Back in California!

I took a couple days off work to visit my sister and niece for a long weekend. I love visiting and get my baby fix. Mila is seven months old today and is changing so much all the time. I will be back again in June and can't wait to see how different she is then!

Happy Birthday from 1,500 Miles Away

Ever had to celebrate a birthday from far away? My sister lives in California and I live in Kansas. Not easy to just drive over for a visit. And now her 30th birthday is coming up and I want it to be special. So I scoured the internet for ideas. So many of the ideas were for couples sending sweet nothings to each other. Which is fine, but not what I am doing.

Instead, I am doing a Birthday Countdown! My sister will have one envelope/package to open for the 30 days leading up to her 30th birthday. I looked up obscure holidays to give me some ideas. Some are quite funny!

I wrote out the dates leading up to her birthday and planned out what to give to her each day. Some are as simple as writing a story I remember about her, another is her favorite candy, and another is cute undies.

I am excited to have her open these day by day and have a mini celebration with each envelope/package. I hope it makes her birthday a bit more special!

April BirchBox

Yay! I love BirchBox day!!!

This month, I received eye rescue cream, carrot lip butter, CC cream, facial scrub, and hair protection/detangler.

Happy Anniversary Xi Chapter!

This weekend, I headed back to Lawrence to celebrate my sorority's 100th anniversary on KU's campus!

 During my time at KU, I was the Executive Vice President of the chapter and now am an advisor to a few officers. It was fun to see some of the ladies I was in the chapter with and some other Alumnae as well.

 

 

 

 Here is a throwback: 2006 to 2013

Officially DEBT FREE

Although we have been living in limbo between Dave Ramsey's Baby Step 2 and 3 for a while now, we are now officially passed Baby Step 2! That means we are DEBT FREE except for our house. It feels awesome to know that we don't owe anyone any money and we can focus on moving upward and onward with our financial and life goals!

  

We are already a bit over halfway on Baby Step 3: three to six months savings. This is an emergency fund for emergencies only! If a job is lost or a car suddenly quits, not for a fun vacation or Christmas. Those things can be saved for.  Hopefully, we won't ever have to touch out 3-6mo fund, but knowing its there is very comforting.

Bring on the savings and climbing to Baby Step 4: Saving 15% of income toward retirement!

I {heart} Dave Ramsey!

Goals Update: April

My husband and I took time to make goals for ourselves for 2013. We tried to be specific and will hold ourselves to these goals. After three months, we have begun 10 out of the 13 goals, with 3 fully accomplished!

1. Plan a vacation for just the two of us. Save to pay for it up front! - no plans made yet, savings are building 
2. Pay off 100% of student loans!
3. Save and buy a "new" vehicle - $1,804.21 saved as of March 19, 2013 --> this was said shuffling from Goal #2
4. Save 70% of emergency fund - 43.9% as of March 30, 2013
5. Get basement and garage ORGANIZED! - garage still organized, basement is being worked on (waiting on that city wide garage sale in May to clean it out!!)
6. Floor the attic (more storage) - still haven't thought about this at all, too cold to get up there and do anything
7. Bret to purchase the firearm of his choice
8. Organize a Legacy Drawer  - About 90% completed! Need to write legacy letters & think of funeral plans --> sad to think about, probably why we are putting it off!
9. Make wills for each of us
10. Build a 72-Hour emergency kit (here and here)
11. Be intentional about finding opportunities to give to others --> I have tried to find opportunities for random acts of kindness
12. Plan our meals by the week - so far, so good! We do this on Sunday night for the following week
13. Keep communication open and loving between us
1.  Books to read: Unglued  
2. We have been trying to pray together at least once a day

Rock Chalk Sweet Sixteen

The hubs and I went to Dallas to celebrate the Jayhawks and watch them play in the Sweet Sixteen.

We drove to Dallas from Kansas City. We left right after work for each of us and drove straight through the night. I love road trips! Bret and and I haven't taken a trip in a long time, so this was long overdue. It's just fun to get in the car and hang out together.

The game started off so well! But it didn't turn out in our favor and Michigan heads on to the Elite Eight. But we had a great time at the game. Cowboys Stadium is AMAZING!