remodeling this life

Thank you for your questions, this week! Here are the answers.

photo credit: faeryboots

Sara from On Simplicity said, “I want to know more about your tastes (sorry if I’ve missed any of these from previous posts): what’s your favorite novel? Favorite movie? Favorite quote? What moment of the day is your favorite? Would you rather have a cocktail party or a tea party?” Thank you for your questions,  Sara!

My Tastes

• Favorite Novel – I really love I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. It’s one of the few novels that I have re-read. At 901 pages, that sounds a little crazy, but it is so truly touching and amazing that I couldn’t put it down the first time I read it and have enjoyed it just as much the few times I have re-read it.
• Favorite Movie – A toss up between The Shawshank Redemption and The Usual Suspects.
  
• I am not hugely into quotes so I can’t really say I have a favorite one.
• Favorite Time of Day - I love early morning, watching the day begin and reveling in the quiet. The reality of having kids is that knowing they’ll be awake at any moment sometimes makes it less than relaxing and more hurried than I’d like. Which means that the end of the day, while I am tired and there isn’t as much going on, is much appreciated because it’s quiet and involves more relaxing and unwinding.
• Tea party or cocktail party? – A bit more than 3 months ago, I quit drinking alcohol. It’s a story with a lot of emotions tied to it and for another day. But that would play into my answer that my life is now more a series of tea parties than it is cocktail ones.

Kelly from Almost Frugal asked, “What did you do for a job before you had kids, and is it something that you will return to after you decide to go back to work. Are you going to go back to work? Did you fall into being a successful blogger or have you always enjoyed writing?”

Work

• Before I had kids, and for the first year of my daughter’s life, I worked in property management for a commercial real estate firm. I handled most of the maintenance and accounting. It was just a job, but I enjoyed it most of the time. Until I felt the tug to be home with my daughter.
• I don’t plan to return to anything like what I did before if/when I do return to work someday. My interests are varied and I am still unsure what path I’ll take.


photo credit: a.drian

• I have always enjoyed writing but never had a real outlet for it. Sure, I have lots of notebooks full of ramblings and teen and twenties angst and jumbled thoughts. Blogging was my first attempt at getting my thoughts down in a more organized fashion, and I am still growing into that, as I tend to just blurt and publish.  When I started this blog just over a year ago, I expected to blog about things like keeping myself accountable for living financially responsible. At the time, my only exposure to a blog were my friends, I’ve Paid For This Twice Already and This Wasn’t in the Plan. I didn’t expect that more than a handful of people would ever read it. Only when I realized more than a handful of people read it, that I gained the confidence to blog with a voice beyond how much I saved at the grocery store one week. It took a while to find my voice and go from less of journal-like notes like “I went to Target and spent less than I budgeted today!” to really letting my blog evolve into more of a representation of me and my life journey. I think it was a few months into blogging when I decided to let it be something that I would be proud of and would show who I am to my kids someday when they’re older and want to know about me. I guess that is the long way of saying that I fell into it And just as an aside, I appreciate being called a successful blogger, since I don’t always feel like one. Thank you, Kelly!

Chb said, “I am wondering what you and your husband’s history is with student loans. Do you have them, why or why not, if so, what is your repayment philosophy/plan? What about for your children? Also, this is a bit more selfish, but have you spent time in Gainesville yet since you moved? I lived there for a bit and just moved away and miss it, I would love to hear about any fun you’ve had there and to see pictures! (I loved visiting your town too, it’s awesome!)” Thanks for your questions, Chb!

College

• My husband and I were both fortunate enough to not have to take on any student loans. He went to college at a state school that was priced so that his family was able to pay his tuition. I have talked a bit before about some of the financial moves I made in college, which includes emancipating myself from my parents and becoming a permanent resident of another state so I could pay in-state tuition instead of out of state so I could afford it.
• My husband and I would like for our kids to be able to graduate the same way. I know it can be a controversial issue, but we save aggressively for them to be able to graduate college (if they choose to go) without debt so they may save for their future instead of paying interest on loans for many years after. We haven’t a clue what our kids will choose when it comes time, but we will hopefully be prepared to help them attend schools of their choice, without sacrificing our own retirement plans. Since it’s many years away, a lot could happen between now and then but this is what we plan for today.
• As for Gainesville, I have only been there once since moving here. It is on our list of weekend getaway places that we talk a lot about but never seem to do.

Marelisa at The Abundance Blog said, “I would like to know what you studied in college (major, minor) and if you have a bucket list.” Thanks, Marelisa!

• As for my college major, I graduated with a degree in Psychology from The University of Colorado at Boulder. I started college at the University of Maryland at College Park with a major in Journalism and dreams of becoming a Sports Broadcaster or writer, but my immaturity and many other hurdles kept that from happening way back then. I try not to have regrets, but I often wish I had kept that dream alive longer. I don’t let anything get in the way of me babbling about sports and yelling at the TV from the couch on weekends when sports are on though.

Bucket List

First, I loved the movie Yes, I suppose I do have an unofficial bucket list, which includes things like

• run a marathon in under 4 hours.
• visit Thailand to rock climb with hubby
• Take my kids to Scotland

Warillever asked, “What would you do if you won the lottery? Or rather, how would your life change if you had a limitless supply of money?”

• The short answer is that I would give more, travel more and invest more.

Julia at Hooked on Houses asked something similar, “If you won the lottery and didn’t have to be as frugal any more, how do you think your life would change? Is there something you’d buy, or someplace you’d go? I’d be building my dream house on the beach and blogging about it! That sounds really good right now. “

• The longer and more specific answer to this question is that I would like to travel more, take my kids to see more of the world, like stated above, places like Scotland where my family history lies, and Thailand where hubby can rock climb. Hubby and I honeymooned in France and I would like to go back someday for an anniversary. I made a really stupid decision to quit smoking on my wedding day. Which means I spent much of our honeymoon grumpy. I would like to go back and enjoy it more. Also, we spent 6 days in Paris and 3 in Cannes. I would swap that and spend 6 days on the beach and 3 days in the city. A do-over would be nice.


photo credit: Eric Borda

• Other things I think we’d do if we won the lottery or had a boatload of money is I think we really would live a life pretty similar to what we have now, but I guess up a notch. We both have a passion for houses, so I think we’d buy and remodel homes regularly (perhaps rather than a ranch like we are now, I’d love to restore Victorians).  I enjoy investing in the stock market, so I would do what I am doing now, but with more money And I would probably buy hubby the sailboat he dreams about. We would definitely focus on experiences rather than “things”.

Rachel at Small Notebook said, “I want to know about your writing — if you’ve always liked to write?” Thanks for your question, Rachel!

On Writing

• I have always enjoyed writing. I can remember back to when I was only 5 or 6 and being so proud of an essay I wrote. I remember *feeling* what I was writing and that it was powerful to put thoughts onto paper. I still think of those pages with the dotted lines to help my keep my capital and lower case letters how they should have been and that first story I wrote. I always had a book in my hand growing up and I enjoyed writing for my school newspaper in High School. I loved English and Spanish classes because they involved writing essays. Really long ones! I never did and still don’t really consider myself a writer, because I tend to think you have to be *good* to be called one. I do truly enjoy it and find peace when I find the time to really sit and get my thoughts out about my life.

I hope I answered more than I left confusion with these. I am happy to answer any and all other questions anyone may have. This was fun, especially since it brought up things that I hadn’t thought to blog about until now. I enjoyed this and hope you did too!