Oh Yeah, and...

Happy Birthday to Me

Bring on my thirties, I'm not scared.

Monday - Firday Damages (2/14 - 2/18)

Monday

• $0

Tuesday

• $55 - Daffodill Days (American Cancer Society)

Wednesday

• $33.18 - Hess

Thursday

• $0

Friday

• +$25 - Living Social Refund (Whole Foods wasn't offering the deal that I bought the voucher for)
• $50ish - CVS (last minute India items) 

AND there will be more purchases today...but I leave for India in t-minus six hours...lots to do and not a lot of time to do it...

So adios friends, see ya in three weeks.

Weekend Damages (2/12 - 2/13)

Saturday

• $0 

So while I may not have spent any money on Saturday it certainly wasn't a dull day. Aaron planned a nice evening in Boston for us, Maggie included (he actually found a hotel...the Hyatt...that allowed dogs). Maggie was quite the little city dog. Sooo much to sniff! She loved it, and she made herself right at home in the hotel too.

Anyways, I figured something was up, I just had a gut feeling...and I was right! I'm a genius.

I got a text from my cousin 3 hours before we were supposed to be at dinner telling me Happy Birthday (funny b/c he should probably know that I have the same birthday as my Uncle...his father...and it wasn't Saturday) and to tell my nan not to have too many drinks because he was picking her up for an early mass Sunday morning...BUSTED! I of course told Aaron immediately that his plan was foiled :). So close....so very, very close.

So my family and some of my friends met us at Tresca for a very tasty dinner and then we headed over to The Greatest Bar for the rest of the evening. While I was expecting my family and I figured a couple of my friends to be at the restaurant for dinner, I had no idea that more people would be waiting for us at the bar, so Aaron did manage to pull off a semi-surprise for the evening. I even managed to walk by this sign on my way in...obviously I was in my own world.

Anyways, kudos to Aaron, Court and all else that helped in the planning efforts for the lovely evening, and for reminding me that fleeing the country for one's 30th birthday doesn't mean you'll get off without having a room full of people calling you old.


Sunday

• $82.82 - Pet World (Food and such for Maggie)

Thursday & Friday Damages (2/10 -2/11)

Thursday

• $19.18 - Amazon

Some friends of mine recently lost everything in a house fire, and very nearly lost their dog as well...which prompted the purchase of this sticker to put in our window...and of course while I was poking around on Amazon I managed to come away with a couple of additional items. Like a yoga DVD and book on the yoga sutras of Patanjali.  


Friday

• $0

Monday - Wednesday Damages (2/7 - 2/9)

Monday

• $0

Tuesday

• $34.03 - Gas for Veruca

Wednesday

• $53.10 - Best Buy

Super huge memory card and second set of controller things for Wii Active, so Aaron and I can race against each other. :)

Shopping Locally

HOW have I never noticed the shop locally feature on Etsy before?!

Amazing. You just type in where your  location and local merchants pop up. Love this.

I mean just look at this little gem from Cody's Creations in Natick. 

Maggie would have a hard time focusing if I had a bag of treats clipped to her leash...BUT she'd probably stay right by my side, no more pulling! This may be worth trying.

I like, BUT...

Isis vest on Steap and Cheap. $59.99 from $148.95

BUT...

Made in China = FAIL.

Wewood Watch on iDeeli. $70 from $119.

BUT...

I never wear watches.

Knitted Dove Jacket on Beyond the Rack. $49 from $97.50.

BUT...

Made in China = FAIL.

Weekend Damages (2/5 - 2/6)

Saturday

• $0

Sunday

• $46.32 - Cheesecake Factory (lunch with the little after ice skating, which I had a groupon for and before going to see The Secret Garden at the Wheelock Family Theater) 
• $9.56 - Sephora (nail polish...which when I went to go use last night didn't have the little brush attached to it...so I have to take it back...wicked annoying)

This Week's Damages (1/31 - 2/4)

Woah, this week really got away from me.

Monday

• $0

Tuesday

• $50 - Jasmere

This site is really impressing me. I bought the voucher for Sticks and Stones,  with a friend of mine for another friend's bridal shower. Such a fun gift!

We got her one that says "trust." Not Alexis, I don't know who this Alexis character is, but I wanted to give you an example so you knew what I was talking about. Anyways, she's not sure if she's taking her soon-to-be husband's last name so that was out, and you can only use letters not number otherwise we would have gotten their wedding date, which would have been awesome. Alas, we settled on trust, b/c you need a bit of that in a marriage I've heard. Hope she likes it!

Wednesday

• $0

Thursday

• $0

Friday

• $130 - Aaron (framing costs...we split the framing costs for my diplomas and my "Beer Allary" fabulous vintage poster...come to think of it, I'm not sure why he paid for any of it??? But who am I to argue!...also, I spend a lot of money on framing, it's insane) 
• $32.19 - iParty (finishing touches to my gift for Averi's Bridal Shower)
• $6.72 - Roche Brothers (Averi's gift)

So we had to bring a gift that could be used at the time written on your invitation to my friends bridal shower...I was assigned midnight. You could be doing a lot of things at midnight...AND I should mention that the invite also said to be as funny/creative as we wanted. I dabbled with the idea of playing this time slot on the more scandalous side but I decided to keep it clean and went with a rave theme. That's right rave...hence the $32 at iParty, that girls got a hell of a lot of glow sticks and blow pops now. Enjoy! :)

I should mention that I tried to talk my friend into giving Averi the morning after pill for her 9am time slot. Let me explain why this is so funny. First of all, that's the best idea EVER. Second, my friend who would be purchasing the pill is 7 months pregnant. The thought of the pharmacist's face when a 7-month pregnant woman asked for the morning after pill makes me smile. Sadly her husband didn't seem to think this was all that funny and my idea fell flat. I should have switched time slots with her...

• I.O.Aaron - $100ish - to cover my part of Maggie's annual check up at Sudbury Animal Hospital (please enjoy the pictures of the abused puppy below)

 Miss Maggie, happily snorgling the snow. This is one of her favorite snowy day pastimes, aside from eating snow of course.

 Maggie and Aaron spooning in bed on Sunday morning. Nope, she's not spoiled at all.

Please note, I am not in bed because Maggie was dreaming and kept kicking me. I lost my spot to a dog....again, totally normal.

Holy Temptation...

Kalorik 18-bottle wine cooler on iDeeli. $229 from $399

 Kaloric Electric Grill on iDeeli. $177 from $249

We can't have propane at our condo :(

 Seaton dress on HauteLook. $76 from $218.

Made in USA

Maxi dress on Beyond the Rack. $64.99 from  $158.

 Made in USA

Rails Camille dress on iDeeli. $35 from $101. 

Made in USA

Rock &Republic jeans on iDeeli. $89 from $178.

Poncho on HauteLook. $55 from $156. 

Made in USA

Mountain Hardware fleece on Steep and Cheap. $74.99 from $149.95

Jovial January

Total: $1,390

The Breakdown:
Travel - $265
Clothing - $258
Randomness - $257
Health & Beauty - $160
Groceries - $106
Bars/Restaurants - $89
Entertainment - $87
Gifts - $80
Gasoline - $65
Maggie - $21
Snacks - $3

Not too bad. I spent the  majority of my money on stuff for India like meds, clothes, blah, blah, blah.

This is will one of my last monthly breakdowns folks. February will mark my last month of blogging. So start to prepare yourself now. I know it will be hard, and there may be tears...but it's for the best. As for the future of my spending...well my student loans from grad school kick in next month, and something tells me that the payments will keep me in check. (...by in check I mean eating white rice and frozen vegetables, pan handling, and perhaps even reverting back to my college self and selling sewn wears for cash. Good times)

Dizzying December

FINALLY the breakdown for December (Sorry for the delay)...January to follow shortly!!!

Total: $1,316

The Breakdown:
Gifts - $570
Maggie - $194
Groceries - $141
Clothing - $130
Randomness - $117
Gasoline - $99
Entertainment - $34
Bars/Restaurants - $27
Coffee - $4
Snacks - $0.85

This is actually much better than I expected. Granted I should probably tack on a couple extra hundred to that number because I didn't report absolutely every gift I bought...that would kind ruin the surprise, no? And at this point, I have no idea where those receipts are. Most likely in the trash.

Happy ALMOST Birthday...to ME!

It's true...in 18 days exactly I will be celebrating my...gulp...30th birthday. Gross. Luckily I will be celebrating on a plane on my way to India for three weeks. AND my theory is that if I'm not in this country for my 30th, then it doesn't count and I get to be 29 for another year. (please keep your opinions to yourself on my theory and try not to ruin my year, would ya?)

So anyways, I have already received some of my birthday presents. People should have really learned by now that you can't give me anything early, b/c I will annoy you until you let me open it, or I will open it as soon as you leave. I don't love surprises...they're not my thing...never have been.

Here's what I got from my mom and dad...

 Kitchen Aid Food Processor. 

My mom is very enthusiastic about my new found interest in cooking and baking (mostly baking...let's face it the outcome is just so much tastier...mmm sugar)

Krinkles Eggplant Lady Ornament.

 Krinkles Poinsettia Fairy Lady.

...from my brother,

The coolest teapot around...NUMI, organic flowering tea. It's the coolest thing maybe ever. You add hot water and this weird looking little tea pod expands into a flower. AND it's delicious. 

...from my friend Hilary, 

A gift card for Groupon. I didn't even know you could get a gift certificate for Groupon! Awesome!!

AND Aaron has planned an evening out in Boston for us for my birthday b/c I told him I don't need anything. So we're packing up Maggie and heading to the city for an evening. I have a feeling he's up scheming something else, but I haven't been able to dig up any additional information...and I'm trying my best not to cross any lines with my snooping. Granted that's been hard for me to refrain from, but I'm trying. 

Thanks for the birthday cheer!