June 27, 2008

Best. Lunch. Ever.


One tomato and cucumber, each sliced.
A handful of chicken breast, sliced.
A handful of pork with a smidgen of onions, sliced.
Orowheat whole wheat bread.
Mayo.

Combine all ingredients in layers on the bread, smush together, and it makes the best sandwich. EVER. I was quite sad when I finished eating because it was so delicious! I wished that I’d taken a picture, too, but that might have seemed a little weird.

And a coworker went on an ice cream run, and brought back a veritable smorgasbord of ice creams: Strawberry Shortcake bar, Raspberry sorbet bar, Drumstick, almond and chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar, and Dibs! I, of course, went for the Dibs. They were tiny morsels of deliciousness.

Happy Friday everyone!

Ann Taylor “sale” price still holding strong


Ough, I’ve been eyeing these cropped pants from Ann Taylor for what seems like an age. It’s probably been about a month since I tried the 00P, and found that they fit a treat.

I’d been wanting to replace my old capris for a few years now, having gotten rid of them long before I ever found a substitute pair, because they were really stretchy, formfitting, and too casual for work. Heck, sometimes I felt like they were just too casual at all.

As usual, they fit, but the price didn’t. On sale, they were $50. Nuh-uh, that’s way too expensive! I do have a gift card (heh, of course) but only for $30 and I’m not willing to spend that much on a pair of pants.

Just checked on them again today, and they’re still $50. Looks like AT’s will is still stronger than mine. Or is that the other way ’round since I still refused to buy them? Actually, it’s a draw right now. Le sigh. Oh well. I’ll just keep checking back. If the price drops to a gift cardable level and they still have my size, we were meant for each other. If not, I’ll live.

Finally tried my local farmer’s market


It’s almost shameful that it’s taken me this long to try our local farmer’s market. It’s only a few step from my train stop, and it’s usually going strong from April through October, 5-8 pm, once a week. The biggest obstacle has always been that the closest booths to the train station are the food booths, with kettle corn, funnel cakes (mmmmmm), and bbq stands all in the way of my fresh produce. Fearing for my wallet, I’ve simply never deemed it a worthwhile endeavor to out-willpower the funnel cake.

Today, I marched myself all the way to the produce area and found my three tomatoes, three short and fat cucumbers, and a pound of green beans for all of $3.73!

The green beans look super fresh, and the tomatoes and cucumbers should hold me over until our harvest at home. I think we should be ripe and ready for picking in about a week or two?

Wonderful SoCal weather and soil that we have, our plants have blossomed and fruited in what seems like no time at all.

June 26, 2008

Ach, I’m one of THOSE people now

Boston Gal’s posting of this WSJ article about folks who are cutting back on their retirement savings made me feel guilty.

I know that I had a perfectly good reason for doing it, but it still stings that not only did I cut down, massively, on contributions, my account keeps dropping like a rock and doesn’t even reflect the amount of contributions I’ve been making since the beginning of the year. At this rate, I’ll never crack $25,000! [I’m not talking about overall, just between the 401(a) and 403(b).]

Ok, that’s not guilt I’m feeling, I’m just disheartened.

The important things to remember:

1. The reduction is temporary. It does not affect my match because I’m maxing out the 401(a) which is the only account that is matched.
2. Finances have to be flexible to accommodate when life happens. Obstacles are inevitable, and stubbornly stashing hefty amounts in my retirement fund while cash flow suffers does not make sense.
3. I’m simultaneously working on reducing all expenses so as to narrow the gap between expenses and income. This reinforces the temporariness of this solution. I’d like to see the gap closed in a matter of months, but it’ll take some more mathing, when I have time.

Selling the truck: Nary a bite

This is getting tres frustrating. I know the economy’s tanking so it’s going to take a while, way to go me for waiting this long to sell the truck, but still, it tries my soul that there has been absolutely no response to my Craigslist ad in the past several weeks. Not even a single flaky, half-interested email. None. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

I went to AutoTrader and found that they don’t even have their 90-day, sell or get your money back guarantee anymore. Dangit!

I’m doing so well with the little things, but the big things are really breaking my budget.

So, am I a standard, enhanced or deluxe ad buyer? I’m so anxious to get rid of the thing that I’m willing to consider springing for the deluxe ad!

Standard: $29

  • Online Ad
  • 3 Weeks
  • 1 Online Photo

Enhanced: $49

  • Online Ad
  • Magazine Ad
  • 8 Weeks
  • 9 Online Photos
  • Single Photo
  • Thumbnail Photo

Deluxe: $79

  • Online Ad
  • Magazine Ad
  • Run ’til It Sells: Your ad runs online and in the magazine until you sell your car – up to a full year.
  • 18 Online Photos
  • Single Photo
  • Thumbnail Photo

The mood I’m in? I just want to spring for the $79 and pray for the best. It’d feel worth it get the craptacular payments off my expense sheet!

June 25, 2008

Fashion Meets Finance event

What a disappointment. The title of this event, Fashion Meets Finance, had me jazzed, until I read the article. Then I was just completely disgusted:

The invitation for the Fashion Meets Finance event held last Thursday at Taj read, “Women in fashion need men who can facilitate their pre-30 marriage/retirement plan … And men in finance need women who will allow them to leverage their career in their dating equity.”


Can these people really be serious? Can people really be so shameless?

Apparently, there are so many people out there happy to attend such an event, “over 1,000 — twice the capacity of Taj) that the organization would have to turn away more than half of them.”
Ugh. This completely tops my disgust over the glorification of prom.

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