best of 2009...worth every penny

{every day from now until december 31st i will be including a "best of 2009" post, with lists & thoughts galore about my favorites and best ofs the past year. check back in and feel free to share your related best of 2009 in the comments, or suggest a best of topic!}

today's best of 2009 topic-worth every penny:

there are certain things in life that i feel should be free (or close to it). i'm not saying this list is logical or exhaustive, but there are a couple of things that i really, really wish i didn't have to shell money out for, and i wish would just be included in the all over, general cost of existing. (i repeat- this list is not logical. it is entirely based on my emotional response to paying money for the following services.)

a few examples of things that in susannah-world would be free: car upkeep/repairs, gas and electric (oh, how i hate to pay that bill), parking (this covers meters, parking garages & parking tickets), bridge tolls (similar to, but different from parking), iced coffee costing more than hot coffee (really? ice costs ten cents more? don't try to convince me. it won't work.), sunglasses (hello, i lose them as soon as i buy them), and gas for my car. (i see a trend- most of these are car related. maybe that's why my car is 14 years old and has 260,000 miles on it.)

on the other hand, there are some things that are worth every penny that you pay for them, and these are the ones that stand out to me this year:

• my black hobo wallet which matt got me for christmas 2008. i use it every day. i love it. it works as a wallet or small purse. it has compartments for every single item, and i can now always find my credit card, license, assorted receipts, and on and on. it was pricey, but it is one of my very favorite things. i. love. love. it.
• my neighborhood peets coffee. i know- i can make coffee and tea at home too. (and i do.) but i love coming to this neighborhood spot and running into friends and family. it's one of my very favorite things. plus, when i am working on freelance i can camp out here for 9 hours and no one cares. i use lots of gift cards here, but it's true- i've spent more than a few pennies at this cafe in 2009. it is my local watering hole, a place to blog, a spot where i can work in peace that is close to home, & a place i can meet friends to laugh, cry and catch up.
• really good bread. fresh, good bread, made locally is so so worth the time and money of a trip to the bakery. lucky for me, this french bakery, la farine, is right next door to the peets. not so lucky for me, they also have really good treats which are not of the bread variety but of the sugar and butter variety. yum.
  
• the new york times. i love carving out a bit of time every weekend to read the ny times- starting with sunday styles, the magazine, travel, and slowly making my way to the front section. plus i can pop online and read any article throughout the week even though we only get the paper version on the weekend. sometimes i think we should unsubscribe because, well, it isn't free (or cheap), and because some weeks i hardly make it through half the paper. but it is worth the extra cost because the photography is amazing (& visually inspiring) as are the articles. i often tear sections out to bring to my studio or to stick on the fridge. so, pricey but valuable.

• counseling. this year matt and i have dropped quite a chunk of change on meeting with a therapist every week. it's kind of like a mortgage payment on my personal well-being. i won't lie- we get a discount, but it is still really pricey to go on a regular basis. initially we went to sort through the difficulties of 2008 with little m's deafness and things with my dad. but very quickly our conversations expanded into all sorts of things - relationships, little m, our marriage, healthy family patterns, etc. every week i kind of drag my feet at going, and then i am so so happy that we've gone and talked, listened, and done the hard work of working through live and being intentional as parents, friends, family members, and spouses. so, thousands of dollars later, happy as can be that we've made an investment in the future.

runner-up (& in the shallow, beauty category):

• hair care products. i hesitate to mention this because, well, my hair is a hot mess these days. but that's because of my lack of haircut since february 2009. meanwhile, i have in between curly and straight hair, so cheap hair products don't work so well. it takes me a year to get through my massive bottles of aveda shampoo/conditioner and my bumble & bumble hair product, so when i buy them my heart does a little crunch. but then when they last for over 52 weeks and i am not tossing half used bottles of cheap shampoo that doesn't work, i feel frugal and wise. (may be justification, who knows...)

how about you? what was worth every penny to you in 2009?