Little Things for Which I am Thankful

Terri
Miraculously blooming behind my building
Miraculously blooming behind my building

I have so much to be thankful for this week – below is just a smattering. Writing this post as the week goes on has really taught me to live in the now and be really aware of my surroundings and the people in my life.

  1. I am thankful for my friend, M, with whom I have recently reconnected and who was willing to lend me his kinesiology book so that the words I’m reading in my CES book no longer look like a foreign language to me. I hadn’t seen him in over a year, so it was nice to relax and have a night out, rather than my usual Friday night trip to the grocery store. (Sad, I know.) Even better to have a reason to style my hair! 🙂 Read more →

My New Ride

Terri

Copenhagen bike by EG Bike
Photo courtesy of MyBike.com, from whom I will be ordering it

Well, I finally made it through my decision impairment and have made a choice. (Whenever there is a large amount of money involved, it can take me a long time to decide things.) After a LOT of research, I have decided to buy an electric bike, and I will be ordering it on Friday as soon as I get paid.  Read more →

California (or Pacific Northwest) Dreaming

Terri
Cape Kiawanda
Cape Kiawanda, part of Three Capes region on Oregon Coast

Through my Everyday Magic online photography course, I’ve seen some absolutely beautiful, breathtaking images. I notice that my favorites tend to be of the west coast. The above photo I took a few years back when I was on the Oregon Coast, driving southward from the Cannon Beach area. I haven’t touched up the image, but can’t wait to play with it with some of my camera apps!

Have you ever felt this pull to be somewhere else? And felt it your entire life? As many years back as I can remember, I have wanted to be there. I remember both of my trips down the Oregon Coast like they were yesterday even though one took place almost 20 years ago. I took the first with an old friend, and the second one all on my own. Both have seared images into my brain. I rememeber how my friend and I felt that first time we hit the Pacific Ocean, with all of the sea stacks jutting out from the water. On the the second trip, I remember sitting near Cape Perpetua for several hours, just watching the waves crash onto the shore. Read more →

Getting Serious about my Debt, Part 2 (selling crap I don’t need)

Terri
Bike commuting is how I roll these days!
How I roll these days

Last week, I wrote that I started to cut away at my debt by ceasing to buy crap I didn’t need. That’s only part of the equation. I have also gotten rid of a lot of stuff that I found I didn’t use. Some of it, I gave away via freecycle.org. Other things, I sold on Craigslist. Things I sold:

  1. Tv
  2. DVD player
  3. Roku box
  4. Juicer
  5. MY CAR (I’ll get to that in a bit.)

Little Things for Which I am Thankful

Terri
My cool dude, Sebastian
My boy, Sebastian, as modified within the photo app, Snapseed.

I am trying something new this week and writing this post as the week goes along so that I don’t miss something. It’s kind of like a gratitude journals of sorts.  Read more →

Getting Serious about my Debt, Part 1

Terri
Every little bit helps
Saving Pennies and Everything Else

I think that most people know and understand that it is much easier to pay off debt if you are married or in a relationship than when you are single.  When you are married, you have that second income to fall back on. At least, that’s the way it was for me until about three years ago.  Read more →

Little Things for which I am Thankful

Terri
This makes me glad to be alive.
This makes me glad to be alive.

I intended for this post to be written last week but it was crazy busy and it just didn’t get done. I’m going to try to get into the habit of writing a lot on the weekends and early mornings before the days get away from me. I’ve got a major thing to be thankful for over the past week, and it involves my brother.  Read more →

Little Things for which I am Thankful

Terri
Tookie in his new home
Tookie, my former foster kitty, happy in his new home with his new friend, Po.

This post was supposed to have been published on Friday morning but clearly something didn’t work out. So, I am publishing it today. 

One of my goals for this blog will be to remind myself, as I go about trying to attain my dreams, to also stay in the present and be thankful for life as it is now. The cold reality is that I could walk across the street tomorrow or even this evening and get hit by a bus, so it’s important to stop, look around and observe things as they are right now. So, without further adieu….

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Focus…..focus…..FOCUS!!!!

Terri

Grand Cayman
I definitely have a problem with focusing myself sometimes. Even with this blog, I originally reserved the domain name with the thought that this would be a blog about my digging myself out of my seemingly never-ending student loan debt. I had just finished reading Joe Mihalic’s account of how he had dug himself out of $90,000 in student loans in 9 months. (He graduated from Harvard with an MBA and there are definitely differences in our financial situations to start, but still, his story motivated me. His blog is called No More Harvard Debt.) Read more →

Epic Ride

Terri
My brother after running Boston for at least the 3rd time.
My brother after running Boston for at least the 3rd time. Note the finisher’s medal!

This coming holiday weekend, my younger brother has an epic road trip planned. He lives in NYC, and wants to come visit me. However, he doesn’t like the bus because he feels cramped (he’s about 6 feet tall.) So, he has decided to get here under (mainly) his own power. Yes, he’s going to ride here on his bike. And no, it’s not a scooter or a motorcycle. I mean, a real bicycle…… Read more →