Saturday, February 22, 2014

February 2014

Happy February! 

For Valentine's Day we used the Edwin McCain tickets that Chris had got me for Christmas. 
He and the band were playing at the Bijou and like always it was a great show.   Of course he is known for the 90's ballad "I'll Be" but he really is much more than that song.  I always recommend anyone go see him because the band as a whole is fantastic and very talented. 

His opener was a gal I had never heard of Mallary Hope and she was quite the performer.  A country artist and super talented.  She even follows me on Twitter now!  :)

This year also starts our trek again on Financial Peace with Dave Ramsey.
Chris likes to call us "Dave's misfit children" because we have started and stopped so many times.  In December Chris made the choice to sell his car and in doing so we were able to pay off my car and a couple of odd debts.  We are both on the fast track to getting out of debt and hopefully we will be able to do our "debt free scream" in August for our anniversary.  At least that is our goal and realistically we should meet it. 

Dave Ramsey is a no-nonsense kind of guy and I always try to catch his radio show while running lunch errands.  It's a great way to stay motivated and every time I hear a person do the debt free scream it gives me chills.  

I would encourage everyone to get on a plan.  Doesn't have to be Dave's plan but something that sets you up for a better future.  My whole adult life I have been strapped with looming credit card debt and the thought of not having those monthly payments is getting so surreal. 
I couldn't even tell you what was on the credit cards... probably some stupid clothes that I don't wear anymore, makeup from some dumb cosmetic counter and a whole stock pile of bath salts and lotions that I never used. 

Just today we made a large credit card payment and can see the meter heading towards zero.  Sure it would have been nice to take that vacation with friends or buy new things for the home but we are committed this time around to staying on course. 

So once we hit August we will only owe for our home and all before we are out of our 30's.  We both wish we would have done this years ago but we can only look forward.  
We have started a "wish list" of sorts of things we want to purchase - with cash - the first month out of debt.  I for one want to set aside some money to finish fully decorating our home.  We only have a few pictures up.. kind of sad. 
Chris would tell you he wants to jump back into auto-x and that is fine because now we won't have to stress about how much he spends going out to dinner with the boys after an event. 

Good things are happening in the Harp household.  I'm blessed to be here :)




January 2014

For New Year's Eve we spent it with our good friend Steve and finally went to downtown Knoxville for the big ball drop.  Typically we spend NYE at friend's houses but wanted to do something different this year. 
We started out doing dinner at Soccer Taco, one of our favorite Mexican joints, and then headed over to Suttree's for some really good high gravity beers where we met up with some other good friends.  Then at about 10 till midnight we headed to Market Square for the big ball drop.  It was so cold so as soon as it hit midnight we scattered and got the heck out of dodge! 

Over the holiday's I also got to spend some time with my good friend that came in from her studies abroad in Vienna.  It was great to catch up and on another occasion had dinner with another good friend.  It's so crazy that since high school we have gone different directions but still have a very strong connection so no matter how long it has been we can always pick up right where we left off.  I'm truly blessed to have them in my life and will try to work on keeping in better contact with them.  All my friends really. 

 Hope your NYE was as fun as mine!
xoxo




December 2013

I'm writing this in February so I'm sure I will forget some of the high notes of December.  

Of course this month is all about Christmas and to be honest it was kind of hard to get in the "spirit".  Not really sure how to put it but I think I got caught up with a lot of work duties that it kind of spoiled it for me personally.  Since I'm the  Office Manager I am the go-to person for getting all of our clients their respective Christmas cards, Christmas baskets, etc. 
I also was in charge of planning our company Christmas party so it was a lot of stress in a short amount of time.  I did rely heavily on some of the girls but there was only so much they could do.  I do remember the day before the company party that I stayed in bed literally until about 3:30 in the afternoon.  Suffered from the worst migraine I have ever had and no doubt it was stress related.  I got through it and our Christmas party was a blast.  For the first time we had a photo booth from Knoxville Photo Booth and that was a lot of fun! Here is a sample of our pics.. Super cute! 






For Christmas Eve we had some friends over for Christmas brunch and it was great to catch up.  Chris and I had our family's over for Christmas day lunch and as usual had a pretty good spread of food.  Of course holiday's are always hard with out our dad's here but we know they are always with us. 

Chris and I don't really lavish each other with gifts but he did get me get tickets to one of my favorite performers Edwin McCain. 

Hope your December was fun filled!