champagne taste and a beer budget

my sweet dad, for the better part of my life, has supported me. i don't just mean emotionally but also financially. he paid for me to be a kid, swim on the swim team, go to about 100 formals before i graduated, drive the suv i wanted, wear the clothes that were cool, live off campus in college, support the staff at spankies, be in a sorority, travel on spring break, have the first smartphone, and the list goes on and on. i never really knew what a big deal all his spending was until suddenly, without warning, i became an adult. and not just any adult, but a single adult working for a church and living on my own earnings. aka...i got poor.
now please do not misunderstand me. this lifestyle that i deem "poor" is strictly as compared to the pretty cushy lifestyle i had before. the lifestyle which i had become accustomed. and the lifestyle that stopped so abruptly (after the 6 month adjustment period my dad granted me).
i was under the impression that when i graduated from grad school i would be a millionare. i would work 9 to 5, buy a house, go out with my friends, travel at will, and spend my funds only at the kate spade store. i thought i would be sittin in high cotton. i mean i had "lived" on the pay of a part-time youth intern and graduate assistant for years. i would be rollin in the dough now! wrong. i failed to caculate the money that trickled down from dear old dad...and well...i suddenly missed it.
now my life is nice. i have beautiful, fun, amazing friends, a great job, cozy house, nice car, and a couple of kate spade items that i love. not bad at all. the gripe is that no one really prepared me for paying my own iphone bill, or spending a small fortune at kroger just for milk and bread, or paying a natural gas bill even in the summer when my firepalce is not on, or paying a water bill for one that rivals a small family (i refuse to cut back my shower time. plus i have long hair). my parents taught me financial responsibility...they just didn't teach me that once i was on my own it would be a lot harder. they're so glass half full.
so for now i guess i will have to live with less than frequent shopping trips. i guess i will have to live with generic vitamins. i guess i will have to read paperback books rather than e-books on my ipad. and i guess for now i will have to fondly remember the days when it was deemed appropriate to charge dinner to my credit card as a mental health emergency. and remember fondly when manicures and pedicures were a staple activity every other friday. and i'll have to remember fondly the days when coupon clipping never crossed my mind. and i'll just have to be glad that i had it good...for a little whilie.