The Wedding Part 3 - Here Comes the Bride!

The next morning, I woke up bright and early at 7:30a.m. When I looked over at my desk, I saw a splatter of black puke on my chair mat…that was from Miller drinking all that Jager. Everyone was surprised that I woke up without a hang over or anything. My only issue was tiredness, but I couldn’t sleep after seeing the gigantic splatter of puke on my chair mat. Betty spent the night on the couch and she was awake too. I found Miller Jr. sleeping on our floor! Turns out he wanted to sleep with grandpa (Miller’s dad Calvin). Calvin took off that morning before anyone woke up. Betty and I started cleaning up the house. Miller eventually woke up too…but he looked like hell. Turns out, we were both smashed because neither of us really ate anything that day. Miller said that he thought he had nachos, but when he went to open the microwave, the nachos were still waiting for him. Anyway, little while after regaining our consciousness, I sent Miller to go buy additional ice and I specifically told him to get the music box…but of course he forgot!

The wife of the guy who bought our car came to do my hair that morning. I think she was yanking at my hair but I was too tired to feel anything. She did an amazing job! Her daughter is crazy though…little 1.5 year old girl that just gets into absolutely everything! After my hair got done, the chaos of the two moms getting ready started. We still didn’t have the music figured out and I had to get our wedding music (namely our first dance song!). Betty did my make-up and I actually did my own mascara. This is when I started to get nervous. Miller left about 10 to 15 minutes before we did with Miller Jr. and Vicki’s husband. I had to wait for Carolina to get there. Carolina got there and I asked that she drive us to the Recorder’s office because she has a 4 door car.

Traffic to the Recorder’s office could not have been worse. We stopped for EVERY light. I was getting really nervous! When we finally got there, we saw all of Miller’s family already there and Miller was already there. However, the few family members of mine have not gotten there yet. Miller and I went inside the office to finish up the paperwork and they told us to wait outside. We waited and waited and waited and I started to get irritated. Then we realized that I forgot my tiara, my bouquet and the rice bags that Miller Jr. made! Carolina was holding my dress the whole time too! My family members finally got there!! They got lost!! Thank god the ceremony was late because at least my few family members were able to be there.

The ceremony started and it was wonderful too. There was construction going on behind the building, but it stopped while the ceremony was going on! Since this is the Recorder’s office, there was no romantic walking down the aisle lol. We didn’t have the wedding music playing, but my head was too filled with emotions to really pay any attention to that. Of course I started crying…then I thought Miller started to laugh at me because he turned away…then…he turned back around and I see his eyes were all red and he was crying too! The ceremony is somewhat a blur…I didn’t even know what I was saying. Miller Jr. was our ring-bearer. When it was over, every one clapped and everyone took a lot of pictures.

Miller, Miller Jr. and I left together (ceremonial I guess?). We were the first one to get back to the house. I told Miller to carry my over the threshold and he reluctantly did (lol). As soon as we got back, we went to set up the music box at the clubhouse…people slowly started arriving. It was a very successful and fun reception. I didn’t have to lift a finger and somehow, all the food, drinks, etc got served. We kept the alcohol at the house because there was a “no alcohol” policy at the clubhouse. Everyone brought their drinks over with the white cups lol (if it was up to me, people would have had red cups...but Betty specifically told me no, I had to get the white cups). Carolina was right on the money, she told me to get the cake, dance, etc going. So we did. Miller and I really didn’t want to do a first dance so we were laughing through the whole thing. Our song was Elvis Presley’s “Can’t help falling in love”. There was no parent/children dance because, well, Vicki was crying too hard and my parents weren’t there.

We got the cake cutting over with…that was fun lol. We were not the most coordinated when we tried to do the champagne thing. Then we moved to the toast. Miller’s grandma did a toast, Betty did a toast, my uncle did a toast, and my crazy BFF did a toast. Carolina was laughing the whole time our BFF gave me a toast. BFF said that her and I both showed up to work in a suit…I stopped listening at that point because I was asking myself “do I even OWN a suit?!” Thank god Carolina shouted out at the end that she was the reason we got married. Everyone came up to ask me who my BFF was…all I can say to the ones who asked was that she’s crazy and it’s a funny memory that she gave me a toast.

The reception went really well. Everyone seemed like they enjoyed themselves. As people started to leave, the party migrated to my house. The clubhouse got cleaned up without me having to do anything! I vowed that I was not going to take any shots…so I had just a perfect buzz throughout the whole thing. When the party came to the house, Vicki and Betty kept doing shots. I finally did one Milagro shot and half a Jager. Miller’s buddy (the one who bought our car) came by with his wife and kids. Our creepy neighbors left their camera here, so we snooped through that and found some S&M pictures…Miller quickly deleted the pictures of me from the camera.

After everyone finally left, I kicked Vicki, her husband and Miller Jr. out for about 10 minutes. Told them we need to do it for the first time as husband and wife lol. It was a good night, and frankly, an awesome wedding!! I’m sure I’ll come back and read this a year later and go “oh yeh! That’s right!”

-Emma

The Wedding Part 2 - Countdown..Two more days...

The wedding week started to get really exciting by Wednesday. We had 2 days left to go and so much to do! However, we were worn out on Wednesday from all the driving and the storm continued. Miller and I braved the rainstorm and went and got our house keys from Carolina (she checked on our cats while we were gone). Miller’s mom (Vicki) wanted the local specialty of In-N-Out, so we had that for brunch. I wanted to go get my nails done, so Vicki and I headed down to the nail salon. They were packed, so we made an appointment for Thursday morning instead. So, the only thing that we got done on Wednesday was picking up Miller’s tux! Good thing I picked up Miller’s tux Wednesday because turned out his shirt was too small (honey, you're not a medium).

That night, I sent Miller and Vicki’s husband out to buy beer and ice…oh boy was I in for a big surprise. Miller came home with a new cooler, 6 bottles of Jagermeister (each with its own sleeve), and a stack of Jagermeister plastic shot glasses. The cooler has two spouts and dispenses ice cold Jagermeister shots. Miller also bought me a bottle of Milagro Tequila. He said that he was going to get me a bottle of Patron but the guy at Bevmo told him this other bottle was better and was cheaper.

Thursday was a hectic day since we basically waited till then to do everything. I swear I could do without all the running around and driving all over the place. It started out with me getting Miller Jr. to go wake Vicki up so that we can go get our nails done. I got my toes, my nails, and my eyebrows done. Miller’s stepmom (Betty) dropped in at the nail salon while we were getting gussied up. Then we got lost a bit trying to follow Betty around to get to the flower shop. The flowers that Betty got were gorgeous! We got three round center pieces, one long piece, three little long vases for the bathroom, two boutonnieres, and my corsage.

From there, we went back to the house and the craziness continued. Miller and I haven’t got our marriage license yet, so we had to drive up to the recorder’s office, which was about 25 minutes away. Miller and I left Vicki and her husband and Betty at the house while we went to go take care of that. We also had to go exchange the shirt for a different size.

The recorder’s office was interesting. We filled out the paperwork and the clerk told us to go wait for our names to be called. We checked out the little back patio area where they can do the ceremony (we had a choice between the back patio and the conference room lol). We went to grab some lunch at the sandwich shop that was ran by two yahoos. The guy couldn’t fit the avocado in the hoagie bun and told Miller that if the sandwich doesn’t work, that he’ll “hook him up”. We weren’t sure what he meant, but the sandwiches were good. Anyway, Miller had to spend $2.00 on the ATM to get $20.00 for the sandwich shop. Goddamn it for me forgetting that I should have had him get more cash because the Recorder’s office charges $6.00 for credit cards. So of course, we had to spend another $2.00 in ATM fee to get the money for the license. We got a handbook on how to be married with our license. I thought that was funny.

After that, we headed to the tux shop to exchange the shirt. Of course…they did not have it in stock, so they sent us to their main warehouse 10 minutes away to get it. Yay! More driving! Finally, we made it back to the house. Betty already had the whole clubhouse decorated! I was so relieved. The clubhouse looked great! The party started from there, but before Miller and I were able to start drinking, we had to drive to get the wedding cake. Again…Yay! More driving! The cake looked wonderful! And thank god it didn’t need to be refrigerated because our fridge was at maximum capacity and there was only a tiny little fridge in the clubhouse. Vicki’s husband is a cook so he offered to do the food platters for us. I sent them along with Betty to Wal-Mart to get the food and the alcohol that night.

On top of all that, Miller’s grandparents arrived from out-of-state and showed up at our house as well. We finally got to see Miller’s ring and it is the most special ring ever! Grandma also let me borrow her bracelet for the “something” borrowed (my something blue was the garter, something new were my dress and jewelry, and something old is my ring). Grandma sipped on some Tuaca and eventually got really tipsy and promised me and Miller the world! By the time she left, she was stumbling. I also had to remind grandpa that the Jager has alcohol in it. lol.

Finally! We can start drinking. Honestly, that night is somewhat of a haze for me. I’m gonna try to re-cap as much as I can and tell you what the others told me I was doing. I invited my creepy neighbors upstairs to the wedding. Carolina came over to bring me some additional makeup. Vicki, her husband and Betty worked on the food trays (ha! Like I remember!). I was told I was hugging everyone and crying over the situation with my parents. I remember only taking one shot of tequila, but I was told that I took A LOT more than that. My creepy neighbor gave us a bunch of free stuff (shirts, jeans, dresses, crystal ball, make-up, etc etc). I called my co-worker who sits next to me (she told me about the Monday). I tried to sleep on Miller Jr’s little bed. I puked A LOT. Even Miller puked that night and he does NOT ever puke. It was a crazy night!!

The Wedding Day next...keep posted!

-Emma

The Wedding Part 1 - LA/Monterey Trip

The wedding week started the Friday before. Miller and I drove to LA to meet up with his parents and his kid Miller Jr. We drove half way Friday night and stayed at a po-dunk little town in the middle of California. We woke up the next morning and drove down to Beverly Hills. After driving through Robertson Boulevard and looking at the idiots eating at The Ivy, we spent the rest of day at the Century City mall on Santa Monica Boulevard.

One of Miller’s highlight of the day was finding a restaurant called the “Pink Taco”. We could have eaten at Nobu down the road, but nope…Pink Taco won. Miller ordered the Pink Cadillac margarita and I had a mojito. Those were the two strongest drinks we have ever had at a restaurant! We also ordered a $9.00 thing of guacamole…ridiculous! I’ve never had an up-scale yummy salad with any burritos in my life...this was a first. The burrito I had was a seared Ahi-Tuna burrito and it was very foo-foo. Miller had a lobster enchilada and it was nothing BUT lobster! We had a great lunch.

I managed to buy 2 shirts for $20.00! Only I would buy 2 shirts on clearance at Hollister at a Beverly Hills mall. Hey, I’m poor, I can’t afford some of these other stores lol. After that, we headed over to the Ontario airport. We were way early, so we walked around some ghetto mall in Ontario. We got bored…and drove over to the airport…still really early. So, we parked at some business park near the airport…and…well…yeh. Since it was a Saturday, there wasn’t anyone there. Eventually the security guard spotted us and told us that we needed to leave. Finally, their plane landed and we picked them up. Miller Jr. was cute as ever…he was so excited to see us.

We decided to meet up in So Cal because Miller’s parents wanted to go to a Nascar race…which was on that Sunday. A little geography – the Nascar race was actually in Fontana, which was about an hour east of Beverly Hills. The locale of east LA area can be summed up in one word – GHETTO! We drove to our hotel in Riverside…and man…it was an interesting drive through town. We got to our hotel, which was actually really nice, but we swore there were hookers doing their business there. We spent Saturday night drinking with his parents in the room and having some of the best pizzas ever at Capone’s Pizza.

Nascar was exciting. We bought our tickets in advance, so we got to park really close to the race track! Miller bought his #2 shirt and I also got him a shot glass. There were about a million people there. We got to witness Jesse McCartney screw up our national anthem. What a douche. Anyway, this race was so loud! We have been to the road course race up in Vallejo and the loudness was nowhere close! I got some beef sliders at the track…and only in LA would you find foo-foo looking stadium food. We left with about 100 laps to go…which damnit…had we stayed…we would have seen TWO wrecks right in front of us.

We returned to the hotel that day and went to some restaurant called Original Roadhouse Grill. A restaurant that had a lot of potential, but what a disappointment! Aside from the waitress who was pleasant, the food and drinks were just crappy. I don’t know why, but I always end up ordering mojitos when I go out, even though, the only good mojitos are the ones I make. I digress. Our drinks arrived and I almost threw it up when I took a first sip. It was nothing but sugar water over ice! The waitress was very sweet and got me a margarita instead. Unfortunately, all our drinks were crappy and none of them tasted like there were any alcohol in it. The food was also crappy. Oh well, life moves on.

Next morning, we started our drive back up to Nor Cal via the scenic route of Pacific Coast Highway. Highway 10 (or is it Highway 101?). It was nice driving along the beach. Miller Jr. took some pictures of the beach on his DSi. Then we saw something going on alongside the beach. First, we saw a bunch of campers parked together with a bunch of BBQs set up. Then we saw some sort of marathon goal line and flags marking mileage. All of a sudden, we see a police car slowing traffic down on the opposite side of the highway…following by camera crew filming two fatties running from THE BIGGEST LOSER! They were wearing The Biggest Loser blue shirts, but too bad we didn’t get a picture. ½ a mile down, we saw another film crew and there were two others running…I’m still trying to figure out if it was Jillian Michaels and the other dude trainer on the show. They weren’t wearing the standard The Biggest Loser shirts…it’s okay, I got a picture of this pair, so I have plenty of time to figure it out.

We spent the night at the Holiday Inn in Seaside (near Monterey). The hotel was a block away from the beach! We walked over there and enjoyed the waves, watched some surfers get washed away, and touched the cold-ass water with our feet. The beach closed at 7 p.m. and the park rangers came to close up the beach. We had open beer cans and I was freaking out! I kept dropping them like a retard!! Thank god, nothing happened.

Afterwards, we went to the Chili’s right next door and had a few El Nino margaritas. And after a few of those, we were ready to head back to the beach. Miller’s mom’s husband got down to his underwear and jumped into the water. Mind you, there was a sign saying no swimming because the rip tides are unpredictable! Miller followed suit…then I took of my jeans as well (I had underwear, shirt, and a bra on =P). We swam a little while drunk…then went back to the hotel and drank some more.

The next day, a torrential RAIN STORM hit all of California! It was a record-setting storm! We recorded the highes rainfall ever in the month of October! It was NUTS. Well, we braved the rain storm and went to the Monterey Aquarium. I must say, after going there for the fifth or sixth time, it really isn’t that interesting anymore. The one excitement we had was the baby great white shark. While we waited for lunch at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp, we went to the candy store to get out of the rain storm. Miller’s mom bought $40.00 worth of taffys!

On the way home, we had to drive through Santa Cruz…in which I later found out was the spot where it got hit the hardest! The power was out in the area and we were running low on gas!! We almost didn’t make it home! Miller said we’ll go for it and thank god, few miles down, they had power. We finally got home safely!

So, that’s Tuesday…wedding stuff stared on Wednesday. More on that tomorrow!

-Emma

Silver Lining

I’m back guys! I know it has been a while…but it’s been a crazy whirlwind the last couple of weeks. I’m gonna bring you back to couple of weeks before the wedding. And I have to say, there is always a silver lining in life. It’s hard to believe.

Miller and I (well, mainly just me) were stressing over the wedding. We’re broke and we can’t afford anything for the wedding! Then… we sold one of our cars! Let me explain why this is such a sigh of relief. Miller and I made a terrible mistake when we first started dating. We bought a car that was only good for an 18-year-old who wants to race around the streets. The car was a specialty car and rare…all the kids wanted it. I initially had a problem obtaining the loan and that was a huge headache. Then the never-ending problems with the car kept coming.

Miller would get pulled over left and right for the sake of the cops being nosy. Miller was also young and wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of money to “sup it up”. Somewhere along the lines, his amateur mechanic skills caused some problems to the car and we weren’t able to afford to repair it. Between the fix-it tickets and the mechanical problems…we had to retire the car. It was not practical for him to drive that car around. I named it the “Black Omen”.

We owed more money on it than what it was worth at its broken condition. So, we weren’t able to sell it and we had to make payments on it every month while it sat in our garage. This went on for about 3 or 4 years. Then…something happened! Miller sparked up a conversation with a co-worker of his. We did not have any intentions to sell the car. However, as I have said earlier, this is a specialty car. The co-worker immediately wanted to buy it from us and at this point, we did not owe that much on it anymore…so we were financially able to sell it.

However, I was stressing about selling the car because it was not registered operational and we did not have insurance on it. His co-worker’s loan would not finalize it unless it was properly registered. I was stressing about how much insurance would cost and the registration and having to go to the miserable DMV office. Well, it all went smooth. I added the insurance to my current policy and due to the multi-car discount and the age of the car; my policy literally went up by $1.00 for two cars. Then, because I have kick-ass insurance, I was able to do the DMV paperwork at their local office and did not have to go to the DMV office. From the day that Miller told me his co-worker wanted to buy it…to the date that we transferred the title, it literally took just one week and we made a little extra after paying it off.

The little extra money we made was this huge sigh of relief. Not only did we get rid of the Black Omen…we also had some extra cushion for the expenses that were looming for the week of the wedding. I know this may sound something like something small…but this car has given us nothing but grief.

I shall be blogging about the wedding in a separate post!

-Emma

End of the Month Sorrows

Guess what? It's September 30th...which means, it's the end of the month today. How much do I dread end of the month. End of the month means rent is due. End of the month also signifies the beginning of the next month. All the bills I have paid in the previous month have once again cycled back like a never-ending horror movie. It feels like there is no end in sight.

Miller and I have not made the best decisions when it came to finances. We have three cars and too many credit cards to count. It was fun and dandy when we bought those 3 cars and drove them off the lot...until the first car payment arrived. Oh and don't forget...the insurance bill as well. All our cars have a 5 year fix rate loan on them. 5 years doesn't seem like a long time when that car salesman is selling you the car...but if you think about it, 5 years is 60 months! 60!! We are finally close to paying off our first car, but the other two cars, we still have an eternity to go. By the time we pay off these other cars and own it right out, the cars will be old and dingy.

At least our car payments have a "series finale" date..so to speak. Credit card debt is literally NEVER ENDING. How and why people thought it was an awesome idea to spend someone else's money just so you can pay them back twice as much...is now beyond what I can fathom. Currently, Miller and I can only afford barely the minimum payment on each card. The finance charges alone on these cards make up the majority, if not the entire, minimum payment. So...I keep making payments on the cards, but the debt never seem to decrease. Funny world we live in. It's like we're tripping on acid and we like torture ourselves in this downward spiral of credit card debt. The damn bunny with the dam clock. Why do you have to look so interesting?

I love seeing the various "credit card consolidation solution" commercials. They all show people pulling their hairs out while scrambling through their bills. Then they pose a few questions to the viewers: 1) Are you drowning in credit card debt? 2) Do you owe more than $10,000 in credit card debt? 3) Do you feel like there is no way out? I drive Miller crazy because I will scream "YES, YES, and YES" every time I see or hear those commercials. If only life was so easy and some "magical" company can "flick their magic wand" and make my debt go bye-bye.

Then there are the almighty utility bills that you have no choice to not pay - electric, gas, water, trash. Thankfully, my landlord pays my water and trash bill. The electric and gas bill, not so much. Sometimes I wish we're back in the cavemen days and we didn't need electricity or gas. You can't even decide to "cut out" these bills because they're called UTILITIES for a reason. We need them to live in today's day and age. Can we really live without running cold and hot water? Can we really live with just candle light and a campfire to cook our food? Technically, yes. But, realistically, no.

Last but not least, bills that some would consider "luxuries". I'm typing this blog in the comfort of my own home. That means, I have the internet and I have a bill to go with that! Then there is the cell phone bill. We do not have a landline like many 21st Century people, so we kinda have to have a cell phone to keep in contact with the world. We don't have text messaging of any form on our phones, we can't even receive text in order to avoid people texting us and costing us money. We also still have cable. Why you ask? Simple. We're humans. We lack the ability to be "bored". I know this does not justify having the luxury of having cable...but I we might go insane if we don't have some form of entertainment.

There you have it. End of the month. Oh the joy!

-Emma

Blood is NOT thicker than water...

Now that I have set the tone for my blog...I would like to take you back to circa May 2009.

To give you a little background, Miller and I have been together for almost 6 years and the whole "getting married and planning a wedding" thing was placed on the back burner.  We had better things to worry about and spend our money on - enjoying life, buying whatever our heart desired, traveling, going out, etc.

We finally got the motivation to pick a date after my friend Carolina, who had been with her boyfriend for less than a year decided to get married.  So, we pulled out the calendar and arbitrarily picked a date in October 2009 (yes! next month!).  Our wedding is going to be low budget with just our closest families.  After we had our date set, we did what any normal human beings would do, notify our parents.  That's when all hell broke loose.

Miller's family was excited and couldn't be happier that we are finally going to tie the knot.  They have been dying for us to get married for years (mainly because I am such a catch *wink wink*).  However, my family, not so much.

Before I tell you what happened with my conversations with my parents, let me just say, yes, my parents and Miller have had their issues in the past.  However, in the last 3 or 4 years, my parents have shown nothing but "love" towards Miller...or so we thought.  They loved his presence and they loved talking to him.  My parents even bought an ostrich egg cake topper from eBay a little while ago for us! So, you'll understand why I was presently surprised by my parents' responses.

I called my mother, thinking that she would actually be excited about the wedding  How wrong was I. My mother showed no emotion about my wedding.  I asked whether she was even happy for me and her emotionless responses continued.  She told me "of course I would attend your wedding, I would attend any of my friend's wedding".  Touching right? I am the oldest of two siblings and my sister is almost 10 years younger than me.  So you would think, my mother would have a more emotional response than that! Nope. My mother placed her first daughter on the level of  "just one of her many friends".

My mother's reason for her lack of emotion was that after 6 years of Miller and I dating, that she did not like Miller all along.  Then she continued into her tirade of my lack of caring of the family and my lack of sharing my personal business with her.  Her focus was how I am a selfish daughter.  Great. Thanks mother.  The 45 minute phone call ended with me crying and returning to work with red puffy eyes.

When I got home that night, I decided to go round two with the phone calls with my parents. Time to call my father.  My father was forewarned about my wedding news. He already knew exactly what he was going to tell me.   He, also said that he never took a liking to Miller and the only reason he was ever nice to him was for my sake.  I asked my father whether they would go to my wedding willingly to stand by me, even though they think I am not making the "right" decision.  He said no. Great father right? Don't stand by your daughter through the bad decisions she makes, abandon her when she makes those bad decisions! Then I realize the conversation started to focus on how I am a selfish daughter...ONCE AGAIN! This phone call also lasted about 45 minutes with me crying and laying on my bed with red puffy eyes.

When I stepped back to look at the two conversations, I noticed one universal theme - I am a selfish daughter! Apparently, I no longer care about my parents or my sister's well-being because I am getting married.  Even though...they possess a cake topper in preparation for our nuptials! So what went wrong I asked myself.  Then the "ah-ha" moment struck! I have been a daughter in which my parents have had a lot of say and control in my life until I met Miller.  While my parents expected us to get married someday, they wanted to be the one to tell ME when I can or cannot get married.  ME! A GROWN WOMAN IN HER 20s!

My parents were simply hiding behind the guise of "Miller is not a good guy" to further their agenda of controlling my life.  To be honest, if I were to marry a complete dirtbag, I would still expect my parents to be there by my side if they were good parents...but I digress.  My parents are so selfish that they rather completely ruin their daughter's wedding and marriage then to be supportive and loving - all because they want to continue their grip in my everyday decisions.

So I take to the wisdom of a few local radio DJs - "blood is NOT thicker than water".  These DJs always posed the question of "would you be friends with [insert family member] had he/she not been your family?" I asked myself that about my parents.  The answer is a big fat NO. I would not. My parents are no angels and the decisions they make in their lives and the way they treat their own friends and family are not the way I would live my life.  The key difference is, I do NOT comment about their lives.  I let them live the life they live! The only people that should be considered family are people who truly cares about you and whom you truly care about.  People who will be there through thick and thin.  People who won't judge you. And people who understand what you want without having to ask.

I must say, I miss my sister.  She is a teenager and is heavily controlled by my parents.  I am sure she too, thinks poorly of me at this time.  I truly miss her and it saddens me that my sister does not wish to talk to me after my attempts of reaching out to her.

Goodnight for now.
-Emma

The Beginning

Hi everyone! To introduce myself a bit...I'm in my early 20s about to get married and have been slapped by the current economic downturn. I don't blame anyone else for my troubles but my previous lifestyle - over indulgence in material things, extravagant trips, the upscale meals, drinking, etc.

Fast forward to today, my fiance, Miller and I are drowning in credit card debt and car payments along with my lovely school loans. All the debt but with no way out. I decided to start this blog for couple of reasons. #1 I really need a venue to vent my pent up stress and #2 to hopefully share my experience and relate to others who are in the same shoes as I (family, money, relationships, etc).

The stress is insurmountable. My alarm goes off and as I hit my snooze button, I think about a bill that has been past due. Just today, I finally paid my cable/internet bill with a credit card that is charged almost to its max. Yes...I shall answer your question - WHY do I still have cable/internet? That's because I'm your typical whiny American, but has a hard time giving up my luxuries. I'm trying. Trust me. I am.

Before I leave tonight...I must preface with this - I know that there are always people worse off than me. I know that there are families who are homeless in America. And I know that there are starving children in Africa. The purpose of my blog is not to brag about how "poor" and "unfortunate" I am. I do not try to compare my life with those who are less fortunate, I am simply here to share with you my life and my experiences.

That's it for now!
-Emma