25% off entire purchase @ Coach

Apparently I'm a "Coach Preferred Customer" now and today I got a coupon in the mail for 25% off your entire purchase at any Coach store or the Coach website. This would normally excite me to no end, however I recently purchased 3 new Coaches at the Coach Outlet in Osage Beach (all for less than one regular Coach) so it'd be in my best interest to not use this coupon.

So if any of you (three) blog-readers would be interested in this coupon, let me know and it's yours. It's only valid from 12/3-12/12 so you better get to shopping!

**I realize pretty much no one actually reads this, but if more than one person HAPPENS to respond to this, I will have to give it to whoever answers first (or whoever I like better).

Hooray!!!

About 5 minutes ago something very exciting happened. I paid off my credit card! This is very happy news for me.

Overall, I consider myself to be very financially responsible. However, there was a time around the end of my sophomore year of college when I didn't work for a while. It was really only about a month, but my parents did not pay for my college nor the cost of living that goes with that...so a month of no income meant using my credit card for pretty much everything. That was also the year I spent $2,000 on a computer for myself, which also went on my credit card because I couldn't pay for it at the time. So needless to say, I became someone who carried around a credit card debt. Despite making regular payments, that debt increased throughout the rest of my college career. It wasn't that I was spending money all the time on things I didn't need. I wouldn't let myself use it for clothes or "party money". It was more that I would need gas or groceries and not have the money at the time to pay for them. So...I would just put them on my credit card.

When I moved out here to Overland Park in June of 2006, I decided I was no longer allowed to use this card. I would make regular payments on it and get it paid off. Sadly, I had such a high balance that it took until now for this to happen. Exactly a year ago, my debt had dwindled down to $3,333.99...still a very sizeable amount of money. I was becoming really frustrated with all the APR money I was paying on this stupid card. I knew I would be getting a tax return in the spring and that I would be getting a raise since I had gotten my Masters degree. So I decided by the end of 2010 I WOULD have this card paid off. Today at around 3:00 PM that $3,333.99 balance became $0.00. And as far as I'm concerned...it will stay that way. I'm perfectly content putting that $300/month into my savings instead.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 25

Day #25 - I'm thankful for my friends and family. I'll be heading to McPherson/Salina tomorrow for our family Thanksgiving and I'm honestly really looking forward to it. There's nothing like good food (and drinks) with the people you love most.

Also, a HUGE congrats to my friends Paige and John who got engaged yesterday. I couldn't be happier for you both!

Things I'm thankful for - Days 21-24

Day #21 - I'm thankful for music. I got to go to the Lady Antebellum concert Saturday night at the Midland with Lisa, Diane, and Jenna. We had a blast!

Day #22 -I'm thankful that I have a college degree from the best school ever! Go State!

Day #23 -I'm thankful that I pretty much have all my Christmas shopping done.

Day #24 - I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews. James and I got to spend the day today with our niece, Juliana. She just had her 5th birthday so we thought it'd be fun to spend the day together. We bought her a Buzz Lightyear toy for her birthday that she's now OBSESSED with. After a long day of playing games at Dave & Busters, she was all cuddled up in bed with her Buzz as we left to head home. TOO CUTE!

Things I'm thankful for - Days 18-20

I've been sick with a sinus infection for the past few days, so I haven't posted.

Day #18 - I'm thankful for my home. I may complain about not having a big enough closet or about the centipedes that have moved in (shudder) but I am fortunate to have a roof over my head.

Day #19 - I'm thankful for the common interests that I share with my husband. If you know both of us, you know that we are very different from each other. However, we share a lot of the same interests: poker, board games, beer, cooking, camping, puzzles...

Yes, you heard me right. My husband and I spent our Friday night watching "Any Given Sunday" and working on a jigsaw puzzle. We're nerdy like that.

Day #20 - I'm thankful for the weekend brunch/coffee tradition that James and I have. Every weekend if we're both around we take turns making a big breakfast. Sometimes we even sit at the diningroom table and enjoy each other's company while sipping coffee. It's something I just love!

Cutest skirt ever!

http://reviews.anthropologie.com/5310/18872895/reviews.htm?sort=submissionTime

One of the student teachers at my school wore this skirt today. A-DORABLE! Seriously, I love it! However, she got it at Anthropologie and I looked it up and it's "no longer available." Sad. Probably a good thing though...it was $98.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 17

Day #17 - I am thankful that I have a reliable car. Sure, she has a big dent in her front driver's side bumper (STUPID SONIC!) but she gets good gas mileage and gets me from point A to B. I'll admit it. I love my Honda!

Things I'm thankful for - Days 15 & 16

Day #15 - I'm thankful for my health. One of my coworkers who teaches two doors down from me was admitted to the hospital last week. She was having really bad stomach pain and it turned out she had gastritis and a colon infection. By the end of the week, her colon had completely shut down and she had to have emergency surgery to remove it. She's currently in the ICU and I just pray that she'll recover from this. She's one of those people who's just a ball of fire and the thought of something like this happening to her is devastating. It makes me thankful that I'm alive and healthy.

Day #16 - I'm thankful for my students. Even though they drive me nuts sometimes, they're such amazing little people. I love seeing them succeed. I have one student in particular who has just come so far this year. It's very exciting to see.

Things I'm thankful for - Days 13 & 14

Day #13 - I'm thankful for "girl time". I love my husband and consider him my best friend...but sometimes you just need someone to giggle and shop with. This weekend I went to Osage Beach at Lake of the Ozarks with my friend Diane and her boyfriend's mom. We went and watched the K-state game at a lakeside bar and then shopped til we dropped. We had a blast! I'm so thankful for weekends like these.

Day #14 - I'm thankful that I finally got over my "fear" of cooking. Years ago my cooking skills were limited to eggs and macaroni and cheese. Now cooking has become something I love to do and I think I might have inherited my mother's cookbook addiction. Last night I made creamy smothered chicken burritos in my crockpot. Later this week? Potato soup. Yum!

Things I'm thankful for - Day 12

Day #12 - I'm thankful for my lazy bum of a dog. She's a good snuggler. And she makes me laugh.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 11

Day #11 - I'm thankful for my coworkers. I work with a great group of people and I couldn't drag myself out of bed everyday if it weren't for them.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 10

Day #10 - I'm thankful for my niece who turned 19 years old today. Despite being only 8 years old at the time, I remember the day she was born. I remember my dad coming into my room at 11:31 PM and telling my sister Margie and me that Monica had been born. I was so excited to go to school the next day and tell my friends. After school, we got to go to the hospital and see her. I was such a proud aunt...and I still am.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 9

Day #9 - I'm thankful that I have a husband who cleans house. A lot of men leave it to the wives to keep the house clean and I gotta tell you...unless I was unemployed, that simply just wouldn't fly with me. I'm one of the lucky ones though. Yesterday I came home to a clean house and a shirtless husband vacuuming the diningroom. Nothing could be hotter! :-)

Things I'm thankful for - Day 8

Day #8 - I'm thankful that I have the time and money to go out and do fun things. I often complain about being "broke" but really I'm lucky to have enough money to pay for the things I need (and sometimes the things I just want). This past year I've been fortunate enough to be able to go on a couple mini weekend vacations (Colorado, Table Rock Lake, Chicago, float trip) and I've gotten to go to a couple concerts (Dixie Chicks & Zac Brown Band) and a few ball games (Royals and Chiefs) this year as well.

I'm going to try to appreciate these things while I can, because I'm sure things will be MUCH different when we have kids.

Things I'm thankful for - Days 6 & 7

Day #6 (yesterday) - I'm thankful for my God-given mad poker skills and the $45 in my wallet from Friday night's poker game.

Day #7 - I'm thankful that I have a home with heat! Earlier this week (when the temps finally hit below freezing) our heat was not working. It's up and running now and our house is nice and toasty!

Things I'm thankful for - Day 4 & 5

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but I want to keep this going, so I'm going to post yesterday's and today's.

Day #4 - I'm thankful for my Book Club. It's seriously one of my favorite "womanly" things I do...and I just love those girls. Last night we met at Rachel's to discuss the book "Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea" by Chelsea Handler. Rachel totally outdid herself with a vodka theme. All the food (homemade pizza, buffalo wings, bruschetta, and chocolate covered strawberries & peaches) was made with vodka. And the best part? In addition to wine, she had stuff for martinis!

Day #5 - I'm thankful for my amazing husband. I know people are always saying this, but I'm convinced mine really is the best one out there. I came home today from work to a house smelling of chili. He had come home over his lunch break and started a Crock Pot of chili. I love him (and chili)!

Things I'm thankful for - Day 3

#3 I'm thankful for the grant our grade level got earlier this week for literacy funding in our classrooms. I'm particularly thankful for my friend and colleague, Lisa, who wrote the grant for us!

Things I'm thankful for - Day 2

#2 - I'm thankful for the wonderful staff appreciation committee we have at our school. Those ladies took very good care of us last week (conference week) with a Jose Peppers caterered dinner Wednesday evening (complete with homemade desserts) and a luncheon Thursday with Jersey Boyz subs, Sunset Grill's chopped salad, and three Crock Pots of homemade soups. The soups, of course, were my favorite part. Yum!

And again, today at our Early Release meeting, we had a spread of pumpkin/apple/cherry pies and hot apple cider. It made it just a little bit easier to get through the afternoon.

Things I'm thankful for - Day 1

I've made it my goal to write one thing I'm thankful for everyday from now until Thanksgiving. Here goes:

#1 - I'm thankful for days off of work. This sounds pessimistic but I promise it's not. I love my job but it's very physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. Last week was no exception. It was conference week and I put in a 45 hour work week in four days. It was exhausting, but come Friday...I got the day off. What did I do with my time off? Massage and shopping! What else?!? My wonderful husband got me a gift certificate to Par Exsalonce back in July for our 1 year anniversary. I've been waiting for that "perfect day" to get a massage. And boy was Friday THE PERFECT day for it! I went in and got a foot soak, followed by a one hour massage, which was then followed by an amazing steam shower. It was so relaxing! Afterwards I went shopping at Frankie and Jules and then went and bought some new shoes from Off Broadway. By the time I got home, James was home from work. We had plans to go to dinner together at Bonefish. However, we didn't make a reservation and by the time we got there and the estimated wait time was 2 hours. We decided to go to Avenues instead. It's a new restaurant in Mission Farms (where Zest used to be). We enjoyed a nice dinner (next to Gary Lezak) and then ended our night at the bowling alley with our friends Lisa and Jenni.

It was one of those days that was just really nice. Hurray for days off!