Thursday

What I really need to do is buy some silverware.

I just nuked another steak and had to eat it with my hands because my last plastic fork met with an unfortunate fate the last time I nuked a steak.

Yeah, for real, I don't own silverware.

Don't worry, there is a 99¢ Store shopping spree in my weekend future.

A friend commented on my "austere" lifestyle. It's true.

When Samuel and I broke up and moved apart, I took a look at the accumulated garbage in my life and decided I no longer wanted to be weighed down by it. So I threw everything away.

There's some stuff I discarded that I miss, but for the most part, I've realized I can do without a lot of the materials I once thought were absolutely necessary. When the summer hit and I had to manage my money down to the very last dime, I learned how to have fun for free.

Now there's a Recession on the horizon and while everyone is panicking, I'll just continue to thrive as I have the past three months. And I know it sounds painfully cliche, but I truly feel like the richest girl in the world. I have exactly what I need, I am surrounded by people who love me, and I am in good health.

It was through hardship that I was liberated. I no longer feel as jaded or as hopeless as I used to - I feel optimistically content, and I love freely and openly.

Through financial restraint, I have learned life restraint. I don't anger as quickly and I don't despair as deeply. All problems can be solved, all obstacles can be overcome, and with love, anything is possible.

I'm grateful to be where I am right now and I am grateful to all the people who helped put me here.

I know that one day - probably soon - some event will occur that will knock me unsteady, and unravel everything I thought I knew about myself. I hope that when that day comes the lessons I have learned until will grant me the fortitude to survive.

Stay tuned for tomorrow - I have some serious music for you!