Hello 2010!

Wow! This year has flown by! It was a great year. We got to travel and do so much to our house. And I even got to buy a new car! We are truly truly blessed.

For this coming year we're starting it off with a pretty radical resolution. We planned to do this for about a month not but I just so happened to find something today that nails down this plan of ours. We use our Discover card to pay for everything then at the end of the month we pay it off (Discover Card gives cash back). This helps us keep track of what goes where and for how much. I just looked up our year-to-date spend analyzer and it's unbelievable how much we (I) spend at Target! Of course, Discover doesn't have a specific "Target" category, but it does have retail and that total is over $8,000! Ouch!

This resolution might seem like nothing to some people, but for us, this going to be a stretch. As of Jan 2 (the day after the bowl game) to Jan 31st we won't be spending any money. We'll still be paying our bills obviously, but as for eating out, Target, Home Depot, we won't be spending anything. If we run out of bathroom cleaner, oh well. If I don't feel like cooking dinner, oh well. If a light bulb burns out, oh well. If a friend wants to go out to eat, oh well. If the guys want to go out for a beer, oh well! Nothing will be spent except gas and groceries. No home improvements! No spending money of any sort.

Now, this is just for the month of January. But we want to start the year off right. And I'm guessing it will save us somewhere between $600 and $1,000. We'll see how it goes and what we find to entertain ourselves instead. It's exciting to stretch yourself so far.

Vacation

Since Jordan has this week off and we didn't travel this Christmas (for the first time in 5 years!) we had lots of time to spend together. We got to go see ICE with our friends, Cole and Frannie. It's a 9 degree convention center filled with 2 million tons of ice sculptures. The pictures don't do it justice. And I'm very glad we don't live in 9 degree weather!










Today we got to go to St. Augustine. We hadn't been there since our one year anniversary so it was nice to go back and see the sites again. Jordan also got to use his camera some. I have to get used to being in front of the camera since I'm so used to being behind it. First we went to the winery. It specializes in dessert and fruity wines, which isn't our favorite so we were glad it was free. Then we went to the lighthouse and climbed the 209 steps to the top. After that we walked around the town taking pictures.

Christmas Festivities

Phew! Today Jordan and I spent all day cleaning the house, inside and out. We got all the Christmas decorations put away, and all the dust bunnies swept up. It's been a pleasantly busy week for us. Here's a recap.


Christmas Eve we had my family over for gumbo. Jordan and I also started a new tradition: every Christmas we're going to get each other a ornament and open it on Christmas Eve. Jordan got me a little bear and I got him a Hoops and Yoyo ornament.







On Christmas day we opened our presents for each other in the morning and that afternoon we went to my parent's house. Jordan got me a crochet kit, wine cook book, art for our bedroom, 10 clay penguins, some hand made paper flowers, a tshirt and a table topics conversation starter. And of course I got Jordan a camera! It was a big gift, so he didn't get much else (a backpack).







This is mom's custom ordered tree.



The ugly mutts.


Vernon wrapped a single LSU shot glass in all these boxes for Jordan. It made for some added entertainment.



I got my very own drill!



Mom went all out with the gourmet chocolates in our stockings. And I got a Brighton bracelet!



After dinner and opening presents we spent the evening in the gazebo.

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season of one party after another, spending time with family, and eating like there is no tomorrow. This weekend was packed with all three. Friday my co-workers went out with me to celebrate my birthday. It's hard getting a bunch of night shift workers to all have the same time off, and that is why we were a bit late. But better late than never! We went to Blue Martini and my dear friends made sure everyone knew it was my birthday. I've never been out on/for my birthday so this was a slightly new experience. I've never had so many drinks bought for me, first by my friends and then by complete strangers. It was slightly awesome. I had so many drinks offered that I was giving them away.

I can always count on Maribel for a great time.





To continue the festivities, Jordan and a couple of his coworkers decided to host a Christmas party. Due to the bad economy EA had cancelled their official Christmas party, which is really sad since it's the most anticipated party of the whole year. But Jordan and a couple other people stepped up to the plate and decided to do their own thing. We had it at a friend's house which has a huge court yard. We decorated it with white Christmas lights, had a bar, karaoke, Rock Band, another friend fried a turkey and worked the grill. They even had the traditional cigar lounge and Sharkie Awards. The whole thing was pretty awesome. There was a good turn out too! Considering it was such a minor party compared to what EA is used to (Hard Rock at City Walk), I would say it was still a complete success.

After that party we got home about 2am only to open our bedroom door and find out our glass sliding door had been smashed. As you can imagine this was pretty scary to come home to. Our alarm hadn't been set off, so the doors hadn't been opened. There was just a moderate sized whole in the glass, but not something someone could fit into. At the time we thought someone had probably started to break in only to be scared off, maybe by the dogs, although they didn't appear upset at all when we came home. The next day we looked around the backyard. Everything was in it's place, no bushes smashed, the gates were closed (which is hard to do from the outside), nothing was missing. There is a chance that the door could have broken on it's own. Either way, it was unnerving to try to sleep in there that night. Jordan will take the door somewhere today to get the glass replaced. I think I want to buy a heavy duty lock for the screen door. And maybe a German Shepherd for a little added security!

On Sunday I got to meet my cousin Jennifer's 3 week old baby, my second cousin. I have about 35 first cousins, who knows how many second cousins. It was nice getting to spend time with family I don't get to see often. It was a good ending to a long weekend.

Sheer Boredom

I haven't worked since Monday night and I'm getting a taste of what it would be like if I was a stay at home wife. Today would be day 4, and lets just say.... I wasn't cut out for all this nothingness! Jordan's been working late so that adds a couple hours of boredom to my day. Tuesday was a day of catching up on sleep, laundry, dishes, all those annoying little things that love to hang over your head. Wednesday I spent the day getting Christmas started. I went shopping for some presents, hung the outside Christmas lights, decorated a little inside and got our Christmas cards done. Thursday I took my car in to get the windows tinted and went to my mom's house. That night I watched WAY TOO MANY Hoarders episodes on aetv.com. So Tuesday through Thursday I stayed busy enough. But today has just been a drag. I planned on going shopping more today, but the weather hasn't been permitting. Instead I cleaned the inside of my car and waited around on the cable guy to show up and get his stuff done. SUCH a bore. I can't handle being in the house all day. I get a little stir crazy. Ugh, I gotta get out of here. I think I hear the grocery store calling my name. Anything to just get out of here....!