$$$ Where do you spend your dough? $$$

When we decided to make the move to California, people would always tell us, "Oh, good luck, it is so expensive to live in California!" And I would just say haha yeah... and think to myself, "I really don't think it's that bad.." Of course I never really took into account what my financial experiences were when I was living in CA.... NONE! I was living with my parents. I didn't pay for food, rent, utilities, insurances, bills, etc.

Needless to say, I now know what people mean by saying that it is super expensive to live in CA. All I thought that was going to be more expensive was rent. I never took into account that food would be sooooo much! The movie theater here cost us $24 dollars for the both of us! I miss the dollar theaters!! Now that we have "grown up" jobs, we will be paying for our own cell phone service, insurances, etc. It was a great thing for both of our parents to help us out these past couple of years, we were so spoiled and we are so so grateful for them helping us! But now working it into the budget is going to be a challenge. It all seems overwhelming. We have rent, bills, school loans, food, tithing of course, insurances, luckily both of us have cars that are completely payed off, but anyways... We are wanting to get people's advise as far as how to spend your mula.

What I really wanted to write this post about is debt. We have school debt that we need to start paying off. We have this "plan" to get all of our debt payed off in 2 years from now. How long did it take all of you to pay off your debts? I am not talking about house or car. Just school and credit card. I think it would be really smart if Josh and I could get some different stories. It would be good to know the steps you took, the things you did or didn't do, sacrifices you took, maybe , if you feel comfortable, to tell us how much debt you had and how long it took you to pay off, or the path you are on to eliminate it, etc. Ok.. get your comment on!!!!

:)

Thank you!

Job offers = moving out of Utah = Moving to Glendale,CA BABY!!

Josh got a job offer last summer with the company he had interned for; Ernst & Young in LA. We actually had a choice between the LA office and the Irvine office. We decided on LA for a few reasons;

1. Josh has more opportunities in the LA office verses the Irvine office,

2. I have a better chance succeeding as a hair stylist in LA, more opportunities as well for my career,

and 3. LA is awesome!

We graduated in April, stayed in Utah for the summer working full time, and then almost 4 weeks ago, we moved to Glendale, CA! Josh, Bear, and I absolutely love it here in Glendale! We are living in a 1 bedroom tiny apartment, but we all love it so much. Our last house was great at first, but with our landlord not willing to fix things, and he eventually got the house foreclosed and lost it to the bank, it was definitely about time we were OUTTA THERE. Plus there was no dishwasher, no air conditioning, no ventilation which meant that we had to leave the heater running a lot of the time so we could keep our teeth from chattering! That lead to extremely high bills, and lets not even get into our basement neighbors!!! Uhhh!!! Oh, and IDK if you know, but I am absolutely TERRIFIED of spiders. Just ask Josh, or my sister, Raechel. Anyways, our house was the place to be if you were a freakin spider! I'm pretty sure I had a few mini heart attackes just from spider incidents in that house, like the one time I woke up and got out of bed, and there was a spider exactly where I was just laying were... Um... Yeah, I hyperventilated...

Anyways, back to my point, I am very happy with my new apartment. There is no washer and dryer inside the apartment, but we have them literally right next to us, which is nice, we don't have to deal with them heating up the entire house, and we have that much more room here in the house. New carpets, new appliances, modern feel, we have AC, hallelujah!! Plus, I have not seen a single spider inside the house yet. There are, however some pretty huge freakin spiders outside, but as long as they are not secretly stalking me inside my home like the last ones were, I'm ok!

I will add some awesome pictures of the apartment tomorrow morning. :)

My Bucket List!

Well, I decided I'd make a Bucket List!! I haven't thought of everything, obviously, but here are some things to start with, and they are in no particular order either;

aOFFICIAL BUCKET LISTa

1. Witness a solar eclipse

2. Ride a gondola in Venice

3. Meet my favorite Hollywood star (Jennifer Aniston)

a4. Get married in the Temple

5. Be a Mother

a6. Learn another language

7. Vacation in Europe

a8. Vacation in Hawaii

9. Vacation in Mexico

10. Vacation in Japan and/or China

a11. Go on a Cruise

12. Go with the Animal Cops and kick some butt!

13. Save someones life

a14. Eat gumbo in New Orleans

15. Climb up the Statute of Liberty

16. Visit all 50 of the United States

17. Go whale-watching (as an adult)

18. Visit the Great Wall of China

19. Go to Disney World

a20. Solve a Rubik's Cube

a21. Start a blog

a22. Own a dog

23. Visit a Renaissance Fair

24. Ride a motorcycle

25. See at least 4 of the 7 Wonders of the World. Preferably all 7

26. Attend New Year’s Celebration in Times Square

27. View the famous Northern Lights in Iceland

28. Ride in a hot air balloon

29. Learn how to garden

30. Then grow a garden

31. Learn how to paint

32. Then.... paint

a33. Ride in a limousine

34. Do hair for movie/tv show/commercial sets.

35. Be a person hair stylist for a celebrity

36. Spend the night in an underwater hotel

37. Master the art of hair coloring

a38. See a tornado

39. Be completely debt-free

40. Be a Home Owner

41. Be a Landlord

a42. Watch all 10 seasons of FRIENDS

a43. Watch all 10 seasons of FRIENDS 5 times

44. Watch all 10 seasons of FRIENDS 10 times

45. Watch a metier shower

46. Donate my hair

47. Ride in a Helicopter (not in a Hospital one preferably)

48. Corn row a famous person's hair

49. Have one of my photo shoots be in a magazine

a50. Move out of Utah!!!

Hawaii!

Josh and I decided sometime last year that we were going to go to Hawaii when we graduated college. It seems like a far away dream, but luckily, time took it's course, and vwa-la; HAWAII!!!

We went in the middle of May for 10 days to Oahu! There is really nothing else to say, it's obvious it was amazing... I mean duh, it was HAWAII!!

LDS Temple in Hawaii!

Chinaman's Hat

The names of all the soldiers that dies on the USS AZ

Part of the USS AZ is out of the water

The monument that is over the USS AZ

Touring on the USS MO! Self Timer!!

The USS MO

Beach front breakfast! It was so bright though, it wouldn't show in any pic we tried!!

A different shot!

On the top of the Diamond Head State Monument

A BILLION STAIRS!

Couple picture exchange; "I'll take your picture if you take ours!" haha!

Josh let me do his hair one night... hasn't let me do it since.... hahaaha!

At the PCC

Front row!

They taught us how to make fun stuff out of long grass ( I think that's what it was?)

At the PCC!

Front row at the dinner

Free ice cream at the Night Show!

Snorkeling! Be jealous!

Out to dinner!

The most famous dead tree in all of Hawaii!

Awkward pose!

paraside

Beautiful views!

Beautiful views

Jungle Expedition!

ATVing

Pineapple-ing

Doing the pineapple hula!

Yummy!

Wild Turtles!

I was sooo close to them! You by law are not allowed to touch them, $5000 fine!

I thought this was the coolest "graffiti" Look at the China Man

under the hat! Haha!

Look at the creeper in the background!!

Dinner!

Beautiful Flower

Beautiful views!

Muah!

Love the views

I spy a Joshua

These trees were awesome!

Josh and I both Graduated!!

FINALLY!!!!!

Well, both Josh and I graduated from school! Josh said that the feeling of never having to do homework EVER AGAIN was the best! It's so great to know that all you have been working for, trying to reach that huge goal of becoming a college graduate had finally payed off!

Last summer, Josh and I moved back in with my family so he could internship for Ernst & Young in Los Angeles. For those of you who do not know where my family lives, they live in Murrieta, CA. that is 80 miles away from LA. Yeah, it says 1 hour and 23 minutes, but that's WITHOUT traffic! He would spend on average, I think, 2 hours on his way in and then 2 on the way back. That was 4 hours each and every day in the car alone. It was all good though, because he was given a job offer before he was even finished with the internship. going back and completing his last year was a necessary evil. haha, not evil I guess, but he would laugh that he had a job, he just had to complete his last year in order to start it. So we went back up to Utah! He finished his last year, and I completed my hours at PMTS (Paul Mitchell the School). We both finished in April, and stayed in Utah for the summer. It was the smartest thing for us to do, since we both had full time good paying jobs.

Anyways, here are some pictures of both of our graduations!

Both Joshua and my graduation Announcement!

He's so handsome!

Congrats baby!

Raechel and I were able to graduate at the same time. It was really cool to have my best friend be my partner in crime at school. We were known as "The Sisters". If you said that, anyone knew who you were talking about. haha!

This was my model, Koe Koe. I did her braids. :D

Raechel and I with our men! Rae and I both graduated at the same time.

My Mom came up to see both Raechel and I graduate! Thanks mama!

Josh and my Mom got me flowers! :)