Loved but Denied

I manged to pass these beauties by...

 Puma Boutique on RueLaLa - $35 from $60

 Puma Boutique on RueLaLa - $25 from $40

 Picnic Time Boutique on RueLaLa - $79 from $149.99 (The perfect tailgating grill!)

Picnic Time Boutique on RueLaLa. $69 from $109 (The perfect picnic basket! Yes, I realize that it's completely unnecessary, which is why I didn't buy it)

Tuesday & Wednesday Daily Damages (4/28 - 4/29)

First of all...

Happy Birthday to Aaron! 

He does not have a bulldog, but is mildly obsessed with them...so I thought the bulldog would be appropriate. Sadly this is just a picture of a random bulldog that I pulled off some website, she's pretty adorable though.

Tuesday

• $38.54 - Johnny Foodmasters

Wednesday

• $56.56 - Target 

So I went into Target to get a couple of things, among them was a couple of sympathy cards I need to send out this week and I ended up leaving with $18 worth of sympathy cards. They're so hard to find when you need them! So when you find good ones that aren't religious and such, it's imperative to buy multiples.  Imperative. 

Monday's Daily Damages (4/26)

Monday

• $46.88 - Banana Republic
• $79.69 - Mother's Day Present (can't say where I bought it yet...she'll know what it is if I do)

So a couple of things, I locked myself out of Aaron's today b/c I had to leave my car and my keys at Nissan so they could fix a warranty issue with the dumb little gas popper thing. The guy that I was dealing with did not really impress me so much. Talk about leaving something to be desired in the customer service department and the brains department for that matter.  I was so annoyed with the whole issue that I didn't think about the fact that my apartment keys and the key to Aaron's were on my keychain. In fact I didn't realize it until I pulled up in front of Aaron's. Amazing.

So since he wasn't home, I headed over to the Natick Collection (AKA large a** mall) instead of just sitting and waiting, which I am not good at these days...I feel like if I'm not going a mile a minute, juggling 20-25 things in the air, then I'm not working hard enough. So anyways, I bought my mom her mother's day present, which I will be hounding my brother for his contribution for shortly...so really I only spend half of what I reported. Of course I wasn't able to get out of the mall completely unscathed...I feel victim to the sale rack at Banana. I am weak. I purchased two tops, both of which I can wear to work...my work clothes are a sad state of affairs these days. Sad indeed. At least this is how I justified my purchases to myself at the time.

I should note that I was able to bypass a number of my usual pitfalls however. Anthropology, Nordstrom, Lululemon, The Body Shop, Bare Essentials....not today my friends. Not today.

It's Official People

I got my official welcoming from Farmer Dave today for my latest endeaver of a CSA share with the Kik-ster. It's going to be a good summer...most delicious money ever spent.  

Thank you for choosing to join us for the 2010 Community Supported Agriculture at Farmer Dave's. We have received your application for membership and are excited to welcome you as a CSA member!  Thank you for choosing to support us, your local farm, as your source for high quality, fresh vegetables. We look forward to a season full of fresh vegetables and full bellies!

Check out our website for more information about our CSA

See you in the summer!

Farmer Dave and the farm crew

Weekend Damage (4/24 - 4/25)

Saturday

• $5.03 - Dunks 
• $36.61 - Roche Brothers
• $20.23 - CVS

So once again I walked out of CVS with a pile of greeting cards. I went in to buy wrapping paper and a card for Aaron's birthday, but am incapable of only buying one card at a time. Instead, I bought five. Maybe I should work for a greeting card company? Court and I had once dreamed of opening up our own greeting card business, sadly it never got off the ground.

Here's a taste of what we had to offer....

Front:
A picture of a girl eating a candy bar

Inside:
Congratulations on beating anorexia.

Impressive, I know. Not sure our style is really for everyone, but I think we could have found a niche market.

Sunday

• $10 - Roche Brothers 
• food coloring (which I already had but forgot)
• cookie batter (pre-made, I know...lame...just not feeling making batter from scratch, no time these days, or motivation for that matter)
• organic vanilla extract
• $26.51 - Bed Bath and Beyond 
• random baking accouterments (I'm going to make some sweet sugar cookies decorated with corporate logos on them for my presentation on Corporate Accountability International on Thursday...I find that my grades increases dramatically when I provide tasty snacks)
• $26.43 - Home Depot
• hardwood floor cleaner (Aaron had to get some underlay stuff for the new hardwoods that are going in next weekend...WOOHOO...and I decided we should probably have some way to clean said hardwoods)

Side note on the hardwoods: I was able to convince Aaron that he should purchase his new hardwood floors from somewhere local, instead of fueling the beast that is Home Depot. It took some research, field trips and whining but he agreed. I have to say though, it was the biggest pain ever. The first place we went came back at damn near triple the price of Home Depot and the woman took FOREVER to get a price and get back to us. So we found another local joint, which was far more responsive but still far from perfect. But all is said and done now, the floors are being delivered on Monday and will be installed by Aaron, his step-dad and one of his little brothers next weekend. Considering they do cost quite a bit more than the Home Depot floors I will be paying for a portion of the floors. It's only fair.

Other weekend news...I managed to break my vacuum. I have no idea how I managed it. I just pulled it around the corner and it got stuck, so I gave it a yank like I always do and crack, snapple, pop....the thing busted. So irritating. Luckily it was given to me by my grandmother, so I mean at least I didn't pay for it, but still now I suppose I need to get a new one.

While I would love to be able to buy one of the coveted Dyson dream machines, I just don't really see this fitting into my budget. Sad.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday Daily Damages

Wednesday

• $56.87 - Dillon's on Boylston (drinks with an old friend)

Thursday

• $27.91 - Irving

Friday

• $60 - Cab, Tavern on the Water, The Greatest Bar (couldn't tell you how much I spent where though)

Tuesday's Daily Damages (4/20)

• $5.93 - Russo's Market (totally walked out of my apartment this morning without my lunch, bummer)
• $225 - CSA Share (split with Kiki)

I'm SUPER excited about my new CSA share! For those of you out there that don't know what a CSA is, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It's a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Find a CSA in your area!

The Kik-ster and I are splitting a share, which will provide us with a plethora of delicious goodies once a week from June to October. Splitting the share made it much more affordable (when you think about it $225 for fresh, local produce for 5 months really isn't bad!) and also makes me feel better about the amount of food I'll be getting. You see, I was worried about the food going to waste if I was left to my own devises to eat it on my own (even with Aaron's help). Also, I don't so much cook...meaning my mother will be getting many a phone calls and will need to talk me through cooking 101.

Monday's Daily Damage (4/19)

Happy Marathon Monday (or Patriots Day for some of you)!!

• $5.53 - Star Market
• $5.00 - Berry Line 

Today I decided that I deserved a treat after a very hectic ride home, so I got myself some Berry Line frozen yogurt with pineapple and granola. So let me explain why I deserve such a delicious a treat...today is Marathon Monday and I live on the marathon route, near Fenway Park...AND there was a Red Sox game today too. This meant that the roads leading up to my apartment were barricaded, there were drunk people falling all other the place, cops cluttering up the road but not really doing anything productive, and all in all just WAY too much activity. So needless to say, it took me much longer than I expected to find a parking spot and when I finally did, it was a meter, which meant I had to shlepp myself back over there to feed the meter b/c I could only put two hours on it. Sigh. Oh wait it gets better, while I was huffing it over there I was slowed down by a couple (drunk) singing A Whole New World from Aladdin. It was a bit much and it damn near pushed me over the edge.

Okay that's enough whining from me for one day...

Weekend Damage (4/17 -4/18)

Saturday

• $19.97 - Panera (Lunch for Aaron and I)

Sunday

• $63.96 Crate and Barrel (Bridal Shower present)
• $56.29 - HomeGoods (giant pots for patio herb garden and some veggies)

I thought I would share with you a small success story from this weekend. Shannon (my cousin) has decided to give up meat, after watching the Meet Your Meat video. Shannon has been on the cusp for a while now, having already given up pork and barely eating red meat, but has finally made the jump. I am proud. We'll see how she does, it's hard for the first year or so, but I can genuinely say that it gets much, much easier as time goes on. I can't even imagine eating an animals flesh anymore, it makes my stomach turn. Stay strong Shan!

I for one will be be cutting out a lot of the dairy products and eggs that are currently in my diet. I'm not going completely vegan, I've tried that before and it just wasn't for me. I found it exhausting and it made eating out incredibly difficult. Maybe some day, but not any day soon.

This decision is spurred from a movie I saw in class a ways back that I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Among other things it showed what happens to cows when given bovine growth hormone, they're basically crippled and in excruciating pain. The constant milking also leads to chronic infections in the cow's utters, which causes pus to be released when the cow is milked. Very painful for the cow and yes, that means there's pus in your milk. It's organic milk for me from here on out, I'm just not down with drinking pus and find it very disturbing that this is found acceptable by our government. Here, here for regulations that do nothing but help industries and not people. Way to go guys.

Meet Your Meat

It always amazes me that the first question out of people's mouths when they find out that I don't eat meat, is "What do you eat then?" or "How do you get enough protein?" As if I must be starving to death because I don't eat anything with a face or a foot (this is my motto). There's a lot of reasons I don't eat meat. Among them, is that I could never bring myself to kill an animal, and I feel that if you can't kill it, then you shouldn't eat it.

I recently came across this video and it reaffirmed my vegetarian lifestyle. I warn you it's graphic and will most likely make you cry, I was definitely a mess halfway through it. Regardless though, you should know where your food comes from and how it gets to your plate. I've found that many people have no idea, and a lot could care less. Knowledge is power people, so feel free to watch this clip and educate yourselves.



Here's a little food for thought (in case you can't bring yourself to get through the video)...
"Animals on today's factory farms have no legal protection from cruelty that would be illegal if it were inflicted on dogs or cats: neglect, mutilation, genetic manipulation, and drug regimens that cause chronic pain and crippling, transport through all weather extremes, and gruesome and violent slaughter. Yet farmed animals are no less intelligent or capable of feeling pain than are the dogs and cats we cherish as companions."

Friday Daily Damage

• $30.90 - Shell 

Not too much to report these days...I've been doing quite the job at refraining from shopping. The fact that I'm either at work (meaning hiking around in the woods delineating wetlands...so no where near a computer to do any online shopping) or doing homework might have something to do with it.

Second Bill of Rights

Perhaps it's time for us to revisit FDR's proposed 2nd Bill of Rights. It makes sense, a lot of sense.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all – regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are:

• The right to a useful and remunerative job.
• The right to a good education.
• The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies.
• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment.
• The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.
• The right of every family to a decent home.
• The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday Daily Damages (4/12 - 4/15)

Monday

• $0

Tuesday

• $2.78 - Cumberland Farms (much needed fountain soda and box of sour watermelons, after a long day in the field)
• $18.89 - Chipolte (dinner....still haven't so much gotten around to buying any groceries)

Wednesday

• $1.25 - Diet Pepsi
• $10.57 - Fenway Farm Stand

Thursday

• $0

Friday & Weekend Damages (4/9 - 4/11)

Friday

• $0

Saturday

• $0

I should probably mention that Aaron did buy me dinner though, at a Dah Mee, a little local Thai/Korean/Japanese restaurant. Trying out some of the local joints in Natick, expanding out of the city to the world of the suburbs. Gearing up for the move in September and having a local place I can get Thai food is a necessity. It was delicious and the menu was HUGE! Definitely will be going back.

Sunday

• $31.85 - Marshalls

Aaron got two chairs for his patio so I went ahead and bought the cushions for them. I then enjoyed said chairs and cushions while reading out on the patio this afternoon. Love this weather.

I must say not too bad for a weekend. Especially considering we went to Homegoods and Marshalls and I can rarely leave there with out a pile of stuff that I don't need.

Wants Not Needs...

$49.00 from $89.00 - Luis Hill Boutique on the LaLa.

$79.00 from $195.00 - Sir Alistair Rai Boutique on the LaLa.

$79.00 from $180.00 - Sir Alistair Rai Boutique on the LaLa.

 $79.00 from $220.00. - Sir Alistair Rai Boutique on the LaLa.

I am obsessed with Sir Alistair Rai now. Granted this is not an American company and all of the products are imported so you have to take into account that you pretty scarf had to be shipped to you from India, not exactly sustainable....but it at least appears to be a socially responsible company. 

Thursday's Daily Damage

• $4.48 - Elm City Bagel (breakfast bagel and coffee)
• $8.46 - Hannafords (Lunch)

So as you can see, I have no food in my apartment and have yet to go grocery shopping so today I have been buying my food as I go. Hopefully Aaron will be kind enough to feed me tonight. Grocery shopping is definitely on the list of things to do this weekend. Luckily I still have one more voucher at the Fenway Farmstand, so I can get some delicious, local grub! Hmmm....perogies (they have the best perogies).

Obsessive Consumption

The Obsessive Consumption blog and book by Kate Bingaman-Burt was brought to my attention from a good friend of mine. I of course, love it so I thought I'd pass it along. As you can probably guess from the title it's completely relevant to my current mission and purpose of this blog of becoming a more conscious consumer. This book has most definitely been added to my reading list, which is getting ridiculously long, especially considering my lack of free time these days. Anyways, enjoy!

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday Daily Damages (4/5-4/7)

Monday

• $10 - Charlie Card

Tuesday

• $4.30 - Dunks (Coffee and Bagel)
• $63.84-Clay Nissan

 I finally got my car inspection taken care of! AND while I was at it I had them change the oil and fix the back window seal thing...I know my knowledge of the car anatomy is astonishing! Luckily my car is still under warranty so the window seal didn't cost a dime.

Wednesday

• $2.39 - Iced Coffee @ McDonalds (funny how the same item at the same chain has a different price...I paid $2.24 for the same size iced coffee not too long ago, what gives?)
• $3.79 - On the Go (bag of sun chips  for lunch, super healthy I know)
• $28.82 - Sunoco 

So two things...the biodegradable bag that sunchips has switched to is so incredibly loud! I will deal with it though for the sole purpose that I know it's not going to be hanging out in a landfill for the next hundred or so years. PLUS they make delicious chips. A win, win. Why can't all chip companies do this? Imagine if all our packaging was biodegradable! It would be heavenly.

Second thing, the little plastic gas lever thing to pop my gas tank broke today. Super annoying but thankfully it's still under warranty (for the next 1,700 miles). Looks like I'm headed back to Nissan once the part comes in. Sigh.

The Busy Factor

Dear Readers,

Field season is upon us, well not so much us as me in this case. This means that I will be spending long days delineating wetlands and looking for amphibian egg masses in every puddle I come across. On top of that I have that whole pesky grad school thing to juggle and with the semester is winding down I have a million of things to wrap up. Sadly, I fear that this may interfere a bit with my blogging a bit as I won't be able to post any of my witty commentary whilst at work. Don't worry you can still count on my spending updates and hopefully I'm wrong and will find the time or things will slow down a bit, we'll see.

I leave you with this picture of Megs helping me with some field work this past weekend. (I should note: taking a dog with you in the field, particularly one with the attention span of a fruit fly is counterproductive)

Giving Gifts is Great BUT Giving Free Gifts is Better

That's right...free gifts. Let me explain.

I was home this weekend for the whole Easter holiday thing, and while home I whipped up a batch of killer cupcakes with homemade butter cream and some snickerdoodles for a friend who hasn't been feeling well. Sugar is a cure all people, get on board.

 Please note: Sweet Tart ducks do not hold up well to the moisture of butter cream and best not stuck on top of cupcakes.

The free part comes from the fact that I used all of my mother's resources to bake said goodies. For those of you who know me, you also know that I am not so much the baker. Don't worry my mother carefully supervised as my father laughed at the whole situation from the couch. She assures me that I will be baking her famous pie recipe in no time (possible as soon as 10 years from now!). She even bought me a rolling pin, well technically it was for Christmas (it's no wonder where I get my shopping habits from, the woman has already started Christmas shopping!) but it was left out on the counter and I asked who's it was and the uhhh oohhh kinda gave it away. So I am the proud new owner of french rolling pin, of which I have no idea how to use. Notice the tapered edges so I don't pinch my delicate little fingers. Fancy.

Maddened March Wrap Up

Total: $1,330

Holy Hell, I have really outdone myself, and my budget this month. This number kind of makes me want to shoot myself in the face. Right. In. The. Face. I mean I was expecting this to be a big month and had saved up some money in preparation, but it doesn't make this number any less disturbing. I mean really. I'm horrified.

The breakdown:
Health & Beauty: $215(remember that I had my hair cut this month)
Entertainment: $210
Gifts: $183 (some of which I haven't given yet)
Groceries: $137
Random Crap: $137 (Red Sox tickets, AAA membership, CVS trips that I didn't feel like breaking down, and other assorted items of randomness)
Clothing: $114
Gasoline: $97
Bars/Restaurants: $37
Snacks: $33
Shoes: $24.50 (I counted the SuperFeet here, I mean they go in my shoes...so I guess that counts)
Coffee: $12

The only good news I can offer is that April should be relatively inexpensive as I don't have any bridal showers, bachelorette parties, birthdays to buy for (b/c I'm already done shopping for Aaron's) and Christmas remains a safe distance away.

Weekend Damage

Saturday

• $21.13 - Shell (gasing up Veruca, yet again)

Sunday

• $0

I am dreading posting the monthly tally for March, DREADING it! It was a big month. There was the Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party, I did some early shopping for Aaron's birthday and got sucked into buying some new items for my work wardrobe at Ann Taylor. It's going to be painful to see how much it all comes out to. Painful.

On that note, this blog was started to help me keep my spending in check, sadly I seem to be falling woefully short of this goal. It seems like every month there's some even or excuse for my exorbitant spending. It's a bit ridiculous to be honest. Time for that to change. Granted I'm off to a really poor start in April with that whole spending $400 thing...hopefully I can turn that around. Fingers crossed.

Friday's Daily Damage

• $396 - BuyWithMe (GloMD MedSpa)
• $1.25 - Diet Pepsi from vending machine (needed after the inspection fiasco, see below)

Alright, I can feel you all judging me out there for speding $400 at a spa...BUT let me explain. The deal on BuyWithMe was that for $99 you get $300 worth of laser hair removal, something that I have wanted for a very long time. Just think of not having to shave! Amazing. So since it takes more than one visit for the treatments to work, I bought four vouchers, which equates to me spending $396 for $1,200 worth of services!! It's an INCREDIBLE savings, how could I say no! So while I will be eating rice and frozen vegetables for the month of April I can seek comfort in the fact I will be keeping countless razor blades out of the landfill AND saving water with the shorter showers I will be able to take. You're welcome environment. 

On a side note, I tried to get my car inspected today only to find that the Massachusetts inspection gods clearly hate me. I went to three different garages only to be told at each of them that their computers were either down or that they were having trouble with them so it might be a couple of hours (which makes me think that these things must be on a network, if they're all down at once)! Umm...yeah, no thanks. I would rather skirt the law for a while longer by driving around with my expired sticker. Although, I've been told that you have a week after it's expiration to get a new one. Thank you, that is all.

Thursday's Daily Damage

• $27.89 - Mobil (gas for the drive to school)
• $2.06 - Dunkin Donuts (Coffee...2nd cup)
• $6.00 - Antioch food stand thing (forgot my lunch)

As you can see, it's back to the grind for me. Got off to a slow start this morning after almost falling and killing myself due to some wet crocs on a tile floor, while trying to pour my first cup of coffee. Then I forgot my lunch bag, which on top of my lunch had my instant coffee packs from Starbucks in it, so I had to stop and get another coffee to get me through my first class. Not the best start. Let's hope next week goes a little better.

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday Daily Damages

Monday

• $0

Tuesday 

• $0

Wednesday

• $0

Sadly spring break is over and I will resume shlepping myself up to Keene, NH on Thursday mornings at 5:45AM. Lame, I know. This also means that you can expect to see charges at Elm City Bagel and for coffee all over the place until the semester is over. Sigh.

Please note: Three days in a row of not spending a dime!!