May 11, 2010
Remember that 2 meals out per week thing? It’s becoming pretty challenging.
Those friends being in town didn’t help – we hit the quota, and would have gone over had it not been over a weekend. Twice on Sunday! I mean, really! But it was dim sum, and then the longest afternoon of shopping/errands stretched into a late night sushi dinner, and who was I to argue?
Still, that blew the dining out budget for the entire week so I had to veto Cinco de Mayo. Luckily, I had made a huge pot of homemade chicken soup which heated up wonderfully for Wednesday night dinner. Leftovers sufficed for Thursday night but we had to defrost something that night lest Friday night become another night out.
Having friends over is nice, but between that and the wonky schedule when social obligations come up or when I get home really late from work, my money management’s suffering. I’m starting to wonder if my arbitrary limit needs some evaluation. Should I be targeting a dollar amount per week instead of occurrences? Because I count Costco Dog Dinners as eating out – it’s prepared food.
If I were to be on a monthly dining out budget, I’d just have to be more prudent in a different way, and not limit the number of times I eat out so strictly. Is that better or will it just encourage me to feel like there’s more slack in the system? The grocery budget is already at a more than generous amount so I’m really wary of allowing more spending.
How do you keep your eating out to a minimum?
December 21, 2009
This weekend was a social whirlwind. I had the pleasure/pain of organizing lunches with former colleagues and college classmates.
On Saturday, we had BBQ with the former colleague, and the nutty one is as hilariously offbeat as usual. As is her new husband. We got greedy ordering, between the four of us we had 4 full slabs of babyback ribs, an order of tri-tip, 2 orders of mac’n’cheese, french fries, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. I didn’t finish my entire slab as intended, but that just makes for delicious leftovers!
The best part of lunch conversation: inventing zany, improbable uses for a monocle.
Cost: $32, with tip
On Sunday, our group of 7 was incomplete as the Dynamic Darling of the group had family matters to attend, but we still managed to have fun. Three of our group are teachers (middle school and high school), so teacher talk dominated the conversation.
The best parts of lunch conversation:
Lulu turning to me saying, oh! Are you a teacher, too?
Me: No, I’m just mean.
When Sarah recited the whole of Invictus, without batting an eye. And then was awarded a gold star by Sander, the other teacher, at the table.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley
When Sander, a notorious jokester, seated himself next to Kayla, the quietest, shyest of the bunch, to convince her that he’d reformed. After an hour of not picking on her, she laughed out loud at his mockery of someone else and he turned to her with a sly wink, “See? It’s always funny when it happens to someone else, isn’t it?”
At the end of the meal, the bill immediately got stuffed with bills and credit cards and handed to me for the final math. “I’m an English major!” they chorused.
“Guys,” I retorted, “we’re ALL English majors!”
Cost: $14, with tip
Carnavale!
Mighty Bargain Hunter hosts this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance: the Parts of Speech Abuse Edition.
My post on Holiday Traditions was included.
Nominations!
The Plutus award nominations are now open! The nominations will remain open for three weeks.
July 12, 2008
Ho boy. If this is how tired I am after a night and afternoon of socializing, I’m going to be in trouble at the end of this month when I’m going to be on the road for 8 days. I’m an inveterate correspondent, and I don’t even want to look at emails I intended to respond to, today. That’s how tired I am. My brain is *done* with talking to people. Well, why are you posting? you ask? Because you’re not just any people, you’re MY people. 🙂
A girlfriend was back in town last night, and I haven’t seen her since the wedding in January when we certainly didn’t get a chance to really socialize at all. She invited everyone over to dinner, and five of us sat down to the most amazing home cooked dinner ever. When did we grow up and when did she learn to set a table like that??? It was in-cred-i-ble!!!
Picture this:
A platter of sliced beef, brisket style.
Baked beans in lightly spiced barbeque sauce.
Perfectly crisp green beans.
Fresh, crisp, sliced cucumbers, with a squeeze of lemon and dash of salt.
Ripe, red, succulent tomatoes.
Roasted baby potatoes.
Freshly baked, made from scratch, apple tart, with homemade bechamel sauce.
Heaven. Sheer gastronomic heaven. Everything was fresh, picked from the garden or from the farmer’s market. I made a total pig of myself, and doubled up on helpings of everything. And there were still leftovers! We had a red wine from Paso Robles, and an Australian white. Seriously, it’s one thing to pretend I’m an adult and drink wine with the grown-ups at work functions, but there’s something strikingly poignant about realizing that we were staging our very own dinner party. Nothing so formal and constrained as one with place cards and hostess gifts and such, but still the real deal. Conversation went ’round and ’round the table, taking everyone in turn, telling our stories, catching up on lives. There was a lot of love and a whole lot more laughter as everyone gave everyone else a hard time. It’s comforting to know that there are still relationships that are just easy after so many years.
Then, today, we had our little college reunion lunch. The college pal that I kept in touch with and I were kicking around ideas a few months ago and I proposed that we get the old gang together. It took a lot of coordination and calls, but we pulled it together and got six of our nine intended guests to show up for lunch today. Actually, that sounds like they weren’t interested, but I think everyone was happy that we’d put this together. I think it was quite a success: we laughed and talked for FOUR HOURS. We never even got around to catching up, we were just enjoying each others’ company and telling funny stories and picking on one another like the old days. It felt like hardly a day had passed since we graduated four years ago. Everyone’s changed a little. I could see it. We aren’t those gangly 20-year-olds anymore, and there was some complexity in their eyes, some sadness that wasn’t shared, and a little tentativeness that was only mostly covered up by banter. I think we’d all forgotten what it was like to have fun, just stupid, loud, dumb, funny, gratuitous fun. That might be why we were just happy to be together, and we’ll be doing it again.
If only I weren’t so busy for the next several weeks…. but I’m going to be out of town or otherwise engaged every weekend from next weekend through the end of August. Eeep! My schedule is actually pretty daunting, but I plan to milk it for all I can. Who knows how much longer I’ll be in the area or have a stable income from this job! Oh, don’t worry, I’m not trying to spend it all now or anything, I just want to reconnect to people and remember what it’s like to have a life. It’s going to be important to find that confidence again for interviews and finding a new job!
Anyway, I found myself unable to keep my eyes open after I finally got home after 4 pm. Eventually I caved to the inevitable and just napped. Mmmm…sleep….
April 8, 2008
I’ve finally encountered the awkward check splitting scenario wherein you don’t know the party you’re with well enough to have a well-established routine to take care of the check, and I paid more than my share. GR!
Here’s what went down: C2 and I hung out with her boyfriend and their mutual friend before we gals went out to celebrate C1’s birthday. C2 and I were still full from a late lunch at work, so we just split an entree that was under $7. C2 had a drink, the boys had their own entrees, and drinks. In fact, her friend had two beers. When the bill came, her friend had gone to the restroom, and I threw in my credit card, not really thinking about it, and nearly got stiffed with half the bill. As it was, C2’s boyfriend remembered and called the waitress back to tell her to charge 1/4 of the bill to my card. Except, I should only have paid $5 or $6 for tax and tip. It’s not bank-breaking, but it’s a pointed little reminder that I just paid for some stranger’s beer because I wasn’t paying attention.
Next time, I’m going to remember that this is why I keep mini post-its in my wallet: so that I can write down my share and stick it to my card, thereby avoiding the awkwardness of saying, “er, I had water and half an entree, I’m not sure that I’m responsible for 50% of the bill!”