No Country For Old Ladies

Ok, so I have the sweetest husband on the planet. Apparently, he has declared this week my Birthday week, and has been spoiling me all week. Last night I came home from getting my hair did to find the apartment cleaned and flowers and a card waiting for me! What a sweetie. Then we went to Ming Garden for dinner and saw No County For Old Men. Let me tell you, that movie was AWESOME! All the actors were incredible, and the lead bad guy was so freaking insane and brilliant. I think this is my new favorite movie!

I know what you're thinking, not a very romantic movie to watch on Valentine's Day. But hey, we saw Brokeback Mountain 2 years ago on Valentine's Day and that was DEPRESSING! It was good, but holy crap! Maybe next V-Day we'll see a hilarious documentary on child abuse or maybe something cheery and bright about the holocaust.

My hair cut leaves a lot to be desired. This is my second time with this stylist, and I think it will be my last. She has a hard time listening to what I want and just seems to give me whatever the hell she thinks is best. I'm not saying I hate it, but it's just not what I wanted. I brought in two photos, one of Tina Fey and one of some other chick. My hair looks nothing like either of them! Oh well. Live and learn, and get a new stylist. Maybe I'm just pissed because this is the first time I have had to professionally get my hair dyed to cover up gray. Freaking oldie-locks.
Today is the start of my 4 day weekend, woot woot! My company is pretty awesome and they give you your birthday off as a floating holiday. That coupled with President's Day on Monday and I have a looong weekend. I am especially excited because my two brothers and my brother's family are coming down from NY this weekend. The three of us have birthdays this month too. Today is Dave's birthday. SWEEEEET!

Have I mentioned how much I freaking love Becky? Let me tell you! Well, my husband doesn't have the best memory in the world. He tried to plan a birthday celebration for me on the same night he has to play a show. It's ok, what he lacks in planning, he makes up for with his good looks, sparkling personality and doing the dishes :) Becky saw this and reworked the plans and invited a bunch of folks to The Federal in Durham for dinner tonight, and then to the Snmnmnm show at Duke Coffee House. Thanks Becky! I am so excited to get to hang with my homies! And if you are reading this, you should come too!

Today I have to go to the DMV and get a new license. Then Matt and I are going to the Credit Union to ask them what we need to do to buy a house. We are hoping to be able to buy a house when our lease is up in August. Chapel Hill is too expensive so we're looking to move somewhere in Durham. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we are going to a workshop for first-time home buyers. It's free and they tell you everything you need to know about buying a house for the first time. At the advice of my ever -knowledgeable brother-in-law, I have become a receipt nazi and now track all expenses and budget everything.

If you are reading this and also want to buy a house, here are things I have learned so far:

• Know your credit report. Challenge everything on there. Only pay creditors after the challenged item fails AND you have, IN WRITING, a statement from them that after they receive payment they will remove all information from your credit report. If you pay the amount you owe without this statement, they update the info that you were delinquent, and even though it is now paid off it stays on your credit report for another 7 years - or longer! And if you have credit cards, make sure that you have more than half of your balance paid off when you try to get a loan.

• Create a budget. Save all of your receipts for a month - all of them! You need to know where you are spending money before you can know where to cut back and by how much. After a month of keeping receipts, create a budget. I found an awesome budget template at www.free-financial-advice.net.

And thats what I've got so far! We are still in the beginning stages of becoming first time home buyers. I am sure we will learn more at the workshop next week.