Weekend Roundup

This weekend was more or less a bust. I barely saw Josh at all, and other than making some really delicious donuts I got very little done.

Feeling very bummed about how busy we are lately. Mostly because it's the kind of busy that leaves you feeling like you've actually gotten absolutely nothing done. I am getting into a heavier workload at school, dislike having to show up at work each day, feel like I've got a million projects around the house needing to be done, and a decent night's sleep is a foreign concept to me.

We've got that $500 to do something with, but haven't decided what. Our anniversary is next week, we've got what appears to be a free weekend in October and a couple more in November, and then my 30th birthday is in February. Times ripe with opportunity for an escape, but if we can only afford one, which one do we choose? Or should it be spent on those nagging projects? What about fall clothes? Or should we not spend our windfall at all? Jeez. Doesn't seem like getting extra money should be stressful, but trying to decide what to do with it sure makes it feel that way.

Help Needed, Inquire Within

At this moment I'm just a little overwhelmed with work. Every variety of it- school work, house work, work work. Tonight I need to fill out some calendars for school, so I can get a better picture of my deadlines and know when I'm under a time crunch (as well as 5 sections of reading and Cornell notes, woo). Time is always slipping through my fingers lately. How do you successfully manage your time?

Josh "inherited" $500 from the sale of his grandparents' house. We haven't been able to decide what to do with it yet. It's sitting in a savings account right now, but that certainly isn't it's permanent resting place. Some ideas are to put it towards a short & sweet trip, split it 50/50 to each spend on what we wish, use it to finish up household projects, decide a savings goal we'd like it to go towards. If you received an surprise $500 what would you use it for?

If there is one thing that I just don't get about fashion it is accessorizing. Shoes, bags, belts, jewelry- all generally confuse me. Tights, those seem to throw me for a loop too. Feels like I'm failing as a woman sometimes. Also, despite being almost 30, calling myself a woman feels super weird. I'm just a girl, right? Anyway, are there any hard and fast rules that could make this easier? (The less these rules cost me, the better.)

So, what say you dozen or so people who might read this blog? Any tips, tricks, advice for me in any of these areas?

Q & A

These are the questions. They need answers. Suggestions welcome.

-Should I apply for the part-time job at the FW Museum of Science & History? My availability would be all hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

-If I do apply for said job, how would I schedule all my dental work around it? Friday was my go-to dental day, but probably not if I get a second job.

-Will a 5 month/$1200 per month dental plan work out between me and the dentist?

-How would that plan, if implemented, affect our goal to be in a house before Christmas?

-Should I amend our original goals to add an additional 2K to emergency savings and 4K to down payment savings before doing the whole house thing, since the dental damage to the wallet was an unknown at the time?

-Should I bite the bullet, use the $1200 IRS stimulus I tucked away and take advantage of Josh having to be in NYC Sept. 25 & 26 to get to New York myself and see Woody Allen perform at the Carlyle? Checking a big one of the 'ol bucket list, especially since he'll (hopefully) kick the bucket before me.

-What are my talent, passion and purpose in life? Forget that, I don't have time to worry about that stuff right now!

-Should I hold my breath till I pass out, then repeat until I don't have to make any of these decisions? (Psst, leaning towards yes on this one)

What Would Audrey Do?

I mentioned before that I got a dress for Spencer & Deb's wedding on my shopping trip with Holly. I picked it up at the J. Crew outlet, and I heart it. It's one of those embossed beach dresses. But I need to find shoes for it. I'm hoping for flats or very low heels, as I'll be on my feet for a good part of the day. Something comfortable for wandering around and taking lots of pictures. Anywho, this is the dress I got, but mine is a lovely powder blue hue. It strikes me very Audrey-Hepburn-in-Sabrina mixed with a dash of Meg-Ryan-in-French-Kiss. So, any (reasonably priced) shoe suggestions? I did some image googling for Audrey Hepburn pics, looking for shoe inspiration. But mostly I just fell more in love with Audrey, ha. And found pics so lovely that I just had to share.

Accentuate The Positive

Change is in the air. Josh and I have decided to start chucking all our savings, after we fill in the rest our emergency fund, towards a house down-payment. We're about to set up our retirement account (yes, I know we're running late on that, and yes I have known since I was 19 that I should have been doing it all along). We finally got our annoying taxes figured out. And more over there is the feeling of inner change going on. Nothing concrete has happened yet, but I have been internally unhappy for sometime now. I'm not really sure how to fix it, but I know that I need to do something and I guess that's the first step. And while I have been struggling a lot lately trying to figure out what my tiny place is in this world, today for the first time I feel positive about change. Normally I fear it. Do all I can to avoid it. Now, sometimes it feels like things can't possibly change fast enough. So now I must exercise patience. Gas, break, gas, break. That's the way it goes I suppose. Anyway, I wanted to take note of my positive feelings. Yesterday was stressful, tomorrow might be stressful, but today I feel positive. And, just for reference I felt positive before I found out that our dermatologist was able to get us the new fancy antibiotics for free because we don't have insurance and it cost $500 a month. Yes, I said $500. And no, that's not for the two of us, it's per prescription. But that news does help.

So, to solve my biggest inner problem I believe I need to discover my passion. I've never found it and the older I get the more it weighs on me. I just need that one direction that I can happily move in. I'm not sure how to go about finding it. Anyone have any tips? How did you discover your talent? Have you ever felt like you were missing this part of yourself? I feel like I mean something to everyone but me. Wife, daughter, sister, friend, employee- all define my relationship to others. What do I mean to me? I just don't know. All that sounds like a downer again, but I'm still feeling up. Hoping that this constant barrage of worry and fretting is just the prelude to a breakthrough.

And, while that picture probably seems wholly unrelated to anything I've discussed, she sure looks happy and hopeful. Just what I aspire to be.