Well, we've been living in Nashville now for almost a year. Wilson is almost 18 months. I'm almost 25 years old. We are coming up on some big milestones in our household. Things are changing for us (in a good way!).
Where to even begin, right? I'll start with recently.
Last night I made a pretty great Blueberry-Lemon Sweet Iced Tea. All I did was boil a cup of frozen blueberries, 3/4 cup lemon juice and 1 cup of water. I brewed 15 tea bags (making a gallon of tea), stirred it all together, squeezed out the blueberry juice, and VOILA! It was very tasty.
Thomas and I are also currently pulling back and truly budgeting. We've been listening to the Dave Ramsey show (based here out of Nashville) and we also own a couple of his books. So, we've started on a journey. One big thing we've changed about our lifestyle is we have cut our restaurants. We would look through our budget and be amazed at how often we stopped for coffee, or pizza, or a dinner on-the-go because we didn't plan in advance for a busy day. We were shocked at how much money we were spending. So, we've done away. Now, the occasional birthday or anniversary dinner is fine, but I'm a great cook (if I do say so myself) and I can make a great meal - for much cheaper than we can order it. We've also stopped the random spending. You know what I'm talking about, you are in Target or Old Navy and you see a deal. And it looks good on you. And you want it. And, it only totals $16. So, what's the harm? Well, for us anyways, I didn't really need it in the first place. So, instead of wandering through stores looking for deals, we now have a list of things we need and things we want. Then we save up for them, and then we buy them. Now, we weren't crazy spenders in the first place, but what we've discovered is that we can afford a house much sooner if we stop spending randomly. So, that's our plan. I would like to buy a house one day (soon???) and I don't want to be in debt for the next 30 years because of it. :)
We went on vacation to Kiawah Island with the Russell family. Wow. So. Much. Fun. Wilson was having a blast the whole week. And, he has no fear. He would just head straight for the water and never look back. Thomas and I purchased a wagon for the trip to take Wilson and our beach gear on the walk to the beach. He loves it. Even still, he loves it. We made place-mats that were given to us, and we have them on our table now. It's a great way to bring up fun memories from the beach and also talk to Wilson about how great it was. Here are some pics:
So, I'm going to be 25 soon. Wow. Have I really been alive almost a quarter of a century? Crazy. My friend Alyssa and I are throwing a joint birthday shindig. Plans are still coming together, but we are going with a sort of hipster-esque/moustache/dessert and wine/southern chic theme. I really like our invitations:
The last 2 weeks, another friend, Hailee and I led a summer music camp at The Covenant School. Each morning, Thomas would dress up as a historical figure and tell the students a bit about the people and history back then. The first day he was Brother Tomas:
The second day, he was Thomasello Vivaldi (brother of Antonio), the third day - Thomadeus Mozart (cousin of Wolfgang Amadeus), the fourth day - Thomas Schumann (brother of Robert) and the last day - Thomas Williams (brother of John). Needless to say, we had a lot of fun!
Well, that's our family. Having fun and learning a lot. Hoping you are all well - thank you for the patience of me and this blog writing. :)
In Christ,
Frugal Momma
