friday favorites 07.10.20

Happy Friday Friends! 

In the mist of everything, I'm just trying to make the most of the situation we've been dealt and enjoy the little things. So today is the perfect time to highlight some of my favorite moments lately. 

money diaries vol 5: settling in

I've very aptly named this money diary "settling in" because we have been working on exactly that. Both with settling into our new home and with settling into the pandemic lifestyle. I feel like we have finally struck a good balance between getting things done around our new place and finding unique experiences to engage in that are still safe during this pandemic. 

From our last money diary, we shared all the costs of our surprise emergency move. Since then, we took some time to re-build our emergency savings. Now that our savings are back at a comfortable level, we have finally been able to put more effort into settling into our new place. 

just peachy 🍑

With the current state of things, more than anything..I find myself craving simplicity. So a few weeks ago, I found a new outing for us that was exactly that. simple. peaceful. quiet. and still safe to participate in right now. 

may 2020

May 2020 felt like more of the same with continued social distancing and quarantining. But also very different thanks to moving into our new place in a new city.  

friday favorites 05.29.20

Happy Friday Indeed! 

This is one of the first weeks that has felt "normal" in a long time with getting back to a regular routine. 

money diaries vol 4: pandemic moving!

If you've been following along, then you know that Husband and I found ourselves in a position where we needed to suddenly move...all during this crazy pandemic. Just going to say that moving can be an outrageously expensive pain in the butt, but a SURPRISE move where you have no time to plan ahead is especially pricey. And when there is a Pandemic happening, your options are even more limited.

 In just a few days time, we terminated the lease at our loft, found a new place, and moved. It was a very busy, tiring, stressful, expensive week. But glad that we got it done. 

memorial day kayaking at great dismal swamp

We've recently moved from our loft and while we 100% miss having the water literally at our doorstep -it's actually been a good thing that we no longer have such easy access. It's forced us to adventure out further and find new places to kayak.  One of our new favorite spots is the Great Dismal Swamp! 

The Great Dismal Swamp is split between Virginia and North Carolina as part of the Intercoastal Waterway that runs along the Southern states all the way to Florida. 

april 2020

April was an interesting month of learning to adapt to this new lifestyle. The reality that this pandemic is here to stay set in and we began to adjust to this new stay at home lifestyle. 

Leaving our Loft

Does anyone remember those 90's after school specials featuring twenty-somethings living in their trendy lofts in the big city? Because I do, and I always told myself that I would do that someday. And now I can say that I have! 

We've recently moved into a house in the suburbs, but we spent the last bit of our twenties living in a waterfront loft. It was tiny (700 sq ft), but what it lacked in space it more than made up for in with it's modern touches, waterfront views, and proximity to downtown. I will absolutely miss starry nights on the rooftop, kayaking from our private dock, watching giant cruise ships sail past our living room window, and being about to walk & bike to our favorite local hangouts. So I wanted to document a few quick photos here of what life looked like during this season of life.

Surprise Moving & Mold during a Pandemic!

So we moved! 

And what a surprise that was.

Let me explain...

one year after graduating

With the constant upheaval in the world, I almost didn't even realize that is has been a year since I graduated from dental school and officially became a doctor! It's a little crazy to think about since this has been a life long dream and I am now living out that dream every single day.

student loan payoff update: vol 1

At the start of the year, I shared our financial goals for 2020 with our biggest priority being to pay down student loan debt. We planned to put $75k towards debt, which is a challenging goal, but we had a solid plan to tackle it.

Then, the Coronavirus Pandemic hit and no one could have predicted the financial ramifications that it would have. 

social distancing

With the global spread of COVID-19, we are living in unprecedented times where concepts like "social distancing" have become commonplace. It's unfortunate that the best thing we can do to protect ourselves and each other is to create separation. 

march 2020

It's taken some time to completely wrap my head around the month of March because things changed so quickly. 

a week in the Middle East

Several months ago, I started planning a trip to the country of Jordan. Whenever, people would ask about our upcoming travel plans, I would happily share only to get eyebrow raises and disparaging remarks about how unsafe the Middle East is. 

bee happy 🐝

The fact that it's a new month feels so refreshing. And I'm hoping that March will bring lots of big changes and adventure. In the meantime, I am focusing on finding happiness in the little moments.

february 2020//

February may be the shortest month, but felt like it went on forever. I'm definitely excited to be in March, but also wanting to still remember and soak up everything that happened in February that makes up life. 

friday favorites 02.28.20

hey hey friday!

Seriously could not be more excited to see an end to this week. It's been a really tough one with getting sick last weekend and carrying over into the week. But finally starting to feel better and looking forward to catching up on a few things and enjoying some time this weekend. 

But as proof that is hasn't all been bad, here are a few favorites from my week. 

Travel Budget: a long weekend in Portugal

After spending just over a week in Morocco, we took advantage of a long layover in Lisbon on our way back home to the States. We only had 3 days/3 nights in Portugal, yet were still able to visit two major cities. It's a lot to cram into a short period of time and was quite the whirlwind, but we loved every minute of it. 

Whenever, we have the opportunity to do a long layover in a new place, we take it. And this proved to be the perfect way to visit the country of Portugal on a Budget because we didn't have to worry about the most expensive travel cost...the flights. Here's a breakdown of our real life budget for a weekend in Portugal below...

day trip diaries: Sintra Portugal

 Whether at home or far away, I love a good day trip because it's the perfect way to explore. While doing a long layover in Lisbon, we decided to take a day trip out to Sintra-the city of fairytale castles. You could easily spend a week in Sintra and not have enough time to tour all the palaces. 

It definitely took a bit of effort to make it to Sintra using public transport. We walked from our hostel to the train station, did an hour long train ride, and then shared a 30 minute taxi before finally arriving at the famed colorful Instagram worthy Pena Palace.

friday favorites 02.21.20

Happy Friday!

 Actually really not looking forward to today, as we got some snow last night and are 100% not equipped to deal with it. Since I'm the doctor, I kind of have to show up for the patients that will inevitably call and cancel at the last minute anyway, but wish me luck. 

But before I hit the road for the day, thought I would share some favorite highlights. 

Valentine's Day 2020

Love Day celebrations for us this year were a little delayed and definitely low-key with having spent the actual day at my grandmothers funeral. But since we had traveled out of town for the service, we tried to make the most of it and gave ourselves some time to explore Charlotte North Carolina before making the long drive back home. 

heartfelt

money diaries vol 3: a very pricey week

I wasn't kidding when I announced our financial goals for 2020 and said that we were being extremely mindful of our money this year, so don't be surprised about seeing lots of these money diaries around the blog. 

As a head's up, this week is definitely not typical of our average spending. But not every week is a frugal balanced week. In particular, we had a lot going on with making purchases for upcoming holidays, birthdays, and travel. 

january 2020

Oh January!

You are always the best month with the excitement of a new year and a chance to start fresh. 

friday favorites 01.31.20

Happy Friday friends! It's been a while since I've done one of these, but with it being the last Friday of the month-it feels like a good way to recap a few things and get back in touch with this space. So here are a few favorites lately below. 

financial goals for 2020

As promised, I will be sharing a bit more about money and budgeting in this space. And what better way to kick things off than laying out our goals with money for 2020 to show how we plan to start this decade on good financial footing.

tackling six-figure student loan debt

Confession time. As you might have surmised from the title of today's post-we have six figures worth of debt. And every last dime of it is student loans. As it turns out, pursuing higher education for nearly a decade doesn't exactly come cheap. 

Even though we had financial support from our families, each earned more than a $100k in scholarships & free tuition, and worked during school--we still finished with six figures worth of student loan debt. It's not something that I'm ashamed of or embarrassed about. It's just a fact of life. We made a conscious decision to invest in our education and I 100% do not regret it.

money diaries vol 2: what we spend in a week

Here for another money diary! Compared to last month where we were indulging in the holidays, this week feels like a much better depiction of our regular spending.