october, and the trees are bare...

it's october, and to celebrate yesterday i listened to U2's October then drank pumpkin beer.  oh yeah.  that's how i get into the spirit.  i always forget how much i love the fall.  maybe it's that i'm not in school this year, and i can actually enjoy it.  i was on campus today to meet with my career advisor and i can't stress how much i love being out of school.  no one could pay me any sum of money to stay in school.  i was miserable there.

but i'm out, and doing life.  i pay all my bills.  keep a budget everyday (yes, everyday.  i enter how much i've made in cash in tips, then subtract whatever i spent that day: groceries, food...beer)  i have a system where i add how much i've made in pay checks, tips, then categories of spending so i can know where my money is going.  based on a standard way of life, i have calculated what i can spend in each area in order to save 600 a month.  thus far, i've surpassed that as i stay home a lot and am incredibly, painfully frugal.

my mom thinks i'm weird because she never did anything like that when she was 22.  yeah, but she was married by my age.  eww.  but then again she didn't have as much money saved as i do.

ACL Fest this year went off without a hitch.  the weather was perfect, the people were friendly, the music was rockin' and everything was perfect.  i was sure i would cry when it ended, and as i stood 30 feet from the Foo Fighters stage, i smiled at how fortunate i am.  

i love my life.  who knew?  nothing has changed but my perspective.  i love riding my bike to work.  my coworkers are a trip, the people i meet in starbucks are precious, i love doing the work.  i love being downtown and being part of the pulse of the city.  as i told my mom about my recent great date with Austin, she began to cry.  i didn't show any emotion up until she cried.  i just never got it.  ugh, it was right there!

things are looking good, and i'm not sure if that is because they are, or because i've spun everything into a good light.  even if i end up being 40 and at starbucks, i know i'll have some stories, so why not ride that train for as long as i can?  with this economy, i have a job that will never go away, people always want corporate coffee, my manager loves me, the hotel loves me, so why drop a good thing?