Like real grownups do Okay, with these impending trips, even with Chris footing the bill (these are my Christmas & Birthday gifts, mind you), I have some stuff to buy! Namely, a really expensive lens and a 7mm wetsuit! Therefore, it’s time to buckle down and save.

I have a jar going in my room for my $750 lens. I want to have it in time for Costa Rica in December. I should have the thick wetsuit by then, too, since the water there is something like 75 degrees. That means all this saving has to be done by then. I owe school some money here in a couple of weeks, plus again in January, mind you. And books, don’t forget the books! And Christmas falls right after we go to Costa Rica! I had to make a plan!

So I did. And instead of starting a second jar, which was the original plan (“Do I use the old pesto jar, or what?”), I threw $200 into a brand spankin’ new ING account and am having $120 from each paycheck deposited. By Christmas, I will have money to buy presents plus a surplus. And I’m going to keep the deposits going.

After the saving for the traveling stops, I want to start a second savings account, too, just like real grownups have. I actually do have a little money in my savings account right now, but I haven’t been adding to it, so I really want to start. But at the same time, I am thinking long and hard about how I want to get school done with quickly, and that may involve cutting back work hours, which will involve a slowdown of incoming money. Which means, if I want to buy anything, I had better get it done now. Hence the $60 bigmouth food processor Saturday. And the $750 lens and $200 7mm wetsuit on the to-buy list… And Christmas gifts next year may be of the “Here’s a jarful of sand and a wish of peace for you” variety.

Food yesterday: Breakfast shake with greens, protein powder, half a carrot, and a banana. Lunch: yummy salad with spinach greens, sunflower greens, avocado, and Glaser dressing. Kiwifruit. Snack: A handful of that blasted chocolate granola, which I decided I cannot buy because it is WAY TOO GOOD and I will eat WAY too much of it; a few prunes. Dinner: 1.5 quorn culets; some green beans; mac n cheese. I ate too much, even though objectively it really wasn’t all that bad. Then I shared the rest of the Dulce de Leche ice cream with Chris (half a pint between the two of us). I got sick afterwards, basically. Instant belly karma, I guess.

No run still. I woke up yesterday with a migraine, which basically persisted from last Thursday through the weekend, albeit slight. I think it’s finally gone-gone today, though. Yay!  ¶ 3:56 PM