I got a cost of living pay raise!

Happy news to really make me appreciate my newish job: we are all getting a cost of living adjustment of 3%! That's right, just as my own cost of living has decreased, I'm going to have a bigger paycheck. According to my calculations on my go-to paycheck calculator site, paycheck city, my new paycheck will be about $30 bigger after taxes and retirement contributions.

Incidents like this at work illustrate the difference between the public and private sectors. According to my research, the inflation rate has actually decreased since last year. Yet due to an agreement tying my pay to the pay negotiations by the public employee's union, we get a raise. Oh Happy Collective Bargaining!

And the best part, the raise is retroactive...meaning I will get a lump sum in tomorrow's paycheck of 3% of my pay for the past few months since I started the new job.

Too Much Student Debt = No Law License?

This article from the New York Times is really alarming. New York judges have denied one man's admission to practice law in New York State because of his outstanding student loan debt. From the article:

All his life, Robert Bowman wanted to be a lawyer. He overcame a troubled
childhood, a tragic accident that nearly cost him a leg and a debilitating Jet
Ski collision.

He put himself through community college, worked and borrowed heavily to
help pay for college, graduate school and even law school. He took the New York
bar examination not once, not twice, not three times, but four, passing it last
year. Finally, he seemed to be on his way.

In January, the committee of New York lawyers that reviews applications for
admission to the bar interviewed Mr. Bowman, studied his history and the debt he
had amassed, and called his persistence remarkable. It recommended his
approval.

But a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them
too meager for him to be a lawyer.

During Mr. Bowman's pusuit of higher education and struggles to pass the bar exam he unfortunately ignored his student loan obligations. Over the course of four years his outstanding debt went from a high (but not unheard of) $270,000 to $435,000 due to charges and fees from various collection agencies.

While I can see the argument that this man seemingly kept getting degree after degree without thinking of the consequences his mounting debt would have (he admits he has never made a single student loan payment) and then went four years without getting in touch with his lenders, I think the punishment of denying him admission to the bar is outrageous. How is he ever supposed to pay back his loans now if he can't even make a living?

I learned the hard way what happens to you if you try to run away from your student loan debt and wind up in default (granted for 1/20th of the amount that Mr. Bowman did) so I can definitely sympathize for what he must be going through. But to work so hard pulling himself out of homelessness and two life-threatening accidents to finally passing the bar exam just to be denied a chance at his dream of becoming a lawyer just doesn't seem fair to me at all.

Mr. Bowman is appealing his decision and I really hope things turn around for him.

Halfway Through 2009

I can't believe it's already July, meaning six months since I posted my Financial Resolutions for 2009 (and one year until our wedding!). Now is a good time to review my resolutions and see if I'm on track. In January, I resolved to:

1. Save up a $2000 Emergency Fund
Not on track. I got a little caught up in the emergency of losing my job but now that I have a better job and no rent to pay this shall be an attainable goal. To do this in six months, however, I would need to start saving $333 a month. I gotta think on this for a while as I'm not sure how that would impact the wedding savings and whether I should take into account my fiance's emergency fund when contemplating our emergency savings. I'll get back to you.

2. Eliminate Law School Loan (Current Balance = $1932)
By paying $14 extra each month I am still on track to eliminate this loan in less than three years. Listing all my student loan debt today was a little sobering, however, so I have decided to try to knock out this entire loan in 2009. According to a a debt payoff calculator in order to do this I have to start paying $289.87 this month to reach this goal.

3. Save up a Christmas Fund of $300
Failure but then again no one really expects a couple trying to save for a wedding to go huge at Christmas. Maybe now that I (and I can't say this enough today) not paying rent I will devote more attention to gift savings.

4. Save $1000 for Special Event in 2010
Yeah I was thinking about saving for the wedding several weeks before we were even officially engaged. Don't shoot me. Six months later I look upon that quaint little $1000 figure and laugh my head off. Make that $10,000 is the amount I need to save in the next year. Not including what we already have paid out and what my fiance has contributed to the Wedding Fund already I need to start chipping in a whopping $833 a month.

5. Continue to save 10% of my salary for retirement.
On track!!

6. Pay off all short term debt - don't acquire new debt.
Woohoo, it felt so good to get rid of my overdue utility debt, my Capital One balance and of course my Boyfriend Debt.

So that's where I stand right now. I'm very excited for the next six months of this year to start seeing some progress. In the past year (yes it's been over a year since my first post) I've gotten pretty good at actually paying my bills (a skill that had eluded me in 10 years of adult life) but now the next year is going to be devoted to actually planning and saving for the future.

Look out for my new budget to be posted next week as I attempt to incorporate these revisited goals.

New Feature: Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup!

Yee Haw!

I've been meaning to do introduce this feature for a while: posting the exact figures of each one of my student loans so that (eventually) I can witness the principals get smaller and my hard work paying off.

Until very recently (when I had a blog design issue) I was keeping track of these numbers in a shared Google document that I'm sure no one noticed since it required clicking through your blog reader and finding the appropriate link on my blog. I still use this document to keep myself on track but it doesn't really show me any progress since I just delete the old numbers and put in the new every month. Therefore I want to start out each month with a handy little chart like this one:

Subsidized Stafford (Undergrad and Law combined) = $41,454.63 @ 4.875%

Unsubsidized Stafford (Undergrad and Law combined) = $34,376.12 @ 4.875%

[Private Loan (Undergrad) = $26,393.79 @ 4.13%]*

Defaulted Private Loan (Law) = $25,190.84 @ 0%

Perkins Loan (Law) = $8.665.23 @ 5%

School Loan (Law) = $1,710.70 @ 8%!!!

Grand Total = $137,779.31

*This loan is in my name but I am not currently making the monthly payments on it, my parents are. This may or may not change in the future.

Behold, my student loan debt as of July 1, 2009. Watch it go down here once a month. At this rate I'll be blogging for a LONG time.

Guess what I didn't do today?

Pay Rent!!!!

I am landlord free!

Finally out of my apartment and can devote money towards Wedding Savings!

I may even be getting some of my security deposit back! More on this as it develops.

Is the new student loan forgiveness program for me? Part 1

The news this morning about a revamped student loan forgiveness program piqued the interest of several of my coworkers this morning, as a lot of us have just the kind of high debt to income ratio it is designed to aid. After spending the last hour (!) trying to get some answers, however, I'm not sure it's right for me. [This is part 1 in a series of entries about this topics as it's just a little too much to digest all at once.]

After reading several articles on the subject, I was finally directed to ask my lender, good old Aunt Sallie. She told me that in order to be eligible for the forgiveness program, you have to be making income-contingent loan payments. I, however, am making level payments, which are defined as:

Extended Repayment - Level/Standard: This repayment plan, designed to allow you
to make lower monthly payments through a lengthened repayment period of up to 25 years, is available to borrowers with more than $30,000 in outstanding Federal
Stafford, PLUS and/or Consolidation loan balances and whose loans were first
disbursed 10/7/98 or later. Level/standard monthly payments of both principal
and interest are made throughout the repayment term. The repayment term
available on your private student loans may vary depending on loan type,
outstanding loan balance, repayment plan, and the terms of your promissory note.

Thus, in order to find out if I would be eligible for the forgiveness program I first needed to find out if I was eligible to make income-contingent payments instead. Here I entered some data in a calculator and here's what I got:

That chart would be completely accurate if I hadn't guessed my Adjusted Gross Income. No matter, it seems I am in fact eligible for income-based repayment of my federal student loans...at least for the next year when I'm single.

Up next...do I want to switch to the income-based repayment plan and how does this forgiveness program really work?

Moving!

It seems like only yesterday that we moved my fiance into his (our) condo but actually it has been 10 whole months. Now it is finally my turn to move in officially. While his move involved trucks and moving men and backbreaking work, mine has been relatively low key so far. That doesn't mean we're not exhausted beyond belief after sorting through five years of stuff, most of it so important I haven't felt the need to move it over with me during the last ten months.

We made two trips to Goodwill to donate lots of unneccesary clothing and household items. Unfortunately they do not accept furniture so I've been struggling to get rid of the last of mine. We kept a few pieces, gave away a few, and turned in a t.v. and computer monitor to Best Buy where I had to pay $10 (for the computer monitor) but got a $10 gift certificate in return.

The journey is finally almost over. Just have to get rid of a few more things and have one final meeting with my landlord (cross you fingers for me). Then we can begin the new journey of finally living together (for real!) as an engaged couple. I'm excited to start the next chapter of our lives and also excited to no longer be paying rent!

Budget 6/24 - 7/7

There are a lot of IFs in making this budget. I have been looking forward to the day when I no longer had to pay rent on my Very Expensive Storage Facility, aka my apartment, for SO long and it may finally be here. But to make a very long story short, I may still be on the hook for July's rent. Then again, there's a very good chance I will not have to pay. So here are two budgets - best case scenario and worst case scenario.

Starting Balance = $1,296 (woohoo my pay isn't be lagged anymore)

Best Case Scenario Budget

Aunt Sallie Mae - 406

Perkins Loan - 93

School Loan - 54

Utilities - 45

Sprint - 100?

Laptop - 70

Groceries - 100

Misc. - 128

Wedding - 400

Stupid Sprint has not yet applied my discount. I will have to call them when I feel a little better.

Worst Case Scenario Budget

Rent - 725 or half of 725 @ 360

Aunt Sallie Mae - 406

Utilities - 45

Groceries - 55

Misc. - 65

and everything else waits for two weeks.

So yes I am really hoping that my landlord and I can work this out in the best possible manner. I think worse comes to worse I would just give my landlord half of July's rent and if he really demands more tell him to wait for two weeks as I have given him more than enough notice I was vacating and I've been a darn good tenant for five years. BTW I cannot wait to never have to utter the words "my landlord" ever again. Goodbye serfdom!

Also we've been experiencing a tad bit of domestic stress as of late but I am excited to officially live with my fiance. As much as it has felt like we've been living together this past year I can now see that until you have to part with your wonderful girly accouterments for the greater good it has not been the real deal.

Where it Went 6/10 - 6/23

I'm home sick today and lack my usual witty energy to write about my finances but alas it's payday so accountability tells me I must. If it's any indication of how I feel, I managed to drag myself downstairs to put on laundry only to discover I had brought along fabric softener instead of detergent. Then I had to drag myself back upstairs to get the right bottle and back downstairs (no small feat in an apartment) and now two hours later I lack the strength to return to the basement to put said laundry in the dryer.

Oh well, here's where my money went over the last two weeks. I got a little off track due to the music festival - not so much money spent there but money spent in preparation for the trip - and as a result didn't pay old Aunt Sallie until today. Luckily my payment wasn't technically late.

Budgeted/Actual
Aunt Sallie Mae - 406/0
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/125
Festival - 150/387*
Fiance Birthday - 100/105
Misc. - 62/80
Father's Day - 0/30

*Yikes, that hurt to calculate but about 1/4 of that money was spent on clothes I can wear again. $25 was spent on the requisite commemorative t-shirt. Looking back it was an expensive, but awesome time and I don't feel so bad about it. Life is meant for the living.

I ended up with about $50 left over as well which is rare for me but I will figure out a way to incorporate it into my next budget which will be posted really soon.

The fiance and I are done with expensive trips for the forseeable future thankfully and all focus will now be on wedding savings.

A Year of No Fun Money

The wedding is still over a year away. Plenty of time to save up money, right? Yes...but also a whole year of my life where anytime we think of something we want - a video game system, a vacation, an electric fireplace for the condo - we have to stop ourselves and say "we can't afford to buy that yet because we need to save for the wedding." And I know these aren't things we need and we have already traveled quite a bit this past year...but it still something that's tough to get used to.

Case in point. This morning I was innoccently perusing classified ads on craigslist and saw something I absolutely do not need but desperately desperately want. I won't even say what it is to avoid the inevitable bashing by anonymous readers but trust me when I say that having this item would make me very happy AND it was a really good deal. Owning this item, I could revive an old and cherished hobby of mine, spend quality time with my future husband and get some recreation and exercise. But it was not to be.

Alas, luxuries have got to wait for at least one more year. And it's good in a way because planning a wedding takes a lot of time and money so I'm glad we're not rushing into it. Yet sometimes I wish we had eloped.

17+ Years Til Retirement

So I know I've posted recently about how my new job isn't as great as I originally hoped it would be. I've had a couple of nice conversations with some of the Old Guard in the past couple of days which makes me think it will get better though. Also, there's always the light at the end of the tunnel, retirement statements.

I just got my retirement statement and I'm still trying to figure it all out so what better way then to post about it?

According to my statement, I joined the Retirement System in April, 2007. While that is technically true, I have credited service going back to September, 2006. What this means is sometime between now and retirement I have to buy 8 months of service from the system. When I do this, hopefully in the next two years, I will be on track for a retirement date of September 2027! Woohoo, I'll only be 47 years old then!

Actually, damn, I just reread that part about how your benefits are reduced if you have less than 30 years of service...but they're a lot better after 20. I don't know, the wording is really vague. Must do more research. (I've posted about my retirement system before if you want a little more background.)

My account balance (3% of what I've earned since joining) is currently at $2,433.22. This would be what I get back from the system if I leave before I vest. It isn't much but it's good to know. I earned a whopping $83 in interest this year too!

Death benefits! Yikes! In case of my untimely demise, my younger siblings stands to inherit my ordinary death benefit of $43,260 plus my contributions to the retirement system. As long as this figure is less than $50k it's tax free. That's all well and fine but let's hope he never needs to know about it.

My fiance and I love to talk about our hypothetical early retirement plans, maybe moving to the islands and working "fun" jobs. In the meantime we plan on keeping our noses to the grindstone.

Oh wait, there's also my 457 retirement plan. This program is optional and I'm glad I joined because making my savings automatic (coming directly out of my paycheck before I can touch it) has proved the only successful way I have learned to save money. And look how well my funds are accumulating compared to the last time I posted about it? What recession?

All in all I am learning to appreciate my job just a little more.

Budget 6/10 - 6/23

Even though we just went away to Orlando the fiance and I are hitting the road again tommorrow. A festival awaits our wallets but luckily we've already paid for most of this trip several months ago.

I am going to budget myself some walking-around money that's a little bit higher than I would normally allow myself, but since we won't need as much groceries hopefully everything will balance out.


My paycheck is still being lagged. It's sort of frustrating. What's the fun of getting a raise if you don't get to see it? I'm told that it should even out soon but here's what I have to work with for the next two weeks.



Starting Balance = $1113*



Aunt Sallie Mae - 406
Defaulted Student Loan - 260
Nice Collection Agency - 125
Festival*- 150
Fiance Birthday - 100
Misc. - 62



*My fiance actually owes me $50 that I've been holding out on collecting until this trip so I'll have more spending cash while we are away for 4 days.



It's also his birthday coming up so I'd like to do something nice for him but I won't spoil the surprise by posting about it here.



I'll be back next week and hopefully with my budget in tact!

Where it Went 5/27 - 6/9

Here I am! Work isn't SO sucky today but it's busy. So here's a quick little report on where my money went the past two weeks compared to the budget I laid out for it:

Budgeted/Actual
Rent - 725/725
Perkins Loan - 93/93
School Loan - 54/54
Utilities - 45.90/45.90
Sprint - 100/100
Capital One - 210/211
Laptop - 70/75
Groceries - 100/?
Misc. - 75/140
Fiance - 432/400

Big news is of course, I paid off my "Boyfriend Debt!!!" Now I finally don't owe my fiance any more money and all of our shared money will be going towards the wedding account. More on that to come!

I'm still trying to figure out what the heck is going on with my apartment lease but at the very very worst I only have one more rent payment to make.

Stay tuned in a few for the new budget!

My New Job Sucks!

Where have I been? Inquiring minds want to know. Well the answer is working and unlike my first impression, my new job is not all it's cracked up to be.

First, the money. My paycheck is still being lagged so I am making LESS than I was at the old job despite the fact that my salary is technically more.

Second, the rules. For some reason I am now obligated to tell my receptionist every single time I have to use the bathroom, grab a soda or go to lunch. And when I come back. Despite this, my new boss glares at anyone that dares to leave the office for even a minute. Well not everyone....

Third, the double standards. Due to a weird office layout, dumb luck, or my perceived incompetence, my cubicle is in Siberia. Everyone in Siberia is exiled from the rest of the office where the non-stop office party takes place. They have a fridge, breakfast treats, a couch, chats, etc. But God forbid anyone from Sibera dares to intrude on the fun! Blank stares, dead expressions, the fun literally is frozen if you stop by ("what, do I smell?").

Next up is my "mentor." She sits in the non-stop office party and if she is on the phone and you come by her cube (trekking all the way from Siberia!) she will turn her head the other way and pretend she doesn't realize you are there (never mind the fact that she summoned you). But if she dares come to your cube and YOU are on the phone she will just stare at you until you end the conversation. She comes equipped with such motivational phrases of "I don't know why we do it this way," and "this is good enough I guess."

The last and very best of it all is the Newer Girl! She just started last week and through some freak happenstance (or my percieved incompetence?) she was placed in a cubicle right in the middle of the non-stop office party! No Siberia for her. She gets to hang out on the couch and socialize with everyone else.

The work itself is okay. Just every day is a lesson in humility. I am getting very frustrated and just wish my co-workers had some basic human decency.

I'll try to post more about money tommorow (it's budgeting time again!) but I can't guarantee I'll be in a better mood by then. :-(

Budget 5/27 - 6/9

Time for a budget. Some bad news, some good news and some great news!

First the great news, I got my vacation compensation finally! Only 9 weeks after I stopped working at my last job they decided to finally give me my unspent vacation money back! Before taxes it totalled $1,342!!! But after taxes I got a little less than $700 back. Screw you tax man! Also I contributed more than usual this pay period to my 357 retirement plan (good news I suppose).

Other good news, my utility bill stands at a measly $45, the lowest I ever remember seeing it and a far cry from my sad sad days of my payment agreement. It may be one of the last payments I ever make on my own to the utility company as I have finally told my landlord I am moving out! There's still a little bit of uncertainty as to whether I have to pay for July's rent but I am hoping the answer is no and this budget will also see my last rent payment ever!

Now the bad news. First we got stuck in traffic on Mother's Day and I decided to use the web on my old cell phone. Bad idea! Despite the pains I endured to make sure I was on the best cell phone plan for me, I had failed to realize that unlimited texting did not unclude any web access. So I racked up $35 in charges in one day. But the worse news is that I apparently have managed to let my credit card escape the deep dark confines of my wallet and get used for non-emergencies such as sneakers and wine. The damage: $210! So soon after I got my balance down to zero!

Anyway so here's the new budget in which I will account for the above and allocate my vacation earnings accordingly:

Starting Balance = $1904

Rent (last one?) - 725

Perkins Loan - 93

School Loan - 54

Utilities - 45.90

Sprint - 100

Capital One - 210

Laptop - 70

Groceries - 100

Misc. - 75

Fiance* - 432

I currently owe my fiance $288 in old debt plus $205 for a festival ticket. With the money I give him I will almost erase these debts AND he will filter some of the money into the wedding account! Once I move out officially I will be able to pool all my additional money into this account! I seriously can't wait for this day!

Where it Went 5/13 - 5/26

Before I explain how I did on my budget the past two weeks, I want to talk about the $10 I didn't spend but should have. We returned from our Disney vacation after enduring several days of rain and one sunny day...in which I was too cheap to pony up for sunscreen that I didn't remember to bring. And oh man am I in pain now.

I would love to write more about our trip (and will) but I'm swamped at work and cringing in pain right now. There's really no excuse for me to have been SO stupid. I used to be a certified life guard for Pete's Sake! And yet one day at the water park (fun) has led to three days of agony (and counting). Last night was spent furiously spraying vinegar on my burns and other home remedies such as milk and mustard (yes mustard). I have aloe but it stings too much. Readers please please wear sunscreen whenever you will be in the sun. And this concludes my public service message.

Now onto the budget:

Budgeted/Actual

Aunt Sallie Mae - 406/406.96
Defaulted Student Loan - 260/260
Nice Collection Agency - 125/125
Perkins Loan - 93/0
School Loan - 54/0

Sprint - 64/0

Misc./Disney - 111/140

Clothes - 0/151

New cell phone - 0/54

I've been meaning to own up to this for some time but you may have noticed I've been buying some new clothes lately and this certaintly is not typical. Unfortunately the past few months I have been putting on some weight and I don't fit into half of my old clothes. That and the need to update my work wardrobe has added a new line in my budget...one that sucks. I've been trying not to dwell on this for a while now but it's not really going away. :-( More on this subject (and my plan to combat it) later I promise.

I didn't pay my other student loans yet as I'm still one payment ahead thanks to April's extra paycheck (and unlike Aunt Sallie's loans, these don't accrue interest daily).

I got a sweet new cell phone thanks to renewing my contract with Sprint. That's all for now but look forward to some good news and a new budget in a later post.

I got a new laptop!

Greetings from Sallie's Niece's Headquarters - now not broken! I had been dealing with a semi-broken laptop for months now...which I just didn't want to deal with because I kept telling myself "it's not really that broken" to "well I can't afford a new laptop right now." But finally last week when my fiance was out of town the problem got worse and worse and yesterday we decided to set out in pursuit of a computer that would not make me want to give up computing forever.

Originally we set out to purchase a netbook...small and affordable..they sounded really cool. AND picking up and playing with the netbooks we saw I did kind of appreciate the novelty of the mini cmputers..but they were just too small. I really never bring my laptop anywhere except from the couch to the bedroom (haha) so I didn't need something so portable and I wasn't willing to sacrifice keyboard and screen size just to save a couple of bucks. In fact, the laptop I ended up purchasing was cheaper than the netbook I was eyeing.

So I ended up with a Compaq Presario X2 CQ60. I'll spare you the technical mumbo-jumbo but the fiance who knows more about it signed off the on the specs and I signed off on the price ($389) after first eyeing a sign in the store that said "ask about our open box specials" and we ended up getting it out of the box for ten percent off!

And since I of course did not have $400 floating around in the bottom of my purse the fiance and I decided that he should apply for a zero percent interest Best Buy card to charge the computer on. I would have tried applying in my own name but I'm still working on rebuilding my credit. We were approved and I have six months to pay the sucker off at no interest (around $75 a month). So yes another unexpected expense right before our Disney trip but I really needed the computer for my sanity (and wedding planning) and I really love it! They keyboard is very easy to type on. Look forward to more blog posts now that I have a functioning laptop!

Budget 4/13 - 5/27

The combination of my utility company telling me I owe them nothing (?) and the Sprint online access to my account not operating right now has made this budget a little sketchy. Also and here's the big thing: next week we're going to Disney World!!!! So here's my best estimate of my budget for the next two weeks (i.e. the things I know HAVE to be paid):

Starting Balance = $1113*

Aunt Sallie Mae - 406

Defaulted Student Loan - 260

Nice Collection Agency - 125

Perkins Loan - 93

School Loan - 54
Sprint - 64?
Misc./Disney - 111

*My paycheck is still being lagged $180 every two weeks. :-(

It really stinks that I haven't gotten my vacation payout from my old job yet. That $800 would have helped a lot on our upcoming trip! Luckily we're flying free, staying for free and have one free park day so it's not a super expensive vacation. Here's hoping that check arrives in the next few days but in the meantime I'm very excited to be going on vacation!

Where It Went 4/29 - 5/12

I know I sound like a broken record but things have got to get better for me financially when I can get out of my friggen apartment lease. Worst case scenario (and what's looking likely to happen) is that I have to pay rent for the months of June and July and then NEVER AGAIN. It's not so bad I realize and I'm very lucky to have not one but two places to hang my hat, but ugh, the money I'm wasting! I could be saving in my emergency fund, I could be contributing to the wedding deposits, heck I could be out buying ten news pairs of shoes each month with an extra $725!



My spending has been a tad out of control now that the warmer weather has kicked in as well. I felt like going for a walk and oh look there's a restaurant...why don't I get take out? Also I've been social a little more and well that aint free. I don't regret it though, live is meant for the living and I've never claimed to be a hard core frugalist.

So here's where my money has gone compared to the budget I set two weeks ago:


Budgeted/Actual
Rent - 725/725
Perkins Loan - 93/0*
School Loan - 54/0*
Groceries - 100/70
Dry cleaning - 60/54
Misc. - 101/180
Dinner out - 0/63
Mother's Day - 0/50
Makeup - 0/30

*Not yet due

Wedding
Reception Deposit - $2000 - from my parents
Photographer Deposit - $500 - from my fiance


There's no turning back now, we're getting married!

Some Wedding Plans

Finally I have a free moment in which to write about our upcoming wedding plans. We have set a date with the church two weeks ago and as of a couple of hours ago our reception venue's deposit has been paid! It's too late to back out now, we're actually getting married! :-)

The wedding is next July, you read that right, 2010. Sometimes it seems like way too far away and sometimes it seems like it is already sneaking up on me. Why July 2010? Several reasons really:

1. It gives my parents some time between my sister's wedding last summer to save up for yet another wedding. It also gives my fiance and I some time to save up for the things we'll be paying for.


2. My work schedule and several of the people in our lives are much more flexible in the summer.


3. Because being engaged for one year is too short and two years is too long. A year and a half is just right.


4. We like summer weddings!

Anyway it should be one excellent wedding. And I know in the past I've droned on and on about how weddings were a waste of money and selfish on the part of the couple but I take most it it back now - I'm a giant hypocrite and I'm excited for our wedding. We are going to make a conscious effort to make sure the guests have a good time too which includes 1) providing excellent food and 2) holding the wedding in a resort town in the sumer so that guests can go on a mini-vacation if they so desire.

Next week we're also meeting with a photographer. This process has been tougher than picking a groom, I swear! Wedding photography is all so beautiful and it's really an aesthetic as well as financial choice.

That's all for now. I'm looking forward to going through this exciting process with my groom-to-be!