Happy New Year, everyone!

I always look forward to working this time of year because it's so slow and people are so laid back. This year hasn't been like that at all, though!! I had to work 4 hours of overtime yesterday. Ugh....I'm hoping that today is slower and that I won't have to work at all for the next two days.

On a side note, my boyfriend and I went to Sequoia for dinner on Saturday before seeing Legally Blonde The Musical at the Kennedy Center. I used my Entertainment card to get $17 off of our bill at the restaurant. We split the bill, so we'll just say that I saved $8.50. Since I paid $14 for the Entertainment book, I have $5.50 left to recoup the cost of the book. Not a bad deal so far!!

Everyone have fun tonight and be safe!!

I just finished all of my Christmas shopping!! Doesn't that always feel good? I did it all online except for one quick trip to Target tonight. I had already gotten my mother a Netflix gift certificate, but then she told me that she wants an electric toothbrush. So I bought her one tonight.

I never ask people what they want for Christmas. To me, it's something that I have to see that I think they would like. I guess I've had good luck (or they're all lying to me and really hate their gifts). So, I had spent quite a bit on 6 months of Netflix for my mother, but I felt like I had to get her the toothbrush because she never asks for anything specific. My mother sacrificed so much for me as I was growing up, I don't really mind buying her something that she really wants. She deserves it.

She's going to be so pleased with her gifts. And that makes me happy :-)

I just bought tickets for me and my boyfriend to see Next To Normal at Arena Stage. It was $138 total....$66/ticket +$3/ticket fees. Probably not the smartest decision, but this class I'm in ends the day before. This class has been stressful and I've had to put my bf on the side while I worked on projects. I think it will be a nice night out in celebration of the class being over. It's just money, right? Or should we be more frugal and get a movie from RedBox that night? Ugh.

I'm never really sure how much my year end bonus is going to be, so it's always a surprise. They gave me $3,250....which came to $2,530.01 after everything was taken out. It's not bad. I've gotten more in previous years, but with the economy and everything that's going on, I'm happy to get a bonus at all (and to have a job).

I don't have plans to spend it, so I threw all of it into my ING account.

I've gotten in the habit of stopping on the way to work to pick up a can of Red Bull. But not just any can, the huge can...16.9 ounces. And this stuff is SO overpriced!! I'm a fool for buying it, but I don't drink coffee and I enjoy it. But it costs $4.09 with tax. Isn't that insane?!?!?! I'm spending over $20 a week on that crap!!

I think that I'm going to try to make some green tea in a travel mug for the ride to work. That will be really cheap (and a LOT healthier than a can of chemicals). Hmmm....maybe this will be a good New Years Resolution.

I just got cable television. Seriously. I had it before, but cancelled it in 2002 because I was travelling so much for work. I didn't miss it, so I just never renewed it. Well, my boyfriend could not stand watching the fuzzy picture that I got with my bunny ear antenna. Every time he'd watch football he'd yell "I can't even see the ball!!" :-)

When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he said that he wanted me to get cable. So, I did. I got him other stuff too, but he's thrilled about me having cable. It's amazing how something so small can make him so happy. It's exciting to me too...there's so many shows that I haven't seen!

I am a little concerned that cable will be a HUGE distraction from my schoolwork, but time will tell. And I'll just suck it up and deal when it comes to the bill.

I got a flat tire a couple weeks ago. And by flat I mean, it pretty much blew apart. Anyway, I went to get a new tire this past weekend and the guy told me that I should get two, so that there's no pull because I'd have one new tire and one old tire on the front. I know it sounds like I was being upsold, but I really trust the garage that I go to. A few years ago, they told me that I needed a new battery, but I declined. A week later, my battery was dead.

So, I got two new tires, an alignment, and a headlight replaced for a grand total of $569.32. Ugh. Why does this have to happen right around Christmas time? I've got presents to buy.