Share + Tell About February

It's been a recurring theme that I have been letting a few weeks lapse before I blog - eeesh! 

I feel like I have lots to write about, then I'm not sure who reads this and then realize that it's my blog (hello!) - doesn't matter who reads it, it's my own little public journal anyway. ;)

I'll share some February sparkly moments to recap the last 4 weeks or so.. (I like to think I forget the snarky moments). Plus the happy is always worth re-telling I think. :)

Sparkly: to be brilliant, lively, or vivacious.

1. Taxes Filed. Ba-bam! We did our taxes ourselves this time and it was so much simpler than I expected it to be!! If you want to know the site we used (it's totally legit), message me and I'd be happy to give you the details!

2. Financial Blessings. So after filing our taxes, we got our tax money which is pretty awesome.. but we also had a few other prayers answered. For the past year we have been really getting serious about our debt repayments (credit cards, student loans, etc.) kicked to the curb. I have definitely been one who has stressed about money and how in the world we will save for a house, our future family, etcetera etcetera. Well, we are seeing a few prayers get answered! We paid off a credit card last month! Yeah!! We also have been given "breaks" on a couple medical bills for both of us. Nothing we sought out or asked for, just blessings that were total surprises for us.. example: I called my dental office to get clarity on my latest bill that seemed a little bit higher than usual. The billing person on the phone waived nearly half the bill. Just Because. Amazing.

3. Travis's foot. It's healing!! On the outside it looks totally normal and healthy. Although the bone break is a slow heal at this point, there is progression and we are so thankful that surgery was not required and that Trav can get around okay and still do his work as well! We also got a surprise on the medical bill we were anticipating this month too. There was more credit (billing money) on a medical card that is through T's work so we didn't have to pay as much as we thought we would on our end. Praise the Lord!

4.  Sweet Valentine's. Knowing that Trav was still on crutches and not driving when that lovely day rolled around. I didn't anticipate flowers or anything really. And I was totally okay with that! As I pull up to his work to pick him up, he was standing outside crutch under one arm and flowers in the other. He had someone at his work take him to the store so he could surprise me with my favorites. Yellow daisies. :)

5.  We have been getting more involved in our church community. I said before how we were getting involved in a new group of 'young marrieds'. (Couples married 5 years or less led by a couple who've been married 20 years.) It's been so cool! We get together with about a dozen or so couples for dinner and talk about married life and how to encourage each other to still fulfill the mission of God in our relationships.

6. We booked our Anniversary trip for the summertime! July 10 is our wedding anniversary and this summer we are going back to where we Honeymooned because we loved it SO much! The San Juan Islands. We cannot wait to go back and visit and play on the islands up north. I'm already looking forward to wearing sun dresses and enjoying the water in the evening time.

So that's a fun recap of our February goodness. I also am going to add this super cute link because it is just too darling not to share and I'm sure you will smile - in fact I'm quite positive you will say "aww" within a minute of the video. It's that adorable.

Groupon, Gifts + Good Intentions

Groupon is not a friend of mine. Oh yes.. I went there. The G word is known to be heard in my home, my work life and even as an app on a mobile. (we need to bring back the word 'mobile' instead of cell phone - whatcha think?) Every morning it's fun to see 'new' messages in my gmail, but no more! Bye bye Groupon and Living Social. They were threatening to damage my September Spending Freeze. We are suckers for the 'gotta buy it now!! it's a discount!' overnight stays in Seattle, at the beach or trying out new places around Portland. However, if you weren't planning on spending the money at a certain place - why spend it at all? Allow me to hop on my soapbox for a moment. Companies like these among others make their money off of consumers getting into that "gotta have it! gotta have it now!" feeling. Sometimes the aftermath of this is thinking 'okay but I got it at a deal', but sometimes those deals were not things you thought of purchasing in the first place or worse - never get used. Eeeee. 

You know what is fun during a spending freeze though.. gift cards, gift certificates or registering for wedding gifts as seen below. 

Almost 2 months ago, we celebrated our 1 year of marriage. Travis surprised me with a gift certificate for a fabulous spa spot on the west side. I was finally able to use it yesterday with an amazing pedicure (love the parafin wax and cozy slippers they put your feet in) and a terrific massage. Fabulous! Gifts like those are great for people because if you are someone who does not want to spend a lot of money on a 'luxury' expense, someone gifting that is super thoughtful. Hear that guys? You're welcome lady friends. :)

Brief update on my spending lately with the Sept. Freeze: I haven't bought any clothes (good), sticking to my one Starbucks a week (except for buying a fun drink for nephew and niece.. so I'd say that is going 'fair'), but we ate out on our vacation. And I did for lunch most of last week too (yikes!). But it was vacation.. and Dairy Queen is something we do not frequent at all nor did we have time to go grocery shopping last week. I freely admit after I went to go grab a sandwich one of my co-workers promptly held me accountable.. "isn't it only Day 2?" Yes, and it was a moment of weakness and poor planning. I have found that I need to prepare a bit more for my days.. you don't even want to know how long I hit snooze before waking up to get ready for work! :)  Well that is all for the moment.. but I have lots of blog post ideas brewing in my curly-haired head.

I feel like this post was all kinds of all over the place. 

Many more posts will follow this suit I'm sure. :)

Spending Freeze

Yes it's going to be a bit chilly with our monies in September. I decided to participate in the finance challenge over at Allison's blog. I enjoy learning more about our finances, saving, watching our debt go down and have been thinking of different ways to share and blog about how we're doing in this area. Little tidbit about me: I am a numbers nerd and could spend lots of time asking Dave, Suze and Gail a question or two. Another blog that I frequent started out with the blogger deciding to go on a spending freeze for an entire year! I am not sure I could do that, but I do have a few guidelines for my personal accountability.

$$ Limit myself to 1 Starbucks drink a week.
$$ Bring my lunch to work a goal of 4 out of 5 times a week to save money on going out to eat.

$$ More eating dinners in - instead of out (this will be the hardest for me!)

$$ No clothes shopping.. eeek. (this will be hard with all the fall sales starting up.. I might give in to 1 pair of jeans..)

$$ Anything else I should add ?? 

Want to join me on a September Spending Freeze? I will be participating in a Thursdays check in with a few other bloggers as a 'posting' accountability of how things are going. So lets see how this goes next month!

image via

JCrew's e-mails couldn't have better timing.. a discount any day September 1-30 .. hmmm. Maybe Trav can spend the money for me.. does that count??  ;)