This is what I want for christmas/hanukkah/birthday/anniversary/arbor day!

No, I don't want a shamwow or the newest thing from the mall. And if you don't ever surprise me a house filled with apples I'll be okay. Because if you get me this, I'll forget about all those times you got me something I'd never wear, use or decorate my home with. If you got me this I might just love you forever, if I don't already. If you got me this, I would even consider having kids just to please you. Or not have kids, just to please you. I'd give up peanut butter AND gum at the same time. I'd be excited about baseball AND the Dolphins. I'd do whatever you want because that's how much this gift would rule.

The Big Idea

I know I come up with ridiculous ideas, like opening a vintage furniture coffee yarn store, or writing a graphic novel with no illustrator to help me. But this idea is sticking and I swear to Peanut Butter and Husky’s Ice Cream that it will. Why? Because like these other ideas, this has been a dream of mine. But unlike the other ideas, I have an actual plan!

And here it goes.

I’m paying off ALL my loans (which, as of right now is down to about $33,000 give or take a few grand, and while that might not seem like much or seems like a lot, to me it’s $44,000 less than I had 5 years ago).

I’m paying off ALL my loans in 5 years time.

I’m paying off ALL my loans by adding an additional $400-500 a month on those 2 loans (that I can’t consolidate since they are private loans). And making sure that this money only applies to the principal (for anyone who is paying off loans, I hope you know that this step is the most important one, otherwise you will be paying these people UNTIL YOU DIE).

And then, when I’m all done, I’m doing this for about half of a year.

I haven’t decided quite where yet, but I figure I have time to think about that. At first, I thought the simpliest option would be right here in Washington, but then I got into crazy mode and started looking into Hawaii and Australia.

So, why would I have to pay off my loans to do this one little dream? Well, because this apprenticeship doesn’t pay. Or it does in some places, but about $400 a month. I’d have a place to live for free and as much fresh food I can take so I'm not worried about that. But I’d have no money coming in, and I’d probably be using some of my savings. So I need to pay off those loans, you see. It's apart of the plan. The only downside would be if I had kids. That would just fuck everything up. So, cross your fingers the Nuva Ring stays put!

Now, that it’s on the internettingwebcycleoflife, I feel as if this is a contract to myself to really, truly commit to this plan.

Like I told Dominic yesterday, as much as I’d like to have my very own farm one day, I know I won’t really do it. I like vacations too much. I like randomly taking a day off of work and going to the movies. And when you have a farm you just can’t do these things (believe me, I’ve done my research). But, this apprenticeship isn’t really about that for me. It’s about learning something new, experiencing something different and doing something I’ve always wanted to do but in a much smaller scale. A scale I can handle so I can still go to Europe every year.