Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Day 91

So a follow-up from yesterday's 401K stuff.  I sent my paperwork to HR, but since it's not open enrollment, they destroyed it :(  Why would you send enrollment forms when it wasn't time for open enrollment?  Makes no sense.

And it turns out John's company doesn't match 401K contributions.  I'll keep my thoughts to myself.

So what this means for us is that come open enrollment, I'll re-submit my paperwork (*rolls eyes a little*) and I'll be putting 6% of my income into my 401K.  As of March 15 (my 1 year point with my company) they'll add 3%, since my company matches $.50 for every $1 up to 6% after a year.  John won't be utilizing his 401K.

We saw a financial planner a few months back who told us that the best idea as far as saving for retirement (at least for us right now) was to only put as much in your 401K as your company would match.  It's free money.  The rest of your retirement savings should be put into an after-tax IRA, since you don't have to pay taxes on anything you withdraw from those (I think that included the interest, but I could be wrong).  So basically we'll just push more money into John's Roth, and use my Roth and 401K.

This whole post made me feel ridiculously grown-up.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Day 90

Posting again!  I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  John and I spent the holiday with my family (my mom's parents, her brother and SIL and nephews, my parents and siblings).  During the meal John leaned over and goes "It's not the same."  I just responded "That's how I felt last year!"  It's one of the harder parts of being married... splitting the holidays between families.  But as long as I'm with my husband on those days, I'll make it work :)

So November (clearly) has not gone as well as I would have hoped as far as the list is concerned.  Ah, well.  I met with the client Kristi set me up with.  Although the contract will be signed with Glow, I've decided that if she does book, I'm counting it.  The meeting I had with the bride was just me and the bride, and it seems I'll be the DOC on my own (I'm not even sure if Kristi's doing full planning on this one).  I'm basically looking at it as a final exam... proving that I can do this on my own.

I also submitted my paperwork to fully contribute to my 401K today!  That will take effect on 1/1/11, so it's not crossed off yet.  My definition of 'full contribution' is to contribute the largest amount that my company will match.  John still needs to look into what his company does for 401K.  He's under the impression that they don't match, and if that's the case, then we're fufilled in this goal as of 1/1/11.

I do have a few definite goals that I'll be meeting in December, and a few I hope to meet.  On the list of definites:

84. Travel to Mexico.  Cancun-bound on December 11!!!

26. Get 4 digits in our savings account.  Technically we have this now, but I've also been saving for John's b-day gift in our savings account so a bunch of the money is coming back out.  Yeah, I'm slightly embarrassed by our lack of savings, but oh well.

14. Contribute to charity 2x/year.  This one won't be crossed off, as it's ongoing throughout the course of my 1001 days, but I typically do donations twice a year: after Christmas and after my birthday.  So December and June.

And hope springs eternal:

38.  Maybe being gone for a week will help us keep our place clean for a month.  Maybe.

56. Mail the Christmas cards before Christmas.  We'll see!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Day 76

So my first paid wedding was Saturday.  It went sooooo well.  I was so happy with it.  Literally the only thing I would have changed would have been the DJ... but sadly I find that's a pretty common thing for me.  Thank goodness I found one I could stand for John's and my wedding :)

And Kristi booked me as a DOC (day-of-coordinator) for a wedding in May.  She's doing planning for that one, but she can't actually do day of.  I'm not sure if I should count that one or not... I mean, I'm doing a wedding solo, I'm getting paid, but the bride didn't come to me.  IDK.  I'll think about it :)

And the VA B&B deal from Living Social travel sold out... sad face!  Oh well... maybe next time.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Day 73

To my complete and utter non-shock, the apartment is a disaster.  Again.  this post on Hyperbole and a Half is my life.  Particularly this:


Thank you, Allie, for summing up my life.

On a bright, not fail-y note, I now have booked 2 weddings this month!  Granted, one is for next year, but I have the contracts and we're good to go!  I think that this one merits celebration :)

And Living Social started a travel page... first deal, a VA B&B!  I'll be watching our budget, but these deals last a week instead of the normal one day buy period.  So yes, I fail a little bit, but I think I'm generally ok.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Day 64

So in Day 62 I said I might be visiting my sister for a JMU game, which would also successfully cross off goal 16 (visit Carlin at college).  Well, that's a no go, but for a really good reason... I booked a wedding!  This wedding is huge for me, for 3 reasons:

1. I told John back in July that it would be a really big deal for me the first time I did a wedding where I didn't know anyone.  Where I was just hired.  Why?  Because in my own neurotic way, it assures me that I'm actually good at this, it's not just that my friends are humoring me.  This isn't to say that I don't want to do friends' weddings... I love doing those, but it's also nice to be hired just because, you know?  And that's exactly what happened here.  I was checking in at my chiropractor appointment like, 2 weeks ago, and the receptionist, who knows I'm a wedding coordinator, introduced me to the client who was leaving, who just happened to be getting married in a few weeks.  I gave her my card, and she just emailed me last night to say she wanted to hire me!

2. At the Oct. 16 wedding I did with Kristi (fondly remembered as the fire wedding) she told me that she might have a wedding Nov. 6.  I was thinking at the time how cool it would be to be at a point where even if I wasn't booked for a weekend, it was more of a 'yet' thing than a definite open weekend.  So booking my first really-really close wedding is exciting.

3. I'm getting paid for this one, woohoo!!

But now that I think about it, this does have to do with a goal... once I have a signed contract on this one, it will be wedding 1.  Once I send contracts to my 2011 brides, it will be 2&3.  So I'm seriously almost halfway to booking 7 in a year!  And this will be number 10 this year, I feel so accomplished!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Day 62 - Update

Well that didn't take long...

74. Get 100 fans on facebook

74. Get 100 fans on facebook

Thank you to everyone who has liked my page so far, especially Derek who was number 100, haha.

Triple digits, yay!  We are definitely spreading the word about Infinite Joy Weddings :)

Day 62

Welcome to November!  I hope everyone had a happy Halloween.  I had a great time being a Pink Lady all weekend... and I think I might have been born in the wrong decade, because I had multiple people tell me that it took them a couple minutes to realize that I was in costume.

Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed that I was only able to cross one item off my list in October, but I'm pretty optimistic about November.  We cleaned the apartment in preparation for our friend J coming up, and I think we might be able to keep it there (hope, hope!)  Keeping the apartment clean gives me a chance to do some unsolicited kitchen cleaning.  John did it this time around so no such luck for me.

Depending on how things go, I might be visiting my sister in about 2 weeks for a JMU game (it depends on if I have a wedding that weekend or not).  I also fully expect to hit 100 fans on facebook this month, as I'm currently sitting at 96 97.  Only four three to go!!!  (Just looked at my page and there was a new fan!!)

Here's hoping for a productive November!

Incidentally, I also added one more stranger compliment onto the list.  Yesterday we took J to our favorite winery (Sunset Hills!) and some of the other patrons brought their Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy.  She was soooo cute and so well behaved.  I think I just love complimenting people on their dogs, haha!  (I totally just wrote Norwegian Ridgeback at first.  That might be a sign I've read Harry Potter one time too many).