Category: Personal Finance

10 Things I’m Currently Thankful For

November 11th, 2009 · · holidays, lists, love, memory, Personal Finance, pursuit of happiness, the grind, the not so single life 6 comments - Tags: , ,

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, my second favorite holiday, here are ten things I’m at this very moment thankful for.

  1. Online conversations. I’ve been having more lately as I’m on the computer more often this week so I’m catching more people online. Kim kept me company a few times as I watched girly movies or shows on TV. Deesh and I chatted about college memories and we tried to piece together the tapestry of our shared college courses for a while late last night. I cannot remember the last time we had a conversation online. Apparently I dropped McCord’s chemistry twice (two different courses). Kym and I are bumping into each other more often too. I know I used to be a letter writing kind of girl but I’m thankful for the ease of Gchat.
  2. Chocolate . I got a box of truffles from my old coworkers for my birthday. I finally remembered where I hid them and broke into them. Nom. Truffles.
  3. Random dinner invites last two nights. Deesh grilled up some chicken 2 nights ago and last night Jesse made us burgers with spinach and Alfredo sauce. Thanks for feeding my scavenger self!
  4. Lunch date with Alan. I enjoy dates with that boy. Who doesn’t like dates? There’s a different light that shines on us when we’re outside our respective apartments. I’m a mush. Alan treated me to North yesterday. Ever since I tried Young’s order of Strozzapreti the first time we went there, I don’t get anything else. Though, we have only been to North three times. Did you know they have happy hour?

  5. I finally got a call for a job interview. Wish me luck tomorrow. I absolutely hate living off of my savings.
  6. Brittany! I don’t know if she’ll read this. Brittany is Deesh’s girlfriend. She has been doing some great looking out for me and it has humbled me with gratitude. I find her pretty enchanting too! I have a creepy-girl-platonic-straight-crush on her. Haha. Now I hope she doesn’t read this.
  7. Roomie bonding. I have a part time evening job that kept me from seeing Brandi for a bit. This week since I’m not working, we’ve managed some time together. Cooking, baking, eating. Today we plan on finally checking out the Cathedral of Junk!
  8. Checking out a new eatery. Yesterday after dinner, a group of us tried a new yogurt place. I haven’t checked out a new eatery in a while so it was nice! I’ll tell you about the yogurt venue next time.
  9. The thought of Houston. I miss my parents dearly. Mom reminded me that I hadn’t seen her since July. I cannot wait to go home for Thanksgiving. I get to see them, eat momma food, see Thomas, see Kim! Maybe eat at a few new places too (I haven’t forgotten about you, Jess). Such anticipation!
  10. My bed and delicious sleep. I have had friends tell me they never want to leave my bed when they lie in it. Trust me, it’s awesome. I’m about to go have some sleep. It’s currently 3:30 AM on Nov 11. This is due to post at 10am. I’ll be setting my alarm for 8:30am. I have some business to take care of!

    11. Your turn! What are you thankful for these days?

Chicken Piccata and Banana Nutella Crepes

July 12th, 2009 · · Birthdays, new thing(s) of the week, Personal Finance, savory 5 comments - Tags: , ,

I usually send Jen T. something for her birthday but this year I was forgetful so now that she’s in town I decided to make her a belated birthday dinner. I was driving into Austin today from Houston so I wanted to pick something that’s easy. I found a Giada recipe for Chicken Piccata. I’ve never tried making Chicken Piccata before so it’s also expanding my horizons. It’s pretty easy. The only change I made to the recipe was not put in capers. I bought pickled capers inadvertently. Oops. For sides, I just sauteed squash and zucchini. I liked it. Jennifer and Brandi didn’t complain and Jen wanted the recipe. I consider that successful. It’s always kind of unnerving to make something for the first time for people.

Chicken Piccata

Ingredients
2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied and then cut in half
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup brined capers, rinsed
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 3 minutes. Remove and transfer to plate. Melt 2 more tablespoons butter and add another 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter and oil start to sizzle, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and brown both sides in same manner. Remove pan from heat and add chicken to the plate.

Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Check for seasoning. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.

Banana Nutella Crepes

Then for desserts I made Banana Nutella crepes. I’ve made these a few times back when I was living with Alan. The batter makes approximately 18 crepes. Every time I make these crepes I call a bunch of people to come over to help eat. Nisreen and Nino and Jessica joined us for desserts. It’s an incredibly easy recipe. The only change I made was I sprinkled cocoa powder on top of the whip cream. It was delicious. Nutella is where it’s at.

Ingredients
Crepe Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
1 jar hazelnut chocolate spread
5 bananas, sliced
1 can whipping cream
Directions
Sift the flour with the salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg and egg yolk. Pour in the milk, slowly, stirring constantly and, when half is added, stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Beat well until smooth. Add the remaining milk, cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before using. The batter should be the consistency of light cream. Heat a well greased 6-inch skillet,. Add 1/4 cup batter. Tip skillet from side to side until batter covers bottom. Cook until the bottom is golden brown, turn and remove to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter. Spread a thin layer of chocolate hazelnut spread onto crepe and place banana slices down the center. Roll or fold crepe. Just before serving top with whipped cream.

All in all I spent 26 dollars and fed 3 people (4 if you include the leftover box I made for Alan) dinner and 5 people dessert.

I used to cook pretty often over a year ago when living with Alan because we had a lot of counter space. I loved it. But then I took a year off of cooking (I think I cooked maybe 15 times the whole time I was at my previous apartment) because I had a single sink and hardly any counter space. Now, Brandi and I have a full kitchen again, I plan on cooking more. Can’t wait.

New Experiences for Everyone

February 22nd, 2009 · · Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, in passing, new thing(s) of the week, Personal Finance, still-frames, the not so single life One comment - Tags: , , , ,

Friday night, I took my little out for her first experience of bubble tea. I think I finally put together why she scowls a lot and invades the personal bubbles of complete strangers. The kid has glasses and doesn’t ever wear them! She can’t see so the scowling is her really squinting. Poor child. I took her to Coco’s and there is a poster on the sidewall with pictures of some of their popular drinks and the girl marched right up to the wall where there was a family sitting to look at that poster. Luckily, they have a smaller version of the sign on the counter you order at.

She first picked the coffee drinks which I vetoed since it was 8:30 in the evening. She then pointed to the honeydew flavored drink. I asked her if she knew what honeydew was. Little had no idea. I made sure she didn’t want to try something safer, like chocolate or vanilla. She stuck to her guns. Brave girl! Happily, she loved it. She sucked up the first tapioca ball and spat it out, examined it, and then popped it back in her mouth. She said she can’t wait to try the other flavors. New cultural experience was a success.


Little's first bubble tea!

We chatted in my car as we sipped on our drinks. I tried to explain to her how credit cards work. Little fell asleep on me just when I got to interest rates.

Saturday night, Boyfriend, his roomie, and I went to our first Bingo hall. I don’t remember the name of the hall but there’s a night club right next to it with a funny name.


whut it dew

So we were all a bit overwhelmed by Bingo. We thought there was going to be a lot of elderly people but we were pretty wrong about that. Alan got me 9 card sheets which was just enough for a newb. He and Sae were wooed by the best buy which is 36 card sheets for 15 dollars. Umm keeping up with 36 cards at a time is impossible for first timers. There was this middle aged man who helped us out a lot and told us 36 was way too much for first timers. The boys even complained about dizziness and nausea. If there’s a next time they should split a 36 card set.


36 cards way too much for a first timer36 cards way too much for a first timerBINGO!

There are signs to help you keep up, including numbers that have been called and what kind of formations they’re playing. The one in the photo is called a “crazy L.”

Crazy L

We didn’t win our first time. I had a lot of fun but the poor boys didn’t. Playing 36 cards was a bit too stressful and fast for them. I took a hint from my supervisor who recently went for her first time and saved a few Bingo sheets to gift wrap presents. We like being green.

2009 Resolutions

January 2nd, 2009 · · Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, memory, new thing(s) of the week, on the nightstand, Personal Finance, resolutions 2009, the not so single life, wanderlust No comments

Financial:
- Have a full year’s worth of expenses (rent, bills, food) saved up in my emergency fund. I think I just need 6K more since my CD will mature in June. Reevaluate this goal if I move/rent goes up when my lease ends in July.
- If I have leftovers, (which I doubt) max out my Roth IRA.
- If I have leftovers after that, (which I HIGHLY doubt) attack my student loans in the same manner I attacked my car loan last year.

Leisure/Cultural/Fun
- Read 20 books (double from last year’s total of 10)
- Take an art class. (Fused Glass perhaps?)
- Write in my paper main journal once a week.
- Write in my 5 year journal every day. (I started on New Year’s Day!) I think I can spare 6 lines a day.
- Finish 3 short stories for Ink Spots.
- Add on one new state to my list.
- Continue doing my new things of the week (going on year 4 now!)

Community
- Do three volunteer projects with my little from Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. Maybe at the food bank?
- Run another 5k.
- Honor my relationship with my little by seeing her regularly, 2-3 times a month.

Personal
- To not let my ego get in the way of my relationships and communication in my relationships.
- Keep my apartment pristine.
- Work out 3 hours a week.
- Keep my sleep amount average at 7 hours. (It’s currently at 6! I’ve moved it from my previous average of 3 hours.)

2008 in Review

December 27th, 2008 · · Austin, Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America, Birthdays, holidays, Houston, love, memory, new thing(s) of the week, on the nightstand, Personal Finance, pursuit of happiness, resolutions 2008, savory, scary thing(s) of the week, still-frames, the grind, the not so single life, the single life, wanderlust 4 comments - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

January
- Kim came up for New Years. We celebrated downtown with Alan’s couple of friends and Jon and the boys.
- Kim and I wrote on two balloons on New Year’s Day. One balloon of our regrets and things we’re letting go. The other balloon our desires for 2009. Then we ever so poetically, released them on my balcony.
-I went to San Diego for the fourth time. I made it to the zoo and stayed at the same hotel as Jon and Kate plus Eight when they went to San Diego on their way to Hawaii.
- Made Jambalaya for the first time.
-Ate a lot of food with Jon while he was visiting Texas.



At Paradise Pointe Resort in San Diego.

February
- Spent my favorite holiday with Jamie.
- Did my own taxes for the first time
- Found a new hair stylist of of Sixth Street after asking her for a kiss for Bing for his birthday.
- Sent out Valentine cards and packages.



Celebrated Bing’s birthday on Sixth Street. The night I met my hair dresser.

March
- Watched a lot of movies and cooked a lot of dinners with Alan.
- Cindy came up to visit. Introduced her finally to Flip Happy Crepes.
- I got about 3 hours of sleep a night.
- I go to San Diego for work yet again and stay at a hotel that had sex toys in their mini bar available to purchase.
- I search for a Madam Mam’s replacement. (Never found it)
- I celebrated Brandi’s birthday with Jessica. This is the 2nd time in 2008 we managed to spend some time together. We went downtown for her birthday and ate at Hula Hut.



With my girls, celebrating Brandi’s birthday. I wish this year we saw each other more. There was a time a year or two ago we saw each other once a week at least.

April
- I go to Second Chance Prom with Neville. Sweet since I didn’t have a date to my highs school prom. Well.. Liz was my date :)
- I meet my little and take her to celebrate Earth Day at Republic Square.
- I take a fabulous vacation to NYC (originally suppose to include Boston too and visit Mary Ellen but her paper got accepted into a conference). I got to see the Jennifers and Jon. Jon was my lovely host. (entry, entry, entry, entry)
- Had my first Brazilian Wax. Yikes.
- The father of two of the kids I’ve babysat since both of them were born, died.



Jon and I in NY.

May
- My brother graduates college! My parents came up to see him walk.
- Alan and I didn’t renew our lease and I started to mourn the apartment. I was in love with our location and view.
- Continue to babysit for the boys who lost their father. Started with the night of the memorial service and then the funeral.
- Selina asked me to be her bridesmaid.
- My brother turned 23. Making me feel old.



Our view.

June
- Go to funnest book signing I’ve been to with Si Nae and her boyfriend. We went to see Chuck Palahniuk promote Snuff. He threw out blow up dolls.
- I worked a lot.
- I saw a lot of movies with Alan.



Si Nae, her boy, and Chuck Palahniuk!

July
- Alan and I moved out and stopped being roommates :( But it was a good move for us :).
- Went to Florida for the first time to get Mary Ellen married. Flew in a few days early and I joined her clan in cooking, building, bitching, bonding, all in the name of love and the most beautiful wedding I’ve been to yet. It was pretty much a DIY wedding and you can see the labor of love in everything. The baby food jars around the garden sheltering tea light candles, the fireworks/crackers, the dance floor her uncles and aunts built, the cascading fruit basket one of her uncle fashioned at 3 in the morning the night before the wedding, etc. SO many details that were not only beautiful on its own, but also in the labor and thought and love that it represented.
- I take a Thursday off of work and Brandi and Jessica and I hang out for the third time this year. They treated me to a trip to Schiltterbahn for my birthday. Last year it was Sea World.
- Turned 25. Jen T who normally only comes once or twice a year happened to be in town for my birthday :). Si Nae dropped by flowers. I had a pretty birthday cake in the shape of a snow globe. I celebrated with friends. Felt special. Alan took me out to a romantic dinner and bought me a cell phone. It was a good birthday. Though I hate that I’m now 25.



Birthday celebration.

August
- Lily teaches us to make sushi.
- Alan introduces me to Mikados. I mention this because now we go here fairly often for sushi. I’ve yet to take him to Musashinos.
- Cindy comes and stays with me for almost 2 months for her pharmacy school rotation.
- I take my little to her first play. Jack and the Beanstalk.
- Nisreen and Nino get engaged and Nisreen asks me to be one of her bridesmaids.



Sushi making night

September
- I take my certification test and am now certified in clinical research.
- I go to the Domain with Nisreen to study for that test. We go just looking around for her wedding dress and we actually FIND it at St. Thomas.
- I fly to Orlando for work, wishing Alan had gone.
- I take my little to her first UT football game.
- Cindy and I try to learn about football.



So it wouldn’t just be for me why I wanted Alan in Orlando with me. Lookit the golf course!

October
- To my surprise, I’m taken by UT football. Really taken after watching OU game. I thought I had burnt out on football forever, but it’s really quite addicting.
- Alan takes me to see UT/Missouri game.
- Alan had a birthday.
- I dress up as a Hula girl for Halloween.



Kissing Meatwad.

November
- Ran my first 5k with Nisreen, Katambra, and Melissa.
- Jessica has a birthday, so the three of us (Brandi, Jessica, and I) reunite for the fourth time this year. FOUR times. That’s so sad. We go to Pete’s Dueling Pianos with plans to go to ren fest again but Brandi got struck with hives.
- I practically live at work.
- My brother breaks in his apartment by hosting a Thanksgiving meal. He makes his first turkey. Delicious!
- I take my little to the Paramount theatre for the first time. We see The Hungry Caterpillar. Then I have a mini high school reunion.
- I take Thanksgiving week off from work and spend a week in Houston.
- I see fireworks with Kim and kind of Chris.



Nisreen pours everyone a double shot of bourbon at my brother’s Thanksgiving dinner.

December
- I finish paying off my car :) One of my New Year’s Resolutions. I bought in July 2007. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
- I spend Christmas in Houston.
- On the 26th of December, Kim and I for the 2nd time release balloons for New Years. We’re stunned that this time around, we do not have any regrets to write on that regret balloon. Instead, we write what we want to stay away from. Good times with Ms. Kim.
- I get to see my best friend, Mary Ellen. Second time this year. First time being for her wedding in July.
- I go back on Saturday (today) to get some work done and to spend NYE in Austin. With friends and beau.



Our balloons. Purple = wishes. Pink = what we’ll stay away from. Since we didn’t have regrets this year.

It’s been a good year. I read 10 books, ate a lot of Pho, and laughed a lot.

Snarky Ben Stein

October 7th, 2008 · · in passing, Personal Finance No comments

Wrote an article. Here it is as published on yahoo.com. (P.S. I’ve shaken his hand and have his autograph. Wee!)

How to Ruin the U.S. Economy
by Ben Stein

1) Have a fiscal policy that creates immense deficits in good times and bad, burdening America’s posterity with staggering burdens of repaying the debt.
2) Eliminate regulation of Wall Street and/or fail to enforce the regulations that already exist, instead trusting Wall Street and other money managers and speculators to manage other people’s money with few or no regulations and little oversight.

3) Have an energy policy that disallows producing our own energy and instead requires that we buy energy from abroad, thus making our oil prices highly volatile and creating large balance of payments deficits, lowering the value of the dollar and thus making the problem get progressively worse.

4) Have Congress mandate that banks and other financial entities lend money to persons they know in advance to have poor credit ratings or none at all.

5) Allow investment banks, insurers, and banks to bet their entire net worth and then some on the premise that borrowers known to be improvident will in fact repay those loans.

6) Allow the creation of large betting pools called “hedge funds” that can move markets and control the outcome of trading, thus taking a forum for savings and retirement for families and making it into a rigged casino game that exists primarily to fleece suckers like ordinary working men and women.

7) Have laws that protect corporate officers from being sued for misconduct but at the same time punish lawyers in the private sector who ferret out such misconduct and try to make accountable the people responsible for shareholder and investor losses. If one of those lawyers gets particularly aggressive in protecting stockholders, put him in prison.

8) Appoint as head of the United States Treasury Department a man whose whole life was spent on Wall Street, who became fantastically rich through his peddling of junk bonds at his firm while the firm later sold short those same sorts of bonds.

9) Scare Americans into putting up $750 billion of their hard earned money to bail out the billionaires and their friends who created the market for loans to poor credit risks (The “subprime” market) and the unbelievably large side bets on those loans, promising that such a bailout would save the retirement savings of Americans, then allow the immense hedge funds to make the market crater immediately afterwards.

10) Propose to save the situation by surtaxing the oil industry, which is owned by our fellow Americans, mostly in their retirement plans, thus penalizing Americans for investing in companies that efficiently and legally produce an indispensable product.

11) Insist that the free market requires that banks and insurers with friends of the Secretary of the Treasury be saved but allow other entities not so fortunate to fail, thus creating total uncertainty and terror among financial institutions, and demolishing all of the confidence built up in financial circles since the days of FDR.

12) Then have the Republican candidate say he would keep on the job the Treasury Secretary who facilitated the crisis, failed to protect the nation from the crisis, got the taxpayers to pony up to save his Wall Street buddies, and have the Democratic candidate, as noted, say he would save the day by taxing the stockholders of energy companies.

There, that should do it.

link: http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/112984

biggest check of my life

July 20th, 2007 · · Personal Finance, the grind 3 comments - Tags:

$4,800 from Insurance company.
$6,000 loan from generous private parties (0 interest!)
+ Full expenditure of emergency fund (I.E. 99% of savings account)
_____________________________________________________
biggest check written in my life.

null

Good thing today is payday. eaotjeaoitjaoitjaoeitj