No taxation...with a little bit of satisfaction

Thank you, great state of Oklahoma, for a successful tax-free shopping day. Here are a few of the bargains I found at Dillard’s today on my evening shopping excursion with my reluctant shopping-buddy husband. Our adventure only lasted through two stores (Dillard’s and New York & Co), but I brought back a satisfying amount of heavily discounted loot. As seen in the picture, I bought a turquoise blue newsboy-style Badgley Mischka hat for $20, a matching large stone necklace with a white floral accent for $11.40, and a pair of gold chain embellished sandals for $10.20…all from Dillard’s, and I was able to use a birthday gift card. Then, it was on to New York & Co…one of my favorite stores, because I can usually find some really good deals. Today was no exception, I left the store with three tops, a pair of crop jeans and another pair of casual crop pants for about $47. It was a good way to end the evening after a fun-filled day hanging out with friends at the pool and dinner.

And just because...here's a photo of my cute little Yorkie Natalie taken today in our backyard...

Back to school

It’s the beginning of August, which means you can’t go into Target or Wal-Mart without being inundated by the colorful displays of notebooks, folders, and other various Hannah Montana or Spiderman branded paraphernalia. Yes, it’s back-to-school time…a time that signals the end of summer…a time that still brings a sense of dread and anxiousness. This year will probably be my last time to be going back to school, unless I decide to get another degree.

So no fun colorful binders and scented erasers for me; it’s my last semester of graduate school. Although it’s been rewarding and challenging to be back in the academic setting, it’s also been a major adjustment and time commitment. The hundreds of pages of reading, the countless papers and projects, the studying and group meetings…these things, I will surely not miss. I look forward to December when I will regain my freedom and gain a coveted MBA degree and education that will hopefully be beneficial to me in the future.

Anyways, today I found a really neat site where you can rent college textbooks. It’s called Chegg, and I would be interested to see if it’s really worth it. It looks fairly simple, where you rent the book you need, you get it in the mail, return it for free after you’re done, and they plant a tree for every book you rent. Not only do you save money (65% to 85% according to the Web site), but you’re also being green and saving some trees. You can also sell old textbooks on the Web site and connect with other users with Facebook.

A little about me

First things first…I guess I will tell you a little about myself. Normally, I’m not a big fan of self-disclosure and would rather not divulge all the details of my life. But I am going to assume that probably not very many people will be reading this, and if you are reading my blog, you are probably overly curious, miserably bored or easily entertained. I recently had a birthday, 27 years to be exact. It wasn’t such a joyous day to realize that I’m quickly approaching my late-20s to early-30s. However, I do feel extremely blessed to be alive another year.

More introductions…most people start off by saying what they do for a living, so I suppose I will follow suit. I am a graphic designer, which essentially means that I pretty things up and make things look better. Graphic design is actually not what I studied in college, but I’ve always naturally gravitated toward the field, and employers found my work acceptable enough to hire me. So here I am…a professional graphic designer. I love creative and imaginative design and definitely appreciate aesthetic beauty.

I am also a newlywed, enjoying a little over a year of marriage. My husband is a software developer and a little bit of a self-proclaimed nerd, which I find kind of endearing. If you ever have any questions about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or video games, he can probably tell you everything you’d ever want to know. We have one dog-child together, Natalie, a four-pound Yorkie who thinks she’s a Great Dane. She’s a little bit spoiled and is a bit of a princess-diva dog. We live a simple suburban life in Edmond, Oklahoma, and look forward to the little time we have together everyday.

I strive to be a Christ follower but feel like it’s a constant struggle to grow spiritually and lead a consistent godly life. In addition, I am quite far from being labeled a domestic diva, much to my husband’s dismay, but am also trying to improve in this arena. The shiny cooking appliances and tools from our wedding sit in our cabinets waiting to have their day of glory, but I am hopeful that this will change once I’m done with graduate school.

Some of the things I’m quite fond of include: traveling and planning vacations, photography, all things design-related, shopping and finding good deals, trying and learning new things (whether it’s a new restaurant or new activity, I’m usually up for it), Zumba and going to fitness classes at the gym, spending time with family and friends, watching my guilty-pleasure of reality television (mainly just The Bachelor and So You Think You Can Dance), frozen yogurt, cute chick flicks, anything involving weddings, naps and sleep in general, playing with my dog, and having free time.

In the beginning...

Alas, I have finally decided to start a blog. I’ve had the inkling of doing one of these things every so often, but usually talk myself out of it before I even start. My life is not nearly interesting enough to capture the interest of any bored individual looking to kill time by reading about the daily musings of my uneventful life. In addition, my mild to moderate case of perfectionism and crippling fear of failure also sets in periodically to pop my bubbling aspirations.

Since my major was journalism in college, I feel a looming sense of pressure to formulate sentences correctly and punctuate properly. I fear people will judge me if I misplace a comma or use “there” instead of “their.” I also think that if I forget to update this thing or neglect to put anything meaningful or interesting on here, I will become some sort of blogging failure.

So here it goes. Watch me throw caution to the wind or whatever that saying is (my husband likes to make fun of me for my improper usage of idiomatic phrases). This is it…the beginning of a pseudo social experiment and daily (or whenever) sounding board for me. I may use one comma too many or I may bore you with uninteresting details or I may not update this thing for days…or weeks.

But if you are reading this, please let me know your thoughts, your struggles, and your reactions to any of the posts.