Where do you start?

Starting a blog is harder than it looks. This is my fourth attempt at doing so. I want to tell you about my brother and the shenanigans that made me who I am today. I want you to know about Chris, my husband, and how lucky I am to have found him. I want to write about my unemployment drama, the job search that followed and the lessons I learned along the way. I also want to include my dogs, Abby and Reuger, and occasionally some amazing dinner I may have made or a shopping experience that was over the top!

But how I do I get it all out, in order, coherently and in bite-sized chunks so you will read it? Maybe a blog a day until I catch up? Maybe an outline to keep me on track? Great ideas, but they go against the very nature of a blog...it should be spontaneous and fun to read...dissertations, rants and outlines are not fun to read!

So, here's what I have decided...I am going to write like I have been doing so all along. That means it will be an abrupt start, but I promise that all the details will flush out over time...just stick with me.

Since I have been unemployed for 7 months, 11 days and moved across the country twice during that time, we are following a pretty strict budget. By strict I mean, "being financially responsible in order to simultaneously save money and pay off debt while allowing for a certain about of fun and frivolousness." Not a bad mission statement if I do say so myself!

Twice a week I get my ShopItToMe email. Have you signed up? It's awesome. You plug in your sizes (bra, shoe, pant, dress, top, sweater, etc), your favorite brands and stores and the items you are most interested in (bras, jeans, shoes, handbags, whatever!!) and the markdown that will motivate you to buy. When your stuff goes on sale for the markdown you designate (I said 50% off, I think) and they have inventory in your size, you get an email with links directly to those items! It's awesome! Not that I have bought anything (see above mission statement) but I have seen some pretty amazing deals on Kate Spade bags and Ann Taylor clothes...and a ton of other things! It's like having a free virtual personal shopper!