2008 Vacation Day 2

More fun at the pool,

The morning started with Bloody Marys at breakfast, beers by the pool and then come the margaritas. Margaritas make my Mom mean! Trash talking Amal breaks out. My 61 year old Mom was jumping off the boardwalk railing into the pool and trash talking those who were too afraid to do it themselves. We also revived our family tradition of synchronized swimming...it's hilarious. Pee your pants funny.

For dinner we had spaghetti....my Aunt Jo has done a very excellent job of replicating Sittie's (grandmother for your non lebanese folks out there) recipe. Good food and good memories. The camera wasn't very active on day 2, so there wasn't all that much to record in the blog.....

2008 Vacation Day 1

I have been looking forward to this vacation all year long and the day of the trip is finally here. I woke up at a way too early 3:30am to catch at 6:00am flight. After I got my bones moving and a cup of tea down my throat, adrenaline kicked in and I was ready to go. The arrangement was for Uncle Gary to pick my sister, Natalie, and me up at my townhouse and then the three of us would drive together to the airport. Uncle Gary and I were on the 6:00am United flight and Natalie was on the 7:05 USAirways flight. By 1:00pm, the three of us and Aunt Vicki from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida would all meet at Norfolk, rent a car and drive to Nags Head. That was the plan. That plan was altered at 4:45 am. I was amazed at how many people were at the airport that early on a Saturday morning, but undaunted, I plopped myself in front of the United Check In Kiosk. I punch in the required information and am greeted with: "SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, UNITED FLIGHT 7800 HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THE SOONEST WE CAN BOOK YOU IS SUN, JUN 29 2008, DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?" I proclaim "WHAT!?!?!?!" Uncle Gary hears this and comes over and reads the bad news. A desk agent got my information and within 3 minutes he had us booked and confirmed on flights that would get us to Norfolk no more than an hour later than we were supposed to. So, we ended up on the same USAirways flight to Philadelphia that Natalie was on. So the three of us take a painfully long 2 hour Dash-8 flight to Philadelphia and arrive on time. We proceed to my sister's gate to see if we can get booked on her flight, but it was full and overbooked. We say "see you in Norfolk" to Natalie and head to a bar for a 9:00am boost of liquid confidence. My Bloody Mary cost a whopping $10 and I didn't feel a thing from it. With 2 hours to kill in Philadelphia International, one of the smelliest airports I've ever smelled, we decide to roam around and people watch. I catch up on a few phone calls and before we know it, our flight to Norfolk is boarding. It was an easy, uneventful flight, we meet my sister at the bar and pick up our rental. I was elected Designated Driver so the three passengers could get well lubricated. Aunt Vicki arrives shortly after 1:00pm, we grab her bags and we're well on our way. The ride down to Nags Head was fairly easy, hit some traffic on the bridge that takes you out to the Outer Banks.....a fender bender here, a broken down truck there, but we get here without any trouble. We are greeted by the other family members in the street who actually stop traffic for us to get in the driveway. Let the festivities begin!!!!

Party at the pool!! That's the theme for the week so far. Alcohol is flowing, the karaoke machine is blaring and folks are jumping in the pool with their clothes on.

The night ended early, as everyone was tired. Some folks left at midnight, we were on the way to the airport at 4:30am, another family left at 4:00 and another at 3:30am. Sunday, the craziness begins......

Steps to financial freedom

Yeah, this one isn't going to be one of my funny laugh at life posts. I have made one very small step on my way to financial freedom today. I paid off my Macy*s balance and....






...cut the bitch up!!! Don't' get me wrong.....I did not have a love affair with my Macy*s card. The interest rate is really high, the deals weren't all that great. However, taking this step will make it easier for me to walk past that store, or even into that store, and say "I want that and I'll just put it on my Macy*s card!" One of my last purchases with this card is actually one of the tools helping me to better my financial picture. It's a front pocket wallet. This wallet clips CASH on the outside and only holds about 6 cards. Yes, a couple of those cards are evil credit cards, but not as evil as you may think. One of them is linked to my flexible spending account and can only be used toward eligible purchases and comes from TAX FREE money that I am saving. Two are debit cards....fairly harmless because I have enough self control to not overdraw my two checking accounts. A travel credit card issued to me by the federal government is in my wallet for the rare instances I may have to buy a plane ticket or book a hotel room or rental car on official US Postal Service business. My only true CREDIT card in my wallet now is my Kroger card which by virtue of having the card combined with my spending at the grocery store, allows me to save $0.15 per gallon of gasoline off the regular pump prices. I don't pay for the gasoline with my Kroger card...the debit card gets swiped for that.

I'm quite proud of myself right now and my journey is only beginning. I've yet to put together a budget, but I have started an emergency savings account that will pay for things that would have been paid for in the past by a credit card. I'm thinking I may make a collage of cut up credit cards....when and if I do, I'll post a picture of it.

Wish me luck, and pat me on the back the next time you see me!!!