the giraffe life

Yay Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day isn't a holiday with a festive greeting like Christmas, or even a special food. It's just an excuse to discuss the weather and hope for an early spring. But it was always at least a guarantee of a coloring page or arts and crafts project at school and that makes it a good day in my book. (Maybe one day Mr. G and I will go see the official groundhog in Punxsutawney.) Today I'm at work as usual but dreaming of spring, and even better, summer! Yesterday I bought a new pair of swimsuit bottoms from Hurley , a company that was everywhere in California last year. And one step further, Mr. G and I are going to start planning our annual June anniversary trip. We're considering lots of places, but leaning toward the Caribbean or maybe Colorado? How's your Monday going?

I think the only thing better than dreaming up goals is checking them off :) Finances Put at least $2000 toward mortgage prepayment  - Yes! We actually paid $2600 by September.  Save for daycare  - Change of plans! My employer doesn't provide paid maternity leave so I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone - practice paying for daycare and use the money to pay bills while I was home with a baby. Since we now know we'll need medical intervention to have a baby, this savings account will instead be the start of our fund for that. I'm super glad we have this moolah set aside!  Personal   Finish my degree  - Probably my proudest moment of the year! I turned in my final project in April and graduated in May :) Read 50 books  - Success! 73 books in all. I'll have a post about my favorites soon. Marriage Travel at least twice  - Yes! We traveled to California to celebrate our anniversary in June and to NYC for a day in November. Learn something ...

Mr. G and I celebrated last night because I turned in the final project for my masters :) Now I just have to wait for my grade (eek!). He had Bailey's + whipped cream and I enjoyed vodka + carrot juice. Yum! I'm also treating myself by ordering this dress tomorrow :) Thank you again for all your kind words and encouragement - it was wonderful to have so many people rooting for me! Have you done any celebrating lately?

Back in my original goal post for 2014, I mentioned finishing my degree. And crunch time is officially upon us! My deadline isn't until next month, but I'm feeling the pressure increase. So in an effort to gain a few more hours a week, I'm going to cut back my posts around here to twice a week - most likely one longer post on Monday and a brief post + photo for wordless Wednesday. I'll still be visiting/reading blogs and leaving comments though :) A shot of the lovely sky yesterday. I couldn't resist because the moon was peeking out despite being 3:00 in the afternoon!

It's 2014? That'll probably sound weird to me until at least March. I'm looking forward to the new year, despite the fact that it doesn't quite feel right yet. I've been enjoying reading everyone's goals too and have some of my own to throw out there: source:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyTownUSA haha, I love this graphic! Becky and Lucinda also used it, so I'm in excellent company. Finances Put at least $2000 toward mortgage prepayment  - Last year, we put an extra $1550 toward the principal, and I'd like to beat that! :) Save for daycare  - I'm not pregnant. And I know it's impossible to fully prepare to be a parent - but this is something we can start now. Hopefully it'll help us get used to the added expense way before we have a baby. Childcare estimates seem to run about $150/week in our area, so this amounts to setting aside $300 per paycheck. Personal   Finish my degree - Should be done in May! Woohoo :) Read 50...