AUGUST!?!?

You know how when you get back from vacation, you feel a little off and it's hard to settle back into a routine.  Well, add in a ridiculous cold that knocks you flat on your back for four days, and you have my current predicament.  Gah!

But that's ok!  I'm getting organized again!  First order of business is those Blogiversary prizes.  I will officially close comments on those entries August 10th, and then I will let the winners know that they won!  I had one more prize, but I seem to have lost it--sorry about that, potential winner.

On to the month of August.  I need to tell you all about my awesome recent vacation to Sweden:

And Denmark:

I ate dinner on this pier three of our five nights--takeout, not restaurant

Despite the fact that I was traveling in the most expensive part of Europe, I still managed to be smart with spending, which is awesome.  More on that later, along with some pictures.

For the month of August, the financial plan is more Austerity Measures.  We're had a significant budget cut at work, which means that the employees union agreed to sacrifice our 401k contributions for the year so that we don't have to close the libraries for three weeks.  Needless to say, this totally blows, so I need to step up my personal contributions to my Roth IRA.  I may have just gotten my first-ever full time job, but I still know I would also like to retire someday--hopefully in relative comfort.

This weekend is all about getting back to real life and shaking this damn cold.  I'll be back Monday with some actual content!!  And don't forget to add a comment to win a Blogiversary prize!