$9000 for learning

I miss studying modern Hebrew and Judaism with the intensity I had a few years ago - clearly a trip to Israel is in order. One for studying and not as much for working.

Plane ticket: $1200
Rent: $1000
Chicago expenses: $1500

5 Day Sabra Immersion program: $1370
Let's do that twice: $1370

Private tutoring: $2000

Food and stuff: $560

At the end of the month, I'll be able to order in restaurants, ask directions and have basic conversations with my friends in Hebrew. I'll also have a lovely tan.

$8000 for one month in NYC

I've been talking with my friend Owen about living in New York for a month. We're both fairly committed Chicagoans, but work takes us to New York regularly and I've been flirting more and more with the city that never sleeps. With my $8000, I'm going to spend a month living in NYC.

Airfare: $200
MTA pass: $89
Chicago expenses: $1500
Month long, furnished sublet with kosher kitchen on UWS: $1200
Shopping spree at Lane Bryant and Vive La Femme: $1000
New shoes shopping spree on Zappos: $500
Broadway play for two: $500

Food, entertainment and cabs: $3000.

Ready New York?

$7000

I need to get my living room into a better living room/dining room space.

I'm going to start with this gorgeous table with benches and four chairs. That's just $3896.

And I want this bed... $7300 is a bit out of range, but it is amazing. Apparently I'm also gonna need a new house, but I'll stop here.

2000 + 3000 + 4000

Hmmm... What shall I do with $9,000?

Go on a nice week with my husband in Hawaii. That is probably around $3000.

A new posturepedic memory foam mattress for $2,600 and a new bed frame for $400.

Then new chairs for the dining room: these for the ends of the table and these for the sides. And another $1000, to restore our table at this place and get some new accessories such as table cloths and center pieces.

$1000 - New Clothes

Call me superficial, but I really want some new clothes. Working from home doesn't necessitate dressing up everyday and I am missing it. I am hoping to not be working from home much longer so I will be investing in a fresh wardrobe:

This beautiful Black Dress

This Sassy Dress with this blazer and these shoes.

Leaving just enough to get this cool and funky necklace.

YAY! All for me. Maybe tomorrow will be somethings for my new house!!

Melissa's First Thousand Dollars

The thousand dollars I get today is totally going to enlist the services of a sound engineer to mix and master the audio for my film Life In Perpetual Beta. I'll give the engineer $997... the other three buys me a latte while I look over his/her shoulder and learn how to do it too.

$5000 + $6000

No guilt on this one. Taking the money I've saved over the last few days and wiping out some nagging debt.

Done and done.

$3000 + $4000

I missed a day or four, but I'm just going to stick with the $3000 that comes next. After a long chat with an Argentine former-coworker, I'm ready to go back to Argentina.

Looks like a flight is $1200 - done and done.

Do a package deal on Orbitz and I can get a MONTH in a fancy Buenos Aires hotel for another $1000.

That leaves only $800 for food, ground transportation, other hotels and shopping.... so I'm going to take the next $4000 and spend it today. I'm going to add a 14 Day south american cruise departing from Buenos Aires and going south to Ushuaia, around the tip and up to Santiago, Chile. That's just $1600, but I'm pretty sure between leather, tips, steak and incidentals - I'm going to blow through the $7000 in about a month.

Day 2 - $2000

I spent the afternoon with a home organizer working on turning my bedroom from a "stash and hide" room full of bank statements and old clothes into a place for sleeping, changing clothes and intimacy. I'm trying to turn it into a more relaxing, sacred home space.

To that end - it is time for my dream bed.

The Sheraton Sweet Sleeper - A queen size mattress for $1450 along with new linens and a duvet and a duvet cover. That goes just over $2000 and hits $2007, but I'm sure I have $7 in my wallet to cover the difference.