Third District

I am embarking on a photo project documenting my place of work.

Here are the latest:

Wildlife

This afteroon J and I took advantage of where we live and saw the National Geographic Best Wildlife Photography exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History.

These were some unbelievable photos. Just amazing. I have a soft spot for wildlife photos - they evoke so many emotions. For me, mainly sadness (interestingly).

The museum was crowded and that was our fault for waiting so long. The exhibit opened in March and we should have gone then. But today it worked out - I was working from an office about five blocks away, and J is a 30-minute walk from home. So we met up, saw the photos, then reconvened at my place for dinner.

Here are a few of my favorites.









I wish I could take wildlife photos like this. But I feel so lucky to have instant access to the museums and to live vicariously through these amazing photographers.

One more year for hubs!

It's no secret that I would drop everything to move to Sweden if Nicklas Lidstrom asked me to. I have been watching him play hockey for twenty years and he never ceases to amaze. No other active player has the league-wide respect of the Red Wings' own #5. And he's returning for (at least) one more year before retirement!

Here are some shots I took of him last year in Detroit.

New Goals

For the past couple years I have been on a mission to pay off my student loans. Last year I paid over 10k and I am on track to get them all paid off in the next 15-18 months.

To do this, I keep my savings capped where it is and pretty much put everything extra toward the loans.

However... I have been fantasizing of late about a teeny tiny row house of my own; with a patio and a little garden and a grill. Private outdoor space would be heaven, just heaven.

I am restricted in my ability to sell my home - I promised to live here for five years in return for accepting the 8k first-time home-buyer's tax credit. Two years down, three to go, but this is a blessing in disguise; it prevents me from being over-zealous and selling prematurely.

So now, with a goal to have 60-70k to put down on a new home by 2015, between equity in my current home and liquid savings, I am going to cut in half the amount of money I send to my loans monthly and put the other half into savings. This will lengthen the amount of time it will take me to pay my loans, but really, it doesn't matter. The interest is incredibly low AND tax-deductible.

So... onward... intelligently... sticking with the plan... and hopefully being in a new home in the next 3-5 years!

Cats!

Cat owners know that with them comes zero personal space.

This morning I just wanted to do my crossword puzzle in peace.

This is what happened after answering only one clue.

Spring Cleaning!

I live to declutter. I just can't stand a messy, crowded space. One of my favorite things to do is to clean out my closet but since I never re-accumulate anything it becomes more and more difficult to pare down.

But given that this is a very quiet week for me socially, I figured I would take advantage of time and go through some boxes that I moved from my last apartment but never actually unpacked.

Success - three boxes pared down to two and a whole bunch of useless crap thrown out. I did, however, keep some things: a photo of my dearly beloved horse, an icon of the Goddess Diana, some wall hangings. Chintzy picture frames and knick-knacks that I will never display again were tossed.

I also cleaned out the fridge and freezer and threw in a huge load of laundry including the comforter.

Later this week I will try to go through some clothes and get rid of things that I don't love or that are worn out.

Man... I feel five pounds lighter!

Maymont

We went to Richmond this weekend so I could meet up with some friends Friday night. Then Saturday we all went to this park/estate called Maymont. There are some bird pens with hawks and eagles, an enclosure with two black bears, a petting zoo for kids, Asian and Italian gardens, gazebos, lots of little paths and nooks to explore. It's a really gorgeous setting and it was a beautiful day to spend outside.

$3.93

This is what I spent to fill up my scooter today - with premium! It's a small engine so I don't mind using premium fuel - I still only end up spending about $5 every two weeks to fill the tank, and that gets me about 60-70 miles between fillups.

Memorial Day

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, also known as Furlough Day #3. Three down one to go... then full salary for the rest of the year (I hope).

It should be gorgeous so we are going on the first sail of the summer! Yesterday we cruised down to the marina to check on the boat's motor and I photographed a very regal heron, just chilling out on the dock, unafraid.



It's so nice to sail out a bit to where it gets nice and quiet, anchor, and relax with a crossword or novel. We bring sandwiches and sodas and spend most of the day out there. It only takes a few minutes to get far enough away to where the noise of the city totally fades away.

Vocab

I'm currently reading Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography, Speak, Memory. Like most of his work the writing is simple but raw and unbelievably descriptive (without being flowery). But Nabokov is intense. Fluent in English and French along with his first language, Russian, he writes in whichever language he chooses (as opposed to writing everything in Russian and having the work translated).

Even as a non-native English speaker his grammar and overall mastery of the English language is far better than mine. I'm constantly in awe of his ability to express himself and he has a knack for choosing exactly the right words.

I finally decided to keep a list of the vocabulary words I wasn't familiar with, starting on page 40. Between pages 40-47 I listed no fewer than twelve words - some I feel like I know in context but wouldn't be able to use them properly on my own, and some are just unknown to me.

So in seven pages I noted the following words that need looking up:

simulacrum
ultima
coevals
assiduous
prodigious
mycologist
stipitate
pilei
viscid
serfage
hoary
nomenclatorial

It's kind of nice to get waist-deep in a long, absorbing, thoughtful book and nice to expand my vocabulary at the same time.

No Personal Space

At the risk of coming across like an old spinster, I live alone and am outnumbered by cats. My cats are becoming more and more affectionate as they age and lately I don't have an inch of personal space. I have at least one cat on my lap at all times, sometimes two - who knew my lap was big enough for two?

This is a typical scene: lying in bed with one cat between my knees and one on my stomach, barely leaving enough room for me to prop up my book.

Encouragement

While spending some time this afternoon with my dear friend Rosie, it was brought to my attention that I have been neglecting the blog. To be honest, I've been a bit commitment-phobic of the blog lately. I haven't had the energy to write any long posts so I haven't written any.

But I'm back. At least, I'll try to be back ;)

While scooting home from Union Station today I pulled up behind a scary car - PALIN 2012 as well as an NRA sticker. Yikes. I tried to take a picture with my phone but it resized it so you can't see any of the good details. Let's just say I was alarmed and exasperated.

Thankfully the rest of the afternoon was lovely. It was great to see Rosie and I'm very jealous of her summer plans - Ireland and France! Sigh.

Busy busy

My social calendar seems to swing between extremes - for many weeks or months I'll have nothing but free time, then will come a season when I have events on the calendar every night! Now is one of the busy times, but it's been fun.

I met some 'virtual' friends who came to DC for a visit - two sets of them, actually - now my mom is arriving, followed soon by her husband and then by my brother and sister-in-law to round out a nice family visit.

Once this is finished the traveling begins: a trip to Miami for a conference in April, a visit to northern Michigan in May, another visit to Michigan for a wedding in August, Italy in September, Las Vegas in November. Then the holidays.

Yikes. This year is already flying by.

Day to Day Pain

Still trying to get my groove back. It's still pretty much right around the 6-7 month mark since my injury and I miss the days when I could pound out 7-miles before dinner on a Tuesday night. For now 30-40 minutes is about average for a weekday run but I want to get it up to an hour.

On Sunday J and I had our first 'long' run in a while and it felt good, but my poor arm aches after all that. I'm tired of living in day-to-day pain... but I guess this is what rehabilitation is...

Internet Adventures

Not THOSE kinds you pervs :)

Since I moved in a little over two years ago I have had the fortune of picking up a very strong free internet signal. Obviously this is not safe (virus!) not, probably, ethical, but since I'm in bare-bones-budget mode until my student loans are finally paid off, I took the freebie.

A couple days ago my free wireless hub disappeared so I'm forced to call Comcast and order service like the rest of us.

Everything works - except my router, which is old and burned out. So I'm wired up, old-school, until my new router arrives in the next couple days.

Scooter Logistics

Riding a scooter comes with its own set of logistics and prep! For example, I have to be diligent about monitoring the weather to make sure I don't get caught in the rain. If I ride to work in the morning and it's raining in the evening I would basically have to leave it there, take metro home, and get my scooter the next day.

I also have perpetual helmet-hair now. Yikes. I need to be prepared with a clip or ponytail holder and re-do my hair after the helmet comes off. This also applies to clothes - certain skirts are rideable but mostly (especially in the winter) I have to wear pants and bring a skirt with me to change into at work!

Helmets and earrings do not get along! I need to remember to remove earrings before I put my helmet on, otherwise taking the helmet off is really unpleasant.

It's been a learning curve but overall I love having a cute little scooter to cruise around town on!

Trip to Baltimore

J and I like to take day trips on the weekends - we run in battlefields or national parks and explore little towns as far as West Virginia. Yesterday we stuck relatively close to home and drove up to Baltimore for a run in Druid Lake Park and then a stop at Lexington Market for a great Italian sandwich (shrimp salad for him).

The day was cloudy and not ideal for photography, but we decided to swing by Green Mount Cemetery... browsing cemeteries is another thing we like to do together.

Home Ownership Rulz

So, my windows suck. They don't close well (I have to stand on the windowsill so I can put my full weight (via my FOOT) on the window to get it to close enough to lock it... otherwise it springs back up a little), they don't latch at the top (in fact a strong gust of wind blew my window INWARD when the latch that allowed you to tip it inward for cleaning broke), they're very drafty and almost impossible to raise and lower.

Even the window inspector had a hard time opening and closing them. They've been like this for years, but with spring approaching I really want easygoing windows to enjoy the nice weather.

The panes themselves don't need to be replaces but I do need new balance rods and some other parts. I was really worried about the cost but it's not nearly as bad as I thought.

Expecting? Close to $1500. Final estimate? $760.13. I can deal with that, but it's still a huge hunk of change!

Nice Week

Every eight weeks I work a 'late' shift at our headquarters building - 10:30-7pm. It makes for a really nice break in the routine. I can stay up as late as I want and not set an alarm. Because I'm accustomed to waking early I naturally wake up around 7am and still have plenty of time to read, make coffee, practice yoga, go for a run, practice my banjo, or meet a friend for breakfast without feeling rushed.

This morning I got up around 6:40am and had a nice big cup of coffee with whole milk. At 7:30 I left for a run and got in a little after 8am. By 8:30am I was cooled down and showered. I turned off the news, read for an hour, practiced my banjo, turned the news back on, surfed the web, and had a nice scooter ride into work.

I wouldn't want to work during the whole middle part of the day as a matter of course, but once every two months is just about when I'm craving a difference in pace, so it works out well.

Resurrection

I've been struggling with writing the blog ever since my long haitus imposed by my broken arm. But I'm back (if anyone's still here).

I intend to write more posts, but shorter ones. Maybe including some pictures, I'm not sure. I'm having a hard time being inspired lately despite having just completed a very long and intense photography course. I think I'm just tired of the soggy brown grass, gray skies, and leafless trees. Even a trip to the Botanic Gardens didn't cheer me up - there were hardly any flowers in bloom there, either.

Oh well. Spring is coming. It's March, the air is milder. I even went running with bare legs the other day; it was lovely.

So please, if anyone's out there... stay tuned.

Nice Deal!

My main grocery store, Harris Teeter, has a new electronic coupon program. So along with store sales and manufacturer coupons, they also offer coupons that you load directly onto your club card and come off automatically at the register! These can be combined with paper coupons to make for a great deal.

Here's one I did today:

Cracker Barrel cheese is on sale 2/$6.

Today I loaded an e-coupon off of HT's website for B1G1 free.

Well, the non-sale price came off at checkout!

So it was $6-$4.49 = $1.51 so $0.75 each!

Not bad :)

What A Week

1. I was officially discharged by my orthopedist. She wants me to wait one more month before starting any weight-bearing exercises, but I am fully healed. I have hard bone growth and excellent range of motion for my stage. Yippee!

2. Snow Day!! Both my place of work and the university where I was going to be guest lecturing closed today! I celebrated by going for a walk with my camera. I was going to go to the zoo but the trains were full and slow... so I walked through an exhibit at the Natural History museum and took the long way home from there.

I did some much-needed deep cleaning, laundry, ate lunch, and have the whole day stretching out ahead of me.

3. Significant Other is, unfortunately, gone for the whole weekend! But I have some plans with a few friends and I think the time will go by at a nice pace.

Better Sleep, More Running, Less Eating

Hello 2011!

Better Sleep: for the past several years now I've been getting up very early to be at work by 6-6:15am. However, this is no longer working for me. I love getting off work at 2:30 but by the time I've run, showered, eaten, and unwound it's 5pm and I'm in for the night. By 8pm I can barely keep my eyes open, but by 1am I'm wide awake again and then I can't get back up when my alarm goes off.

So, I'm moving everything back a little. I want more time in the morning. I don't want to rush out the door in 15 minutes because I just can't get out of bed in time. So I'm getting up at 6am and spending a whole hour in the morning watching the news, drinking coffee, just having my own leisure time before leaving for work. And I want to try to stay up a little later so that I'm sleeping a solid 8 hours, not five hours followed by two awake followed by two more in a half-sleep state.

More Running: I'm still against medical advice as far as running does. It's not a matter of the shock absorption, my orthopedist just doesn't want me to trip and fall. But I just can't take it anymore. So I've been running, slowly, carefully, wearing my fracture brace, just getting out there and trying to revive some semblance of my former self. It feels good, but I have a long way to go to get back to my fighting form.

Less Eating: When my arm was broken I fell into a bit of a self-pitying state. I was depressed so I splurged to comfort myself. Why shouldn't I have a hot chocolate? I broke my arm. Why shouldn't I have frozen yogurt for dinner? I can just order a pizza, it's easy and I can't cook anyway.

Etc.

So now I'm back to no pastries for breakfast, no donuts at work (you laugh but we have them often!), black coffee only (no lattes), smaller portions.

Hopefully if I can get these three elements working together my life will start to come back together again.

I'm Fat

But getting thinner! Today I went running for the first time in 19 weeks. This was, unfortunately, Against Medical Advice, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

My orthopedist isn't actually concerned about the act of running, i.e. the shock absorption role that the arms and upper body take. She doesn't want me to trip and fall, that's the danger. So I went to the National Arboretum where there's a beautiful paved, dry road with no cars, and ran slow.

Very slow. And not too far. But run I did and I feel a lot more confident now about my body's strengths and abilities. I'm excited to get my body strong again and in shape. I run for so many more reasons than weight control and it's hard to find other activities that fill the role of running.

I definitely need to replace my shoes, though, they're totally dead.

Musings

I hate those naps where the clock says you slept but you don't feel like you did. I was exhausted after work today so I laid down for a few minutes. Ninety later I woke up but I couldn't be sure that I had acually slept until I looked at the clock. What a let-down!

In injury recovery news, I just can't take it anymore. I need to run. This weekend will be the first time out in almost 19 weeks. I'm going to go back to basics - a 5-minute run/1-minute walk rotation for about three miles. Just slow, gentle, easing my way back in. I know it will be a struggle and I'm prepared to be frustrated.

Resolutions

Man, I love New Year's resolution time. Here we go:

1. Stop interrupting people. This is a terrible habit.
2. Pay off 15k of my student loans. At that point I hope to just knock the remainder off with my savings.
3. Develop a consistent running regimen. I don't care so much about mileage volume but consistency is key.
4. Follow my simple Bible in one year plan. Already started.

Christmas Dinner 2010

Okay, so photographing food is really hard! But here are my best shots from Christmas dinner.

Christmas medley of red peppers and green brussels sprouts:


Lots of roasted garlic:




Lobster tails ready for the broiler!


Finished product... flatiron steaks, lobster, brussels sprouts and red peppers with sauteed onions and bacon crumbles:

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas is lovely in Washington, DC. The city clears out and for three days everything is peaceful and quiet.

We are taking advantage of having an excuse to make great food! Here was the menu:

Antipasti: soprasetta and salama with tuna, olives, and sweet peppers; St. Andre triple creme cheese and toasted baguette.


Main Course: homemade chunky crab bisque with toasted baguette.


Dessert: mini-mousse, lemon tart, and mixed berry tart.


Today we're going to go for a long, brisk walk and then hunker down for another day of eating, reading, napping, and documentary-watching.

Trying to Get Back in the Game

Well, this injury has been quite the learning experience. I'm really not supposed to run for another four weeks, but I've been cleared to walk. So I'm power-walking around the National Mall and feeling like a complete idiot. See, I always make fun of people who walk because, just run already! And I pride myself in having a strong body and a stronger mind.

Now, here I am, my pride (wanting people to know that I'm better/stronger/healthier/tougher than I look) and self-centeredness (assuming that everyone is judging me for walking rather than running) are coming through full blast. Yet I just can't help feeling this way. I really miss running. I want to run. It's frustrating to have to hold back. But for four more weeks I'll do it.

I've also started practicing my banjo again. Boy howdy have I regressed! My playing is slow, laborious, and non-expressive - but it's playing. So my goal is to play at least twenty minutes per day for the next few weeks and gradually increase my time and tempo.

In some ways I appreciate the down time. I always wind down in winter anyway - spend more time inside, more time reading, more time thinking - so I don't *really* need the additional enforcement, but it's better to have an authority figure to obey rather than beat myself up for not doing enough.

I'm looking forward to the Christmas and New Year's weekends. More to follow as those unfold.

Good Day

I had a good day at work today. It started early (0430h) but I got a lot accomplished and really helped some people.

Also, it's snowing! Just a few inches, which is causing a widespread panic, but it looks lovely. Not having a car makes snowfall a very stress-free event. Right now I'm drinking a beer, watching it fall, admiring the Christmas lights that are coming up on my block, and mentally digesting my day.

I feel good.

Recovering

I've been sidelined with an injury for the past few months and finally feel good enough to get back into the swing of things, exercise-wise. Currently I can only walk, but walking I am. At work I take a half-hour walk in the late morning and call it my lunch break. It's been going well, so I'm going to start adding another hour of brisk walking after work, around the National Mall.

It feels strange to walk and not run. I love running and walking is slow, a little boring, and feels to me like an under-achievement. But it's all I can do and frankly I'm just thrilled to be at the point where I CAN walk for exercise.

I'm not necessarily looking forward to that first run, but I am looking forward to the point where I can run easily again. It'll take some time to get there but I'm ready for the work.

Jury Duty

I served jury duty today. I enjoy jury duty. I've only sat on a civil case before, but the experience was enlightening.

I really believe that jury duty is an essential civic duty and I get irate when people complain about it. Yes it's inconvenient. No, you are not important enough to be exempt just because.

Put yourself in the position of a crime victim. Or the position of a mom, dad, brother, or sister of a defendant. Suddenly you have a lot riding on the jury. How would it feel for people to be trying to get out of it, for people to just go along with whatever the majority says in deliberation? There's a lot at stake and it deserves to be taken seriously.

We're trying to have a society here, people! Serve. Take it seriously. Don't complain. And hope you are never on the other side of the jury box, because you could be - either in the defendant's chair or on the stand as a victim.

Gifts From my Father

I have a Christmas tree!! A real, lovely smelling, balsam, pre-lit Christmas tree!

Thanks Dad :)

Every month...

... one more dollar of my mortgage payment goes to principal rather than interest. Still heavily favored towards interest. I am on the fast track to paying off my student loans (currently throwing 1k/month at the principal, or eight times the monthly payment) and can't wait to have that done so I can start killing my mortgage!

Ahhh... adulthood.

Untitled

Do you ever just fantasize about your absolute dream job but really don't see any avenue toward making it happen? I mean, a dream job that could actually be within reach, not the kind of dream job that's a total impossibility.

I've been doing this recently and I'm just not sure whether it's something to pursue or even how to pursue it.

Still Here

Taking an extended break from blogging but will be back soon!

Still Here

Taking an extended break from blogging but will be back soon!

Under the Weather

My mom always laughs at me when I start to feel under the weather. As soon as I feel the first throat scratch or hint of sniffle my home looks like an aspirin factory exploded - I believe in treating symptoms early and yes, I take pills! Decongestants, NSAIDs, you name it. If it will relieve my symptoms I will take it and I feel that early symptom intervention is the key to staving off colds. Yeah, I'm a baby.

I bailed on meeting the girls for a drink, which I feel bad about, but I just think it's best to stay in and go to bed early. I'm making a big pile of spinach and roasted vegetables for dinner tonight, not that I have an appetite, but I think a healthy meal and good night's sleep will do me well.

In other news, I ordered my scooter last weekend!! It should be in on Friday, hopefully Thursday! I will definitely update and post photos as soon as I can. I bought a Genuine brand Buddy 125cc, seafoam green. It gets 96 miles to gallon. With my 6-mile round-trip commute to work, well, that's a lot of workdays before I'll need gas!

Crazy!!

Yesterday we went over to the Aquatic Gardens in northeast DC to wander around and take some photographs. To get there you have to go through a slightly stabby residential neighborhood, but it's not usually a problem - especially at 11am on a Saturday morning.

Driving down Douglas St NE, on the left there were two people working curbside out of the back of a van. It looked like they were cutting some wood with a table saw; on the porch of the house several people were sitting and hanging out. As we drove by I glanced over and caught the eye of one of the guys working the table saw. His look was friendly but neutral, which is interesting because most often I get the death stare from people in neighborhoods like this.

I was contemplating the lack of death stare, J said, "Does that guy have a gun? He has a gun!" I whipped around to take a look at the guy calmly jogging across the street in front of our car. I didn't see anything at first - my eyes were looking for a black handgun - and then I saw the RIFLE he was holding to his side! What?!

I immediately tried to call the police but, even though we were in DC, the call went to the Prince George's County 911 service who did not pick up!! I got a call back right away but by that time J had already tried to call, received a callback, answered, and was giving our location and description to the dispatcher.

Wow! How weird was that. We heard sirens right away but I'm sure that the kid was already inside the apartment building by the time units responded, and I'm equally sure that none of the residents or porch-dwellers wanted to give helpful guidance to the police.

We did end up having a nice time at the gardens, however. Here are some photos:









After we wiped ourselves out we went down to the wharf, bought a dozen crabs (plus five the guy threw in), had them steamed with lots of Old Bay, and ate them on top of a pile of newspapers at the marina, chugging cokes and sucking on our fingers where the spices get inside little cuts made from handling the crab claws. It stings!

Day o'Chores

I have gotten a lot done today!

1. I passed the DC motorcycle knowledge test and now have my green-tinted learner's permit. The next step is to get a scooter and take the skills test so I can ride fully legally. Yay!

2. I got rid of my smart phone that gave me nothing but trouble and downgraded to a simple flip phone. I cut my bill, and my headaches, in half. Who needs a cell phone that's more computer than phone? Not me. I'm happy for the return to simplicity.

3. I practiced yoga. It's been going well lately... I feel strong and far less jiggly when I run. What more can a woman want :)

Photos

So I got the best present for my birthday - a Nikon D5000 SLR camera. And I have been having a blast. Here are a few from my flower collection:









Okay so I threw in a cactus and a mushroom, whatev ;-)

Long Week

This week has been so long that I just posted this entry to a blog I created to post a photo so I could edit it. That was a year ago and I've never used the temp blog since. How I mangaged to update that one instead of this one... who knows... anyway!

I've been able to pick up some overtime tonight which is a really nice treat, especially since I am trying to eradicate the remainder of my student loans in about three years. But it makes for some very long days and short evenings.

Today I worked from 6:30am to 6pm, got home, chopped a few veggies to roast and showered while they were doing their thing... threw them over some greens with oil and vinegar, drank a glass of cheap wine, watched one TV sit-com, and am ready for BED!

I have no idea how people do this sort of thing with kids, getting an additional degree at night, dealing with yardwork, etc.

I've been dying to continue taking photographs this week but it's been rainy and overcast and gross outside. I'm hoping for a nice weekend and some good shots to post! Stay tuned!

July Savings Round-Up and Misc.

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while. Heartfelt apologies to my faithful readers. July was an odd month for a number of reasons (turning 30 anyone?) and the savings round-up will reflect that. I think two weeks went by with no grocery shopping, which means that budget category was at rock bottom but coffee shops and eating out were a little high.

In any case, here goes:

Subtotal before coupons: $129.79
Discounts and coupons: $44.76
Total: $85.03
Savings: 34%

Part of my measly savings rate was due to my totals being bumped up with pet foot and cat litter. That stuff is hard to find discounted, so it adds to my total but detracts from my overall savings.

Anyway... I'll try to be a better blogger in August. I'm taking a photography class in September so August is filled with trying to master my camera and get a good base for certain photographic elements that I'd like to develop more.

I'm also hoping to start getting serious about a potential scooter purchase. I have purchase anxiety so something like this tends to be a slow process for me. How I ever pulled the trigger on a home purchase is anyone's guess!!

Here's the first of hopefully many shots that will turn out nicely:



National Arboretum, July 31, 2010
Asian Collections
Focal Length: 45mm
F/11, 1/100s
ISO 200

June Savings Round-Up

It was a semi-good month for coupon savings. Not my best but I splurged a couple times:

Subtotal before coupons: $240.17*
Coupons and discounts: $79.00
---------------------------------
Total Spent: $151.17
Savings Rate: 34%

Not bad. This does not include alcohol (alcohol is a separate budget category and between bars and purchases from home I try to stay under $50/month).

*My Grocery budget line item is $250.00. Through couponing I have been trying to cut this in half. I've been doing okay with that goal, spending between $99 - $150.00 out of pocket each month on groceries with savings rates of about 30-50%. Individual trip savings rates vary widely - from 13-70%, but I have been striving for a total savings rate of 50-60%. I could be doing better, but I don't want to take all the fun out of eating, either.

back and forth back and forth

The guys are in my apartment doing some painting so I grabbed my laptop and am down here in the lobby hanging out while they finish. Right down the hall a married couple owns two units that are across from each other.

They do a lot of going back and forth and seem very anal about locking the doors.

This is what I've been hearing pretty much constantly for the past 25 minutes:

Person leaves Apartment #1: Deadbolt turns from the inside, door opens, shuts, keys in, lock deadbolt. Two steps across the hall, keys in, turn deadbolt, open door, close door, lock deadbolt.

Person leaves Apartment #2: Deadbolt turns from the inside, door opens, shuts, keys in, lock deadbolt. Two steps across the hall, keys in, turn deadbolt, open door, close door, lock deadbolt.

Person leaves Apartment #1: Deadbolt turns from the inside, door opens, shuts, keys in, lock deadbolt. Two steps across the hall, keys in, turn deadbolt, open door, close door, lock deadbolt.

Person leaves Apartment #2: Deadbolt turns from the inside, door opens, shuts, keys in, lock deadbolt. Two steps across the hall, keys in, turn deadbolt, open door, close door, lock deadbolt.

Seriously?!?! If you are going to be going back and forth so rapidly, just leave the freaking deadbolt open! Honestly! This is not Beirut, no one is going to storm in, the building is secure, it's 4:12pm, it just seems like such a hassle to deal with the deadbolt when they're obviously making MULTIPLE trips and back forth.

Sheesh!

Holding Hands

Natasha napping with her little paw wrapped around my finger.



She's been sleeping all day long! Lucky girl.

Misc Musings

1. Where is this year going? I can't believe the 4th of July - and my 30th not too far after - is next weekend. Yikes! I feel like summer should just be starting but we're already closing in on July.

2. As an early birthday present from my father I got a Roku! This thing is awesome. It's a little box that you connect to your TV and allows you to watch your Netflix Instant movies and TV shows on your TV! I feel like I basically have HBO. You start it up and it conencts to your queue and the rest of Netflix's Watch Instantly inventory. Right now I'm watching some old episodes of Law & Order: SVU, earlier I was watching old episodes of The Office. It's GREAT, just like channel surfing except with wayyyy more choices. Thanks Dad!

3. Today we met up for lunch at a place called Locolat Cafe and had a great meal. I had savory herb waffles with prosciutto and parmesan cheese. He had a smoked salmon and cheese panini with spinach. We passed on dessert - the summer slimdown is in full swing.

4. My bookshelves... omg... so close and so far! My carpenter came over yesterday to take one final measurement. Construction has started but he needed to confirm one detail and talk about some of the finishings. He said it should only be another day and a half for construction, then we have to figure out where to do the painting - either in the workshop or at my apartment after installation, or a combination of the two - and then we're done! I can't wait. Pictures will be posted.

Sailing

Kicked off the summer solstice with a nice long sail down the Anacostia following by amazing steaks, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and beer grilled at the marina. And I'm not even sunburned!

It's been so hot here - in the mid-90's for weeks on end, and DC always seems to just miss the thunderstorms! They brush right by the city and give us a half-hearted mention but nothing satisfactory and nothing to break the heat.

MS White House

This humidity is really crushing my runs. I just find it very difficult to run strong in the heat and humidity. I know it takes time to acclimate and I'm working on it, but in the mean time, discouragement sets in. So I took advantage of cooler temps and cloud cover to run the long way home from work today.

First I jogged up to Meridian Hill park, tackled a whole bunch of steps, quads screaming! I made sure to do some work along the way:



See the MS 13 carved into the bench? Second rung from the top.

Then I headed down 16th St to the White House and cut across the Mall, taking Independence Ave to Washington Ave and around to my home.



Overall the run was just under an hour, which is the longest I've done since the weather turned. I was sweating and tired when I got home but encouraged and sunburn free.

Splurge!

I did something today that I have rarely done since discovering coupon savings... splurged on groceries. AND I did it quite cheaply! I'm proud of myself... I got some necessities for the week and a couple of nice treats and still stayed under $25.

Necessities:
2 red bell peppers
2 heads garlic
1 package baby spinach
10 Dannon yogurts
1 vidalia onion

Splurges:
Mixed olives from the olive bar
Hummus
Italian sausages
Raisinets

Subtotal: $34.19
Coupons: $10.00
Total: $24.19
Savings: 29%

Not the best savings rate but I'm very happy with my overall out-of-pocket total!

I've been craving fat lately hence the olives and hummus, and also eating a ton of roasted veggies over greens and/or pasta. So it looks like I'm set for the week and not too far off of my target $40/week budget.

Rave Run

My latest favorite place to run is the National Arboretum. The Arb is a serious gem, a large swath of trails and gardens in the middle of northeast DC. The main loop is about 3ish hilly miles of paved road, with plenty of little offshoots if you want to check out the fern valley, the Asian collections, the conifers, or any other little spot along the way.

At the welcome center is a great koi pond with fish all too accustomed to being fed! For a quarter you can get some fish food out of the vendor and don't the fish know it! They all crowd toward the wall closest to the vendor and look up at you with gaping mouths. Worse than a dog at the dinner table!

Another favorite spot of mine is the bonsai garden. Some trees are over 100 years old. How do you get the job of bonsai curator?? Sounds awesome to me.

Here are some photos (not mine) of the Arb. Can you believe this is right in town? And less than ten minutes by car from my condo.

All Dressed Up and Someplace To Go

Tonight the four of us went to see the Capitol Hill Chorale perform the Georgian Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the first time this liturgy has been performed since it was written by Zakaria Pavliashvili in 1909.

Unbelievable. Dark, haunting, with harmonies of the type I'd never heard before. The chorale learned the music from a photocopy of a photocopy of the microfilm on which the score was being stored at the Lenin Library in Moscow. The ambassador to Georgia and his family were in attendance; it was a full house!

I dressed up a little bit and even broke out a rarely worn necklace that I picked up in the Yuruan Market in Shanghai a few years ago.

File Under PITA

I came home from work today and there was water all over my bathroom. Turns out something is wrong with my air conditioner unit and it leaked through the trapdoor and into the bathroom itself. Investigation revealed and rusty and potentially cracked condensation pan. The repair guy is coming tomorrow. In the mean time my windows and thrown open and I'm thankful for a little storm that came through and cooled things off.

Unfortunately cleaning up and trying to solve that mystery took a bit of time and by the time I could sit down and think about dinner, I was way beyond starving. I chopped up some peppers and garlic and threw them into the oven to roast and have over greens. Yesterday I purchased a huge tub of salad greens (not cheap!) and was hoping to have healthy dinners for the next week. Well, I opened the tub and all the greens were slimy and gross. I was able to pick a few good ones out but the slime is pervasive. They must have been old - I'm meticulous about storing greens and can usually get them to last over a week.

Sigh... I'm taking tomorrow off for the repair guy AND some good news (my carpenter is coming to take hard measurements for my shelves!) so at least I can look forward to a leisurely morning and an extra hour or so of sleep.

Decisions decisions

Well up until a few days ago I was pretty much set on going back to Asia next year. I've been dying to see the temples in Cambodia.

But now I'm thinking I might like to tour Italy.

Could I have two options on the table that are any further apart? What do you guys think?

What does $14.50 worth of stuff look like?

1 bag Hershey's dark M&Ms
1 12-pack Cottonelle toilet paper
2 bags veggie pasta
1 bad Snyder's pretzels
1 package Sesmark rice cracker
2 Bumblebee tuna bowls
1 2000 Flushes cleaner
1 Satin Care shave gel
1 Tampax
1 4-pack Yoplait yogurt
1 Clearasil face wash
TOTAL BEFORE COUPONS: $43.35
COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS: $28.85
------------------------------
TOTAL: $14.50
SAVINGS: 67%

Bullet Points

Lots of little things to report!

-My dear friend Lezlie moved to Capitol Hill today! Yay! I'm excited for her to be close by... let the happy hours commence! Plus she has a fireplace AND patio at her new place... I can't decide which one I want to make use of first. Um, can I be the third roommate? I'll sleep on the patio :-D

-My dear friend Rosie is moving to Arizona for grad school right after spending the summer in Ireland. I'll miss her but am very excited for this new chapter in her life. Once she gets used to feeling baked (as in an oven, not as in marijuana!) all the time I know she'll enjoy AZ and having all the time she needs to foucs on her photography. Yay Rosie!

-My custom bookshelves are officially in the works! I had the carptenter come by yesterday to go over the plans one more time and take some soft measurements. We talked about shelf depth, spacing, number of shelves, all those fun things. Now he needs to get estimates for the materials and take hard measurements... then build, paint, and install. Shouldn't be long now!

-I am STILL dealing with water damage to my wall from the snow storms. The first painter/repair man didn't get all the wet plaster out so the new paint just bubbled right back up. I had a different person assess the damage and he ended up opening my entire wall all the way down to the brick. Yikes. But seriously, this is what I kinda thought should have happened the first time... so... it's very unselling to look at a torn-apart wall, but we're on our way to FINALLY having this fixed for good.

-The weather has been beautiful and I'm stuck with an injured foot. I've been RICEing it (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) all week and will be ready to go out for a test spin tomorrow... wish me luck. Being laid up is really tough. Running is therapy!

Things Unfinished

I hate having things unfinished. I do not like items pending. I very much enjoy finishing a project (quickly!) and crossing it off the list. Well, it looks like my comfort zone is being pushed in this area, and I don't like it.

I'm still dealing with my water-damaged walls from the snowstorms in February. The roof leak was fixed and the wall scraped and re-painted, however, the paint has bubbled up again and when the painter came today to look at it, he determined that the plaster was still wet. Whether it's still wet because there's still a leak or whether it just hadn't dried before he plastered over it remains to be seen. Right now there's a big splotch of scraped paint and plaster on my kitchen wall. It's a test to see if it bubbles up. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get hold of my management company to get the roofing contractor out to search for leaks.

I just want the wall fixed and painted and to not have to think about it!

I'm also in the process of having some custom bookshelves made. I have a contract, made a deposit, and am waiting for the building to come take measurements. In the mean time, my books are overflowing the bookshelves I have and are piled up on the floor. I hate it, it looks ugly and disorganized. I just want my nice new custom shelves and to have some semblance of order in my library!

All these unfinished projects are enough to give me an anxiety attack!!

April Savings Round-Up

Not a bad month!

Grocery:
Total: $157.89
Savings: $79.35
------------------------
Out-of-Pocket: $78.54
Savings: 50%

Pharmacy:
Total: $20.11
Savings: $8.03
------------------------
Out-of-Pocket: $12.08
Savings: 40%

Ask Tom

The Washington Post food critic is Tom Sietesma. He's a fascinating guy. I want to figure out how to be his friend - or at least his dining companion!

Every week in the Post Magazine, after the weekly restaurant critique, Tom fields a question from a reader. Well, I just sent one in!

Good evening,

I have a question I'd like to ask Tom Sietsema! As an occasional solo diner, I try to be cognizant of the impact that my lower tab has on waitstaff. I don't linger and I tip well. I sit at the bar when I can to keep tables open for larger, more lucrative parties. However, now that the weather is getting nicer and outdoor seating areas are open, I'd like to know Tom's take on solo diners sitting at outdoor tables. Often, outdoor seating is at a premium and I feel guiltier about taking a two- or three-top table outside than I would inside. Does it go against dining etiquette for a solo diner to sit outside? Do waitstaff look down on this practice?

What do my faithful readers think? Much has been writting about the etiquette of solo dining but nowhere have I seen the particular aspect of outdoor dining addressed.

I will be sure to post back if my question gets answered!

Hockey Helplessness

I don't have cable. I love not having cable. I get all the local channels plus a couple of news channels and the CW free over the air through my digital converter box and antenna. I even get Al Jazeera (which is excellent for international news, by the way). I can watch the news, many sit-coms, some sporting events, and am blessedly saved from the irresistable quick-sand that is the Real Housewives series (except when I catch reruns on hulu.com)

This frees up much of my time to read, crossword, exercise, cook, listen to music, play my banjo, and generally lead a more peaceful and productive life that I would if I were glued to the cable for five (plus!) hours per day.

The only time that my cable-free life becomes a burden is during hockey playoff season! Now, I can catch certain games on NBC or watch the good ones at my SO's place. But, most often, I'm relegated to listening to them live on streaming radio.

There's really nothing wrong with this. I've been watching hockey for a long time (over 20 years) and at this point I need to see a game OR hear it, but not both. Watching and listening to games at the same time is considered a luxury at this point!

The downfall of listening to games is the feeling of helplessness that comes with not being able to see things like the teams' energy, the coaches' expressions, all those intangibles that go toward how optimistic I feel about the game.

For example, last night the Wings shot a puck into the Coyotes' net but apparently the entire thing didn't go over the line. NHL rules state that the entire puck must cross the goal line in order for the goal to be counted. Well, it was a close call so the referees had to review the play to make their determination.

I'm sitting here in my living room feeling totally out of control. At least if I could see the game on my TV I could maybe read lips or watch their body language. But having to rely solely on the announcers, as they babble away about various rules and regulations was absolutely driving me nuts!!

These are the things I ponder here in the evenings as I contemplate my life choices and their impact. As seeing as how hockey playoffs are the most important event in my life right now, I figured it was worth a post.

PS, they determined that the first goal was no good. Later in the second period we scored again and again the refs decided to review the shot. They said it was a good one and we ended up winning the game, but it was definitely a stroke-worthy couple of moments.

Back on my Feet

A certain someone is out of town this week and I am taking the opportunity to run every day, go to bed early, eat salads for dinner, and abstain from alcohol. It's amazing how much I can eat and drink when I'm out at a neighborhood bar with excellent company! But no. I've gotta rein it in and get my life back under control after a more-than-slightly indulgent weekend in Atlanta.

"Charge it to the room" are words that are all too easy to say as you see no reason why not to have that third or fourth drink. No credit card to be swiped, nowhere to go except up the elevator... and yikes. Food and drink go down way too easy!

Yep, I'm back on track. How many times have I said that before?