The hard ones always have to do with $money$, and a dabble of friends

In case you haven't noticed, the main section of my 101ish in 1001 list that I've not dared touch is all in the money:

41. Pay off my car

42. Build my savings back up

43. Pay off 75% of my credit card debt (0/75)

44. Balance the checkbook by the 20th of every month

45. Pay off my tuition

Dealing with finances is rough stuff! These 5 goals are big ones for me, and super important to proceeding on with my life happiness. But I've yet to tackle them. Now, I know that I only began my mission about a month ago, but I feel pretty good about knocking some things out of the water already!

I hate having debt. It drives me crazy! I want to pay everything all off already. The darn wedding messed me up financially, as the hubs and I paid for it ourselves, and ended up over-budgeting our means. We had an amazing wedding! But we're still paying for it.

I went over to Schwab MoneyWise to take my Financial Fitness test which says I'm doing pretty good- I got a 76, and between 71-90 is 'good'. But you sure wouldn't know it by the way I live! I've got the knowledge, but I don't put it to work, if you know what I'm sayin' to ya.

Many of our friends are in the same financial boat as we are- paying for school loans, weddings, and trying to eliminate credit card debt. But we all still love to go out to the movies, out to eat, take fun little trips, etc.

All that is about to change.

Stevie and I are getting into serious buckle down mode. We have until September to save up for the greatest 1 year anniversary trip ever, so we dont have room for these fun excursions in our budget any more. Luckily, our friends are on board. So for the rest of this gorgeous, boiling hot summer, we are on a mission to do as much free and cheap activities as we can. For example: Our friends have a pool at their apartment complex. This takes out us having to pay to use the pool or go to a refreshing waterpark (Like Splash Country!) and more than likely we will follow that up with eating in (much cheaper than going out!) and playing a wonderful game, like Apples to Apples (best game ever).

So, these 5 goals are prominent right now, though it may not seem that progress is being made. These will take a complete reformation of our life and how we've been living it. It's hard to have friends that only go out and spend money, friends that are uninterested in enjoying a nice evening in, and still having a blast.

Luckily, our friends are on board with us!

I'm ready to be Debt Free!!


Disclaimer: This post is part of the 20SB Blog Carnival: Friends & Money, sponsored by Charles Schwab. Prizes may be awarded to selected posts. The information and opinions expressed in this post do not reflect the views or opinions of Charles Schwab. Details on the event, eligibility, and a complete list of participating bloggers can be found here.

#69: 75 books: Track Record

My #69 is to read 75 of the best 100 novels listed here.
I say 75 because I know that there will be some on the list I will not like AT ALL, so I'm allowing some leeway.
Anyway, this blog entry will be where I keep up with that list.

1. 1984 - Orwell (not so much a fan)
2. To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee (it was ok)
3. The Cather in the Rye - Salinger (very much enjoyed)
4. The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien (thought it was boring. sue me.)
5. Pride and Prejudice - Austen (favorite book. loved it!)
6. The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald (didn't like.)
7. Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky (liked it)
8. Catch-22 - Heller (it was ok)
9. Jane Eyre - Bronte (liked quite a bit)
10. Animal Farm - Orwell (disliked.)
11. Lord of the Flies - Golding (I thought it was weird)
12. The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck (disliked)
13. Harry Potter series - Rowling (liked very much)
14. Wuthering Heights - Bronte (disliked)
15. Great Expectations - Dickens (liked quite a bit)
16. A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens (liked a bit)
17. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Twain (liked quite a bit)
18. War and Peace - Tolstoy (too long)
19. Les Miserables - Hugo (liked quite a bit)
20. Gone With the Wind - Mitchell (loved it!)
21. The Hobbit - Tolkien (did not like)
22. The Chronicles of Narnia - Lewis (liked very much)
23. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Wilde (it was ok)
24. Moby Dick - Melville (disliked)
25. The Da Vinci Code - Brown (loved it!)
26. Invisible Man - Ellison (it was ok)
27. Watership Down - Adams (it was ok)
28. The Time Traveler's Wife - Niffenegger (loved it!)
29. Little Women - Alcott (loved it!)
30. The Stand - King (LOVED IT! another favorite)
31. Memoirs of a Geisha - Golden (yet another favorite. LOVED this one!)
32. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (long time favorite. my mom also read it to me when i was very young).
33. Persuasion - Austen (loved it!)
34. Atonement - McEwan (liked it a bit)
35. Angels and Demons - Brown (loved it!)
36. The Scarlet Letter - Hawthorne (loved it!)


I'd like to add that this list is what got me to read both The Stand and Memoirs of a Geisha and they are now both on my favorite novels list!

The list keeps changing, but that's all right!

I had to make some updates to my list. I think that is one of the cool things about having your own goal list. Your goals are constantly changing, and the list can reflect that. So I'm not going to feel bad about changing some of my goals! Because if I dont want to do them any more, I dont have to. You know? So here are my updates.

wrensnestonline.com

15. I changed from "visit Deerfield Beach again" to visit Savannah and Tybee again. I spoke with the hubs about this and although we want to go to Deerfield again, it's more of a "someday" plan than a "in the next 3 years plan. Visiting Savannah and Tybee Island again, though, is much more financially possible, plus it's way closer. And we love it there!

aventy.com

16. I don't really want to go to the Outer Banks any more, at least not enough to make it a priority! Taking a Disney Cruise, though, is definitely important! So hopefully we can make that happen within almost 3 years.

53. Although I'd love to be licensed as a real estate agent, that will have to be put on the back burner until I get my Master's degree.

56. Attempt to rid myself of anger and/or see a therapist
Working on it!



75. Do a Zumba class.
Check!! Did it for the first time last week and LOVED it!! I will definitely be going back again. (Today, actually!) This lead me to change...

79. finish the 30 day shred again. Ugh I really hated doing that work out. Yeah, it's convenient and a hard core work out but I didn't enjoy it. For me, it's much easier to stick to something if I actually enjoy it. So, I changed this one to "Find a workout regimen that I actually enjoy and stick to it for 30 days or 10 weeks". Hopefully, this will be zumba.

Sean & Emma(: by Rachhツ on Polyvore.com

Soon I'll be able to mark off 101. Get caught up on Degrassi, because the every episode ever marathon begins tonight, and it's perfect timing!!

Some on-going things are:
61.Review every book and movie i read/see

63.Keep track of what I read and watch on goodreads and the movie tracker

(I may end up combining those two since they are so similar.)

I also added:

Have professional photos taken of the family. (considering I didn't get them at the wedding)

Book Review: My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

What I’m Reading Wednesday

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares was really an absolutely wonderful book. I have not read a book that delightful in quite a long time. I knew less than a chapter in that I was going to love the book fiercely, and I was right. I was so excited every time I read this book. Every time I picked it up I just could not wait to dive right in to the story.
This book is a love story, of course, but its a timeless one. It is very very similar to the Time Travelers Wife, in that the story takes place in many different times of the world, as well as different places. The difference is that the story is told by a soul, Daniel, that travels on, sort of like reincarnation through different people.
Daniel believes that the soul of Sophia is his soulmate, and he lives many different lives searching for her. The difference in the two of them is that Daniel remembers almost everything. He remembers from a very early life when he first met Sophia (which is like 700 AD in Africa or something of the sort) all the way though to present day. He finds Sophia as 'Lucy' at a high school. Lucy doesn't have the long memory that Daniel has, so she does not remember her past lives as Sophia and the other girls she has been. This poses a problem for them as Lucy thinks Daniel is crazy when he calls her Sophia, and tells her he has known her for a long time. Daniel knows that Lucy does not remember, but he is so frustrated and wanting her to remember him that he freaks her out a little bit and she runs away from Daniel.
Lucy goes with her best friend Marnie to a psychic some time later who ends up being some what legitimate, and the psychic talks about Daniel, asking Lucy why didn't she believe him, and that he truly loves her. Lucy gets overwhelmed, but eventually decides to look a bit further into this situation, and she goes to a hypnotist. This experience prompts her to travel to England and visit a house her soul once lived in as 'Constance' during a war time. Lucy finds a letter from Constance to herself "whoever she is now".
Because of the details of the letter, Lucy, at this point, learns a bit more of the truth, and accepts it. She becomes depressed, feeling miserable with out Daniel, as she has not seen him since high school. Enter Daniel's evil brother, who wants Sophia for himself (as she was once his wife in an earlier life) which brings in some action and mystery. Evil brother tells Lucy that he is Daniel, and takes her away.

I know I'm not too good at book summaries and reviews, so I'm going to stop there. I do want to say that this book is definitely now one of my top favorite books. The only reason it isn't scoring 5 stars is because of the reading level. It was a bit young, not quite a teenage book, but it was still YA. Anyway. I loved the book and the passion and romance that flowed all through it.

Recommend it: YES! For sure- to any one who loves romance books.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Yay for Shutterfly promo codes

Completed
3. Make a wedding photo book for Steven's parents
My photographer for the wedding was great, seriously, but the wedding albums for the parents were a bit expensive. Plus, my mom said she wanted to pick the pictures in her own album, as opposed to her copy being just like ours. So she and I sat down for a good 5 hours trying to make a wedding album on Shutterfly for her and my mamaw to have. It was a long tedious process, but it was fun. Needless to say, we didnt do one for the hubby's parents for many reasons. One being that my mother's album would be filled with mother daughter wedding photos such as this one:

and two, she never acted interested in having wedding pictures.
Well I decided that she needed to have one, and if she wasnt going to make the effort to get one, well hell I'd make one for her. Plus, I had a totally awesome coupon code for a free photobook. Shutterfly is like the Amazon for photo gifts, I love it. They are totally cheap and great quality!

After deciding what to go back to school for, I had to change one of my goals. So now, #31 is no longer 'move to Savannah'. It is now 'Get my Master's'. I will plan to move to Savannah AFTER I get my Master's but not any time before then!

I plan to knock a few of these out after this weekend. I'm in a wedding tomorrow, so it has been kinda crazy. I plan to take a Zumba class next week, and also go through my office to find stuff to get rid of.
You can find my full list in the links section of this page.

Setting my direction, one baby step at a time..

33. Decide what to go to grad school for
So, this was a huge goal for me. I've known for a while that I want to go back to school to get my masters, I just didnt know what area of study to focus on. Well, I found it. I've discovered what seems to feel right, and I am so on the top of the world right now, the way I always feel when i find something that just seems to fall into place.
So what is my decision you may wonder.. What path have I chosen to take me down the next couple years of my life? {...drumroll please...}
Teaching!
Yes, I'm going to get licensed to be a teacher through the teachers education program in place for students who already have a bachelors degree. Basically I'll take a few classes to fulfill basically an education minor, then I'll do an internship. The internship will count as 24 credit hours toward a masters program, then I'll have 12 credit hours left to finish my masters in education.
I want to teach middle school reading. I really feel like that's the place for me to be. I think I've found my calling. And I really feel sure about this. Which is amazing because I haven't felt sure of any thing in 3 years. Career or school wise I mean.
So now I just have to get accepted...

Let me count the ways....

Goals from "the list" that I'm working on (that might need more explaining...

49. Showcase my writing more often to more people
Definitely working on this in a sense with the whole, getting out there and blogging thing. I joined 20sb, and I've got some followers. I'm posting on other people's blogs and following them, being active in discussions, so that should help. That's step one, I suppose.

59. Finish reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower Series
Read some of book VII last night, and plan to more this weekend. This is the last book in the series, so I'm doing good there.




74. Run with Tiki 3x a week for 6 weeks (2/24)
Easier than I thought it would be. And I really enjoy it! We go in the evenings about 9, so its getting dark and not many people are out, so she doesnt get nervous.


79. Finish the 30 day shred again
Did day one last night. OMG sore. That is all.


Just gotta keep on truckin!