A "spending diet"

As I was heading to bed last night, I watched a special after the nighttime news called "Stretching your Dollar", where they talk about lots of ways to save money in this day and time. I actually heard some pretty good ideas, and one of them is called the "spending diet". It's pretty simple- for one week, you don't spend any money. Of course, I imagine it's a lot harder in practice.

But, I did my grocery shopping yesterday, so I have plenty of food, and I'm willing to give this spending diet a try. I'm not going to spend any money from now until next Sunday.

It sounds easy, but I already see some obstacle's on the horizon.....

For instance, D and I are going to the baseball game on Wednesday night. They are his firm's tickets, so those are free. However, I can't imagine going to a baseball game and not buying some beer. And a hot dog! Isn't that part of the fun of baseball? I have yet to figure out a solution for that one. Maybe if D buys my beer? But, does his money count as my money? So complicated!

I honestly don't spend that much in a week. I generally bring my lunch every day, and I cook dinner most nights. But, little things come up. I'll stop and get frozen yogurt, or buy a magazine or something..... I would like to eliminate gratuitous spending along those lines. I really don't need anything. So, I'm going to give this a try, and maybe turn it into a permanent situation of only spending money one day a week to replenish things like groceries, maybe go out one night.... we'll see.

They also featured a woman who started a practice of saving all of her $5s. Anytime she got a 5, it got stashed away, and in a matter of months, she had over $1,000. Granted, this was a woman who stopped using credit cards, so she always had more cash on hand than the average person, but I think it's an interesting idea. A $5 is a small enough denomination that you won't really miss it if you put it away, but large enough to add up in the big picture.

The featured another lady who is one of those super coupon users. She writes a blog on finding deals on the internet, and how to maximize coupons. Last year, she challenged herself to spend only $800 for the entire year on groceries for a family of 4. She came in $40 under the $800, which astounds me. I spend that much in two months at the grocery store! I don't think I'll be going to those extremes, because I imagine $800 limits you incredibly as to what you can eat, and limits the amount of fresh items you can buy, but I will try and utilize more coupons.

I'm almost exactly a year out from our wedding, and I want to become even smarter about our money. I want to make sure we save early and often so that we are able to have the kind of life we would like!

Race to a reception

I cannot get weddings off the brain. I feel like I will be far more relaxed once I get a reception location. I have seen three places so far, liked two, and determined that one is a fair price. I have three more to check out, but my weary little brain doesn't have much more patience for the process.

I understand why people hire wedding planners. It makes things a whole lot easier to have someone setting up appointments for you, helping you to narrow down places before you even see them, getting valuable advice about things.... but, at the same time, I also think it would be just hugely wasteful to spend money on one when my mom and I really are perfectly capable of doing it on our own. I'd rather invite 10 more guests than pay a wedding planner. But, it would be nice if someone would do it pro bono ;).

I never really thought about all this stuff before I got engaged, but I feel like I'm getting a crash course right now. It makes me tired. I get excited when I do something that allows me to mark a check on the list (for instance, I bought my wedding dress last weekend, and I wish I could wear it every day because I love it so much), but it's a process to get there.

Now, reception locations. It's interesting, because I don't really know what I am doing, but I do know what I like. I knew immediately the first place I went wasn't going to be the spot. It didn't feel.... special. It felt small, cramped, and kind of cheesy. The second place I went to felt spacious, and although it was an older building, an older location, and probably not as "hip", I loved some of the really traditional aspects. The last place I visited was lovely, but I almost snorted in the man's face when he listed prices. I frankly don't understand how anyone in these economic times can charge those prices and expect to continue getting a lot of business. I could tell he was pretty desperate for my business, he kept invading my personal space, complimenting me, and asking what he could do to convince me to hold my reception there. I almost felt sorry for him, but not sorry enough to want to be there.

There are a million venues in Houston, but I don't have the patience to wade through them all, so I'm going to make a decision by the end of the weekend. I just need to pick a place that makes me happy, and move on.

It's been a while....

I've been guilty of what I get annoyed with others for doing- ignoring my blog! I know all 5 of you must be sorely disappointed in me :).

But, in my defense, I spent the last couple of weeks sick, then in Cabo, then sick again and catching up at work, and now I finally have a few moments.

Cabo was amazing. I went with my mom, two sisters, and my younger sister's friend. We relaxed in the sun during the day, went out at night, read lots of books, ate delicious food..... It was a perfect, relaxing trip. I'd been suffering bouts of insomnia before going on the trip, and I think it let me de-stress and let all the "toxins" out.

I've been plagued by sickness for the last couple of weeks. I missed my last two days of work before coming on this trip. I just felt icky, sore, headachy, tired, alternatingly chilled/hot.... I'm better now, but I still have a cough I haven't quite been able to shake.

I am in full blown wedding mode. I'm on the hunt for a reception venue and a band right now. Once I get those two things secured, I will feel sooooooooo much more relaxed about the whole thing. Places are already starting to book for my date, a little more than a year away.... crazy! As a result, I'm seeing 6 venues within the next week. It makes my mind hurt a little thinking about it. I just want to get that part out of the way.

You know you are marrying the one when they tell you to plan the wedding that YOU want, and they will be happy because it makes you happy. It's very strange, I was never the girl who planned her wedding in her head, I always pictured myself married one day and imagined it being a fun event, but I never really had a sketch of it in my mind. Right now I have the chance to figure out what I like, and I hope to plan something that screams of D and me. What makes me happiest is that at the end of the day, yes, I am excited about the wedding, but I'm even more excited about the marriage and the adventures to come. Part of why this wedding is important to me is because I get to pledge my love and devotion to this man in front of God, my friends, and my family, and that is so special to me.

Alright, I'm jumping off the mush train now. It's Friday, and I'm wedding-it all day tomorrow, from dress to two venue appointments to checking out live performance from a potential band. It's one of those wedding weekends!

Having trouble springing forward

I don't know if it's the time change, or a general lack of sleep, but I am perma-exhausted. I really NEEDED that hour of sleep on Sunday morning..... I suppose i should quit complaining, the weekend was otherwise lovely.

Friday, my work had our annual golf tournament. ome of my exhaustion my stem from the fact that I woke up at 3am to get ready and head out to the course. It wasn't a nearby golf course, so it took us some time to get out there. I was in charge of volunteers for the event, and most things went smoothly, but not all. We definitely had some people just not show up, which is incredibly frustrating. I wish people understood how vital volunteers are to an event, especially when you only have a staff of 7, and how much we need them to come if they say they are coming!!!! Ok, rant over. We worked through minor snafus, and the day mostly went off without a hitch.

Friday night, D arranged for us to go see Watchmen with another couple. It wasn't a movie I was thrilled about seeing, but he'd been dying to see it for a while and watching a movie is a fairly low key way of spending a night after waking up at 3am. Before the movie started, D leaned over and said, "It's okay if you need to fall asleep, I just wanted to be near you." I took his sweet comment literally and fell asleep on his shoulder for the first hour a half of the movie, which made the last hour not incredibly interesting. Some advice, though: THIS IS NOT A MOVIE FOR CHILDREN. There is lots and lots of naked.

After my movie nap, I seemed to catch a second wind, and we went out for some beers with M and E, the couple we saw the movie with. M is a co-worker of D's, and we'd spent time with them at the St. Arnold's Team in Training Fundraiser we attended earlier that week. It was a pleasant evening, but we both crashed hard when we came home.

Saturday D woke up early go to work (stupid lawyering), and I cleaned. D's parents came in town Saturday afternoon to spend the night with us, hang out, go to dinner, bring us some barstools, and see the new place. We had a great time with them. We went to America's on Saturday night, a place I hadn't been since college, and it was amazing. We order crawfish taquitos, crab fingers in a lemon butter sauce, and empanadas as an appetizer, I got the churraso steak for dinner, and then we split tres leches and bread pudding for dessert. It was incredible.

Sunday morning we awoke all too early (or too late?) with the time change, went to breakfast at Le Peep, and his parents took off for Frisco. I lazed the day away while D went back to work and then went to a dinner at my aunt's house. She had about 30 people over for a dinner party in honor of some friends visiting from Greece. As with any Greek event, there was food, food, and more food. Ug, gluttony was the theme of the weekend.

And now I have 4 more days of work, and then off to Cabo on Sunday!

The wedding just got more real!

Happy Tuesday to all... oh, 6 or so of my readers :). Whatever, this provides a lovely way of keeping my friends up-to-date on my life.

This past weekend was very fun. I spent all day Saturday wedding dress hunting with my mom and younger sister. I have a newfound respect for anyone who works in a wedding dress store. I would have driven myself crazy. I think my problem is that I didn't have a real concept of what I wanted and what would look good to me. I tried on a few dresses that I thought looked great on the hanger.... but they weren't great on me. It really helped having someone to help me one on one. The first place we went to was my favorite, I think, and it is there that I found three dresses that I loved.... three dresses I would have never picked out for myself, but that the owner of the store suggested I try on. What a difference a little perspective makes. She definitely saw something I didn't see, and I ended up falling in love with her suggestions.

I wish I could have three weddings, I don't know how to pick just one.

The three dresses all happened to be by the same designer, who is having a trunk show at the end of March, which means 10% discount. Woo! It may not sound like a lot, but it's a nice chunk off an expensive dress.

It seems crazy to me in the logical part of my head to spend so much money on a dress you'll only wear once. But the girly, giddy side of me thinks it's a great investment in my beautifulness that day :).

And trying on a wedding dress does serve as the best motivation ever to lose weight. Hence the hour-long power lift class I did at the gym this morning. OUCH. Please don't ask me to lift my arms over my head today, I just won't be able to comply.

The part that made it seem the most real? Not trying on the dress, not getting opinions from my mom, not telling the story of how we got engaged or when our wedding date was..... but trying on that veil. Wow. So bridal!

Our first Mardi Gras

D mentioned last week that his good friend from work, J, was going down to New Orleans this weekend for Mardi Gras and had invited him. J went to law school in NOLA, so it was a tradition for him. D didn't think he was going to go, but was thinking about it.

Well, at 11am on Friday, D called me saying that he had spoken to some cousins of his in New Orleans, and he had a place to stay, and he'd like me to come with him, but he wanted to leave right away. I hemmed and hawed for a bit. I'm not very good at spontaneous, and I could think of a million reasons not to go, but I decided to let it be for once, and I said yes. My boss graciously let me leave the office early, and I ran home to quickly pack. We threw our stuff into a bag and hit the road.

Well, of course, no spontaneous plan goes off without glitches. We encountered traffic-- a few jammed spots along the way, and then a huge accident right outside of New Orleans that stopped traffic for an hour and a half. We turned off the car and got out and spent some time chatting with our fellow Mardi Gras revellers. When everyone finally got to get back in their cars and get moving, we passed a car that had literally exploded. very scary. In total, the normally 5.5 hour trip to New Orleans took us over 10 hours. Yikes.

Additionally, D got a text message on the way down from one of the cousins saying he thought his brother had room, but it turned out he didn't We were well into the trip when we got this news, so we entered New Orleans with no place to stay but my car, and we knew odds of finding a hotel room in the midst of Mardi Gras were slim. We reconciled ourselves to the fact that we were just going to have to play hard all night, and play it by ear.

We arrived, parked near his cousin's house on St. Charles to at least ensure the car would be in a good location and took off on foot. We grabbed some late night dinner and started drinking. We went from St. Charles to Canal Street, to Bourbon Street for a while, to Harrah's casino..... we walked all over the place, soaking in the mayhem, sipping our beverages, and having fun. I definitely lost some money playing roulette at the casino, but I figure when I lose money in another city, it's like it doesn't count! Plus, I took advantage of the free drinks, so I probably came out around even.

We left Harrah's around 5:00am. We'd periodically stopped into hotels while walking to see about a hotel room for Saturday night. We figured we could stay out all Friday night and into Saturday daytime, try and find a room, and sleep for several hours before going out again. But much like Mary and Joseph trying to find an inn room, we were turned away at hotel after hotel. Finally, we stopped at the J.W. Marriott on Canal Street around 5:30am. Not only did they have a room for Saturday night, but it was available right then, and she would only charge us for one night. We took our exhausted, dirty selves up to bed and crashed hard for a few hours.

We awoke Saturday morning, and did as much as we could in the way of getting ready without having any of our stuff. It was all still back in my car a couple of miles away. We set out on foot again, headed in the direction of St. Charles to get some food, our first drink of the day, and our things. We saw several of the parades passing us, as well as a collection of the most interesting people you've ever seen. This weekend was perfect for people watching. We got some food, and frozen hurricanes, grabbed our stuff, stopped in and said hello to his cousin, and went back to the hotel for a shower. No shower has ever felt so good! After showering, we walked around the art district, went over the the French Quarter, and watched several really great street performances, including a group of guys that were on America's Got Talent (they were runners up to a group of gay Cowboys), and a guy who tied a rope to two columns in the French Quarter and performed a tight rope walking show. We also saw a couple walking hand in hand, both wearing blue jeans, and both topless, with body paint covering their top half. The girl was frequently photographed, and even stopped and had a friendly conversation with some cops. Only in new Orleans.

We went to Emeril's Delmonico that night. I thought it was good, but it wasn't as great as I expected. The Top Chef contestants had been there a month ago doing some filming, and D thought it would be fun for me since I'm such a fan of the show. I definitely enjoyed my food, but it wasn't the "wow" I expected from Emeril's place. We went back to Harrah's for a while, and then we both felt the overwhelming exhaustion that came from lots of drinking and partying and little sleep. We went back to the hotel and fell asleep around 11pm, and slept approx. 10 hours.

We woke up the next morning, packed, and headed back to Houston. The drive home took significantly less time than the drive there (thank God!). We really had a great time, and I'm glad I put aside my over planning tendencies for once. It turns out that maybe things do just work out.

But, if we return next year, I'll definitely be booking a room in advance ;).

Love is in the Air.....

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. But to be fair, most of my friends in the blogsphere haven't been keeping up as well as they should either! Come on, folks, I need a couple breaks in the day!

Valentine's Day is almost upon us. I like Valentine's day. Even on the years when I was single, I've still enjoyed the holiday. One of my most fun memories on Valentine's was going out with a group of girlfriends from law school for a mexican dinner, and then ending up at an anti-Valentine's party on 6th street. It was great, and we had a blast.

This will be my third Valentine's Day with D. On our first Valentine's, we'd been dating for about 4 or 5 months. He had grand plans of surprising me by whisking me away to San Antonio, walking around the riverwalk, eating a romantic dinner..... well, the coldest weather ever decided to hit Austin and bring some ice with it, so his plans were dashed. He ended up sweet talking the owner of an Italian restaurant that we enjoyed to squeeze us in without reservations. We had a really lovely evening, and it was much warmer than walking around outside :).

Last year was right before I took the bar exam, so Valentine's also functioned as one of the few breaks I got that month. D took me for a fabulous dinner at Del Frisco's where we noshed on some of the most delicious steak I'd ever tasted. He came home with beautiful roses, and he presented me with a piece of paper and told me that it was my present. I opened the paper and it was a "receipt" for a blood donation made at MD Anderson in my honor. It was one of the best presents I ever received, and it definitely reduced me to tears. I think of that as "paying it forward", and I'm thrilled that his donation could have potentially saved the life of a cancer patient.

This year I'm honestly not sure what our plans are. We may stay in, we may go out. I honestly don't care what we do as long as we are together. Love ain't easy, but we've been through thick and thin, and we've still got that strong bond between us that grows even stronger over time.

I hope that you celebrate the love in your life this Valentine's day, whether it's the love of a significant other, friends, family, pets.... Times are tough, and we need to cherish all the wonderful things in our lives.