Ch-ch-ch-ch Chaaaanges!! 2014 Edition

Happy New Year!!
It's Resolution (NYR) time!!

So far, the plan for being more awesome than last year includes (but is not limited to):

- January trip to Florida! Woop Woop!!
- March/April trip to wherever my bff Harms and her hubby are on their sailing adventure!
- May trip to NYC for fleet week with Mattycakes!!!!! Say whaaa?! :-)
- October girls trip to Hawaii!

At least 3 out of 4 of these trips are definitely happening in 2014. I'm SO excited!!

NYR #2 - Wash all dishes within 24 hours.

I'm dead serious. You wouldn't think this is NYR material, but let me assure you, it is. Since I don't have a dishwasher, this one takes some serious discipline and willpower on my part. I hate doing dishes. I mean, you could use it as a form of torture, I hate it so much. It's weird though - I'm actually really good at doing them and laying on the guilt when living with roommates, but when it's just me, forget it. I'll wait until every single piece of silverware is dirty before doing the dishes, and even then, most of the time I'll just wash what I need. So this year I'm committed to keeping my sink empty and clean.


NYR #3 - Make an actual effort with the online dating thing.

So... online dating is actually a lot of work and doesn't really work if you don't, you know, log in once in a while...


NYR #4 - Eat out less and cook more (and bring lunch!).

There's a Wendy's about 5 blocks from my apartment, which means it's just too damn convenient to grab a Jr. bacon cheeseburger and chocolate frosty gut bomb for dinner when I'm not in the mood to cook. And not surprisingly, the food carts near the office call to me on the daily. So this is a two part resolution:
1) I'm renewing my cost saving measure of doing food carts only once a week, and 2) making an honest effort to cook regularly using more whole foods and less of the processed junk (goodbye instant mashed potatoes. I'll miss you). I'm even thinking about joining one of those grocery delivery services where they send you the ingredients for a few meals a week (like Blue Apron) to limit the excruciating decision making process I have such a hard time with anyway. For someone like me, this may actually be a brilliant plan...

NYR #4.5 - Drink more water and get more sleep.

 

I'm tired, like, all the time. Most likely because I don't take care of myself the way that I should. So I figure if I start with the basics of water, whole foods, and sleep, I'll feel a lot better (mentally, physically and emotionally) and probably, eventually, look better as a result.

*fingers crossed*

  

NYR #5 - Be more active.

Obviously going to the gym 3x a week or training for a 5k would be awesome and I would so love to be that person, but I know I never will. Sure, maybe for a week or so. But in the end, the big boobs and bad knees kill that dream dead. So instead I'm committing to at least moving daily, whether that's a 30+ minute walk with the dog, yoga at home, or biking to/from work. And then perhaps at some point I'll actually utilize the TRX I bought back in March (I've used it once)... and maybe add a kettle-bell to my at home "gym" collection and work on strength training.
Baby steps.

 

NYR #6 - Meet new (single) people.

I'm a social butterfly. I like going out and making new friends. But being social can be unbelievably exhausting, and lately I've fallen into a funk and have become a bit of a social recluse. Also, it seems 95% of my friends are in relationships. Not that I mind a whole lot, but it's just kind of a bummer to be the 3rd or 5th wheel ALL THE TIME. It gets old. So my goal for 2014 is to join (and actually attend) some of those meetup groups and perhaps if I put myself out there, I'll get something in return.

NYR #7 - Pay off Credit Card debt

Ugh. You'd think I'd have this one figured out by now. I did actually pay off all of my CC's back in April 2012 (I drained my entire savings for it, and it was terrifying), but then my roommate moved out leaving me with the entire rent payment for 4 months, I finally fixed the 2 year old hit-&-run dent in my car, then I moved to Portland, bought a pretty yellow bicycle, started allergy treatments for Bandit, did more car repairs/maintenance, etc. etc. and not surprisingly my balance creeped back up to where it was 3 years ago. So it's back to the 0% APR for 18 months payment plan. Thank GOD for balance transfer offers. :-) 

The challenge now is to not put anything back on the cards that I don't intend to pay in full...

NYR #8 - Emergency Savings

My savings habits have never been stellar. There always seems to be some stupid reason I need to dip into my savings (or not so stupid reasons - like paying for plane tickets!). But after this past year's furlough fiasco, I've realized exactly how important it is to have a substantial emergency savings. My goal is to have at least 2 month's pay in savings by the end of the year.

Whew!! That's a lot... but not really.

Bring on the new year!

slr

Street lights blink a bright red and green...

For the past 4 or 5 years my sister, mom, and I have done a "Jewish Christmas" of sorts. We of course do the usual bacon and eggs breakfast with my nephew, but then after he leaves with his Dad, we go see a movie and do Chinese for dinner (and then I head over to my best friend's house for more celebration and even more food!) As much as I wish we had a big, crazy family with obnoxious relatives and traditions, I really like the low-key, no stress tradition we've started. And since it's just the three of us, it really suits us just fine.

 

We saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty this year in the most ghetto theater ever. No joke. I was afraid of contracting an STD from the seat (I wish I'd had a black light), but the movie was really cute, and surprisingly inspiring.

 

My family doesn't really exchange gifts anymore either, although it's been difficult to get everyone (namely mom) out of the guilt-driven habit. Don't get me wrong, I love getting and giving gifts - there's a wonderful satisfaction that comes from giving the perfect gift - but the obligatory gift giving tradition of I-got-so-and-so-something-so-now-I-have-to-get-these-six-other-people-something-too and the you-got-me-something-so-now-I-have-to-get-you-something kind of takes all the joy out of it. The gifts I like to give are the random and spontaneously found OMG-this-would-be-perfect-for-so-and-so! gifts. And besides, I'd much rather go out and DO something fun and make memories with those people than give and get more stuff that, although we may love, neither of us really has room for...

 

Although there are exceptions to this rule.

 

Like an awesome Seahawks jersey. :-)

(Thanks Leland!!)

 

 



The bitter taste of furlough...

Confirmation came last week that my office, along with quite a few thousand other DOD employees, will take 11 furlough days, 1 day a week, starting July 8th. That's a 20% pay cut for 3 months... during the time of year when outdoor concerts, happy hours, road trips, weddings, and long anticipated vacations require additional funds, not less.

With this rather unsettling, but not altogether surprising news (as if Congress and Obama were going to spontaneously get their act together and protect those hard working, middle class citizens that have done NOTHING to deserve this fate... HA!), I've found myself rather bitter about my decision to leave my job in WW, a job that I was DAMN good at, with an awesome boss and an office that is NOT getting furloughed, all for the opportunity to do something and live somewhere different.

Yeah. Genius move on my part.

But the more accepting I become of this situation, the more I'm actually looking forward to the silver lining of 4-day weekends and the occasional mid-week day off. More time to focus on my health and fitness or do fun painting projects I've been wanting to do for months. More time to read the foot-tall stack of books on my nightstand or go exploring the many parks in the city with the Bandido.

OR more time to focus on my skinny wrap business so I won't have to worry or even think about the 20% pay cut. :-)

But until I can guarantee that my shopaholic syndrome and fear of missing out won't completely cripple my finances come July, or that my wrap business will be able to bridge the gap between stingy and comfortable, I'll be preparing for the worst, cutting coupons and socking away every extra penny I have to help cushion the blow.

Who knows - maybe this is all just a big show of political bravado and all my contingiency plans and worries will be for nothing.

But probably not.