Zero Balance

I wanted to share with everyone a bit a good news. I've been bragging about it to anyone that has ears, so why not brag to those that have eyes too, haha. Last week I made my final payment on my credit card... that's right folks, the first step in me being debt free (not counting student loans, shh) After I moved back home last October I realized this gave me an opportunity to do something smart... get out of debt. Being married and in the particular situation we were in got me into some debt. I didn't have a lot and without getting into the nitty gritty details I ended up having my credit card with about a $4,200 balance and my car payments. This is the first time in my life that I was working and managing my own finances. Twenty-seven is WAY too old to be doing that, but I was excited. I've always liked numbers and figuring that sort of thing out so I set out with a plan. I came up with a number that I could pay each month toward my credit card. Let me say this... I first needed to decide which thing to pay off first - the credit card or the car. The credit card had a higher interest rate but the car had a lower balance... so I did debate. I decided to go with the credit card first. The other thing that I debated was if I should put all of my extra money into my debt or try to save along side that. In the end I decided to put all extra money towards debt. My reasoning here was the sooner I get that stuff paid off the less I would end up paying to get it paid off. I also told myself that if something crazy came up where I suddenly needed a lot of money, I could always charge it. That of course wouldn't be ideal, however, it was always an option. I also decided that I am going to be cashed based from now on. No charging anything to credit cards. I got a debit card and only used that. I kept my credit card in my wallet (still there) but only used the debit card. It was tough at first, but easier over time. I set up some repayment schedules and determined when I could expect to have my credit card paid off. Originally it looked like it would be June or July. That seemed so far away, but what else can you do, a little at a time. Then when December rolled around I suddenly had all those Christmas presents to buy, so that set me back a little, but kept on plugging away. After Christmas was much easier, and with some tax return money, cutting out some of my spending, living at home, etc, I am happy to report to everyone that last week I paid off my credit card... Let me say that again... I paid off my credit card. It felt so amazing to make that last payment and I'm still riding that high. I am just so proud of myself for getting everything in order and making smart choices. Sure it isn't glamourous living at home in the bedroom I grew up in, but honestly, living with my mom, sister and brother has been awesome. Especially during the really tough divorce times. And I made myself work at this goal... I'm just so so happy with myself. So what's next? I am hoping to have my car paid off by June. It's an ambitious goal, but one that does make sense. Basically I've been snowballing my debt. I made the minimum payment on my car and extra money into my credit card. So now that the credit card is paid off I can take that money plus the money I was already paying into the car to make large payments. So that should be done by June. After that I'll make a pretty low payment to get rid of one of my student loans (the smallest). Then I will put all that extra money to beef up my savings. I am thinking I will be able to move out on my own in September or so... roughly a year after all of this started. I've had a lot of healp along the way and dear friends and family I really appreciate it. I'm so happy I set a goal and made it. I love keeping track of all my own finances. I like being accountable to me and me only. I have set up a system that works for me. I track all of my money on a spreadsheet with different categories. Eventually I will hopefully set budgets for each of these areas to be even better with my money, but right now I'm just tracking everything. The simple motion of having to be accountable and record the purchase cuts down on a lot of silly purchases. I'm also loving being cashed based and hope to never go back to that credit card. So here's been a fairly long post of be bragging... but I'm excited, this is big for me. I'm turning into a responsible adult!

Hunger Games

I'm not sure if I've mentioned on this blog or not that I read The Hunger Games series.  It's a set of three books and it is so so great.  I read through them so fast.  The first book in the series is probably my favorite.  It is a very interesting read.  The story is set in a post apocalypse world.  There is a Capital the runs everything and has all the wealth.  Then there are 12 districts.  It's interesting because some parts of society are very advanced (hovercrafts, genetic testing, etc) and but the people in the districts are poor and like our heroine hunts for food.

The Capital forces each of the districts to select two children - one male, one female - (between the ages of 12 and 18) to participant in a fight to the death with only one winner, called the Hunger Games.  I know what you might be thinking - why would I want to read a book about children killing each other.  Yes, the concept is kind of crazy, but I'm dead serious when I say this was one of the best series I've read in quite awhile.  And I would recommend reading it before the movie comes out.  Not because the movie looks bad... oh, no, quite the contrary... b/c if you're anything like me you'll appreciate it a lot more before it starts gaining more hype.  I read Twilight waaaay after it became popular and after the first movie was release.  I didn't like Twilight that much... but I think I would have liked it more if I read it before it was super duper trendy.

Anyway... the full trailer for Hunger Games came out last Monday... and it makes me UNBELIEVABLY excited about the movie, which happens to be coming out the weekend before my birthday.  Since I have a few friends that are just as excited I'm hoping we all see it together.

Anyway... take a look at it, and then read the freaking books... you'll thank me someday...

Cardinals Nation!

The Cardinals have won the World Series.  The Cardinals this year have been truly amazing and it's great as a fan to watch them battle back and ultimately win the World Series.  As most of you know at the end of August the Cards were still 10.5 games out of the wildcard.  I think I heard they had like .5% chance of making it to the playoffs.  But they kept winning when they needed to and with a little bit of luck (ok, probably a LOT of bit of luck) we ended up in the playoffs.

Each series was incredibly exciting and while we were the underdog the entire time we still manage to win games when we needed them.  The best example of this would be in Game 6 of the WS... that game will probably go down as one of the most exciting and stressful games I've ever watched.  And all those sports experts are calling it one of the greatest games in the WS - EVER.  The Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series... TWICE and the Cardinals were able to tie it back up.  It was looking grim, but somehow we ended up winning that game six with a walkoff homerun by the home-town boy... I mean, seriously, you can't make this stuff up!

After we won Game 6 we forced a Game 7.  My dad reserved a table at Pujols' restaurant... how he managed that was beyond me... but my dad, me, Rachel, Janet, Keith and his girlfriend Sarah all joined together to root the Cardinals on in Game 7.  The Cardinals haven't lost when we've all been together watching the game.  We had beers and apps and it was a lot of fun.  We ordered shots to have them as soon as the Cardinals won (we waited until it was looking very probable the Cards would win, didn't want to jinx anything!)

And when that last out was caught we celebrated... jumped around and high-fived, hugged... it was exciting to be out and about during that exciting time.  Spending it with family is just want I needed.  The last time they won the World Series - I was with him - but now I have this happier memory of the Cardinals winning... like they started winning just for me.  I also watched Game 6 with my dad, and I'm so happy I did... I don't think I've ever seen my dad that excited in my life.  I'm so happy I got to witness this crazy Cardinal post-season with my family... I mean, I watched games with family, my sister took me to a game.  This has been perfect for the last two months. 

After they won at Pujols they passed around free champagne... of course it wasn't very much - but it was fun... here's a couple of pictures from that night.  The WS has made St. Louis collectively happier... and bonded us as Cardinal Nation yet again.  I'm looking forward to next season!!

(ignore the crappy quality of the iphone photos and the fact I have crazy eyes in that bottom one...)\

Yay for me!!

As you may remember, I have gone back to school. The first term I decided to stick with just one class. I was really nervous about what it would be like to be back at school. I graduated from Truman back in 2006 - so it's been about four and half years since I was in school, and undergrad wasn't the easiest for me...

Well, I'm happy to report that my first class/term has gone great. Not only did I do well on the assignments I didn't mind doing the work most times. It is very different from undergrad. I don't think I selected the right program back then. But that's not the only thing... I didn't really have any real life experience to relate school to. I really debate whether going directly to college after high school is the right decision. For my entire life college is what you do after high school... and I followed that trend. I don't think I really knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Anyway... now class makes sense to me... I am able to pull real life examples from my work. It's truly awesome. I was nervous at first since most of the other students in my class already had a degree in education... and most of them were teachers. But I was able to add to the discussion and relate their ideas to adult education.

Well, my grade came in today and I'm happy to report that I got an A!! I am so excited and thrilled with myself. I'm hoping to keep this trend up. I have a perfect 4.0 GPA right now. It's super exciting. I'm hoping to keep this trend through this entire masters program. That will certainly help my chances of getting what I'll now refer to as the 'dream job'.

My next term starts on Wednesday and I will try my hand at two classes. I will work hard at these two classes (educational psychology and instructional design). But if it is too much work to handle I will let myself drop back down to one class a term... but we'll see how it goes! It will be double the work, however I'm hoping I will be able to handle it. The only thing I see being a problem is now that it's summer time it seems like life gets busier b/c more people what to do things. It will just mean I will have to stay organized and remember what my priorities are.

But I got an A!! So happy about that!!

Eek!

I could squeel I'm so excited and happy... why you might ask?

Well, remember in my last post where I told you one of my oldest friends just got engaged? Here is a couple of pictures me and Liz on my wedding day. Ignore the fact we are holding our bouquets up so high in the one picture... someone didn't tell me that I would look so silly in all my pictures b/c of that...

I like said before, Liz and I have been friends since kindergarten, our friendship has had it's ups and downs, but in the end we are friends... she is ne of my closest friends. She's a great person. We are very different in a lot of ways (always have been) but we are very similar in a lot of ways too. She's been nothing but supportive of me... and we always have such a great time when we're together. I'm hoping now that she's graduating next month we'll be able to spend a lot more time together.

I am so excited that she's getting married. I'm not sure I've ever been more excited... (maybe if my brother ever gets married, or when my little sister does, or other family members) I thought Liz was not going to do the whole bridesmaid thing... and I had already set myself up for this fact... that I would just be there to help her celebrate her day (and I told her I was going to plan a bachelorette party... end of story!)

Well, last night, Liz asked me to be her matron of honor and I couldn't be more excited. I think the smile on my face when she asked was like a mile wide... I am so so so so happy to help her with everything wedding related (that she wants) and be there to support her on this journey. The more I think about my wedding the more I realize she should have been my maid of honor... but that's a topic I really haven't approached on this blog... and I'm not sure I will ever write about it...

Either way, I am thrilled to be a part of her day in this way... words cannot describe! Liz, I am so so so so excited and happy for you... eek!!

Wedding Album

Nearly two years later and I finally finished making our wedding album. If you've ever been part of a wedding you know the shear amount of pictures you end up with. It's so hard to pick your favorites. After a couple of years it was much easier to go through the pictures to select our favorites from the day.

Another hard thing was creating an album that would showcase all of our pictures and tell the story of our wonderful day. Typically you can get an album from your photographer or hire an outside person to do it (for some major big bucks) but we (I) decided to tackle this feat myself. After hearing many reviews I decided to create the book through Blurb. I first made the book in 7 x 7 format. I was excited to have a square and thought the small size would be fun... that is until I realized just how small 7x7 really was. So I redid the album in a 8x10 format.

Blurb's software (which you download to your computer) was super easy to use. You could customize in a lot of different ways. It was easy to order with them and they give you good advise of many different aspects. Ordering was simple and I was able to use a coupon which saved us some major dough. We ended up ordering 6 albums. (one for us, my mom, my dad, Chad's parents, my grandma and Chad's grandparents)

Well onto the album.

The Wedding Celebration of Chad and Jennifer | Make Your Own Book

I'm really excited how it turned it. I think it really shows the time line of our day and all the fun we had. If you have any questions about anything let me know... what do yall think?

We're cool kids now

I promise I will make the big post about the weekend soon... maybe even later tonight...

But before I make that post...

For awhile now it hasn't been sending random text messages... I mean I would type out the entire text and hit send, it would say 'sending' and 'message sent' but it wouldn't actually send the text... and I would have no record of the message ever being typed... it was so freaking annoying!!

But, in the last week my phone has gotten really crappy... Meaning the screen wasn't working and I couldn't see anything on my phone... talk about annoying.

So last week Chad started to do the research into iphones... and yesterday we went out and made the purchase... I know we are totally following the trend, but I'm not sure you've ever messed with an iphone... those things are freaking amazing.

We're still figuring out which apps to get... but I downloaded Oregon Trail... OMG so much fun.

Delivery!!

Remember when I told you about our new furniture? Well it was finally delivered this weekend. We were so excited b/c I don't think our old couches could have held out much longer. We ordered the furniture from American. We ordered back in May and didn't get it until just now. We ordered a sectional, entertainment center, and a couple of lamps. When we ordered and when we called to schedule a delivery they NEVER told us that they would not deliver our lamps. Shoot, even the postcard they sent in the mail told us to schedule a delivery for our lamps... So we still have to go pick them up from the store...

Either way... we are happy with the furniture we do have!! The room is not complete yet... let me repeat... NOT complete. But here is the progress.

The super awesome entertainment center... we LOVE it... we were sure on the height in the store, but the color and the height is awesome!! And yes... you do see a Super Nintendo there... we totally have it hooked up... that's right, it's awesome to play SNES on 42 inches of gloriousness.

Here's the corner, that office chair will be going bye-bye... as will that rug... eventually...
The super comfy chaise... we'll finally get more on the wall than that cartoon... and that awful coffee table :)
And the couch... OMG we are in love!! Doesn't it look great against the yellow walls??
The cats are in love...
As are the dogs
What a happy family


More to come on the transformation of our living room

So Excited!!

You may remember this post...

Well I wanted to give you a little update...

I get to go now!!

That's right... I'm going to Baltimore!! I get to go to the big conference... I am so excited!!

It's a huge conference and I'll get experience it... and some really cool people are going too... I'm excited... like for real!!

In other work related news I'm leaving for my first national conference in Denver on Monday... nervous but excited too.

I can't contain myself any longer

I am excited... very excited... so excited that if I think about it for too long I get sad that the day is not here yet...

We have been keeping a secret... I'm not really sure why... but we have...

and no... we are NOT PREGNANT (hopefully you weren't thinking that anyway... you should know us better!!)

About a four to five weeks ago we bought new furniture... that's right... no more craptastic furniture in the living room!!

We bought an awesome sectional couch from American. We weren't planning on buying anything that day, but we walked in... and there it was... the couch Chad and I have been picturing in our minds... it was sitting there... speaking to us... it is perfect...

American was running a sale that for every $600 you spent on furniture you get another $300 of furniture free... So with our free money we got an entertainment center (no more two end tables pushed together!!) and a cool lamp and another lamp for the bedroom.

I cannot wait for it all to arrive!! I think/hope/pray it will only be a couple more weeks.

We will still need a new coffee table and possibly an end table... we would have used some of our extra money to buy that, however we don't know if there will be room for an end table. So we are going to wait until the furniture is in the room and then see what we want.

I'll need to get a new rug as well... but then we'll have the "adult" room like I want... so!freaking!happy!

Chili Night!!

I am so freaking excited... today Chad made us chili... Chili is my fav-or-ite... like for real... OMG I am EXCITED!!!!!!!

I've been keeping a secret...

...from some of you...

I've been waiting for this to be a little more to be finalized... but I applied, interviewed, offered, and accepted a new job. I will now be working for the Department of Veteran's Affairs in the Employee Education System. (more specific duties to come) I'm very very excited about this opportunity. My last day at Wachovia will be Friday the Thirteen.

So YAY to me!!

(BTW my commute to work will be about 5-7 minutes and no highway... whoop there it is)

so freaking EXCITED

For one we are having chili tonight... I'm going to cook up some macaroni and make a chili mac and I'm so freaking excited about this... I want it to be dinner time already!! Chad makes the best chili and... oh I'm excited!!

For two... Chad went up to GameStop to pick up his new game (Fable 2) and I said check to see if they have a Wii Fit... I've been asking him this same question everytime he goes to GameStop and they never ever have one... so I asked again last night expecting him to come home without it... well he walked in and what was he carrying?!? A WII FIT!! I am SO EXCITED to try it out... I didn't get to last night b/c of the greatest wife I am I let him play his new game that he's been excited about getting for several months when he reserved a copy of it.

So tonight will be chili mac, Wii Fit, Ghost Hunters, and The Island (on MTV) I know I'm excited!!