my dk's are stuck in Hodgkins IL

What the heck? They've been on a sad little UPS truck for a couple days now, slowly making their way to me. They started in Davenport IA and made their way to Hodgkins IL, where they've been now for about 24 hours. I googled it...its only about 3 hours between the two, but they were going EAST! Iowa's closer to California than Illinois is! What the heck! They sure as hell better be getting onto a plane and flying to me...if they aren't, oh man...i'm going to be a sad, sad little girl.

well, old habits die hard i think

I used some of my 1000 emergency fund for a pair of David Kahns.

But, guys, it was an emergency. I needed them for Philly.

Don't give me that look.

I'll replace it with this next paycheck.

And, i don't regret it.

The biggest kind of emergency in my life is a fashion emergency.

I'm proud to say, this is why i have my emergency fund.

Thanks Dave Ramsey. If he saw the jeans, he'd approve.

it happened again!

So, this morning, it was crazy cold outside. I mean, you step outside and you instantly get that sharp inhale of breath into your lungs because its so cold. And instead of my mind going to the "holy crap! cold!" thoughts...it was more along the lines of "must....have....coffee."

without coffee, generally, i'm a zombie. Many years of drinking it has created a severe addiction and if i don't drink coffee in the morning, i'm a sad, sad, mean girl. Forget friendly, cute, loveable Shelby. She doesn't come around. You get horrible, sarcastic, debbie-downer Shelby. The $4 for a latte is a small price to pay so that i can spare everyone around me from getting the "please Jesus come back NOW so i don't have to interact with Shelby" me.

So, i jumped into my classic volv...steered it carefully out of my parking spot, while at the same time warming my ever freezing fingers and toes. Yikes...frostbite.

I drive down to Starbucks and almost instantly become deterred by the long line. Ever since moving to Redding, i don't like long lines. I think there's no need to wait in line for something so long. In Seattle, its a given...hurry up and wait. Here, its pretty easy...drive in, drive out. So, nevertheless, the bucks had a good amount of people this morning...at least 5 cars in the drive through.

I navigate though parked cars to try to get to the speakerbox as quickly as i can.

"hi, morning, grande extra hot pumpkin spice latte."

...chatter from the box about it being cold outside...do i want a pumpkin scone?...3.85 at the window...

"thanks!"

Drive forward, listen to some Kanye (i love his new stuff by the way...it makes me want to go clubbing. but when do i club? never... ok, rewind, it makes me want to listen to kanye in my car going to work. BINGO.

I get to the window really quickly...bucks was on their game this morning. they must employ people who are my nemesises in the morning: perky people without the need for coffee. ugh, annoying.

Anyways, i go to give them my card, and the girl says, "oh, no, your drink's been paid for by the guy in back of you. he says he knows you."

Instant look in my rearview mirror. I don't think i know that grey truck? Do I? Does he have me mistaken for the other white volvo who drives around town? Possibly.

I'm instantly struck with gratitude. That's CRAZINESS. Those small gifts that are so insignificant but put such a birght spin on your day.

I take my drink, ask her to tell him "thank you very much.", wave out my back window and drive off.

So cool. And, especially cool because yesterday i started to get freaked out about money. With going to Philly, it just makes me so anxious that i'll have enough money to get what i need before i go. Even with a small little savings fund, i still get all uptight-Tracy because I need to protect my savings account, and i shouldn't be buying clothes that i don't need, and then there's the unrealistic expectations and all the pressure of doing a good job representing my company.

Oh...I love identifying all stress that i need to let go of. The stress that isn't mine to own. So, with that, i confidently say that I'll be able to acquire everything that i think i "need" in time and in budget, and that I will do the best job that i can.

And, i confidently say that even in the small things, that the Lord knows my needs and wants and when i'm obedient to him, he really does open the floodgates and pour out his blessings, one grande extra hot pumpkin spice latte at a time.

goodbye jcrew..i won't miss you

in happy news yesterday, i made the last payment of my life towards jcrew. it was wonderful. I'm waiting until the money comes out of my account, and then i'm calling to close that sucker down. do you think they will miss me? I'm sure they will. I sure as hell won't miss them. (how's that for gazelle intensity?)

now my winter white pea coat and my black little coat that i wear every other day really do belong to me. what if my jcrew card went to collections? would they come and demand my coats back? and could i guilt them into letting me keep my coats by telling the repo men that if they took them i would be cold? probably not... but i laugh at myself that i imagine such a scenario.

i think its really interesting how i always remember what i purchased with credit. its almost like i can't shake the shame of putting things on credit, so i always remember that certain things are not paid off. its funny how my mind works. I can remember things like that, but i can't remember when to arrive at my babysitting houses. I get there an hour earlier than i should. But, at least i know what i used my discover card for.

this is a huge boo-yah to my debt snowball. 1 down, 8 more debts to go.

and, i officially graduated from financial peace university. the only thing better than the ceremony last night would've been if dave ramsey personally had given me my certificate while "pomp and circumstance" boomed in the background. (And then he gave me a thousand dollar bill because he was so proud of me...there i go again with my vivid imagination.)

in other, completely unrelated news, one of my wholesalers tried to sweet-talk my boss into taking me to philly this year for a national sales conference. who knows if i will make the trek to the east coast, but it definately would be an interesting time. looking back, the thing that i liked best about going to philly last year was the flights there and back. I'm a sucker for travel...not always the destination, but give me a good lukewarm piece of cardboard disguised as an in-flight meal and i'm a happy camper.

things are looking up.

this is a first in my life...

$1000 in the bank in my good, old-fashioned savings account. BOO-YAH! Baby Step #1: COMPLETE.

I can understand why Dave Ramsey would've said that this needed to be completed within the first month of Financial Peace University...it does feel like an incredible accomplishment and encourages me to keep going. (Although, here we are and tomorrow is our last class, so apparently, i don't fall quite in line with Dave's timeline...but nonetheless, i've still done it.)

Now, Baby Step #2: debt snowball. I guestimated that by the time that I am done with my debt snowball, it'll be August 2010. I don't know if this is an accurate guess, but i'm hopefull it'll be a bit under 2 years before I'm totally debt free (including student loans).

In fact, i did make a huge payment to a credit card today, and hopefully, over the next 15 days, i'll scrimp and save and find the additional $60 to pay it off completely. With gazelle intensity, i will be a good steward of my money.

This feeling is so wonderful. Not living paycheck to paycheck...having financial margin. I'm much more of a planner now. I've seen this work in my life, so anytime that i find extra money, you'll find me sitting for hours at a time on my couch, figuring out on my trusty calculator where that money will go and what it will pay off.

Ah, delicious financial peace. Thank you Jesus.

(now, i just need to save for some dental work because if i don't Danielle won't be my friend anymore.) I don't want to pay for it though. Its not in the budget.

ok, ok...i'll work it into the budget.

this one is for elaine...

I was cleaning my office this morning getting ready to host some people in our ESA corporate office and came across a cherished momento. A few years back, for my birthday, i got the best present. It was a mousepad with a picture of a monkey dressed up as a business person, wearing a suit and tie, sitting at a desk, staring at a computer screen and laughing.

In the tradition of all those motivational posters that have one word on it, and then a little saying like:

LEAD

You never know who is watching

or

SRENGTH

When you don't have it, you rely on those around you.

My monkey-suited mousepad had this on it:

THINK

It's the people with ideas who get ahead. Of course, if management tries their ideas and they don't work, those people get fired. So think, but keep it to yourself.

Classic. Definately, in my previous employment history that has rung true. In the tradition of toasting: "here's to jobs that you can look at that and laugh, instead of look at it and laugh to keep from crying."

i got "pay-it-forward"ed today

so...this day has been amazing. as much as i write blogs about what i'm currently doing, i really try to stay away from blogs like "8:05am: picked up pencil at work and it broke!, 10:10, realized that i left my window down and its been raining for 30 minutes already. 11:12am: got hungry. ate." i mean, i guess we all have stuff we need to throw out to the enourmous online world...i just figure that no one really should need to read about my minute-by-minute life.

however...today is different. today, the mundane things have come alive for me, and so, i welcome you to my blog regarding my day so far. its been lovely.

I woke up on time at 5:33am. What a blessing to experience something different than normal. I usually always am running late to work. (Actually, I don't run late anywhere else...but work! yikes!) I got ready, grabbed my purse, and opened up my door to go to small group.

HELLO FOG! Hello winter! I've missed you! Will you please stay? (The weather made me really happy...)

Another happy thing today: small group. Can we please talk about the Cascade Christmas just a little more?

We got out of Breakfast Club a little early, and since i'd only had 2 cups of coffee this morning to that point, i decide a fitting stop before i go to work would be Starbucks. Since E Cypress is NOTORIOUS about having the hottest baristas (I swoon every time i go there), i decided to swing by and pick up the favorite of all winter drinks: the pumpkin spice latte. (I gotta admit: while i was driving, i also did my fair share of admiring my hair and makeup in the mirror as i drove...had to make sure i was looking cute for the baristas at the Bucks...)

So, when i get there, I jump in line...ready to order my drink and as i finish saying "hey, i'll have a grande, extra-hot pumpkin spice latte" the man behind me says "I've got that. I'm trying something new and am paying it forward. Someone did it to me." So, first inclination is to say, "are you sure?" but i realize that when people make the offer, its something they want to do, and to refuse would be impolite. And then, as i'm basking in the thankfulness glow of getting something undeserved, I'm grateful for paying it foward and for this grandpa who just made my day by offering to grab my Starbs tab. Who does that?

"merry christmas" is exchanged between us as we grab out drinks that came out right after each other, and i leave and he leaves.

what the heck?

as i drive to work, i think about all the times that i've had opportunities to act out (in a good way) and pay it foward, and all the times i thought better of it and didn't do anything. how selfish.

Work...work...work...manage...manage...manage. And that brings me to now! (and i actually am eating. yum.)

All this to say, I'm grateful for mr. man who bought my starbucks today, and i look forward to the next time that i can swing through the starbucks and buy the drink for the person in back of me.

that will be a great day for them. and good...because i've paid it forward.