Getting back into a routine August 31, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : fitness , add a comment
Today on my lunch break I went out and purchased an exercise ball from London Drugs. It was $22.08 after tax. I know I could have found it somewhere cheaper if I had looked around or bought it online, but it was still cheap and mostly, it was convenient. I hate waiting for things to ship to me!
It was so depressing to step on the scale this morning. The 2 pounds I lost earlier this month have been erased thanks to all the delicious food on the cruise – and I even worked out 5 times while in vacation! I’m back calorie counting now, and will hopefully ramp up my exercise routine.
Oh, and I think that sometime this week after work, BF and I are going to the PNE! :)
Friend has bailed on camping… August 31, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , add a commentI am irritated at one of my friends. As most of you know, I’m going camping with a few girlfriends this coming long weekend. We’ve had this planned since LAST YEAR, and we booked the campsite earlier this year. So we’ve all had plenty of notice.
Well, while I was gone on my cruise, she e-mailed me and said she was bailing because she is short on cash. Argg! I totally sympathize with her situation – but seriously. Camping is one of the cheapest things you can do to get away, and it’s only going to cost $20 for her camping for 3 nights, plus her share of the food (which came to about $25 per person last year).
This is not a last-minute get together. This has been planned forever. So it makes me wonder if it’s really a lack of planning on her part, or if she decided she’d rather do something else for the long weekend. Either way, I think it’s pretty lame.
September 2009 Monthly Goals August 31, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : monthly goals , 3commentsI’m just in time with my monthly goals for September. After a spendy summer, I’m back to a somewhat normal budget this month.
Medical & Health Care – higher than normal b/c I still haven’t paid my MSP bill. It hasn’t come in the mail yet.
- Clothing – I want to buy some sort of wrap dress. Figured now they’d be on sale since summer is over.
- Travel – BF and I are going back to the island one weekend b/c his parents will be in town.
- Personal Care – I need to buy a new moisturizer for my face, as well as eye cream. Will be trying out the much cheaper (although still quite expensive) Aveeno brand, instead of my usual Avène.
September Goals:
- Go rock climbing 4 times.
- Go on an overnight hiking trip. I don’t know where we’d go, but I’m really hoping we can pull this off. We’ve both had busy summer schedules and have only gone hiking a few times since our last overnight trip.
- Go running 3x per week.
- Go to the PNE! We had a really good time last year, and I’d like to go again. But we’ll have to go one day after work and I don’t know if that will work out.
- Shed the 2 lbs. I gained while on the cruise (I even worked out 5 of the 7 days – oops!), and continue in my goal of getting to 130 lbs.
- Send invoice and receive payment from contract work ($300).
- Get $295 rebate from Apple – if not, then call.
- $400 into Savings Fund.
- $350 into Retirement Portfolio.
- $100 into Emergency Fund – getting closer to $3k!
- $1,000 into Travel Fund. I’ll have over 50% saved by the time the month is over. :)
August 2009 Goals: My Review August 31, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : monthly goals , add a commentI came in under budget this month, but it was obviously because I was out of town for about 1/2 of the month. I could have blown my budget numerous times on my trips, but I didn’t. And this is officially the first month of the year that I met my monthly budget. Kind of pathetic if you think about it, but I’m still pleased with myself.
- Go rock climbing 3-4 times. CHECK! We went 4 times. Which is pretty good considering we were both in town together for a total of 11 days during the month.
- Go on a hike. FAIL! We had no free weekends.
- Clean out my old laptop. FAIL! I was so busy while I was home, that I completely forgot about it. I’ll try to remember to do it while I’m home again this month.
- Work out every morning while on the cruise. FAIL! I worked out 5 out of the 7 days. Although to be fair, the only days I didn’t work out were the ones where we were at sea, and the boat was making me sea sick.
- Finish my cross-stitching project. FAIL! I didn’t take my project with me on the cruise, although I did work on it as much as I could when I was at home.
- Get down to 130 lbs. FAIL! I’m back at 135 lbs. After losing 2 lbs. during the month, I put them back on while on the cruise. Whoopsies. :(
- $350 into Retirement Portfolio. CHECK! I put $300 into my RRSPs and $50 into my TFSA.
- $300 into Savings Fund. CHECK!
- $1,000 into Travel Fund. CHECK!
- Make an extra $700. FAIL! I finished the projects, but have only been paid $360 because I haven’t invoiced the second contract yet. And even then, I will have only brought in $660 total. Oh well.
I heart Seattle August 29, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , add a commentWhew! I am all shopped out today, and I didn’t even buy anything! My sister and I spent the entire afternoon wandering around downtown Seattle, going into store after store.
It was our first time in Nordstrom Rack – holy crap that store is crazy! It’s so busy, tons of stuff is everywhere, and girls were running around power shopping. Insane. And I loved the new Mountain Hardware store – wanted to buy just about everything. I think BF wants to go tomorrow when he gets down here, so I’ll have another chance to drool over their gear again. :)
I’m not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. Probably Pike Place Market, and walk along the pier. But I’m not sure what else we’ll do … the ball game is in the evening, so we’ll have plenty of time to hang out.
Back from Alaska August 28, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : budget, travel , add a commentWell I’m back from the cruise. Actually, I’m in Seattle right now with my sister. Not sure what we’re going to do today. Probably not much – maybe hit up some shopping. BF gets here tomorrow morning to meet us, and I’m excited to see him.
The cruise was pretty fun. Lots of old people though, and you can tell that everything was catered to that age demographic. Also, the scenery going up to Alaska was just okay. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful … but I see that kind of thing every time I take a ferry back home. People were going crazy for the bald eagles, whales, otters, seals, etc. And I can totally get the appeal, if they’re coming from somewhere completely different. But for me, it’s kind of typical landscape.
The glaciers, on the other hand, were pretty spectacular looking. I’ll post some pictures as soon as I get home. I really enjoyed Skagway – thought it was such a cool little town nestled in between mountains … and Juneau was nice as well, but definitely not as nice as Skagway.
I have stayed on budget – except for the fact that my sister and I did a spa sampler on the ship. It was $100 each after tip. So that was not budgeted. Besides the spa, I’ve spent $250 of my $350 budget (so if I hadn’t taken the spa sampler, I would be perfectly on budget, but instead I’m exactly at my budget for the trip, with 1.5 days in Seattle to go). We’ll see how that plays out.
What am I, 9 years old? August 27, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , add a comment
I have a weird urge to make a bracelet out of gimp. I don’t know why, because they’re ugly as anything. Do kids even make gimp bracelets anymore? I remember it being all the rage 15 years ago during summer camp.
Sigh. August 26, 2009
Posted by gmbmfb in : miscellaneous , 1 comment so far
My cousin is so spoiled.
Her parents bought her a brand new VW Beetle. And pay for the insurance + gas. They paid for her to attend an expensive private school, and are paying for her entire University tuition, including living expenses.
She also has 4 iPods (iTouch x2, Nano, Shuffle) and 2 MacBooks (whenever a new one gets released, she gets a new one), 2 Macbook PROS … oh, and they just bought her a netbook – but she admits that when and if Apple releases their own netbook, she’ll just ditch the current netbook and get the Apple one.
Her parents also got her a credit card attached to their account. It was supposed to be for emergencies, but she uses it for everything – groceries, clothes, booze, etc.
And she has the nerve to complain about not having whatever the latest thing is, that “everyone else” has but her. Ridiculous.
I’m not jealous at all, I’m just venting frustration.
