Beyond 30: The Next Chapters

I would start this weeks blog by apologizing for it being so late but frankly I neither have the energy nor the desire to do so. This is my blog, damn it, and I will write during the week when it suits me! So there. Suck it, self-imposed punctuality! And on we go! This last weekend, I had an inordinate amount of things to do. Between work and shindigs with friends and preparing for a family reunion in Nebraska, it seemed that what little free time I had was quickly and unceremoniously taken from me. While it certainly seems to the be the case lately that my life is just full  of things and of obligations, I was just swamped with an endless list of tasks to accomplish. Here's the funny thing about that: by the end of it all, I felt not the slightest bit put out by this mountain of responsibilities. Though I normally have a penchant towards irritation (after all, I am a Slytherin and prone to bouts of pessimism and aggravation), when Saturday evening finally rolled around, after

This week I want to bring it back home to re-focus on my list, two items in particular: putting four digits in my checking and savings accounts and paying down 10% of my total debt.  I also would like to preface this week's blog with an admission: I am bad with money. It seems to be that throughout my life, I have struggled with money. Part of this is due to my circumstances as most people never leave the financial bracket that they were born into and part of this is the "la la la I can't hear you" method of dealing with debt. This lack of discipline (and really lack of understanding on how to budget) has gotten me into trouble more times than I can reasonably count. Thankfully, I been fortunate enough in my life to have people in my corner who were willing to bail me out financially when I needed it.  But here's the thing: I don't want that to be my life. Who would, quite honestly? While there are some schools of thought that say "Do what you want

Friends, strangers, confidantes, there's a lot to catch up on. As you may or may not know, between my Memorial Day Weekend trip to Kansas to visit family and moving into my new apartment the following weekend, it is no small understatement to say that life has been incredibly busy. Busy to the tune of sometimes I feel like I can't breathe let alone get anything done worthwhile and I think I might collapse oh my goodness.  Let's start with the most interesting stuff. After months of searching, convinced that an apartment within my budget that allowed dogs in Fort Collins wasn't possible to find, I did finally find a place. While it's true that it needed a lot of elbow grease (three hours worth of deep cleaning can attest to that thanks to the valiant efforts of my mom and myself), slowly but surely, it's becoming my own. I've managed to unpack a good majority of my things and keep looking for more ways to decorate, nest, arrange. It helps that I managed