Next piece of equipment, choices

[Sajin]

I hope that I am posting this in the right place. I am fairly new to photography and still getting my feet wet. I have a 40D, 50mm 1.8, and a 17-55 kit lens. I mainly take shots of family and friends indoors. I have about $500 to spend on my next piece of equipment. I keep going back and forth with what I need. I just really can't decide on which direction I should go first. My thoughts are:

1. Flash 430EX(and put the rest towards saving up for some L glass)
2. A lens that will perform better than my kits lens. I was thinking about the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8 SP XR or
3. Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR
4. Canon 85mm 1.8

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

[InsaneSkippy]

Well if you want to continue to shoot indoors and do mostly portrait/candid shots than you shouldn't need much more than the kit lens (assuming it has IS) and your prime. I would suggest getting a flash and saving the rest of the money towards an L lens if that's what you're hoping to get. Otherwise, don't buy a lens just because you can afford it and then want to replace it with something better, later on. The flash will really help to light up those shots indoors.

Hope that helps, I'm sure other people can offer a different opinion as well.