New Truck!

We got Ross a new truck! Woohoo!

It's a 2010 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner, access cab with two seats in the back.

We'd been talking for a while about how he would definitely need a new vehicle pre-babies. The Jeep, while very fun, only had two doors and a soft top, neither of which would be practical with kiddos.

At first we figured we'd make this purchase in 2012, a little closer to when we want kids. But then one day it dawned on us that our hopes in 2012 were to go to Europe, possibly start a family, buy a new car and buy a big, new forever-home.

What the hell. We couldn't do that. First, wow, big stressful year. Second, we probably couldn't get financing for a car and house in the same year, let alone make monthly payments on both. And if we actually were to have a baby on the way, we would be in severe need of both. That's when we decided to make 2011 the year of the vehicle.

Ross got excited and started searching online. We definitely thought we would wait more than six days into the new year but he found a dealership that had exactly what he wanted, as determined by weeks of research. We put the Jeep on Craigslist and then this morning headed to the dealership to make sure that this truck he thought he wanted was really all we dreamed.

He drove it and we loved it. The price was right and the on-the-fly trade-in estimate we got was spot on. Add into that a rockin' interest rate and I would say we more stole this truck than bought it. Shortly after lunch we drove off the lot with a new truck. Hurray!

I, for one, am super glad that we were able to land a 2010. The plan had always been for this vehicle we bought, whether we bought it this year or next, to last us at least eight years. I think our chances of that are significantly better since it's a newer truck than we thought we'd get. Also, it's a smaller truck so the gas mileage is pretty good, about 10 miles per gallon better than the Jeep. And though it's small, it has the LATCH system in the back (ie what you secure a baby's carseat with) so it is definitely a family vehicle and should meet our needs for the next eight years.

Verdict: Win.

Big Girls' Sorority

With Margo, left, (who btw just got engaged!) this summer

Christen, Anna, Margo and I once had a Facebook convo about how there are sororities at all stages in life. Girl Scouts in K-12, legit sororities (ie TriDelta) in college and Junior League in grown-up-hood. Really when you think about it, they all provide the same thing to different ages of gals: organized opportunities for do-good-ing, friendship and fun.

You know I'm well versed in Girl Scouting and I'm a proud TriDelta and today I completed my membership form for the Junior League of Austin.

TriDelta was the best thing to happen to my college years. Seriously. FANTASTIC. And while I have great gal friends in Austin, I've found myself craving that large group of girls dynamic provided in a sorority.

The Girl Scout office did a pretty good job; we only had 3 guys working in the Austin office so it was in essence a chic-fest. But still, that included work things and thus some social boundaries. Now looking forward to my new, undoubtedly more co-ed gig (very excitedly looking forward I might add), I feel even more of a craving for a girls-only club. Hence, membership in Junior League.

I'm looking forward to the admissions meeting at the end of the month, meeting my sponsors and starting a new chapter of chic-centric social and philanthropic endeavours.

Imagine if you won the lottery

With tonight's big lottery drawing, the news has done several stories. And the "what if we won" is a conversation Ross and I have had several times...you know, because since the odds are so in our favor we want to be sure we're prepared.

Here's what we've come up with:

• Pay off all debt; ours, parents', and siblings'. We think this should only take a fraction of a fraction of our winnings...unless someone is seriously hiding something.

  

  From worldwideaspen.com

  
• Relocate to a lakefront mansion. But still stay in the Austin-ish area.
• Hire a housekeeper. Or two. Let's be honest, if we started making about $10k more or lived in a house with even just one more bedroom, this would be really high on my list. Like higher than cable TV. We're really crummy at doing chores and are chomping at the bit to be able to justify having a housekeeper.
• Become Oprah's Bahamas neighbor. Oh yeah, we're totally buying the vaca home next door to Oprah in the Bahamas. Our honeymoon solidified the heck outta this.
• Give money to the parents. If they have multi-millionaires as kids, there's no reason for them to work right? Now siblings we haven't decided about... ;)
• Buy a ranch. Guess who is behind this one? Yeah, totally Ross. To go with his ranch I will be buying an airplane and hiring a personal pilot to help me commute from said ranch back to civilization. I mean really, ranch, airplane and pilot are a package deal.
• Travel everywhere. Duh. But I can't even begin to imagine where we'd start. Egypt? China? South Africa? I mean heck, I still need to see the Grand Canyon! I'm not sure where we'd start but I'm pretty sure we'd see it all.

The one thing we've never actually decided on is if we would quit working. I mean probably. I don't need to send my hubby into burning buildings if we are millionaires. But I think we would both get bored which is why it's never the first thing we shout out. I can see us quitting our current gigs and going into one of those fields you have to be rich to even get into - like owning a football team. (Note: in a totally separate conversation we've discussed how the San Antonio-Austin metro area really needs an NFL team. As in we've come up with names [Los Caballos possibly] and decided the stadium would be in Buda. Perhaps if/when we win the lottery, we'll be the owners of said team.)

Or maybe we'd just live on our millions and be professional volunteers. Also likely. At least, far more likely than actually winning the lottery in the first place.

Page Ideas

My inner marketing/web/social media nerd LOVES the new "pages" feature from Blogger. If you aren't familiar with it, it allows for static web pages on the blog. The examples Blogger gives are "about me" and "contact."


Note: that is a borrowed baby



I first discovered these when Jane added them to her blog -http://acceptanceenergyhappiness.blogspot.com/. See? Don't you love it?

(And right now I'm more than a little jealous of her 2011 A-Z Reading Challenge because that is an excellent page to have on her blog.)

I want to add pages to this blog...again, mostly because I'm a nerd and it sounds way cool. But I'm not sure what the content should be and as a good marketing person, I want to be sure I have worthwhile content if I am going to include it. So I turn to you, loyal blog readers, what content do you think I could/should include on some permanent blog pages?

Lexi's Resolution

As you know, Lexi is a puppy. However, Lexi does not know this. She thinks she's a people.

She eats cereal off of a spoon. She takes showers. She watches TV. She sleeps in a king size bed. Sometimes she even sleeps with her head on the middle pillow and body stretched out between Ross and I. And sometimes, when I'm not here to stop it, I hear she actually sleeps under the covers.

Knowing that my pup thinks she is human, I explained the new year's resolution I chose for her based on this. (Yes, I explained a new year's resolution to my dog. Don't judge.) If Lexi really wants to be a people, she has to act like people and people do not jump at the TV. Thus Lexi's new year's resolution is to not jump at the TV.

She didn't get a vote in this. As the puppy-mommy I invoked my powers and authority and imposed this resolution upon her. It will be achieved through the evil water bottle that magically squirts at her when she does jump at the TV.

Come on Lexi - you can do it!

New Year, New Resolutions

Happy 2011! I hope you are looking forward to a rockin' awesome year.

A few resolutions to make my year rock:

• Read a dozen really good books. I totally already gave this one away with my 2011 reading list.
• Work out at least 200 minutes per week. I've been all over this for the past two months and am loving the results. I can basically eat whatever I want (knock on wood) and with this much cardio can mantain my weight. I wonder what will happen when the holidays are over and I quit eating like crap. Maybe I'll shed a pound or two!

  

  The little family saying "adios" to 2010

  
• Eye liner. I don't wear it often, mostly because I am lazy about make up, but when I do wear it I really like what it does for my eyes. So I am resolving to wear it at least a little more often.
• Take more pictures. This is a Team Black resolution, spearheaded by the hubby and actually, made possible by the hubby and the fancy new camera he got me.
• Save $$. Also a Team Black resolution. We've looked at our finances for 2011 have set an ambitious but achieveable savings goal. We have a dollar amount that we want to save each month. (Since we use our savings for vacation I think this will be an easier way to track our savings than just the total at the end of the year because as you'll see from the next and final resolution, I plan to spend a hefty chunk of it.)

  

  From TravelInStyle.com

  
• Book our trip to Europe! I'm looking forward to this one most. We're probably going to Greece (see picture, what I hope to spend 10 days looking at) and looking to go in spring 2012. In September/October Ross will put in his vacation request for that fiscal year and then we'll know when we're going and I can book it. Woohoo! Come on Europe!