) by only drying 2 of 5 loads of laundry today. The rest I let hang dry. It is also green to buy locally from people at the flea market. This year I am also growing my own tomatoes. 

I have also set up a bag to start recycling junk mail and other jar and jugs that I cannot return to the bottle redemption center. 

I am trying to do my part! The next step is for me to start biking or at least walking to work. It is only 4 miles one way!!!

I hope you all do your own things to be more and more green!!! If you do not have a rack for drying clothes I recommend you invest. You will save so much on your electric bill by doing this!! See below

It's So Much Better When We're Together!!!

Ryan and I went to the Jack Johnson concert last night and it was flat out awesome! If you like a relaxing surf feel this is for you! There is not ONE sad song that he sings. He closed the show with Angel and Better Together which very well be a mashup that Ryan and I will dance to as our wedding song. We swayed together and sang together!! Flat out awesome. If you have not heard Jack or have not purchased the CD yet do yourself a favor and click on this link and purchase from Amazon.


Saturday I spent the day with my other other 1/2 my sister Melissa!! We went Country store shopping! I am redoing part of the apartment. I love, love, love the stuff that I bought today.  Ryan and I have a lot of projects to get into as it starts cooling down in the fall.  I am going to distress the coffee table in our living room by basically scraping, burning, and beating the current table with a chain. See when we bought Hunter almost 2 winters ago he went and chewed on one leg while teething! Instead of trying to restain I decided to distress it because we bought a media shelf case for our dvds...so now it will match.
In September we are also buying an electric fireplace. I cannot wait for this portion of the living room to be complete. The weekend before we will be repainting the white walls in the hall way and kitchen! I want to get eclipse blinds for the living room slider to keep the heat in. Also need to redo the trim now that Hunter is done teething too. This is going to be the hardest project!!! While it is warm I am going to rope him in to building me a pergoda. He just does not know it quite yet! I want to go a candle chandelier for outside!!!


Tomorrow I am off to the flea market! What other gems can I find! Melissa, Joe, Ryan and I are then headed to the fireworks!!!

Take the Time to Tie Up Loose Ends

I am sure for those of you that have been following this blog or my facebook, you know that I have been working on the positive thinking thing. And I feel like I have been doing a great job. This will still take some time because I am a compulsive judger. I judge every situation, people I know and people I don't know. Only a few have made it to the NON-JUDGEMENT list.  Again...long way to go until I can get everyone in that category but still trying to repremand that poor thought process when it pops up.

Any how, I have decided to tie up all of the loose ends. You know the things we start but don't finish.
So yesterday the first untied string was to chave Brian and my joint bank account closed since we have not been together for 2 years. He started to resist and I made him transfer out the money and then closed it. I doo not need to be tied to his name.

I also put an end to a really messy confusing friendship. No need to have a drama filled relationship with anyone. It just kept dragging me down! Ridiculous.

I started writing down my goals again so I could them all accomplished. When I was 19 years old I said I wanted to run a  marathon by the time I was  30 years old. I have spent these years postponing this goal and I am turning 27 in 2 months. So this month I am starting the 1/2 marathon training for the Hartford marathon in October. I am going to run the full marathon next year when I am 28 years old and do the Triatholon next September. It would be good to not push the envelope and wait to the last minute. So I on the search to get my timing chip for my ipod and sneaker and track my progress! I am pretty pumped.

One of my new years resolutions was to pay off my credit card debt and I am still right on schedule with that. My car should be paid off at the end of 2011. That was a recent set goal. Oct I have 3 more years to go so I will end up paying off 2 years early! I totally recommend the money budget site http://www.mint.com/ . It is super helpful.

So all and all I am feeling super proud and super positive.

Have a happy 4th everyone.

Happy about NOT Dieting!! Happy about MY Body Image

So about a month ago I bought a book called Thin is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel. I bought this in the height for my 4 hour a day exercise regimen (which I exhausted my self and my time every day accomplishing) and finished this book this morning.

This must read novel if for ANY woman out there : in all shapes and sizes. It teaches you now to break the dieting cycle and rid yourself of the negatives that cause you to eat. The book takes you on an emotionally disturbing memoir of the poor body image her mom bestows  on her at 11 years old. Her mother Judy, calls her Fat, puts her on diets, sends her to Weight Watchers. This preadolescent girl is burned with the thought process that skinny is the only way to get love, to be loved, and succeed. After years of crash dieting she rids her mind of her emotional baggage and the idea of dieting and gets to her predetermined goal weight. She drops "The INNER BITCH" talk and thoughts and starts to think of herself positively.

Valerie does continue to exercise but she allows herself to eat and enjoy life. We all should not be basing our inner worth on food and calorie counting and the guilt that is brings with it.


"Amen, sister! We shall overcome! Among all oppressed peoples throughout history, we women hold the dubious distinction of being the only group to persecute ourselves. We are our own enemies. We choose the battle that we could never win. Call it the Thousand Years War. If every woman on earth were to suddenly release her far obsession into the wind, the world would change profoundly for the better. The world around us, and world within." Valerie Frankel


I love this book and the emotional and mental process has changed in me. I do not want to diet. I just want to be healthy. So today I vow to change my thinking and way of life. I want to live happy and not worry about the guilt of dieting.

Rise up women...It is time to stop wishing we all looked like Victoria Secret models. Our bodies are all not predisposed to be that way.

I recommend this book as an immediate ready. Feel free to click on the Amazon.com link today to purchase your copy.

With love, Natasha!!!

My man!! He makes me so Happy!

So Ryan stepped it up major for me today and this has proved he would do anything for me. Nutshell...my dream car is for sale. I filled out an application to purchase the vehicle. When did this the loan amount was still high because I have not saved for a down payment...cause I was not looking for a car. With my student loans they are saying that I need a co-signer even though my credit is great. So Ryan offered to co-sign for me today because he knows how much I want it. I am not sure if this will work out but this is awesome. This would be better than getting a ring...and that is something that I have wanted to have happen for about a year and hasn't. Yes I love this car so much that this is better than diamonds! We will see...it is just to have him offer. I did not even ask

Memorial day weekend -bathing suit season is here

So I am so happy that it is memorial day because I love warm summer weather. I am unhappy Memorial day is here because someone at work 2 weeks ago told me that I have a little belly that can be seen sometimes when I bend over. Hello. So I got home and went on the scale. I am 5' 6" and weight 135.6 lbs. I have not problem saying that because my goal weight since I was 160lbs at the end of high school was 135lbs. Yes I have a little pouch but that happened when I got pregnant. So for the last 2 weeks I have been running or walking 5-7 miles a day and doing some ballet inspired moves. I have decided that after memorial day weekend I am picking up the pace.

1. I want to lose 10 more lbs and I am done. Some would say too skinny and just maybe to them. I know when I was my thinnest was 127lbs. If I finish there I will be happy too.

2. I will do this by losing 2 lbs a week- eating 1400 calories a day

3. Each morning will be sent starting with a 5 mile /walk or run. I will continue to walk another mile on my lunch break every day

4. After work I will rollerblade to work on MY troubled area MY LEGS. Yes that it right. I don't consider my stomach poor...I sit on a stability ball every day at work...if anything it is tight...but has a little pouch. Rollerblading will be days a week.

5. Yoga, pilates, or ballet stretches will finish each work out.

6. 2 times a week 30 day shred circuit training Jillian Michaels style followed by resistance band training.

7. I am going to do a total body system cleanse in the month of June

Lots of Great things to come

So I have not blogged in such a long time and it has not been for lack of thoughts, feelings, or happenings. First, I just want to congratulate Tara and Steve on their engagement and wish them nothing but more of the undying happiness and love they already share.

Any how...Life has been going very well. Since my last blog entry Melissa and I have done another wine tasting but this time in CT -we started the wine trail at Taylor Brooke vineyard with our pooches. We then came home and grilled lobsters, corn on the cob and asparagus. It was a perfect night. We finished it up by watching It's complicated! Great movie.

Last weekend we kicked off the Country concert Mega ticket series with Sugarland. There was some great tailgating with even better friends. We grilled and played games of cornhole and some got hammered. Melissa and I then took off Monday and went to the beach...cause who doesn't need a recovery plan.

Tonight we went to see Sex in the City 2 and went to the Burton's premier party. 1. We had Sec in the City martinis and they were the best I have ever had. While we there we had our pictures taken on CTNOW.com. There are many mixed reviews out there but I surely enjoyed it.

This weekend is memorial day and I am getting ready to do many picnics! It will be a great time!!!

I forgot something important. I had dinner with an old best friend. Someone I have not seen in 6 years. It was one of the best dinners I had in a while...

These are a few of my Favorite things

I love when I come home from a long day of work and I pull into my parking spot and my little Hunter's head pops up and looks for me out of the window.

I love french fries with honey mustard (that is actually what I had for lunch)

I love cuddling up in bed when it is really cold and hibernating

I love when I get a new haircut and it comes out great even when you are nervous. That is what happened last night. I printed out a picture that I loved of Kimberly Caldwell and it came out perfect!!

Good Times Never Seemed So Good

I love my friends. I guess we will get right to the point with the things that I love today. Last night Amy, Eileen, Lindsay and I went to Fenway to watch the Red Sox. It was awesome eventhough they are not playing a super awesome season. When you are a die hard sox fan the love is infinite even though they continue to break your heart. I love the "green" of Fenway. The Green Monster and the plush green grass. I love singing Sweet Caroline in the 9th inning while swaying and hugging my girl friends. I hate riding the T but thank you to Eileen and Lindsay it flew by with the crazy conversations, people watching and laughs. Amongst the most funny phrases of the night were: Lock it up. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! I will never forget that grill. I ate my weight in meat. Don't get me started on your sausage. I also got to share in Lindsay's first beer at Fenway. This great time made up for the fact that I got home at 1:30am and needed to be up at 7am. Oh that and the help of a Great One Dunkin Donuts coffee.

I started really working out as I am training for a 1/2 marathon! It is a slow process but I love the way my endorphins kick in about 15 minutes into a great workout. I did 3.75 miles today. I still feel great. It is going to take me awhile to come down. Another bonus is that it is a great natural medication for my anxiety so I do not have to take my pills. And last but not least I love that I decided to run a 1/2 marathon in October because I will be confident enough to wear a bathing suit in no time. I wanted to do so some Yoga to stretch it out after but decided to take it easy today!

Hand and hand with any running regime is the great music I listen to on my ipod. I am building up a pretty great mim. Amongst my favorites are some Justin Beiber -Baby and Carrie Underwood. Lots of Carrie Underwood. My favorite workout song is Undo it by Carrie. The more and more I hear her sing the more I am upset by this continuing wave of Taylor Swift. How does Taylor win all of these awards when she is not a good singer. I have never seen her sing good live once and I have seen her 4 times...never mind the sound in the awards show. She has no vocal range and she is always flat. They say she is a performer well I have only seen that on award shows. She was never doing anything out of the ordinary when I have seen her live. When I saw Carrie in February she did set changes, outfit changes and was never off pitch. Sounded just as good as her cd. Oh wait and she things about adult things and she is gorgeous! Phew I had to get that off my chest. I just don't get the phenomenon anymore.

I am super excited because I have a haircut tomorrow. It is going to be a drastic change. I love changing my hair. I do it almost every cut. Tomorrow it going to be one of the most daring in awhile!

There you have it. My most positive thoughts for the day! Pictures of fenway and carrie are posted on FB!

Thankful for my Mom

I am glad that I started this blog when I did because there is just so much to love. Today is mothers day and most people I know are thankful for their mothers. I am not thankful for my birth mother nor do I love her but I do love my step mom and am super thankful for her. She has changed my life and without her and my father in my life, it would be super different. I would have probably turned out to be such a low life. There actions, love, support and positive reinforcement have lead me to where I am today.

Mother's day was great. We had brunch with Ryan's family. I love all of them, they really are a great bunch of girls (except Ryan...He is like the one boy in the family). I could not be part of a better family and I am excited to one day call them all in-laws :) Anyway...we had eggs, hash-browns, bacon, crepes, fresh fruit and english muffins. I love hash-browns. We sat and we all just talked and talked and laughed and talked.

I think one of the highlights was watching Ryan's mom open her gift from us. We bought her an awesome beach birdhouse and she loves the beach. She even has her own. We also got her a flamingo holding a pina colada for the back yard because she collects them. Her face just lit up. I love giving people really great gifts. Success.

We then we to my parents house for dinner which was lasagna, meatballs, sausage and awesome garlic bread. We had an extra surprise. My cousin Jim, his Wife Mandy, and daughter Emma (who is 2 years old and cute as can be) came down with my Oma for dinner. After a great dinner we played hours of scrabble. Scrabble is a tradition in our family. We must play with my OMA after dinner at every holiday. She is the champion so she plays on her own team and the other 3 teams are couples. It was Ryan and me, Joe and Mike, And My dad and mom...and then my OMA. I love family scrabble. We misprounce words...search for words in the scrabble dictionary for help, steal each others spaces...try to make up words...it is just full of laughs everytime. It is just plain great. You have not seen scrabble until you play with our family. My brother Justin, who lives in NY and couldn't be home called in while we were playing. My dad put him on speaker so he could say hi to all. He was even making up words on the phone for us...laughing when he heard us playing. My Oma was getting so competitive she even slipped out and "OH SHIT". My Oma barely swears. Awesome day.

Yay for family!!! I love all mine!!! I will be posting pictures of Emma tomorrow on Fb!

Love one thing each day (more than one is ok)

One of my oldies on facebook reads my notes and she sugguested that I start a blog. So here it is my blog of great feelings.

Here is the facebook post that started it all:

I just started writing notes a couple of times a week to get out what has been on my mind. I keep mentioning how I have been reading this live journal called 65_redroses written by this girl who was fighting for her life and lungs from the genetic disease cystic fibrosis. She died 1.5 months ago at age 25. While reading this, I decided to live every day and enjoy it. Well I am taking it further by making sure that I see the silver lining in things that are not always good. At the end of these days ...where I am living life...I am going to document at least one thing I love about that day...and this one thought is going to wash away any of the bad that I may have had.

I know it is only 9:03am...but I love the sound of rain falling on the roof and the sound of thunder rolling. There is something so tranquil about the noise that it is ssoooo relaxing. I was even enjoying walking Hunter in it this morning. I was all bundled up in my rain boots and rain coat. My awesome Ralph Lauren checkered rain boots may be another reason I love the rain too.

If this nice relaxing rain stops my brother and I are going to peruse the farmer's market together...It is very green to support your local farmers :) Which is another thing I love...Being as green as possible. Recycling cans, bottles, paper. Recycling peoples things...I love a good flea market. I conserve energy where ever possible. I would like to start biking to work but I am taking on a 1/2 marathon so I shouldn't wear myself down.

Also...I love frappacinos. Yummy. This is one of my favorite ways to start my day. I try to stay away from Strabucks itself because they are so expensive but when the prebottled fraps are on sale (and they were BOGO plus a $1.00 off coupon) I do it. And now one of things on my birthday wish list a frappacino maker. Yes they make those now.

SO that is 3 things that I love about today!!! May 8th 2010

Now I am going to add on because some other great things happened today. I went to breakfast with Ryan and Dennis to Mitchells. And for those of you who do not KNOW me...I LOVE Mitchell's. They make this awesome dish called the House. It is hashbrowns, ham, onions and cheese all grilled together. It is delightfully good! Ryan and went our separate ways for a could hours and I bought a new purse (Dooney and Burke...butter leather yellow and yup you guessed it I love it), jeweled flip flops, aviator sunglasses and a Red Sox coat for the game on Monday. Even though those Red Sox break my heart...yup I still love them. I also bought Ryan a griddle for the grill and a marinating brush. Now I am home relaxing on the couch drinking a beer with citrus flavors...because no beer is complete without a lime or orange and trying to be creative.

These are all of my positive thoughts for today! Tomorrow is Mother's days so there is tons of stuff to LOVE about tomorrow~

My friends make up my life and keep my heart full

My Friends my keep my heart full. We talk about the deepest and darkest to each other while sharing laughs and tears...ultimately learning a little more about each other each time we hang out. Just when you think you know someone you penetrate another layer to their hopes, dreams, and fears. I feel very privaleged to be one of those confidants.

So anyway...above was a prelude to one of the best days that I have had in a while. Melissa, Lindsay and I went to a wine tasting and had a picnic up at Greenvale vineyard IN RI for her 21st birthday. We talked about boys, the ones that ruined our lives before all of our great men now. We talked about Lindsay's mom who passed away 3 years ago from breast cancer. How her father now has a new girlfriend which sometimes make Lindsay jealous and how she is scared that she is losing memories of her mother as time continues on. Yesterday in the car ride home she said she used to still be able to hear the clicking of her high heels walking in the house and now she doesn't anymore...she didn't literally hear the clicking just the memory of hearing it when her mom would come home from work. It actually brought tears to my eyes (no one saw them because they were under my sunglasses). It touched my heart...that those are things that she still thinks about. I love her so much...she is such a great person and that is why I will be there for every step of the way...when we continue to fight for breast cancer...

Anyhow...the wine tasting was amazing...it was something that I had always wanted to do since I have been 23 and since I ma going on 26 it was long over due. We tried 5 white wines (which are my favorite) and 1 red wine. I ended up buying a bottle of Pinot Gris to accomodate our picnic. The picnic consisted of pickles and cheese, tomato and mozzarella salad, blue chips and salsa, and huge strawberries and chocolate sauce...we also had funfetti cupcakes...Mother nature kept interfering with the lit candles...she kept sending wind through stealing Lindsay's wishes. We must have just sat on the blanket and talked for 3 hours. Then we went to Newport to window show and continue laughing and talking. It was such a relaxing day. We came home with the setting sun.

It is nice to have such close girlfriends in life...It gives balance to the craziness and madness of people in the world. All you hear is murder hear, robberies, arson, kidnapping, raping, illness. And when I have days like yesterday it is like the sunshine melts away the mess of bad thoughts seem to swirl around my mind like a vortex!!! I love my friends and memories we share.

Relationship troubles

My heart is letting go! It has been happening so gradually that I haven't really noticed it until today. Yes the age difference took it's toll. 2 weeks ago Ryan told me he was quitting smoking pot. That he wanted to save money. We he has bought pot the last 2 weeks. I had to lend him money...and he is still smoking it away. Just let me tell you how happy I was...I was wishing this would happen for sometime. I knew Ryan would give it up and grow out of it eventually and cross the bridge to adulthood. I knew that was the sign that we would be ready for the next step...that we finally think about a house and maybe having actual talks about maybe engagement...Well no...He said tonight he is not going to give it up. Well again my dreams of us are on hold...or didn't work out...whatever! I don' t want to hold my breath anymore. I don't want to get my heart broken.

He is house sitting this week...and the time apart is going to be great. I just know it. I need to know that I can live without him.

Shopper SAAVY

I am officially stating that I am shopper saavy. Last week I saved 49% at Biy Y using coupons, coins, and purchasing items on sale. I did just a bit less better by shopping at Price chopper this week and I also saved $ on gas using my price chopper rewards card. I saved $.20 cents a gallon. WHOOOHOO. Next week I am going to geisslers to use another coupon!!! I love saving money.

Hunter gets a haircut Monday for $37.00 and that includes a full day of daycare! Thank you to the coupons that I got at the MDOG egg hunt. Hunter also got 2 free toys a bandana and 5lbs of dog treats all for $10.00 donation for the egg hunt. I have gotten way more than my $10.00 worth...

Oh yes...I also had a meeting the other day and I am doing great on my 401k and have started contributing more money. The contribution of more money will be better when doing my 2010 taxes.

I know that I will be updating my bill profile August first but I am going to run my credit report for my birthday also. I have a feeling that my numbers are going to kick ass!!!

Year 2010 -first quarter down

I am reflecting on the first 1/4 of 2010. Yup it has flown by. I am trying to think about all that I have done thus far. What has 2010 amounted to yet?

I had some resloutions like: be a better friend. I think I am doing that very well. I send cards to all of my besties once a month. I really gave it a go with Emily but she did not want to do the same so I needed to call that one quits again. I was the only one making an effort.

I wanted to pay off some credit cards this year and guess what I did it with my first one (first one of the year that is) :)! I am super duper excited about it. I am working at paying off another credit card this month with a much bigger balance :) And I feel like I am going to do it.

The first quarter has mostly spent making plans for the nice weather. We have a lot going on this summer. Hikes with the babies (these are our dogs). Beach trips. Country concerts. A vacation to Punta Canta. Ryan and I are going to see JACK JOHNSON my all time favorite musician! I travel far and wide and basically have spent ANY amount of money. But this year there is no need too! It is going to rock.

The first quarter work wise has been insane! I have been doing the work myself of 2 people. We just had Action's largest month EVER! Setting a new record in the label department. I am working my ass off and has felt little to no appreciation back until last week when I was handed a thank you note with a $100.00 gift certificate to Poncho Loco for my "efforts". Bullshit. I kept the company running. But you know, however they all want to put it is fine!

Oh my "friend" Michael promised me $2500.00 for helping acquire the commission off of the Yankee Candle account. Well that was back around Labor Day and I still have not seen a dime! I even asked for it and have seen nothing. Meanwhile he is out buying a house and paying for a lavish wedding. So I call him a "friend" because he used me for knowledge on account and NEVER paid up. I wanted to be able to pay off some more bills, buy something for my brother Michael since his stuff got stolen and pay for my vacation. If there was anything left start putting it aside so Ryan and I can buy a house in 3 years. But no luck at this time. And I still donated $50.00 to MS for this marathon run. I will need to talk with him at the end of this month if I still have not seen anything.

On another note I am on a massive saving money kick. I joined a warehouse store. I am eating every thing in the house. Making coffee and bringing lunch and making dinner every day (except for Poncho Loco because that was a gift certificate). I have paying off a little extra money on my bills every month where I can afford it. I did 2 months in a row on student loans and on my car and bowflex. I want to have all credit cards paid off this year and the bowflex counts as one of them.

Hunter is good but has cost me tons of money so far this year. We needed to get him fixed and he has been sick. But if he did not get sick I would not have realized that I was over feeding him and now I will probably save money on food in the long run. After the chicken and rice are out he and Moka are going on a measured diet.

The only thing that I have not really done is work out every day. I watch tv after work anyway so now I will be spending part of that time doing yoga or fat burning pilates daily on top of my walks with Hunter. Once I finish all of the deli meat (Which should be this week) I am going vegetarian for lunch every day and Monday-Wednesday for dinner when Ryan is working. That should help too! I will keep updating the year progression. Stay tuned for my next reflection blog on my goals at the end of June!

Til then! If I had to name this year something yet it would be: 2010- work hard but play harder! Fun to be had in the upcoming warm months

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Isn't it funny? We can never have enough money and the money that we make we want to keep as much of. How do we do this? Well thank you to the new system of credit card bills, my first order of business is to pay them off as quick as possible to save my money without paying ALL of the interest necessary. My second order of business and way to save money is buying using less electricity. I am going to stop drying my clothes in the dryer this summer and air dry them outside. I am going to cook on the grill instead of inside. I am going to spend an extra hour a day in the spring, summer, and fall walking Hunter at Henry Park (utilizing less electricity watching tv) and by cutting coupons. I am buying in bulk by becoming a costco member where things do not go bad. I am taking left overs if we have them therefore saving some cash.

Last year I started rounding up my total to the next $ amount when making notations in my check book. What this does is let me save even just a bit on each transaction that I make. I believe that I am over $100.00 right now so I guess it is working just swimmingly. I will keep you posted on how this continues :) But by the end of this year I am going to have my premier credit card paid off, bank of america card paid off, and bowflex account paid off. I am ALSO paying extra on my car payment so I pay less interest down the line and the same with my student loans. I am rocking it!