10 Things on Tuesday

1. How many kids do you want to have? Zero. I have always known I did not want kids of my own; however, I am a great mom to all my pets. And I love being an aunt to 3 nieces and a nephew—I get to be the fun aunt. Also, I am very fond of the daughters of my girlfriends—which gives me a chance to give advice and be a great listener and watch them grow up. And I am happy to take anyone shopping!
 
2. What is your go-to cocktail? It’s always white wine or champagne.
 
3. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Let my dogs out, then feed the dogs and cats, make a cup of coffee, turn on the news and check Facebook and catch up on Words with Friends.


4. How many photos do you have on your phone’s camera roll right now? 7,067 ….crazy right?


5. What is your favorite thing about being married? What is the hardest part? I am just going to be honest and say I love the dual income! The hardest part is living with someone else’s habits and messes such as snoring, leaving Coke cans on the coffee table and socks on the living room floor! Oh, but other good things—someone to go on vacation with, someone who cares if you are sick on the couch and will take the dogs out and bring you ginger ale or Nyquil or whatever, someone who sees you looking your worst but still thinks you’re beautiful. And he would probably say the worst thing about living with me is I leave my clothes everywhere.

6. What is your biggest pet peeve? Bad manners and bad grammar


7. Favorite online shopping site? Mod Cloth, ASOS and Ruche are all great, but honestly I am trying not to shop right now! I am shopping in my own closet.


8. Have you ever been to a psychic? What did they tell you? I have been to lots of psychics and I have filled notebooks with stuff they have told me. Everything from my mom is crazy to I live a charmed life to I can have an affair because the spirit world doesn’t judge, a guy named Robert is going to change my life, etc, etc. I should look at my notebooks!
 
9. What was your first pet’s name? A yellow cat named Sunshine and a small terrier named Prince. They were my buddies.
 
10. What was the first CD you ever bought? Tonic, Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows and Matchbox Twenty.   It was the 90s and I loved my alternative rock. Not sure which one I bought first but I had those 4 and played them to death.






 

Credit Card Diet

As of July 28th, I am on a credit card diet. A few weeks ago I had the thought to make a spreadsheet of all my credit card bills and to put it all in living color. I literally woke up in the middle of the night and thought of that. At first I thought I had 18 credit cards, but thankfully I miscounted. But I still have 15 which is not much better. The dollar amount is even worse. I can’t say what it is. Only my husband and one super-trusted friend know the amount. It is mortifying and embarrassing.  But there are 5 digits and one comma.  

I shop too much and use credit cards for everything. Well, no more. I have been on a strictly cash basis since that wake-up call. I have not done any shopping and while I have not really cut down on my socializing, I have scaled back on what and how much I drink since I am using cash. I do find that I have a lot of friends who are willing to buy me a glass of wine, but I don’t want that to happen too often!

I also don’t want to cut back entirely on my salon appointments, but I probably don’t need to get my hair blown out as much as I normally do and so far I have only done a brow wax and pedicure and paid cash. It is a humbling experience!

If you knew me 5 years ago, you will remember my Year of No Shopping in 2010. That lasted from February to May and then I fell off the wagon by purchasing a Kate Spade clutch on our Vegas vacation. Nonetheless, I learned some valuable lessons in living a little more cheaply and as I recall I did pay off $1,500 of credit card debt.

Anyhow I am back on the credit card diet. Wish me luck! I need it! P.S. I can still shop as long as I pay cash.



 

Catching Up - the Summer of 2015

August 4th! I don’t know where the time has gone; all I know is I have not updated my little blog since Easter which was ages ago, April 5th to be exact. And summer is half over. I will just have to play catch-up and probably the easiest way to do that is through photos—since pictures are worth a 1,000 words! I believe that sometimes!


The third week in April Eric and I flew to Tallahassee, Florida and from there drove to our vacation cottage in Seaside, Florida, which is one of the most charming towns I have ever seen. While you can drive there and definitely still drive around, it is a much more pedestrian and bicycle friendly town. We walked to the beach and around town, and our cottage came with two bicycles. It is a planned community with no chain hotels or chain stores and you can see this town in the movie, The Truman Show. I hope to go back to Seaside and bring my dogs!

Beach Cottage

Bikes Included with Cottage

Palm Trees & Moonlight

I visited the grilled cheese food truck every single day!

In May I did the No Kill Walk for Animals with my usual team, the Frasier Furs. We raised money for Animal Ark, a no-kill shelter in Hastings, Minnesota.

My Team

 May also saw me driving to Iowa to see my mom and brother – a belated Mother’s Day and Memorial Day trip. Eric and I took the scenic route driving through Minnesota on the way down and then back up on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River on the way back. Leisurely!

visiting my brother in Iowa

I also had a jewelry party in May; a Stella and Dot party with my friend, Amber, who was the stylist.

My fabulous jewelry party!

June was my girls’ weekend trip to New York City with one of my best friends, Donna. We went on the Sex and the City tour and saw Wicked, which between walking everywhere pretty much took up our whole weekend. Probably we could have used one more day there! Next time.

Sex and the City Tour with my Bestie

In front of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment!

July was our road trip to New Hampshire with the dogs to see Eric's family.  We drove from Wisconsin to Indiana the first night and then the following day we drove to Upstate New York and spent the night, and then the next day we made it to New Hampshire for the 4th of July weekend. On the way back we made it to Ohio the first night and then home by the second. It is a crazy, long drive but I recommend doing it just once to say I did it. But flying is better!

On the road somewhere in Indiana

Perfect drink on a perfect day in Salem, Mass.

On the boat on the 4th of July

This is a really long car ride!

That brings me up to date. Now it is August and our next trip is in a couple of weeks. We are off to Mackinac Island! Let me just say, I left out a million pictures and could say so much more.  Next time, I just better stay current!  My summer has been actually more exciting than I made it sound.  I was a little bit of a hurry to whip out this post. 


Happy August!