WE DID IT!!!

Yay! I'm so excited! We did it!!!

What is "it," you may be asking. Well, I'll tell you.

Last year, in August, I decided that I really wanted to have more control over our financial future. You know, pay down debt, save for a house, retirement, etc. So I got this great book called The Total Money Makeover. It's great, has lots of practical advice for paying down debt, etc.

One of the things the author recommends is setting small, reachable goals so you don't get overwhelmed. So, I decided that for my (our) New Years Resolution, we would pay off $5,000 of credit card debt during 2008. (Luckily, we have 0% interest, so all money we pay goes to principal).

Well, today was the day that we achieved our resolution!!! Yay! From January 1st, 2008 to July 17, 2008, we paid off $5,000 of credit card debt! I'm so excited!!!!! And, I'm doubly proud because Dan was in school for most of this time, so we were only living on two full-fledged incomes since mid-May.

True, we still have more debt to pay off, but it feels so good knowing that we made a resolution and achieved it! Hope I don't sound like I'm bragging; I'm just very excited!

Mackinac Island!

Dan and I had a great time in Mackinac Island, Michigan. For those of you who don't know, Mackinac is a beautiful, small (only eight miles across) island in northern Michigan. It retains the quaint, turn of the century atmosphere in large part because all automobiles are banned on the island. Transportation is by bike, horse-drawn carriage or by foot. We loved it; it was very relaxing and peaceful, with just enough to do to keep it exciting.

Here's our room; we stayed in the Murray Hotel, which was a very cool Victorian hotel, right on Main Street.







Here's our hallway leading up to our room



The outside of our hotel...



Our pool area, where we spent quite a bit of time (and now I have a tan!)







Yes, that's Dan's bookbag; stupid summer school! :) He had to study a bit when we were on vacation, but nothing too stressful. I got to read while he was doing it, so it was all good!




Here's the street; you can see how "quaint" it is. This is the Lilac Tree Inn, where my family and I have stayed before:


Here's the Main Street Inn, which also looked nice:



Us on our bike ride (we rode around the island twice; once on Friday, once on Saturday):



Some views we saw on our bike ride:






Me standing in Lake Superior (I think?); it was really cold but felt REALLY good after 4 miles of biking (we were about halfway around at this point):








Me at the entrance to Fort Mackinac



I just thought this lamppost was cool


Here's a really cool stone church from the 1800s; if we had gotten married in the Midwest, this church would have been a top 10 consideration!



Here is the Grand Hotel, where the movie Somewhere in Time (with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve) was filmed. It is so gorgeous, constructed at the height of the Victorian era. Unfortunately, they instituted a $15 charge/person since I last came here, which you have to pay to even get into the hotel OR the grounds. Pssh; I'm not paying that! So this photo is as good as we got. Next time we come, though, Dan and I are going to save up to have a fancy, romantic, five-course dinner here at one of their restaurants. I'm hoping they don't make you pay if you're coming in to eat!



Here is the hotel as viewed from the ferry



And, finally, our view as we left the island on the ferry. (It's actually a great picture, and I've always said that if I have a boy, I want to do his room in a Cape Cod/nautical theme, so maybe I'll blow this picture up and frame it for when Kurt comes along!) All in all, it was a great trip!

Happy Anniversary, Nancy & Jason!

Dan's sister, Nancy, and her husband Jason were married one year ago today on 7-7-07. It was a beautiful wedding and we were all so happy for them. Happy anniversary, you guys!

Updates on the Grandparents

Well, my grandparents are still doing fairly well, thankfully. Unfortunately, my grandpa had to have his lower right leg amputated due to gangrene that appeared at the wound site, where his bone went through his skin. I can't remember exactly when his surgery was, but it was at least a week ago; maybe Friday the 27th? Anyway, he luckily seems to be in good spirits; he put a positive spin on things, saying that this leg has bothered him for more than 60 years (it was the leg paralyzed in the war), so maybe now he will actually have more control of things via a prosthesis.

But still, it makes me so darn angry that some jerk thinks he can just drive all recklessly with no regards for others. ARGGGH. It infuriates me just thinking about it!

Speaking of reckless drivers, Dan and I saw quite a few of those coming back yesterday from Mackinac Island. Aggressive drivers in their huge SUVs or pickup trucks had to speed up and pass everyone, and since it was a two-lane highway, they were often right in the way of oncoming traffic. We saw quite a few narrowly-avoided accidents; it really irks me that our culture is so "me, me, me" that we can't even think about the safety of others even when we're doing something so potentially dangerous as driving. But that's another tangent....

I'll post pictures of our vacation when I get a chance. Hope everyone had a good 4th!

Well, things WERE going better

*sigh* You think things are looking up, and then, WHAM. Something you didn't expect throws you for a loop.

Well, the weekend started off well; I had summer hours at work (although I didn't get to leave at noon like usual, since I had work to do, but I still got to leave at 2:30) and then I came home and read Harry Potter as I sunbathed by our pool. Dan and I just hung out that night and watched some TV, and on Saturday we got up, cleaned up a little, ran some errands, and then went to see my grandparents.

They seemed to be doing quite well, which is good. We stayed there for about an hour, then went and got some dinner at Applebees. We then went to see Get Smart, which was HILARIOUS. I was literally laughing out loud through most of the movie. Definitely a must-see!

Then on Sunday, we did some more stuff around the house, and I FINISHED the Harry Potter series! It was amazing; now I want to read the whole series again! (And I can't wait until the movies come out....)

Anyway, so things seemed to be looking up for us. Today, however, I got a call from my mom, and she was (understandably) upset. It turns out that the nursing home where my grandparents are recuperating gave my grandma both her medicine AND my grandpa's! What the hell??? He's on morphine, some heart-regulating medicine, and some other stuff. Stuff she should obviously NOT take, since it's prescribed for my grandpa! I mean, what, just because they have the same last name, they don't check the first name?

Anyway, the first six hours were critical; they kept a very close eye on her, had the ER on standby, etc. Luckily, she seemed to pull through with no ill effects (when we went to visit her and my grandpa tonight, she was weak, but other than that, seemed fine). But what a scary six hours!!! *sigh* So just when you think nothing else could possibly happen, it does. I can't wait until they're recovered and back in their own home!

A (Fairly) Fun Weekend

Aside from the fact that my grandparents are in the hospital (which is obviously a HUGE worry), this weekend was actually quite fun. On Friday, I met some friends for happy hour at Eno Vino's, which is this cool wine and tapas bar on the west side. I'd never been there before, but it had a really cool atmosphere and delicious appetizers. So I'm sure we'll be heading over there again.

Then Dan and I met my Aunt Chris, Matthew, Tracy, Kirsti and Rori for dinner at the Old-Fashioned. The food wasn't as good as it normally is, but it was fun to see everyone :) Then we headed to St. Mary's to visit my grandma.

Saturday Dan and I watched Rori, and we had such a good time. She is such a doll; I hope my kids are even half as good as she is! We went swimming in my complex's pool, which was a lot of fun (although it was super windy, and we honestly thought a deck chair was going to come flying into the water. Luckily, it stayed put). Then we hung out at home, watched movies, and made star-shaped cookies for Flag Day. We headed to Outback that night for dinner, which is always good, although our server was a little on the, um, grouchy side.

Sunday we visited both grandparents at their respective hospitals and then went to Paisans to celebrate Father's Day with the Hines. All in all it was a fun weekend.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially my dad, who's done a ton of stuff for both Dan and me. He often used his frequent flier miles to bring us home for Christmas (when we were poor college kids who had no other way to get home), provided me with an awesome college education, and, aside from a few moments that seemed like they belonged in the movie Father of the Bride (I'm just kidding!), had no qualms about giving both Dan and me the wedding of our dreams. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Some updates!

Well my grandparents are getting better and should be released into a rehab facility tomorrow (or maybe even today!) It's been a long road but I'm glad they're at the end of their hospital stay, and I know we're all wishing them a speedy rehabilitation.

Please continue to keep them in your thoughts! On an unrelated note, when I get home I think I will FINALLY be able to post some pictures from Dan's graduation and our subsequent trip up to Horseshoe Lake :)