Summer...



I LOVE SUMMER



Is just weird.

Even when you're not at Teen Mania.

It's busy, and then not busy at all and fun and hard and social and solitary and healthy (salads) and definitely not healthy (ice cream) and everything in between. :)

I know... I'm contradictory... story of my life right now. ha!



I'm in a good place right now: I have time to serve at church (painting/redecorating the children's ministry rooms), hike Table Rock 1-2 times a week, visit with friends and family, read anything that I want to, cook delicious dinners, and figure out fun things like budgeting and paying for school/books.

Speaking of budgeting - I'm so proud of myself! I created my own modified version of the envelope budget. (If you don't know what that is, I highly recommend you check it out here: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dave-ramseys-envelope-system/lifeandmoney_budgeting/) It's only been one week, but I've only spent $5 of my coffee/eating out money, $2 of misc. spending ($2 movie theater last weekend!), and about half of my grocery money. The cool thing is, I only allotted myself money for two weeks instead of the whole month, so I should have a lot left over. I think the biggest thing that keeps me from spending cash is that I know I'll have to keep track of it and be accountable to ALL spending... so it's easy to just NOT spend anything. :) It's also cool to think that every dollar I don't spend can go right back into my savings. I can plan in advance for any major purchases - and I know that I'll have to spend about $300 on textbooks in the next month or so. (Lame!) I used to be so scared of anything financial... but I'm learning and getting more confident in my ability to manage what God has given me.