Austerity April Update

The new name was Alexa's suggestion. I also like Frugapril. What do you think?

So, sometimes I accidentally set my phone on totally silent (usually it's on vibrate) and I don't notice because I never hear my missed calls anyway because my phone is down there in my bag not making enough noise to be heard, and then I do things like sleep in. My phone didn't wake me up this morning because it couldn't and I woke up at 8:24 in a bleary, jello-y, sleepy panic. Tony Vu was planning on swinging by at 8:45 and we were going to ride the Max together. Commuters. Serious commuters. And I had 20 minutes. Anyway, I usually take long showers, do some kind of workout or walk, eat breakfast, sip two cups of coffee, and linger over french textbooks, but today I jumped in the shower, was done in ten (with hair washed!), and was dressed and ready to go by the time Tony Vu appeared at my door. It's amazing how quickly I can get ready in the morning if I just rush.

The only problem was that I didn't actually have time to make myself a lunch and I had to buy lunch today. Austerity April fail. My only saving grace is that I didn't have to buy breakfast. Oatmeal packets in my desk. Crucial.

Valuable Lesson 2: Keep random food in your desk for unexpected occasions. If only I could keep freeze-dried turkey sandwiches in my desk that would just require a bit of water to pop out into soft-breaded, crisp lettuce glory.

Saving April Update

First of all, Saving April is a horrible name. I probably should have spent some time thinking about it instead of just going for it, because I'm stuck with this name that reminds me of that Katie Holmes movie about her family visiting for Thanksgiving or something. I've never seen it but I'm assuming she's quirky and probably has an unnatural color in her hair and and doesn't cook, therefore hijinks ensue. I'm not even sure what the movie is called . . .. Wait, there you go: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311648/

I was right. Unnatural colors.

Bahahahaha. Here's a still:

Unnatural colors, bad cutoffs, and are those knee-length support hose? I can't tell. Her life is so bad she hangs out with trash bags while wearing a choker. Anyway, every time I think about saving and April, I am reminded of this movie. I mean, Katie Holmes is obviously a paragon of saving as she is a pants reuser. Inspiring or ultimately depressing?

The saving thing is going okay. The internet keeps reminding me that I could be spending my money in really great ways. LivingSocial has 10 bottles of white wine for me! Kaufmann Mercantile has handcrafted gardening tools that cost more than my shoes! All spring clothing is 50% off on Asos!

And then there's my lunch. This is going fine too, but right now I'm still kind of inspired.

Yesterday: Salad of spinach, avocado, an entire yellow pepper, and mozzarella shreds.
Today: Romain, mushrooms, celery, garbanzo beans, peas.

We'll see what the future will bring.

Also someone at work gave me a free set of Blazer tickets! So there's that.

Valuable Lesson 1: When you decide to stop spending money on frivolous things, someone will give them to you instead.

Saving April

I've been thinking about money a lot lately, mostly about saving it and the various frivolous ways I spend it, and in an effort to save more and spend less, I have committed to not buying anything online (clothing, shoes, etc.) for the month of April. Ugh. April will be remembered as The Month of the Saddest Mailbox.

But! That doesn't mean that you have to do that. Check out Delicate Doilies on Etsy. Emily and Shola (both great bloggers and fun people) have combined their thrifting (and modeling) skills to bring you vintage treasures on the regular (If that horse sweater is not a total treasure I don't know what is.)

And just to make April a little bit worse, I'm not going to buy lunch out for the rest of the month and have committed to packing a stupid gross lunch every day (I pack lunch all the time, but you know, eat out at least once a week, maybe twice). This is going to be tough. Moving the office downtown opened up my world to a whole plethora of carts, quick lunch places, and friends who also work downtown and want to eat lunch with me. There is nothing more depressing than being stuck with a weird salad with leftover roasted broccoli, bits of old lettuce, salami, and goat cheese, when you would prefer to go get some pho. And for the sake of honesty, The Month of the Sad Lunch Sack started yesterday because I definitely went out for tacos on Tuesday.

2012

Well, the flight from Chicago to Portland was pretty rough but 2012 is off to a good start.

I went out to Kankakee for a surprise visit to Sam's family. This was a very last-minute thing completely orchestrated by Sam's mother and a total surprise to Sam and everyone else in his family. It was pretty great. When I walked into the kitchen Sam didn't actually look pleased for at least 30 seconds. He just continued to stare at me with his mouth open like an alien had walked in the door. Eventually though, he did the proper thing and smiled and gave me a hug. We went ice skating (outside!) in Chicago, spent some quality family time at the Grant house, did some amazing last-minute thrifting at his cousin Megan's vintage shop Fancy Pants (I finally found a black leather jacket!), and then I attended a New Year's Eve wedding at which he was best man, and we danced, hugged, and toasted, and then I got up the next morning and got on a plane back to Portland. Again, the flight was not the best I've had, but well worth it. Surprises are fun.

Now, last year I kind of dismissed resolutions but there are a lot of things that I would like to happen this year. Things that I would like to make happen. So I guess I don't have resolutions but I have a lot of goals. It's good to have goals. One of my big goals is to do more creative things, art, writing, and otherwise. More crafting, making, constructing, and doing. More outdoor activities, random walks, and being confident in my creative abilities. More sewing, painting, and drawing. Sitting down and editing all my first drafts. I'm really looking forward to a productive 2012.

What are your goals for new year?

Music Mix 2010

On December 31st I made this fantastic on-the-go mix on my ipod which was marred only by the entirety of the Holy Diver album somehow ending up in the middle of it. Oh Dio. The idea is that it will be the soundtrack for the myriad successes of the upcoming year, which really, is off to a pretty good start (flowers, pirate ship alarm clocks, Big Trouble in Little China). I'm not big on resolutions, not sure that I've made one in the past few years. In high school I probably decided something like, lose fifteen pounds (and therefore die), but I can't recall writing any down. I have a friend who decided to be more animated this year. Another resolved to be more physically fit. Yet another told me: I am going to be nicer to my brother's girlfriends even if they are what some may consider idiotic tramps; this ties into trying to be nicer in general. I'm sticking with the resolution that I made upon return from Italy this past summer, and that was to be less vocally negative. This was mostly inspired by one of Yoko Ono's "paintings" that I saw at the Biennale, the gist of which was, try not saying anything bad about anyone for a day, and then for a week and then for a month and see what happens to your life.