28 May 2010

Life List No. 29 Obliterate My Credit Card Debt

Hi friends, It hasn't been all Midnight Moon and Oma over here.  I've been busting my behind, in earnest, to tick #29 off my life list and I'm here to tell you that...EGADS, I've done it!  Honestly.   I can hardly believe it.  This is awesome for so many reasons.  I reached my time goal.  Holy Cow! Credit debt free before 30.    What's that I hear?  A savings account?  Retirement?  CD?  IRA?  Months of not living extravagantly have paid off AND proved not to be so trying.  The sky is the limit!  I had two feelings as I submitted the last e-payment to the credit bear 1. I'm almost free.  2. Oh ass, this is a lot of money.    I can't promise I'll never carry a balance on my credit card again.   Unforeseen circumstances do arise, but I thought of something to say to my future self: "Self, don't go into credit debt for ten years without a consciousness about you.  Do you really want to pay for that Yves Saint Laurent Parfum and that Mulberry bag when your kids are in fifth grade?" **much vigorous finger wagging**

I've learned so much about how to live manageably and affordably.   I will continue to shop at the Goodwill.  I will continue to order things from Target and Old Navy online (surprisingly saves me money and guilt.  I buy what I need and don't feel guilty for having left something I don't need in the store), I will still prepare many meals at home.  I will still choose walks with Ashkenaz Spice over some more expensive entertainment option, I will continue to bargain hunt when it comes to things like my awesome panniers and bike rack.    In short, I will continue to be my fabulous self.  Without a huge debt monkey strapped to my back.  What to do with all this newfound freedom?  Hopefully start saving with the same fervor I applied to kicking this credit debt in the rear end.

10 May 2010

Saddlebags

With shoes in the works and my new pannier rack I, of course, need pannier bags.  I will no longer have to go into full Quasimodo pose while riding to school.  I'll have a place to put my books and computer.  Not having a car will be less of a hassle with a place to put my groceries.  Pannier bags, friends, will be a good thing.

I've really fallen in love with Detours Toocan design.  I've searched high and low for panniers and while I've found more brightly colored bags, I haven't found anything so chic and utilitarian as the Toocan.  I'm pretty much decided on this bag.  This is what I'm doing y'all, but there are so many options.  I'm always inclined toward the cheapest, but the H2NO is practical and the Juicy bags are just flat out cool.  I'd love to have a bag that I can take off my bike and into a boutique without looking like a bike messenger.  What's a girl to do?  I suppose that as far as problems go, this is a good one to have.



Life List No. 40

Avariation of this will be my first sewing project.  I'll keep you posted.

06 May 2010

iKitchen

                                                        Source: mykitchenipad 
I'm often using my MacBook as a cookbook, schlepping it from one end of the kitchen to the other, waking it up to figure out whether that measurement I remembered was a 't' or a 'T', licking red sauce off the keyboard...okay, not so much the last one, but i digress.

Lately, I've been thinking that it could be not such a good idea to put this machine that my school work is highly dependent upon, in such eminent peril.  'I'm sorry professor,  I dropped my computer in a pot of stock and can't retrieve my data,' just doesn't sound like a good excuse.   So, I've been talking to Ashkenaz Spice recently about getting an iPad for the kitchen.  It's cheaper than a MacBook, it's more mobile and can easily be mounted.   Also, it opens up my cooking experience to less laborious podcasting of Hidden Kitchens, RadioLab and This American Life! (It's difficult to manipulate a clickwheel when you have bread dough on your hands).  To my surprise he's entertaining the idea.  I was sure that it would only be a matter of time before someone did this and it popped up somewhere like LifeHacker and sure enough, I find this on one of my favorite food news blogs.  It's clear that people are already totally in to this.

I'm not far enough removed from this.  I'm either totally out of my mind and plotting ways to squander our savings or on to something major.  Help me out y'all.  Would you use an iPad in your kitchen?

04 May 2010

I want to ride my...

                                          Photo courtesy of: Cycle Style Show 

Alright friends...this winter weight I'm carrying has gotten a bit burdensome, the weather is nice, I'm carless, that's right, it's high time for biking!!! And, well...a BIKE WARDROBE!!!!!

I'd love to say that I'm hip, and that I ride a fixie and wear a fascinator instead of a helmet, but, sadly it seems that none of this is true.  I ride a mountain bike, my loved ones demand that I wear a helmet and while I am one to rail against spandex and padding, I must say that they do help when biking long distances.

When I can help it, I wear the spandex and pads under a skirt or a pair of capri's...the helmet can't be helped but my mission for the last week or so, has been to find proper shoes for biking.

You see, there's a system.  I don't want to be caught in tennis shoes.  That's tacky.  Still, I need fashionable shoes whose soles are sturdy enough to use for brakes and don't look too contrived...even if it did take me weeks to decide upon them.  So far here's what I've come up with (click the pic to make it bigger):

Who's the fly girl at the farmer's market?  It's me! It's me!