Playing Catch Up

I know, it's been a while. December seems to have blown right past me and I was barely able to keep up. Unfortunately, this blog was one of the first things to fall by the wayside. However, it's a new year, which means I have a clean slate and fully intend to keep up with one blog a week (at least). Now, that I'm at work and there's not much to do (...correction, there's not much I WANT to do), it's a perfect time for us to get caught up.

Christmas 2009: Christmas Eve was spent with my mom and her family at her house in Corona. Albert and I decided to go wine tasting before the party. Good idea or bad idea? A little of both. I was drunk and terribly hungover in a matter of hours at a family party. It was great being drunk, not so much being hungover while opening presents. I felt like throwing up on everything. Christmas Day was spent with my dad's side at my Auntie Flor's house in Buena Park- watched the Laker game, then the Charger game. The Cousins' gift exchange was awesome becuase Mare gave me stuff I really wanted: The Hangover DVD and $20 to Barnes and Noble. There were a couple other gift exhchanges with Albert's family and his high school friends. Albert's family had a White Elephant exchange with some pretty interesting presents. Albert ended up with a LIVE hamster and I ended up with a foot and neck massager. As for Albert's high school friends' exchange, I think I did a fabulous job of giving a first impression of being an alcoholic - that was probably a bad idea, but no way to take it back now. Below are pics courtesy of Albert's camera:

Christmas Presents: I got some pretty cool Christmas presents this year and want to brag (LOL!). Hans painted my living room wall- something I've been meaning to do since May. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out and took before & after pictures. Unfortunately, I can't find the USB cable and dock to upload the pics, so I have to show you in a separate post. Albert's family got me a KitchenAid Chef's Chopper, which is PERFECT for making Lasagna Roll-Ups because it'll chop the onions for me! Again, Mare got me just what I wanted for the gift exchange. And, although this wasn't his official Christmas present to me, Albert got me a Zebra print Snuggie. He spent all day going to several stores and finally found one at Spencer's! Even though temperatures are starting to warm up, I use that snuggie every day :) 

Albert and I didn't really give each other Christmas presents this year, we decided to save up for our trip to Thailand instead. In the off chance we don't make it to Thailand, then we're celebrating Christmas in July...but we are determined to get to there so it's great motivation for being smarter and saving our money. 

Working Two Jobs: As most of you know, I picked up a second job working part-time at Macy's to help with the bills and have some extra money to play with. The first month was pretty easy to handle, maybe because I was so excited to actually have some extra cash. December was a bit harder to get through. I was working shifts that ended at 12:30am, which meant getting to bed around 1:00am and having to wake up 4 hours later to make it to my full-time job. Working two jobs has been a real challenge and a blessing in disguise. The tough part has been getting enough rest, staying healthy, and losing my weekends. I've been sick every week in December and still have a nasty cough to deal with. Plus, it sucks having to go into work on a Saturday or Sunday while everyone else sleeps in or makes plans to meet up and go places. I just remind myself this two-job deal is temporary and I have to correct my money mismanagement somehow...so I basically made my bed and have to lay in it. On the upside, I do have extra cash and actually don't mind working in retail. I can go out now and then and spend money that I actually have instead of being overdrawn all the time. Most of my coworkers at Macy's have been really cool and welcoming and I've been doing well with my sales goals. In fact, I've been asked to stay on past the holidays. I said yes (for now) because the extra money will help save for the Thailand trip, but being healthy is also pretty important to me and that's been hard to do with last month's schedule. Since the hours have gone back to normal (no more midnight shifts!), I'll have more time to rest between jobs and more days off between shifts at Macy's. In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to choose between money and my health, but we're obviously NOT in a perfect world. 

Goals for 2010: Well, I have lots of goals for this year, but they're all related to one goal. If this one goal is completed, then that means all the other goals have been completed or are on their way to being completed. I'll keep you updated on the progress of goals every now and then, but the top priority is this:

*Be financially stable enough to stop working 2 jobs*

 
...and now we're caught up. Well, to be more accurate, you're caught up with me (for the most part). Hope your holidays were relaxing and you got what you wanted for Christmas. I am really blessed to have the boyfriend, family, and friends that I have because they've filled my life with so much love and support. Thanks to them, I have much to look forward to this year! Best wishes to everyone in the new year!