Busy Bee...

Yes, I admit, I've neglected the blog once again... but it's all because I haven't really had the time to update. Here's the list of things I've been keeping up with:

- Michael and I went to his city this weekend. We had SO much fun but it was exhausting meeting all of those people and talking the whole time. :)
- Carrie is coming next Wednesday and I cannot WAIT to spend a weekend with her! It's been since we went to Hawaii in September to visit her. That's WAY too long!
- School is kicking my ass. I have projects in each one of my classes that I'm practically the leader of - and stuff due all the time.
- I've had to get stuff taken care of to Study Abroad. I still have a million to-do things like getting a physical, applying my financial aid, etc. Thankfully, I've already taken care of the Passport. That's one less thing to worry about!
- I'm in the process of finding a new roommate. Now THAT is tedious.
- I work 3 days as a nanny and 2 days as a waitress. I have Sundays off from Work and School but it really doesn't feel like it with the amount of homework I have!
- My little sister's bday is next week.
- Spending time with my family is crazy short because of everything going on.
- I have my small group Tuesday nights.
- errands like grocery shopping, oil changes, etc.... and cleaning and laundry...

and this list rolls on and on. I never get a break! :)

So... I'll have to catch up on your blogs and tell you all some funny stories from this weekend.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend! Michael and I went to dinner on Friday night (because I had to work Saturday night) at a Japanese place. It was FABULOUS. :)

He got me a gift certificate to a local spa and I cannot WAIT to use it! Things have turned around completely for us from just a few months ago and I couldn't be happier :)

Anyway - we had a fabulous weekend and I hope you all did, too. There's a bunch of random stuff I could talk about, but I don't really feel like it today :)

Small rant

10 [exciting] Things about this week...

1. You know that study abroad program I've been talking about for, like, ever now??!? WELLLllllll... I had an interview (impromptu, might I add) with the sponsor of the trip and he wants me to go!!! So that means I'm accepted into the program and I get to go to Italy for Maymester!!! This also means other great things for my school stuff. I only have to take ONE class this summer and I'll be done! Which means I'll technically be able to start working as much as I'd like and that'll be fabulous! I'm going to need it to pay off the cost of this trip, but it's so worth it! I got the good news yesterday and I couldn't be more excited.

2. Carrie comes to see me in exactly 27 days. OMG, it's finally here!! I cannot WAIT!! We're going to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic (I'm so glad she's waiting to see it with me - you have NO idea how big of a deal it is for her to actually wait to see a movie!)

3. Michael invited me to go HOME with him to meet his parents, etc. (yes, HOME is a different city and state and timezone...) This just happened today. Ummmm I kinda freaked out for a second but I'm really excited! We had actually planned this for the Christmas holidays but it didn't end up working out like that. So, he wanted to go for a short weekend in two weeks for his son's birthday and wants me to come. That's $180 round trip for a plane ticket. I feel like it's worth it, though. :) This is a huge step in our relationship, by the way...

4. I called my credit card company (the one I have with the whopping almost 6 grand in fun money on it) and had my interest rate lowered from 18.9 (who the fuck has an 18.9% interest rate with my credit score?!) to 3.99.... fabulous!! I don't know why I never thought to ask for a lower interest rate before. I just thought that's what you had to pay. I've been hearing from other people that they've called and now have been able to pay off their card - instead, I feel like I've been paying them a shit ton of interest these past few years. :)

5. Blaire is moving back to the city THIS WEEKEND!! I'm SO excited for her! She'll be closer and I'll be able to see her more often :)

6. Rae moved out a week ago and I'm still looking for a roommate. I've posted an ad on craigslist but haven't found anything just yet... gotta keep looking!

7. My Nutrition class was supposed to have a test on Tuesday. My teacher sent an email (that I didn't get) and said we were going to have it next week instead... this means I get more time to prepare for it. MUCH needed, thank you! I absolutely LOVE this class. I give Carrie the good scoop every Tuesday once I get out.

8. I start my nanny job on Monday. I'll be making about 300 bucks a week for about 20 hours (FABULOUS!!) and then I have Thursday mornings and Saturday nights at the restaurant. That should make up the difference for all of my bills. :) I can't wait to start this nanny job - I'm going to have so much homework time - I'll actually be caught up with all of my classes.

9. I finally have all of my W2's and can go get my taxes done. I'm a bit timid about it because of the work I did for one of my marketing projects over the summer. I made about 3,000 with them and didn't pay taxes on it at the time - I hope it's not a huge whammy this time!

10. I went to my small group thing (DEFINITELY going to love it... not what I thought initially) on Tuesday night. The girls are really nice and I think I'm going to connect with at least some of them. I volunteered to host the next one on Tuesday at my house, so hopefully that will go well! :)

Wow. It's been such a great week... I love it! I can't wait for all of this fun stuff to happen! I've got to go ahead and get my passport (yep, almost 25 and don't have a passport yet...) so I'll have it for my trip. That's another hundred bucks right there!!

I hope you all have had a lovely week and have a fabulous weekend! :)

Rice Krispies and a treat!

Last night, I carved some time out (finally) to do some much needed grocery shopping. Now that Rae isn't here (I'm not sure if I told you already but my roommate moved out... and in to a house with her boyfriend) I can throw away all the unused old stuff and start a-new.

I've been a coupon clipper for the past few months now and last night I saved the most money I've saved thus far... $30 on $100. (my previous record was like $23 on $95 or something) I'm really quite shocked about the amount of money I've been saving just by getting the newspaper every Sunday - but it's been fabulous!

Anyway, so I'm not normally a cereal buyer. I usually try to eat really healthy and most cereals have a TON of sugar in them (and the ones that ARE healthy for you are like five bucks a box... SO not worth it). I had a coupon that included Rice Krispies and Raisin Bran. Sounded good to me! So I went for it. I even picked up some marshmallows so I could make some rice krispy treats for Michael soon. :)

This morning, it was breakfast-time... so I decided to have some. On the back of the box, there were all these characters like Nemo and Dori from Finding Nemo, Goofy and Mickey, etc. I thought to myself... "Whatever happened to the toys in the cereal boxes? Everything now-a-days is buy 4 boxes and then send this thing in with a few dollars and we'll send you some colored plastic."

The thought passed and I opened the box.

And there it was.

My VERY OWN Goofy two inch stuffed head. I was SO excited! When's the last time you've gotten ANYTHING from a cereal box but a sugar high??