It has been 3 months – THREE MONTHS – since I have purchased any item of clothing. Or shoes. I’m on a self-imposed shopping ban that started in December, when I finally took a good hard look at my 2009 spending and saw just how much I’d thrown out the window on clothes – many of which rarely get worn. Ugh!! It’s an ungodly number that I don’t want to admit publicly, but let’s just say… it’s big.

I cut myself off, cold turkey, til June. Yep, June. 6 full months. Now that I’m halfway through, I’m considering stretching it out even longer (women of the world are now questioning my sanity).

Why am I telling you this? A few reasons. 1. I have been telling anyone who will listen, so that all of those people can hold me accountable. (“Is that new?” “Yep.” *SLAP*)  2. It seems like more often than not, when I tell people about my little mission (women in particular), the response I get is “Oh I don’t even want to know what I’ve spent” on clothes, shoes, anything else.

Guess what? You NEED to know! I don’t know about you, but my life goals don’t involve having the most amazing wardrobe you’ve ever seen (although I am quite proud of my 4 pairs of Frye boots – my one brand addiction). In the next two years I want to have all of my debts paid off and travel more, among other things.

I’ve shrunk my budget in almost every other area of my life to achieve my goals faster. If you ask me to go to a movie, I’ll probably invite you over to watch something on NetFlix or Hulu (no cable here!) instead of going out. Margarita at a restaurant? $9. Margarita at home? Well I haven’t done the math, but it’s much less.

“Yes Kacy, this all sounds fine and dandy, but why do I care?” I’m glad you asked! You care because you have goals (I hope?), and spending $300 a month at restaurants, $200 a month at Starbucks, and $50 every Friday night at the movie theater isn’t getting you there. And yes, you are spending $50 at the movie theater if you go with someone like me who wants the nachos, the huge cherry Coke, the Sour Patch Kids, etc etc… I definitely still spend money – but it’s on experiences, travel, things I’ll remember and be happy about years from now.

If you’re stuck in the no-budget, aimless-spending lifestyle, here’s what you’re going to do: Sign up for mint.com (an amazing free budgeting site), and start keeping track of your money. I love this site, it’s super easy to use – and unfortunately I don’t get paid to endorse it, or I’d probably be a teeny bit closer to my goals ;)

If you’re in my boat, planning to get in my boat, or want to tip my boat over, I’d love to hear about it!

Also if any photographers would like to meet up at WPPI in Vegas next week, let me know! I’ll be there Sunday through Wednesday. Between what is sure to be an interesting standby-only flight experience with Jen (who I owe big time or I wouldn’t even be going this year!), my maid-of-honor duties assisting Suzy with wedding dress shopping, the parties, and oh yeah, the trade show, I may have time to get together :)

Photo booth provided by Party Booths

There were so many cute puppies! The white dog with the blue balloon is Bolt, who was born with a congenital heart defect AND seized from an unfit home as a young puppy. SafeHaven raised the $2,300 for his surgery, and he’s healthy and happy as a clam now :)

Winner of the “smallest dog” contest:Winner of the “largest dog” contest – Along with a shot of the largest/smallest together. I think the tiny dog was a little concerned, understandably :)

Friday we went hiking at Smith Rock – I’ve never been there before, but it was gorgeous! When we got to the top we could see a bunch of huge houses down below along the river, must be quite the place to live!

“Misery Ridge Trail” was pretty much exactly as it sounds. Well, maybe that’s because I spend more time editing photos behind a computer than I do hiking…
My friend, the rattlesnake… This guy was hanging out on a rock waist-level as we were walking by, and we heard him before we saw him. Not a fan of that experience! Of course this picture was taken from farther away (my legs wouldn’t stop shaking, so the further way the better, haha!), but when we first met he was about 2 feet away. No thank you!!Tumalo Falls…Three Pools, in the middle of nowhere (somewhere outside of Lyons)

The morning I left for California I had the chance to participate in a letterpress workshop held here in Corvallis by Lynn of Satsuma Press. We each had the chance to make our own cards (from her designs) on her Vandercook press, here are a few shots of mine:

Check out Lynn’s Etsy site to pick up some cards of your own!

Future brides, if you’re looking for letterpress invitations be sure visit the Satsuma Press web site and contact Lynn! She’s working on a separate site for her wedding line, check out http://www.satsumapress.com/weddingline/

At SafeHaven each pet is let out three times a day to run, play, and get affection. There are 2 cats sleeping on my bed at this very moment, and they probably won’t move a paw all day long. So I think the SafeHaven animals have it pretty good :)
Milo:

Loreal:

Stretch:

Puma:

Milo and Loreal were adopted shortly after these photos were taken :)

If you’re interested in donating your time, money, or other resources to SafeHaven, you can find more information at this link: SHHS You Can Help