shoud i stay or should i go now.....

so i am having a little bit of a dilemma and i was thinking maybe, just maybe my wonderful blog readers would have an idea as to what i should do about his dilemma- it is small but it is important.

should hubby and i take a road trip for our one- year anniversary of being married?

i know that this may sound like an easy question but really it isn't for many reasons. i decided to make a list- well because i love lists and possibly it will be easier to understand for you then me babbling on and on and on and on..... okay here goes

PROS OF TAKING A ROAD TRIP
1. We desperately need a trip- things have been waaaaaay too hectic in our lives this year and we really haven't been able to spend uninterrupted quality time together as much as we would like. i believe this trip would definately do our relationship some good and give us the time together that we need and deserve

2. We would probably have the money for it- i assume that after renting a car (which hubby found out would be about $220 dollars for unlimited miles for one week), getting a hotel room (which my mom and aunt said they may be able to pay for as a present for my b-day which is in july), food, gas (which they say should be about $3.50 cents or more by summer)and miscellaneous expenses that may arise we are looking about between $600 and $800 dollars for this trip- realistically speaking. We could swing it only because d and i will be working full time this summer.

3. We vowed when we got married that we would take a trip every summer because traveling and spending at least one week a year- COMPLETELY ALONE- was very important to us.

4. We will someday in the near future start trying to have kids- i don't want to pass these opportunities to travel up now because we may not get them again for awhile.


CONS OF TAKING A ROAD TRIP
1. We will have the money but should we really spend it on a road trip? We do have other bills to pay- is it irresponsible to take a trip when we have other obligations? I think that we may be able to do both- pay off all our outstanding debt as well as take a trip- but what if we can't? should we still take the trip?

2. I would have to take a week off from both of my jobs- i don't have PTO or vacation pay so i would be loosing a weeks pay. D has vacation time so that should be fine.

3. D is going to be having his plumbing apprenticeship interview on April 14th (which we are very excited about!) after that interview he gets placed on the May list and then is taken off the list and put in a apprenticeship based on his interview and test scores ( his test scores not only met the standards but exceeded them by a very very large margin) so my question is- what if he doesn't have to wait long for an apprenticeship? what if he gets called sometimes this summer- will his new job let him have a week long vacation? i guess it won't be too bad if we had to cancel because we would just be renting a car- so we could cancel that and cancel the hotel- but if there were penalties that would suck! D seems to think that if he is upfront with his employer right away he will be able to still take the week off- i am not so sure- but that could just be me being pessimistic- "Hi my name is Negative Nancy!"

So those are my pros/cons- i'm not really sure what to do! part of me wants to be responsible and not take a trip but most of me wants to say screw it and take the trip.

Also if we do go on a trip- where should we go? again because i love lists and pictures to brighten my blog i have decided to show you lovely blog readers some of the places D and i are contemplating road tripping to.....

1. The Beautiful South Dakota- i have never been but D has and he says it is absolutely gorgeous!


2. Maine- i have always wanted to go to Maine- ever since i was little- i even wanted to live there for a while before i decided to go to College ( which i never regretted!)


3. San Fransisco and or Napa Valley- D and i considered going here for our honeymoon but decided on Vegas instead. We absolutely love wine, good food, and beautiful sites- so i believe this could be a great option- but also very expensive.


4. Boston- D really wanted to go to Boston i'm not sure if i'm sold but it does sound really beautiful.


So those are the places we have been pondering over- we haven't checked out any prices yet as far as activities in those areas, hotels or bed and breakfasts- so i'm not sure which is the most cost efficient- if any of them are at all.

If anyone has any suggestions i am definately open to them! Places to go, how to go on a road trip with a tight budget, and of course whether or not we should even take a road trip- i love honest opinions and i know all of my blog readers will be honest with me- i can take it!

well hubby just got home and is anxiously awaiting for me to get off my blog and watch the new season of Top Chef with him- i have to say the competition looks fierce this year.... i can't wait to see it- now every time D and i go to a restaurant we are so critical of the food- just call us wanabe Tom Colicchio's!

hello mr postman, do you have my refund?

okay so this refund check thing with my college has really been wearing thin on my list of "things i absolutely cannot stand" one of them being not getting my refund check in a timely manner which i haven't since i started that school 4 years ago.....whoooo deep breath!

so after going into my school, complaining about said refund check for about 20 minutes to a lady who could care less, calling the school to complain again when i realized said check was still not in my mailbox, and finally ripping the head off a banana (totally accidental but hilarious- kind of like broke college student meets the invisible hulk) i was done- i decided to call the school yet again yesterday before i went to work. i proceeded to tell her i needed this refund check, where was it, and when will i get my money? then she proceeded to tell me in a snotty tone that yesterday was presidents day and that no mail was being delivered.....

idiot party of one?

i felt like a fool- today when i went to my mailbox there was said check and i jumped for joy- my heart was lighter and there was a silver lining to those bill-filled clouds! so now i can finally pay more money to david's bridal- my fiercest creditor and actually my best friend- they call every day! :0)

so now that is done- and the burden is just a little lighter and i will take whatever i can get right now! so now we just wait for our refund checks- we are very excited about those- that means even more bills getting paid off and more money to actually buy what we need- food, gas, and other miscellaneous treasures :0)

otherwise today was like any other tuesday- not too much exciting going on. i worked this morning at 6am and believe me it was tough to wake up! cold+early morning+ice on my window+medical billing= sucktastic- is that a word? blogger tells me no but i'll use it anyways

well i am off to make my apple strudel with my group of residents at the group home. i have created a cooking night every tuesday night which they all really look forward to. tonight is the night i have the most participation and the highest interest of any activities- well besides sit and be fit of course- that's on channel 10 just in case anyone was wondering :0) i am a faithful watcher of this show on the weekends- in fact i even join in with the res once in a while :0)

more tomorrow as the week progresses- after this week is over i feel i will be a lot more centered, and a lot less stressed for a change! t-minus 5 days and counting!

oh cricket cola, how i adore you....

okay so cricket cola will not be my only focus of this post- but let me get it out of the way because well i can't stop thinking about how good it is. for those of you who don't know what cricket cola is- it is a cola that is infused with green tea- full of sugar? yes. bad for you? probably. damn good? hell yes!!!!! it is probably my favorite soft drink- here is a picture of my love....i mean my favorite beverage- yea my beverage.....




























okay so that picture kind of made the post huge- but it had to be glorified :0) i have only been able to find it at Potbelly's sandwich shop- any ideas of where to get it? let me know! i love it- soooo good :0)

anyways not too much new- last night hubby and i went to botanas- a really cute mexican restaurant down on 5th and national- the food was awesome! very authentic and tasty :0)

tonight is our friend rachel's b-day so we are going out to club anything for some cheap beer and dancing- it should be a fabulous time!

other than that my life is semi-boring right now. it seems like all i do is school and work, school and work- no time for anything else. it really is sad but it won't be like this forever. hopefully a new job is on the horizon for hubby in the upcoming weeks so keep your fingers crossed for us! we really need to start banking some cash- we have a lot of bills and no way to pay them! we keep looking at this gorgeous house that is right near our apartment- i love this house!!!! it really is everything we want- but alas now is not the time- soon but not now. our goal is to be debt free by the end of summer- i know we can do it- D will be working a better job, i will have two jobs- so that is double the income- i really hope we can put all this debt nightmare behind us and move on! i can't wait! i have houses on the brain, i would really like children in the near future- all of these things unfortunately require money- but hubby and i don't like to dwell on money- we wish we had more but wishing doesn't make it so- and some day the luck will turn in our favor, i just know it.

so while i anxiously await the return of my husband i will leave you. there is lots of housework to be done and not a lot of time to do it in. however i have been known to clean the house in a record 20 minutes flat- we'll see what happens!

have a fabulous saturday night everyone- more musings soon to come!