Okay so I'm not actually "ballin" but this month has been so much fun and I have tons to look forward to for cheap! My monthly goal this month was to stop spending spend less!! I gave myself $100 to go towards school supplies and this months expenses(I am in my last few months of college and live with my parents so I really don't have any "bills" to pay for....yet). Well my school supplies were only $15! Wooo! Student teaching does not require me to buy any textbooks, but just lots of colored pens and paper :) Total expenses: $15 I was able to attend Cedar Point....for free! Score! And free beverages all day long! Since grandma and grandpa only live 20 minutes away I had a free place to sleep, and grandma threw in a little spending money for food for the day :) Total expenses: nothing Now for the best news EVER!!!! Drum roll please....
This man, the love of my life, the best NFL player to date will be in Detroit playing the lions August 22 and guess who is going to the game....ME!!!! I seriously have not been able to sleep since my purchase of tickets last night! Now let me tell you that I will be sitting on the 20 yard line, 17th row....for just $22!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? I almost died last night buying them! For those of you who don't know, I am in love with football (check out the really cool friday link up I participated in). Most importantly I love the Patriots! I seriously have never been so excited to see a football game ever! I am bursting with joy! And the fact the tickets were so cheap makes things even better! Now let me tell you better news! I have a credit card I use strictly for gas, but I do get cash back every time I use the card. Well its my lucky day because I have enough cash back to pay for my ticket and put towards the brand new Tom Brady T-shirt I bought via Amazon for only $22. So in reality this ticket is free! I JUST LOVE FREE!!
Let me review my expenses thus far:
School supplies: $15
Cedar point: free
Patriots Game: free
Brady T-shirt: $15
Total: $30
$30 for all of this!?! I could die a happy woman! (but I hope I don't any time soon so I can get to this game!)
What are your success stories? Or budgeting stories? Stay tuned for more post about my excitement to see my all time favorite team and player play!! GO PATS! P.s. Tim Tebow will be there as well, sorry I love him too :) P.S. Check out Fitness Blondie Ulta giveaway! Nothing is better than a free giveaway to help with budgeting!
Friday: I was able to have breakfast with my bestie before traveling out of town with my sister and her boyfriend. We were headed to the god awful state to the south of the mitten, you know the one starting and ending with O and greeting you with a hi in the middle? The one also home to the worst football team known to man kind?
Well my family lives in that state and only 20min from Cedar Point!
After a 3.5 hour drive and a nice sleep we woke up and headed to Sandusky! Normally when we go to cedar point and leave from MI I have to wake up at 4 am and I'm already exhausted by the time we arrive! Since I was able to get my beauty sleep I was up and able to catch the beautiful view as we drove in!
Lots of matching shirt families!
I honestly had so much fun riding all the roller coasters! I felt like a dare devil! I have an awful fear of heights so every time I was on a roller coaster I had minor panic attacks and extremely sweaty hands! But it was so worth it! I was being such a dare devil going on so many rides they even had to lock me and my sister up!
I also experienced my first ever...
For lunch! And man was I missing out! I am a chicken nug lover and I have never tasted such delicious chicken nugs in my life!! We also were lucky enough to score a special wrist band for the day that got us free drinks anywhere in the park all day long! I stayed so hydrated! And also drank more cherry coke than any human should ever consume! I mean it was free and I wanted to maximize that experience!
After an eventful day and 9 hours spent on roller coasters it was time to call it a night and head back to grandmas.
We were able to finish grandmas wonderful trip with a steak lunch and walk down memory lane playing with these lovely dolls.
The good ol days of barbies!
Now I know I talked about budgeting as my goal this month so let me tell you that I was able to get free tickets, free drinks, and my gas paid for the trip so I only spent $10 all weekend!!! Wooo! So far so good!
I have been looking forward to this link up for days! One of my absolute favorite blogs to read is by Erin at Love, Fun, and Football. She has created a friday link up all about my all time favorite sport...Football!
I want you all to know how much I LOVE football. I spend all weekends in the fall watching college football on saturdays and NFL on Sundays. I also participate in Fantasy football, so prepare to hear all about it soon!
Here is the link up!
Favorite Professional Team
No questions here, the Patriots!! I really never cared to much about NFL football until a few years ago. However, I have always been a die hard UofM fan (read about below) and when Tom Brady headed the Patriots as their QB I had to investigate more. ALthough he was not a huge college star, he will go down in history as one of the best QB ever in the NFL.
Now I know that my team has struggled this off season by loosing some key players and they have picked up another one of my other favorite players, Tim Tebow (don't hate! There is not thing I love more than a man who sticks up for his beliefs!), but I have complete confidence that Tom will lead our team to victory this year!
Favorite College Team
Hail to the Victors! Go Blue! This is where my heart lays! Words can't describe the love I have for the boys in blue! I have been born and raised a UofM girl. My poor dad, who has only daughters, has raised us all to not only love football but to specifically love Michigan football. We have had our fair share of dogs named after players, the colors of the team, and anything else related to Michigan football. If you want to know what I do on Saturdays I can guarantee you will find me in front of a TV or at The Big House cheering these boys on!
Favorite Football Snack
This is a tough one, because I really enjoy all snacks during a football game. However, I love wings! Nothing says football and fall like honey bbq wings done on the grill before a big game! I also have to add any and all dips are great football snacks. Something about a plethora of dips around a table says football :)
Favorite Warm-Weather Gear
Football season in MI is never really that warm, so my warm weather gear usually last for the first 2 games and then it switches to my favorite sweatshirts and long sleeve shirts. However, when I get the chance for warm weather gear I love my MI T-shirts with jeans. Like I have said, I watch lots of football on saturdays, so making sure I am comfortable is very important to me. I love my MI T's that keep me comfy and cheer on my team!
Favorite Cold-Weather Gear
MI football weather is 80% of the time cold. I get a lot of wear out of my cold gear in this state. I have a few things I wear on a regular basis and that is my extremely large and to big on me MI fleece. Its a quarter zip and way to big on me, but I pair it with leggings or a skinny jean and I like to think its looks a little better (probably not but it is super comfy and i'm slightly superstitious). I also enjoy wearing my bedazzled UofM hoodie from Victoria Secret! It is super cute and comfy and looks great with jeans as well! Both of these items still represent my team and keep me comfy!
Favorite Half-Time Activity
FOOOOD! Although I am sure I have eaten my fair share of calories before the game/kick off. At halftime I need to make sure I restock my plate for food during the second half. Maybe I think that I am the one playing and burning the calories and its okay for me to eat this much, but I definitely need the energy to make sure I can cheer/yell/coach my team to victory the second half. I mean they need me out there!
Favorite Post-Time Activity
If we loose (rare occasions) Don't even try to talk to me. The amount of emotional investment I have in my team puts me into a slight depression. If we win (almost all the time) I usually celebrate by watching another game or going to bed (after all I have just basically played a 3.5 hour game!)
I have decided to post my very own link up! I am a little nervous about it seeing as its my first time and all, but super excited at the same time!
So what is this link up about? Check out my post from yesterday titled I publicly Declare... about setting goals.
Basically at the beginning of every month I want to announce my goals for the month via my blog and I hope that others will join me as well! This will allow for others to see what your goals are and keep you accountable through out the month! The goals can be anything and everything you want to work on for the month. At the end of the month you can post to tell us all how many of your goals you achieved and a little bit about your struggle/success as well as post your goals for the next month!
What are the rules?
There really aren't any.
1) Just write a post about your goals for the month (see my post about why it's important to publicly declare goals)
2) Grab a button!
3) Link up! I can not wait to read everyones goals! It inspires me and most of the time I want to add some of your goals to my list!
Good luck with your goals and click here to link up and grab a button! Can't wait to hear what your goals are!
This post is strictly dedicated to the goals I am setting for myself this month! I need to publicly post this so I can have you all hold me accountable! Whats the point of publicly posting your goals? 1) It holds yourself more accountable! How embarrassing is it to post a goal and then not even try to achieve it? It is so much easier to set goals in our minds or even write them down and keep them to ourselves because when we don't reach them, or even try to reach them, the only person who knows is ourself. I don't know about you, but I am way more apt to let myself down than to let my 22 blogging buddies. It is easy to come up with excuses in our minds that we were super busy, or the weather wasn't right, or that it was not your fault because ______. Publicly declaring your goals holds your more accountable to reach them! 2) Other people can hold you accountable! Now, I would refrain from blowing up my email on a daily basis in order to ensure I am reaching my goals, but a little kick in the butt is all I need sometimes! When I publicly declare my goals I have other people keeping track of my success or failure. This makes me want to reach my goals because I am not only doing it for myself, but for others as well! 3) Feedback! It is so awesome receiving feedback about goals you are trying to reach. Words of encouragement are the best way to stay motivated to reach your goal. I love receiving comments via Facebook or blog world that encourage me to keep going or that compliment my success. Words are motivating and inspiring and if someone out there is noticing your accomplishments, it makes it that much easier to go out and reach them. 4)Be specific! Don't just tell me you want to loose weight or stop spending money. How much do you want to loose, or what are you trying to save? The mores specific the more tangible since you have an exact goal you are reaching. It leaves little room for excuses! So what are my goals this month?
1) STOP SPENDING! I have been reading some great blogs lately about saving money and budgeting. Particularly Erin's post about her and her husbands goal to become debt free. So what is my specific goal? This month I am not working so I have no income coming in. My goal is to only spend $100 on school supplies and gas. To be honest, I barely have $100 but this means No Clothes, no Starbucks (ahhh!), and no going out to eat or the bar!
2) Loose 3 lbs. I know thats a weird number but I have really slacked on my marathon training in July. So I will publicly declare I will be doing 1 month of the insanity work out to get my booty back in shape for training!
3) Lesson Plan: I need to get my lessons together for the upcoming school year! Although I made great progress yesterday, I need to make sure I am fully prepared to enter the building August 27th for Professional Development days.
Although I do not have many goals this month, I will accomplish all of them! (At least I will try) Join me on the goal setting adventure! What are your goals for August? Grab a button and Link up!
I had a different post ready to go for the day, something I have been struggling a little bit with in my life. I will post about that later because today my family received the best news ever! Background to this story: For those of you who don't know I have been in college for over 5 years now. I know, crazy. And for those of you who don't know I was 3 months from graduating in Pre-law when I felt God calling me to be a teacher. So I made the switch, stayed in school, and have never been more happy in my life. God is so amazing! However, part of my continuing my education was to move back in with my parents after living on my own for 4 years.
My parents were so great about allowing me to live in their home again so I could save money while I finish my degree (only 4 months away now!). However, moving home has also let me in on the financial stress my family has endured. Now I won't go into to much detail but my dad has been a business owner for the past 10 years and along with this type of job is a lot of instability. As me and my two younger sisters have grown older my parents have tried to help us with school and living as much as they could, but with the economy decline his business has been going through a lot of ups and downs. Today: So my parents have recently been applying to jobs like crazy and we have all been praying daily for God to bless my parents with stable jobs. After months and months and MONTHS of prayer God has worked wonders in our lives and has blessed both my parents with a job in the same week! How crazy is that! God is so AMAZING! His timing is perfect! Why am I telling you all of this? Because the power of prayer is indescribable! The ability to trust God and put your faith in his will and his timing takes not only trust but it also is the most incredible feeling to see God work in your life. Recently, I have had struggled with this component of my faith. I confess that sometimes I like to try to take things in my own hands. This miracle in my life has only reassured me that I need to stay strong in my prayers and to trust God and his timing. Why wouldn't I? The all knowing God will provide, so why do I try to cut him short at times? Since the power of prayer is so amazing, I urge you to pray for something or many things in your life if you don't already. Or contact me with a prayer request that I can pray for you and see God work in your life! Prayer is powerful and why not have a team of people pray for something :)
When I say I did nothing this weekend, I mean I really did nothing. It was a weekend full of pure relaxation and the occasional workout. Thursday night I did head to the beach with some friends where I got to experience the most beautiful engagement take place! Congrats to the lovely couple and thanks for the invite to celebrate your upcoming nuptials with cake :) Friday- My cousin is visiting from Oregon and I was able to meet her 1 year old princess for the first time! She is the most amazing little girl ever. Look at her, does she not look like a little baby doll!? I am in love and now I will have to save money to make a trip to Oregon to see this little peanut!
Saturday- I went to the public library to only realize that I have read every Nicholas Sparks book written (or very close to) and I am winding down the number of Jodie Picoult books. So bloggers, what are some good reads? I have one month to do nothing but read and work out so any suggestions will be appreciated! After the library I went on a run through the state public trail that runs through my hometown. It is one of my favorite runs and I have found a hidden gem right off the trail that is my go to quiet place to just think :)
Sunday- After church I plopped on the couch for a marathon of the one and only....life time movies! I know, they are super cheesy but I love them! Besides the sub-par acting and the over dramatic story lines, I can't help but get hooked! I ended my weekend with a nice bike ride on the state trail with my sister.
What did you do this weekend?
Also, still looking for a good August link up, any suggestions!?
