A sad time indeed...

I've been MIA these past few weeks due to illness.  Nothing serious, I swear.  Just didn't do much because of it.  I've been suffering silently on my own. 
Obviously the attack in Brussels has brought me down.  What a sad time indeed.  Terrorist attacks are more frequent and horrifying.  What is impossible to imagine becomes possible.  Our fellow man has troubled thoughts and wants people to suffer.  No one wins ever.
Throughout time, we've seen acts of evil over and over again.  As we approach this holiday weekend, I am reminded that evil has existed as far back before biblical times.  Our world has been troubled before, and like all things, we do our best to move forward.  Is it hard to imagine living in a peaceful world?
I believe it CAN be possible.  But then something like this happens again, and my heart breaks.  Yet despite the tragedies, the world does suffer as a whole.  It affects everyone.  I know we can do better.  I know we can love one another.  It's hard especially with the elections taking place here in the U.S.  The ugly truths, the misleading lies.  I have a hard time believing anyone nowadays.   


To recap events leading up to the past few days:
About two weeks ago Chicago celebrated St. Patty's Day with an all weekend celebration.  The annual dying of the Chicago river brings out thousands of people to the downtown area.  Thus, every bar in town had some sort of St. Patrick's Day theme going on.  Regardless, I missed out in the fun.  Prior to that, I've been feeling under the weather.  That day in particular, my head was pounding with yet another migraine.  It could be allergies.  It could be my body is going through some changes.  All I know is that I've been miserable and I hate it.
People around me have been getting sick as well.  It's this crazy weather and it makes everyone vulnerable to colds and viruses.  Not to mention, when you're sick it drains you.  I've had no energy to do anything whatsoever.
I'm doing good with my financial diet!  I can't believe Easter is almost here and Lent will be over soon.  I'm proud to say that my credit cards look better than they did early in the year.  I feel pretty confident with my financial goals. 

I tried my best to smile but I had a migraine while I took this picture.  I never got a chance to celebrate.

It's Fat Tuesday!!

Happy Fat Tuesday!  I can't believe Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.  I have one more day to indulge.  lol.  Just kidding.  As I mentioned earlier, I decided to give up going out past 11pm for Lent this year.  I think this will help me save money since my social life lately has taken a hit at my finances.  Last month I focused on paying off a huge debt that lasted over 10 years.  Because of that, my credit cards have suffered since I never took the time to budget after the holidays.  I'm still paying off my vacation from Paris and Italy.  Not to mention, I HAVE been going out a little too much lately.  Time to disappear for a bit.  No harm done.  Paying for dinner, drinks, hopping from one spot to another plus the late night uber rides have maxed me out.  I'm financially exhausted.
The good news is:  I'm NOT giving up on socializing!  I can still partake on after-work happy hour specials and low key dinners and still be able to ride the Blue Line back home.  Chicago right now isn't the safest city so I usually take an uber home when I'm out late at night.  With my new curfew, I can ride the CTA home safely and save some serious money.  This is possible!  I can feel it!
Over the years, I've given up chocolate, drinking, cursing, and shopping for Lent.  This year it will be late night socializing and I think I'll be just fine. 

 

Do what works for YOU!

During the first Saturday of the year, my friends wanted to catch up for a bit.  The holidays were officially over, and getting together seemed like the ideal thing to do.  The past 2 weeks were all about family.  I agreed to meet up because I always felt that your friends are your second family, (and sometimes they just "get" you).  Of course it fell apart quickly, and not everyone made it out as they promised to.  We originally met up at Old Town at Benchmark, a upscale sports bar.  College football was on tv and the crowd seemed pretty excited.  It's not my thing, but sometimes you have to go with the flow if you want to get out of the house. 
Once we realized our group was going to stay small, we made the most of it and caught up with one another.  At one point we decided to break up and head our own way.  I figured since I made the trip out in the first place, I would quickly checkout Y bar.   It's a pretty known fact that the weekend after the holidays it's dead EVERYWHERE from retail shops to the nightlife industry.  I saw some friends and then we all decided to head next door to Shay.  I was beat, but did make a promise to myself not to step out again unless we're celebrating something.  Going out for the sake of drinking and spending money is not on my list of things to do for 2016.
The following day was Sunday and the friends that did not make it out before wanted to hang out now.  I made my way over to Wicker Park for some Sunday Funday action, but again, the scene was dead.  I felt we kept "looking" for some action.  This did not appeal to me at all since I was on the verge of paying off my huge debt.  I realized I had to make a decision on what I was trying to accomplish for myself.  Unfortunately, I've reached the point where I'm bored of the scene and rather be at home drinking a glass of wine and reading my Italian work book.  It's all fun and games but when you have different financial goals than everyone else, you have to figure out what works for you.  Yes we did "catch up" but it seemed that we could have saved this for another time.  I knew right away that I wanted to do things differently this year. 
At the end of the day, you need to take care of yourself FIRST.  It may not be easy.  You can catch up with friends over the phone.  It's cheaper.  Me and my co-worker friends decided to follow up a savings plan to help us reach our goals for 2016.  I'm excited I have a little team going with this.  I think it will push us to strive as a group.

Unfortunately, not too many people out and about.  Check out the background!  lol

   
 

Overdue Debt PAID OFF!!

I finally did it!!  I paid off a huge debt that's been a thorn to my side today!!  I'm so relieved this day has finally arrived for me.  Once I noticed my low balance I knew I had to finish it off.  It became so customary for me to pay it every month I almost forgot it was going to end eventually.  I cannot express how important it was for me to do this on my own.  It was my responsibility after all, but I think sometimes people get the wrong idea on how to handle their debt.  It's time to own up to your mistakes and handle them head on.  If not, you'll never understand how you got there in the first place.

Back to December events!  The infamous holiday party arrived the following Friday.  Everyone at work were pretty excited.  I wore a sweater dress I won off ebay months ago.  I knew I could put it to use one day.  It's hard to dress for these things because it IS a work event after all, but it would be nice to wear something cute other than business casual.  Over the years I have worn a sweater and pencil skirt combo, as well as day dresses.  Since the holidays bring all types of social events to my calendar, I HATE shopping for myself because of the abundance amount of people in the stores.  That's why I'm an avid online shopper.  It's more practical to me because of the range of options available, not to mention, I can go by my price range.  Have to watch that budget!
This year our holiday party was being held at the Four Seasons hotel.  We usually have a trolley service take us to our events, and I love it!  Trolleys are so much fun!  Once we got there we made our way to our sectioned off area.  I enjoyed the buffet selections they prepared for us.  Sorry, but some places have to step up their game.  The menu included an Asian cuisine complete with pot stickers and eggrolls, to the usual mini sliders (they include mini hot dogs, too!), as well as healthier options such as sautéed jumbo shrimp and veggies.  Me and my co-worker friends sipped Prosecco and danced the night away to our very own dj.  We usually have a live band but this dj played a good range of music everyone enjoyed, plus he took requests!!  lol.  We had our reserved area until 9pm and as usual, wanted to take the party elsewhere.  We ended up at The Blue Frog for some karaoke.  We sang some songs and called it a night.  Luckily I went home afterwards because I noticed it was barely 11pm.  Still pretty early in my book considering it was a Friday night, but I was beat!   

LOVE ME A TROLLEY RIDE!

 

I love her navy lace shirtdress!

A bright red sweater for the holidays is always a hit!

They donned their Christmas sweaters to the party!