personal

Save your way to $1 million

Just 10 years of aggressive saving can help you sock away enough money for a comfortable retirement.

As painful as it can be sometimes, I’m a big fan of the aggressive savings approach, especially while we are DINKs (Dual Income No Kids.) Maybe that makes me a Scrooge, but to do the things I want in life, money kind of helps. Plus, I am all too familiar with those unexpected hurdles that pop out of nowhere. And when the time for getting kids through college comes – all I can say is Lord have mercy!

Save your way to $1 million

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Dance Nostalgia

I’ve really missed dancing the past almost-two years. It’s been a part of my life in one form or another for as long as I can remember – ballet  on and off from childhood through high school, Dance Team, high school musicals, and pole dancing. Last night I randomly decided to watch my old Syndicate videos (fun fact: I co-founded a hip-hop dance group in college… don’t laugh), and even though we really weren’t that good in the scheme of things, you can see how much fun we all had with it.

That’s the thing – I’m really not that great at dancing (maybe for your average white girl I am), but I just love it. I loved performing too, but there aren’t many outlets for that as an adult without being truly professional and competitive. That’s one of the reasons I tried out for NFL and NBA teams back in DC – because it’s one of the few opportunities to perform without being a pro dancer. Not that I was good enough for that either… 🙂

Hopefully once we get past the GA stint, we’ll be some place where I can get back into it. Miss those endorphins!!

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Woke Up Naked This Morning…

That tends to happen when I sleep fitfully! I think I get hot/frustrated in the middle of the night and rip off my clothes. Haha! I am always confused in the morning. And a little cold. I couldn’t find my night tee anywhere this morning but eventually found it scrunched up in a ball under my pillow.

I’m not sure why I’m having so many issues sleeping this week! It doesn’t bode well for my quickie trip to NYC this weekend. I need some beauty rest!

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Happy Birthday, Mom <3

Last night was a bad night. She never gives full details, but I’m pretty sure her mental competency trial was yesterday, and she told me she read the letters we wrote to the judge and district attorney that explain her condition. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy, and the pain, anger, and fear in her voice was palpable when she called repeatedly in the middle of the night.

I know I’m not doing anything wrong, but it’s her reality that drives ours… and my heart breaks every time she reminds me what I’ve done to her.

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Taking a Little Brain Break…

…to plan a EuroTrip with Chuck for 2014! I have been talking for ages about doing this, but of course, things happen and it’s hard to commit for all kinds of reasons. But it’s true what they say – there’s never a “good” time to drop that much money on something, so eventually you just have to go for it. It only gets harder to find the time to have an adventure, and we’ve been working really hard on saving money this year (weddings aside). Of course, ideally I’ll be gainfully employed in a real city in 2014 too! That would give me some confidence to move forward with it.

Anyway, my original thought was to go in the Fall. I’ve heard the Fall is best for travel, from cost to weather patterns – plus that’s our wedding anniversary! But Chuck graduates from his school billet in March, so I feel like that may be a good time to go instead. If we wait till October, we will both (hopefully) have started new jobs somewhere, and may not have the flexibility to take time off, and Lord knows what his schedule will be like to begin with.

Now I just need to decide where to go!! I’ve been to the UK twice, but I feel like it’s a must for someone who’s never been to Europe before (like Chuck, who requested we go wherever the castle is where Harry Potter went to school.) Plus I have long-lost friends there, so it would be fun to reunite with them. Then I was thinking of hitting the basics – France and Italy – but I get so distracted by the other countries too! Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Spain…and don’t get me started on other continents 🙂

Let’s hope we get more than one opportunity to go on a fun trip like that. I was hoping the military would take us there, but it’s not looking like that will happen. It’s always been one of the big things I want to do with my life – travel and see the world. It’s just so gosh darn expensive these days!

But like I always used to tell my dad when he’d give me money talks – I’ve never regretted a penny spent on a trip, foreign or domestic 🙂

Anyway – advice on how to go about planning a EuroTrip (flights, places to stay, and other essentials) would be great!

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Tropical Storm Andrea

I’m actually kind of excited to hunker down in my new abode and ride out the storm with Annie. I do wish my TV was hooked up so I could at least watch a movie, though. I have missed my Big Bang Theory marathons, but it’s looking like we can’t get cable while we’re here.

Everything is based on a 24-month contract, and we can only get satellite since I’m so rural. The provider was very unclear on whether military orders would get us out of the contract – and even if they said yes, the reviews I found indicate they are not honest about it.

Good thing I recently downloaded lots of books to read! 

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All Done…!

… with move #1 of 3 between now and March! It was a longggg couple of days (more like couple of weeks) but it’s done now and nothing went wrong. I did find out that the owners of the old house are ripping out the carpets… AFTER I paid to have them professionally cleaned. There are no coverings on any of the windows – so I feel mildly exposed – and I can’t get internet to work… but inshallah, those sorts of things will work themselves out. I am just grateful I have a place to live in these last months before we head to GA.

In other news, I have reached the single-digits of weeks before Chuck comes home! Nine to go (assuming he comes back the first week of August.)

Also, I got a little sunburn on my beach break yesterday. This is exciting because I hardly ever burn or tan.  It’s nice to see I’m not a vampire after all, and my skin will in fact get a natural glow – even if it’s a little on the rosy side 🙂

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Just found out that the owners of the house I’m moving into for a few months are taking their washer/dryer with them to California. That’s going to get really interesting, especially once Chuck gets back and suddenly the laundry has tripled!

Hopefully the laundromats around here aren’t too sketchy…or I’ll need to learn to do laundry old school – fast!!