Skip to main content

That Gatsby Life

Reason #4 your 30s are actually awesome:

You aren't dead broke. (only kinda broke...)

I am not rich. Let’s get that out on the table right now. But, ladies, gone are the days of Barefoot and Sutter Home. My standard wine is $12 a bottle. I’m a pretty classy broad. I vividly remember how poor I was in my early 20s. It is almost palpable. I literally lived paycheck to paycheck and borrowed money from my mom in between. And she still paid my car insurance and cell phone bill. Ahhh...the good old days. Let's all take a moment to Thank Barak Obama for health insurance until you're 26. And life was still so hard. Of course, I had to prioritize, so that was a lesson worth learning. Rent, car payment, groceries, gas, happy hours...no exceptions.
These days, I am a bargain shopper. But, that is by choice, not necessity. I don’t have to check my bank account every single day. If I need a new $30 mascara, I can just buy it. I felt like royalty when I was able to buy real furniture and no longer live in the hodge podge that I’ve collected from parents downsizing and “vintage” finds from the Habitat for Humanity Restore. I can afford my own Netflix account and not mooch off of my college ex-boyfriend’s uncle. They say money can’t buy happiness, and that is so true. But, money can buy you a lot of financial freedom to enjoy this life.

One of my favorite things to do with these new found dolla dolla bills is vacation. If you were ever, at any point in your life, 22 years old, then you dreamed of traveling the world. Backpacking Europe. Scuba diving in the Mediterranean. Safaris in Africa. Ok, so I can’t afford any of those trips, nor do I have the PTO to take them. BUT, my husband and I responsibly save our nickels so that we can go on nice vacations every couple of years. Traveling is basically my love language. I would rather have a trip than anything else in this whole entire world. Being able to turn those pipe dreams into reality, slowly but surely, is one of my greatest blessings. Seeing the world and making memories with my best friend is more than I could’ve ever hoped for in this life.


Here's our most recent Gatsby Life Adventure. Whisking off to Napa (by whisking, I mean, planning 8 months in advance and having a savings plan) for my big 3-0. Celebrating Napa, Gatsby style. That's so #thirty. 













Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It's All About the App

Boring little intro: First, let me take a moment to thank those who read my last post “Live Life Colorfully.” That post was uncharacteristic of my usual musings. For the next couple of months, I am going to be blogging about my interior design take over. I think that post was important for you to understand where my head is, my motivations, my beliefs behind all of these crazy design choices. **Disclaimer: I have absolutely NO formal design training. Hell, I don’t even have informal design training. My training is rooted in following my heart.** OK, now the fun stuff: For those that know me, this will come as no surprise at all. For those that don’t, I’ll fill you in. I am all about the appetizers. When I sit down at a restaurant, my eyes immediately go to the Starters. Then, to the wine list, of course. Calamari? Yes. Pimento cheese with some kind of bread, um, yeah. Charcuterie tray, bring it. Oysters? Do you even have to ask?  I could literally fill up on ONLY appetizers. Th...

This post is about poop.

I started this blog when I was on the brink of turning 30. I just knew really amazing things were on the horizon. I was on the brink of greatness. This next decade would inevitably be a life-changing, climactic, turn of events kind of chapter in this novel of my life. I turn 31 next week. You know what I didn’t expect my 30’s to be filled with...poop. I can honestly say, I never saw this one coming. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some life-changing events. Some climatic and unexpected turn of events. We’ve essentially started a new life since I turned 30. But, it is also filled with a lot of poop. No one ever talked about this. Jennifer Gardner didn’t prepare me for this in Thirteen Going on 30. None of the reality shows alluded to this dark underbelly of the third decade of life. I’m getting it from all sides. I have a toddler, I have a puppy, and weirdly enough, I even deal with this at work. No, I do not work with babies or at a daycare center, or even an elderly ho...

Super Soul Saturday: Bold bangs, Bold dreams.

Let’s talk for a minute about your dreams. Your plans. Your ambitions. When was the last time you wrote down a big dream? Not a goal. Not a plan. AN ASPIRATION. By the time you are 30, girl, you need to be writing down your goals. I hope that I am not the first person to tell you the power of writing down your goals. In fact, you are 42% MORE likely to do something if you write it down. If I am the first person to tell you this golden nugget of wisdom, please visit this article and learn more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marymorrissey/the-power-of-writing-down_b_12002348.html We aren’t talking about goals today. We are talking about our dreams. Our dreams are scary. They require us to get out of our comfort zone. They require us to show up. They require us to grow. We have to put ourselves out there. Y’all, life is hard. There are already 1,000 that are making me grow (i.e. #momlyfe). So intentionally doing one more thing for the sake of “growth” seems crazy. I mean, 90% of the...