The B Word

The B Word. It is very hard to say and embarrassing to talk about but it will be coming up a lot so I better get used to saying it---BUDGET! ppffewww. I said it. I just did my expenses for the past two months and it is not pretty. I am consistently spending more than I make. How is this possible? I really have no idea. After necessities like rent, prescriptions and school loans, I am left with about $1,000 to spend. And I am spending wayyyy more than that. I am so bummed and discouraged. I feel like I am very strict on what I spend my money on but it appears that I am failing. I can see that spending money on groceries, dog nail trimmings, dog food, dog vet bills, medical co-pays, make up & beauty products, gifts for birthdays, weddings, engagements, coffee breaks with friends, and grabbing lunch with co-workers can quickly add up but my paperwork is telling me that I need to really limit myself. I feel like I will have to live off of ramen noodles and tap water in order to break even. I need to be saving money but how is that possible?

Wow is all I can say. I am very discouraged. I am glad that I will be starting a new job on Monday that pays a bit more. Not to mention the fact that my work will now reflect in my pay check because if I do well, I will get bonuses and commission. Hopefully I will learn soon enough to put those straight into my ING account and forget about it.

I will be sure to let you in on some cost saving tips as I explore in the month of November.

To Vaccinate or Not? I think NOT!

Today's post is about the swine flu vaccination. I had an appointment with my endocrinologist today and asked the physician assistant about the h1n1 vaccine. I expressed my concerns and how i didn't want to get it. Her suggestion--Don't get it! She said that she personally isn't getting it because she doesn't trust it and there hasn't been any testing on the effects. This peaked my curiosity (finally someone who agrees with me about the vaccine!) so i have been researching the vaccine. I highly reccommend everyone do this before getting vaccinated just so you are educated and then you can make up your own mind.

Beauty Rest & Budget Thoughts

Believe it or not, I went to bed at 7:00 last night. I was asleep as soon as i curled up with the babies under the blankets. What is my problem? By 6:00 I could barely hold my eyelids open and I had just got home from work. wow.

I think I was just exhausted thinking about the rest of the week.

Tonight I am going home to let the babies out and then driving over to my friend's house in friendship heights for Book Club--yay! That always makes for a late evening.

Tomorrow I have to be at work at 6:45 am late in the evening. Time TBD!

Then Friday I have to come back into work at 6:30am, make it to a doc appointment at 11, and then come back into the office for a meeting at 2pm! i am hoping i will be able to escape from work a little early since i am putting in so many hours. i am obviously just counting down the days until next Friday comes and it is my last day on this job!!

The boyfriend is still in Nashville (until the end of the week). I am officially wearing my sad face. He has been putting in long hours so we haven't really communicated to each other except a few short emails and a 5 minute phone conversation. That is very tough, especially since we typically know each other's every move and thought.

I am FINALLY getting my hair done on Saturday. Hooray! It has been 4 months and my roots are shining and my hair has more split ends than I know what to do with. I sit at my desk and cut them with my desk scissors, which is probably a good indication that I need to do something about it!

Money has been tight lately, especially with Penny's recent vet bills. (*Side note: I would spend millions of dollars on her if it was necessary!) I need to evaluate my budget for the month of September and October. The boyfriend and I tracked all of our spending in August to assess where all of our dollars go but haven't since so we have no idea how we are doing on the little budget we set. I shall post about that in the near future.

I Always Feel Like, Somebody's Watching Me

Lukie Is a Little Person

Time to Let the Cat out of the Bag

It is time to celebrate! I will soon be starting a new job as a salesassociate/vendor relationship manager at Weddingwire. Hooray! :) I love weddings!!!



I am sorry for being so hush hush on the issue, but you never know who could be reading your blog;)

My last day at ABC will be Friday, October 30 and my first day at Weddingwire will be Monday, November 2nd. (I know, I know. There is no time in between the two--just call me crazy!)



I have been thinking a lot lately about Halloween and costumes. For those of you who don't know, my absolute favorite holiday is Halloween. I love any opportunity to be someone else for a day and this holiday actually encourages it:) Because I am on a budget, I think i will recycle a costume from a previous year. The costume being a Hooters girl. All i need to find are white tennis shoes and slouchy white socks.



As for the babies, the boyfriend's sister sent me cute ideas for penny and lukie's costumes.



Do you think this is fitting for Lukie?












Here is my idea for Ms. Penny Lane--she can be my partner in crime.

Get Well Soon Penny Lane

This is Ms. Penny Lane. She is the love of my life and she is sick! :(



Here is a picture I took of her this morning. Poor little girl is so lethargic. she doesn't play and she sleeps entire days and nights. She gets worse everyday. She has a vet appointment this afternoon so we will see what is going on in her little body.


The boyfriend took her to the vet today and found out she had blood in her urine. Turns out, it is an infection in her uterus. Yikes! Poor little girl had to get a shot of antibiotics and was sent home with pain killers. We will be taking her back in two weeks to make sure it is working. I will be sure to update the blog to let you know how she is getting along.

Wednesday Comes with Rain

work has been LONG today. and by long, i mean really long. it just started to rain so i am even more lethargic then when i looked out the window and saw gray skies. imagine that.

i am ready to make my way home. I am treating the boyfriend to pf changs tonight. YUMMY! he is feeling overwhelmed and is super stressed about life and all of its tasks that I told him i would cheer him up by having dinner at the chang. we have been talking about dinner there for the past two weeks so it is very exciting that we are finally going. I can't wait to fill up my belly on lettuce wrap and kung po chicken.

Speaking of chicken, i was checking out the new dogs at the shelter online today during a quick break and saw that the montgomery county (maryland) animal shelter has two chickens they are trying to find homes for. Can you believe that? A) Who has chickens in the suburbs of DC and B) Who would give up/turn their chickens in to the humane society.

In case you were wondering, Sister's wedding planning is going well. The venue (Indiana University) was available so she was able to book it (a win). She just called me and said that the photgrapher she wanted is way too expensive (a loss) but the band she wanted has her wedding date available and is very affordable (a win). Since the band was the most important thing on her list, I would say that despite the upset of the photographer, she is coming out on top. Yay for her! We also found pictures of a popcorn bar and candy bar for her to potentially have at the reception. The popcorn will be perfect for her considering her fiance's family L-O-V-E-S popcorn. I think that would be a cute gesture for them to incorporate into her big day. I will keep you updated as the planning continues...

For Your Viewing Pleasure

The Dogs in My Life....


Lukie


Penny Lane

Leela

Joey

An Instant Headache

I just returned from Trader Joe's to get some snacks to munch on at my desk. As soon as I stepped out of Trader Joe's, I smelled something awful. I smelled like something was burning. To be exact, it smelled like fruit was burning and there was a light smoke in the air. It gave me an instant headache. It wasn't until I came to the end of the block that I realized that the "burning fruit" smell was coming from a tobacco pipe. Some crazy pipe smoker was merrily walking down 25th street NW puffing smoke from his pipe. As there is a light wind today, it continued to blow in my face. In college, us sorority girls had to sit down and cross our legs if we wanted to smoke a cigarette/cigar/joint. I am not a smoker, but I always thought the rule was a bit much. I realize now that if someone is sitting down, it prevents the smoke from going into the throat of the person behind you. Get it? It would blow at their waist. I don't know about you, but that would suit me just fine considering my waist does not have any nostrils, therefore would not smell the tobacco or inhale the smoke. Could I please ask all of you smokers to be more considerate of the people walking behind you who aren't smokers and who don't want to share your tobacco usage? thanks a lot!

I will say that I have suddenly had a drastic change of heart on tobacco and its use. I have a tobacco chewing/dipping boyfriend. Yuck! I used to not think it was "so" bad. When people would say, "how do you stand that?" I would stick up for him and say that it doesn't bother me because I never notice. the boyfriend is very good about brushing his teeth after each chew/dip so as to not leave any evidence. I always stuck up for him..until now. The other night, we were sitting at home recapping the scary movie we had just watched during a triple date. The boyfriend borrowed "a tin" from our male roommate as we all sat on the couch. The boyfriend was telling a story as he picked the brown stuff from the tin and stuffed two big gobs in his lower lip. I was more than disgusted. I am not quite sure why it bothered me so much but it was quite a turn off. I used the line, *Yawn* "I am tired so I am going to head to bed." I wanted to avoid any conflict or confrontation but it put me in an instant bad mood. He is lucky that I am completely head over heels for him and adore him so much because if i didn't, that would be a habit that I would not choose to live with. It would be a big adios senor if he were anyone else. I know that sounds really harsh but I do not want those I care about have to go through cancer. Especially a cancer brought on my one's own choices, such as jaw cancer from chewing tobacco. I love him so much and love his sweet kisses and could not imagine not having those in my life. Just say no to tobacco!

The Surprise Party for the 29-Year-Old

I am so excited to finally share my little secret!!!!!

Sister and I threw our Boyfriends a joint SURPRISE party at a bar in downtown DC. It was a success!!!

here is the story: the boyfriend was super disappointed in me that i was dragging him to sister's "engagement party" at a bar "where you can play rock band" because it was HIS birthday and he wanted to spend HIS night with HIS friends. yikes! It was ugly for about 3 hours. he wasn't speaking to me and when he did open his mouth, he was expressing his disappointment and anger. All that changes and he felt like a big jerk once i FINALLY got him to the bar and all his friends were waiting there with smiles on their faces to surprise him.

Pictures will be posted soon!

Everyone had a blast singing along to our favorite songs and playing numerous games of beer pong. I could not have asked for it to go any better. A party with 30 of our favorite people---it was truly AMAZING!

Thirsty Thursday

Tonight is Survivor Night. I can't wait to see who will be picked off tonight. Last week, the boyfriend and I made bets on who would win the money and who would be kicked off each week. We were both wrong last week because two people went home. Yikes!

We will also be TIVOing Flash Forward, which is AH-MAZING! If you didn't watch it last week, you need to get online and watch the premiere. It had all the excitement and nail biting moments of a movie. The boyfriend and I are HOOKED!

A local bar is hosting a game of CLUE tonight that we are supposed to be going to but those plans are not definitive. I have to be at work at 6:30 tomorrow morning, which means getting on the metro at 5:45am! Yikes. I think I will just have to be a trooper and pull through because i really want us to have a great time tonight and head to the city after survivor for a mystery game. Something out of the ordinary and something fun for the boyfriend's birthday week!

Get excited because I have pictures. The first one is long overdue. It is Sister's beautiful engagement ring. It is so gorgeous and perfect for her.

Here are some pictures from our U2 360 Tour Concert on Tuesday night.even though the shows are selling out! Here is what I learned about the U2 concert (thank you PerezHilton.com for the information):

U2 has been touring the world for the past three months and they have yet to make a dime off of it because of the supremely costly stage set-up.
The Claw, as it is called, is their portable stage - and it costs about $750,000 to construct and transport…for every single show!
The band isn't expected to turn a profit of any kind until they finish the North American leg of their U2 360 tour in October.
Although, let's be honest, they already have heaps of money.
It's nice to know they're putting on a good show for their fans even though it might not be the cheapest endeavor.

..and last but not least, here is an adorable picture of Miss Penny Lane. She is the sleepiest and grouchiest dog in the mornings. We can't ever get her to move or even open an eyeball. If we have places to be in the early morning, we make her get up to go to the bathroom and she moves like a little old lady. She is so funny. The is how I found her the other morning when I got out of the shower.