a home

What if I bought a house right now? This economy is fairly perfect for a homebuyer...There's all kinds of homes on the market to choose from, the prices keep lowering because no one will buy and interest rates are subprime and still dropping. I just wish I knew for certain where we'll be next year. I think San Diego is nearly a for sure but there's no guaranteeing something else can't come up in the next 10 months. And I'm locked in a lease here so it'd be dumb to buy anything here...I'd love to buy in Seattle but if we go to San Diego and never want to leave that's a waste of a home. But really...if I bought a home now and then turned around and sold it years down the road when the market gets better...I could make a good profit. And even without the profit part I could probably save a ton buying a home now than in 3 years when things are back to normal. I don't know, something to think about.

It's also time to think about savings accounts and spending less on "wants" and socking more into an emergency fund for later. I like to think I've got good job security especially since more and more people are falling into the "poor" "homeless" and "low income" categories and that's who I work with...BUT most of the places I work are funded by grants who are only available if the rest of the stars align in the business world. So we rely on other businesses and the government to do well so we can. Makes me a bit nervous. I refuse to go back to school again to try to change my career. In part because I am so over school and will have put in over 18 years and also because I love social work with all my heart and will not give it up because the economy is bad. I have faith it'll get better eventually and in the mean time I know I can creatively make do.

I worry about Nathan's job in the travel industry. Expedia so far is doing okay because people are still traveling, especially corporate travel...But I just fear one day they will begin their job cuts and slowly work their way to him. Really he'll be the last to be cut since he is an integral part of keeping Expedia online, literally, so I think he's fine. But I still worry.

My mom has great job security as a medical assistant but my dad owns a business as a cabinet maker. Things are still fairly steady but usually new cabinets come with new homes, buildings and construction and all that is put on hold right now. My parents are building a new cabin as we speak. They've saved up a lot for it and it should be fine...But even so it's a scary prospect at this time. The cabin is going up incredibly fast since the construction company has very few other jobs. This part is great for us but I can't help but feel awful for the company, especially since it's owned by a family friend and he has had to lay off nearly all of his employees.

Oh life.

money money money money

I have become so aware of money lately now that I'm doing financial counseling 40+ hours a week. When I don't have anything to do at work I read blogs and websites about financial planning and debt management and whatnot. It's incredibly interesting to me. I have always loved budgeting and planning my money out but I don't have the recommended 3-6 months in savings as an emergency fund, I have not started on my retirement and I've got debt including credit cards and loans. But the more aware of it I become, the more excited I am to begin working on all of it. I can't wait to build up my savings account, starting them for things like an emergency fund, a wedding, a home purchase...I'm excited to be able to put money away towards those things. It's hard while I'm still in school but it's all on the horizon and I like planning it all out.

Of course with my budgeting comes a clothing budget. I know myself well enough to know that I will spend money on clothing every month because it's just what I do. It's my addiction. So instead of attempt to stop it, I can at least try to control it. I have no idea what my budget will be this year but I am already dreaming of my back-to-school shopping spree...It's coming soon!

Nathan is coming here this weekend. It's a pretty short trip since he'll get here Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Sometimes I want to tell him not to waste the gas because it's so expensive right now but both of us are too busy to take much time off anyway so we might as well take what we can get. I cannot wait to be in the same place all the time. Less than 10 months left...If I could fast forward time right now I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I have Nathan's dog, Scrappy (I guess I should say "our" dog because that's how he's referring to him now) for a while now since he moved into a smaller apartment in downtown Bellevue. He's a snuggler and loves to see me everytime I walk in the door so it's not like this is hard work by any means. Plus he forces me to go for walks so it's good excercise for both of us.

sun

We were in Steamboat Island for Nathan's friend's wedding this weekend. The sun was setting right over the ocean...I can't wait to live on the ocean. 10 months from San Diego!

I'm back to reality after vacation and can't help but wish I was on vacation forever...really not even vacation, just in the same city as Nathan would work for now! 10 months again...

My little brother is in town and needs a ride to the airport for his 6:50am flight so it's off to bed. I'm not too happy about getting up that early and then working...but such is life. The things I do!

planted

I decided I will never be a plant person. I will never let plants control my life. In the past week I have witnessed 3 women in my life who have freaked out about leaving their plants without water and were beyond devastated to find they were starting to die when they left town. I just can't be held back by something like a plant. My roommate wanted to come all the way home just to water them while I was gone for 2 weeks. My mom shouted, "Oh NO!" like my brother had just died when she looked out the window to find her tomatoes keeling over...I don't understand!

Granted I do not have a green thumb or anything close to it and actually am pretty proud of myself for keeping a plant alive for 11, going on 12 months...But if it died? I wouldn't mind. It's huge and it was expensive but really...I think there are other things that would pain me more than the death of my spider tree or whatever it's called. I think my mom may be a bit disappointed to know I can't bear to follow in her gardening footsteps but right now I just...can't bring myself to do it!

In other news I turn 24 tomorrow. Life hasn't followed the path I thought it would but I'm pretty happy with how it has gone so far. I'm sad no one makes a big deal about birthdays though. Somewhere around age 12 birthdays become less and less of an event and more of an obligation. I love birthdays so I hope my kids don't mind my going all out for them. Barbie-themed party when you're 21? Mom will do it! Ninja Turtles and a bounce room for your 18th birthday, no problem! I want to go out to dinner tomorrow at least but I'm not sure I can convince anyone to leave the lake to drive into town for that. If not I will settle for a bbq as long as my mom will make me a cake. A balloon or two would be nice too. ;)

wish you were here

Well it's been like ten years since I've updated this thing. It's summer time and I'm taking one class online where I do just enough to get by because I hate summer classes and I'm a very bad procrastinator when the deadline is so far away. But we already knew that.

Nathan and I are pretty confident we will be moving to San Diego next year. Probably right after my graduation in June. We decided we'd like an adventure, go somewhere we've never lived, stay for a few years, live on the beach, experience a different life...see how we like it. Who knows what it will bring. It's not exactly a cheap place to live and I'd like to own a house within the next 5 years so we'll see how good we are at saving while we're there. If we love it we'll buy a house, if we experience enough of it in 3 years we'll leave and settle somewhere else. Right now we're young enough to pick up and go and try it out. We don't have kids and even if we did they wouldn't be old enough to have to move to a new school or anything. I'm excited. I'm nervous because San Diego and Kalispell Montana and basically polar opposites...But I think I could do it.

Nathan is pretty deadset on living as close to the beach as possible. Rent is about $1500 for a one bedroom place in this kind of location so we'll probably squeeze ourselves into something small for a little while. We'll have good jobs though too. He'll be able to work from home with Expedia and I've already researched social work jobs in San Diego. No problemo. Especially if I can get going on my Spanish fluency.

I can only imagine how wonderful sunshine will feel and how happy I will be to wake up with the option of taking a morning walk on the beach. I know San Diego has its downfalls too but right now we're up for whatever.

Tomorrow we're heading to Montana for two weeks to spend some time at the lake. Nathan will be working from there but it's still vacation when your "work" involves sitting on the dock, sipping a margarita and jumping in whenever you start to get hot. Oh and every so often looking back at the computer to make sure the Expedia website is running okay...I think he'll enjoy the "vacation" just as much as I will. I will be attending Morgan's 1st birthday party and snuggling his cheeks up to get my baby fix (and hold off my urges for a couple more years), going to the dentist, the eye doctor, finishing my summer class and working on my tan most importantly...oh and hopefully learning to slalom ski, that's my summer goal. I hope the good weather holds out. It usually stays nice right up until my birthday on August 13 (Oh yeah I guess I'll be turning 24 while I'm there too). We are visiting Nathan's dad on Flathead Lake for a couple days as well and of course spending time with family. It'll be good.

Speaking of Morgan, I need to go to WalMart- Jessie realized the WalMart here has way better baby food then the one in Kalispell so I need to come home with the goods.

Pizza

My conversation with the pizza guy:

Me: I'm just wondering how big your 10 inch is. Is it just more like a small personal size pizza?

Pizza Guy: Yeah it's small. It's a 10 inch.

KThanks.

Back to reality

I think I am being a bad updater here...Most of my updates have been in my Peru blog but now that I'm home that one will be retired...eventually. My parents apparently sent the address to all sorts of random people so I didn't even know until I got home that people had been reading it. It was really nice though because I felt like they were all there with me and thinking of me and I could really feel that on the trip. It was an amazing trip to an amazing country and I promise myself I will go back. I also am itching to keep traveling but even more to do more volunteer work through Global Volunteers. They have some trips in South Africa and Costa Rica that are catching my eye...

Nathan and I are hopefully planning a Mexican cruise in June to satisfy our travel needs. We also want to do a little mini-vaca over Memorial Day weekend since we both have it off. I need to start becoming a better money-saver so I can do all of this travel! This is quite an impossible feat when, 1) I'm a grad student and don't really make much money and 2) I am pretty bad at saving because I'm bad at waiting for things...But maybe this is a new skill I can work on.

My last quarter of this year has begun and already I am predicting it will end so quickly. I love how fast quarters zoom by. Semesters seemed to drag on. It may also mean that I actually kind of like school. I loved MSU and my program but I think my masters is even more me doing what I want to do so I love being a part of it all and seeing the final product in sight.

My youngest brother has the lead in a school play so I'm going to go home for it next week. I am excited to see him in a play as theater and making movies is what he loves to do (he wants to go school near Hollywood and make and produce films). Also, as the youngest child, he has spent a good 17 years being forced to attend every single one of my plays, concerts, presentations and other random involvements...So the least I can do is make the trek home for it. It will take 4 hours at the most to drive so I find it very worth it.