Make It Happen

I have opined my lack of travel for the last three years many times and I promised to stop all that for 2012.  Well, looks like I'm keeping my word.  I realize that I can always use the excuses not having enough time, or enough money, or scheduling conflicts with friends.  I booked last minute trips to Las Vegas and Pittsburgh for February and should be booking a flight to Germany any day now.  Stressing about what I am going to wear and what sights I want to see is perfectly fine with me. 

Inspiration

I feel as though I should read this every day for the rest of my life . . .

Psalm 49 (The Message)

Listen, everyone, listen-earth-dwellers, don't miss this. All you haves and have-nots, all together now: listen.

I set plainspoken wisdom before you, my heart-seasoned understandings of life. I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise, I solve life's riddle with the help of a harp. So why should I fear in bad times, hemmed in by enemy malice, shoved around by bullies, demeaned by the arrogant rich?

Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.

Anyone can see that the brightest and best die, wiped out right along with fools and dunces. They leave all their prowess behind, move into their new home, The Coffin, the cemetery their permanent address. And to think they named counties after themselves!

We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.

This is what happens to those who live for the moment, who only look out for themselves: Death herds them like sheep straight to hell; they disappear down the gullet of the grave; They waste away to nothing-nothing left but a marker in a cemetery. But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, he reaches down and grabs me.

So don't be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can't take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they've arrived and folks praise them because they've made good,  they enter the family burial plot where they'll never see sunshine again.

We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.

All Dressed Up

Lilly Pulitzer Celina

Bloomingdale's consolidation sale was pretty paltry but while shopping I was able to find this beautiful dress.  Too bad it's made in China.  Up close it's better, and also with a tan.  Who knows when I will ever get to wear it. 

One week ago I tried Peruvian food at La Cerveceria so I can scratch #16 off my New Year's resolutions.  

Taxi

I've been wanting these for a couple years now, but I'm glad I waited for a sale and an extra 25% off.  This doesn't mean I am going to be hailing a cab anytime soon, but I definitely could with these babies.

Red Velvet Pancakes

Have I ever mentioned my favorite neighborhood diner, EJ's Luncheonette?  I can't remember.  I recently revisted this place with my friends J and J.  I got the red velvet pancakes which I never notice before.  They were scrumptious. I felt like I was eating cake. The icing/topping was just the right amount of sweet for a breakfast food.  First I had scrambled eggs so that the pancakes would just be the dessert portion of my meal because dessert after every meal is how I roll. 

Ways to Save and My Mom is So Cheap

My paycheck is meager especially for a lawyer.  To afford luxury products and extra payments on my law school loans I have to make choices.

(1) Instead of a gym membership I go running by the east river.  I do yoga with videos I find on hulu.  For strength training I work with a ball and use random products from my apartment as weights. 
(2) If I have a monthly bill, like cable or my storage unit, I contact them periodically threatening to stop using the service if they don't reduce my price.
(3) I use my sister's netflix to watch movies via my laptop which I hook up to my tv with an HDMI cable.
(4) I don't go to the movies unless I have a coupon or it's half off because it's an A.M. movie.  I prefer to
rent one from the blockbuster kiosk for $1 rather than pay $13.  Don't even get me started on the three course meals I sneak into movie theatres.
(5) Hot chocolate is something I crave every day in the winter the way most people crave coffee.  I would love to go to Starbucks or something but I go to Gristedes and get a box filled with packets and have that instead. Whole foods also has a delicious dark chocolate peppermint flavor for $9 that makes 11 servings.
(6) I would rather dehydrate than buy bottled water.  I use a brita.
(7) I only take cabs when under serious peer pressure. 
(8) I don't have a pet even though I want one.

These are the least embarassing ways that I save money.  My friends have no clue how unbelievably cheap I really am.  I think it stems from my parents' (particularly my mom) "frugality."  I have no qualms about embarassing my mom and she doesn't embarass anyway.  My Mom is So Cheap . . .

• she goes to Ross on Wednesdays so she can get her senior citizen's discount, because Ross is not cheap enough already
• she saves every last morsel of food and puts it in tiny Tupperware containers (or old margarine containers) to eat later. I got her tiny spatulas from William Sonoma so she can scoop the very last drop from jars.
• she washes baggies and reuses ziploc bags until there are holes
• she keeps the blinds closed on hot days so that the AC won't come on as much.  It's pretty dark in the house on a summer day.
• If she's not using it, she unplugs it. 
• One day while on the phone with my mom she exclaimed excitedly that it had started raining.  She got off the phone with me right away so she could put buckets underneath the drain pipes to catch the rain.  She uses it to water her garden.
• During the drought in Atlanta, she even put a bucket in the shower with her so she could reuse the water for her garden. 

If I didn't know better I would think she's some sort of environmentalist.