*cue Barenaked Ladies*

This morning whilst in the shower, I was thinking about shopping. I'm not sure why I was thinking about shopping--other than the fact that it's an activity I enjoy--but I was definitely thinking about shopping. Somehow that led to the thought of the crap ton of Real Woman Bucks I have that are only good through September 9th, and how I hate to waste them, and how I really hope this really cute sweater dress I saw in the mailer I got yesterday is in stores already. That thought somehow led to the thought that Lane Bryant's Rebate Days, and the fact that the promotion is over this month, and that soon they would be drawing the winner's name.

And what does the winner get?

One hundred thousand dollars.

For whatever reason, though, I was thinking it was a million. My only excuse is that I was barely awake, and thus still didn't have complete control over my brain. The thought of winning a million dollars, though, inspired me to think about all the things I could do with said money.

Thus, my own take on If I Had a Million Dollars.

1. Pay off my student loans and car. Like many people my age, getting an education helped to put me into some pretty serious debt. Granted, after getting both a bachelor's and Master's degree I'm still below the average for student loan debt compared to others with bachelor's and Master's degrees. That being said, I still owe a veritable crap ton of money, and am not looking forward to shelling out money for my education for the rest of my life. Okay, maybe only the next ten to fifteen years. But still, that's a long time. I also have a car that's only a year old, so paying it off would be nice, too. Less debt=good times.

2. Buy a house. As I've mentioned before, I'm in the process of packing up all of my belongings (and ditching the junk I don't need) and moving to another apartment. I'm honestly not sure how much longer I can stand apartment living. Granted, I'm looking forward to my new place--I think it will be much better than where I am now. But I'm also at an age where I want my own house. Or maybe it's my ovaries that want a house. I swear they keep chanting, "nest. nest. nest. nest."

3. Invest a huge chunk into an IRA. Yes, I'm pretty practical-minded when it comes to this stuff. And even though I'm young and have plenty of time to build up my retirement funds, I'm not holding my breath in the hope that Social Security will still be around by the time I reach retirement age. Plus, while I invest in my company's 403(b), it would be nice to have an additional nest egg lined up. I've seen how hard it is for those without pension benefits exist post-retirement, and I don't want to be stuck in that same position.

4. Invest 50K into a high-growth, high-yield savings medium. This would be split five ways between my nieces and nephews, and go towards their college educations. Lord knows by the time they get old enough to go to college the cost of education is going to be astronomical, and every little bit will help (plus, I figure nine years at the earliest gives that money plenty of time to grow).

5. Pay for my parents to go on a nice vacation they've always dreamed of. My mom wants to go to Belize. Like, badly wants to go to Belize. Unfortunately, my parents barely have the time or money to take a vacation down to Corpus, much less Belize. Plus, both of them are the type that would feel guilty for paying for something like this for themselves when they could be using that money on the grandkids or taking care of all the stray animals people seem to leave in front of their house. Yes, my parents are big softies. *grin* And yes, I would love to do something nice for them.

6. Go on vacation. Where? Who knows. Believe it or not, I've never been to NYC, and I would love to go, just for the experience. And, okay, the shopping. Plus-sized boutiques? I'm so there. Plus, there's all that arts and culture that I don't get to experience here in Waco. And maybe I would go on a cruise, or somewhere tropical with white sand beaches, clear blue seas, bright drinks with umbrellas in them and a handsome pool boy named Julio who also doubles as a personal masseuse.

7. Shop. Okay, so, yeah, I'm a bit of a clothes horse. I love clothes. I also love shoes. So yes, I would do some shopping. Some serious shopping. Books, of course, would also be included, as would wide calf boots. Do you know how hard it is to find wide calf boots--especially when you're short?

8. The rest? Put it in savings, invest in other ways, etc. As nice as it is to think of blowing a million bucks, I don't know that I could do that. I'm too responsible, and too much the type of person who looks towards the future. I would want to give some hefty chunks to a few local non-profit organizations who's work I whole-heartedly believe in, namely the Advocacy Center, Women's Shelter and Planned Parenthood. And the local library.

So what would YOU do if you had a million dollars? Would you blow it all? Invest? Roll around in it until you smelled like eau de Benjamin Franklin?