Back in the saddle again

Hello, everyone! I’m back! I have some amazing blog posts planned. Well, they are planned in my head and I would like to get them up on the blog. Still, things may be a little slow getting started once again, so hang in there!

I actually wanted to post an even more amazing post today, but I decided it needed to hold off till some people in my life found out about it from me personally. Till then, I’m keeping it somewhat hush hush (unless you read my Twitter, then you can probably figure it out).

Plus, I have to wait for the photos to get to me.

Anyway, I’m back and ready to blog!

Finding Balance

Life is a balancing act. Trying to find that perfect balance between responsibilities and desires. It’s not an easy task and sometimes, I’ll be the first to admit, the balancing act wears me out.

Let me lay it out for you. I work 8+ hour days, 5 days a week. Now, I’m very lucky and love my job (most days ), but like everyone else who has full time employment, I spend most of days and hours at work. TGF works 8+ hour days, 5 days a week as well (sometimes more), and our hours don’t match up. He has to be at work for 7 in the morning and I have until around 9 to get to work. He gets off at 4:30, I get off at 5:30 at the earliest. Right now, however, our hours a bit more in line with each other. Since TGF is without a vehicle these days, I have to take him to work, but he doesn’t have a reliable ride home every day; so my boss, very graciously, allowed me to change up my hours Monday through Wednesday (Thursday and Friday are press days, so it makes it more inconvenient for me to leave earlier on those days). Now, I come in to work after I drop TGF off (usually getting in at 7:30) and leave at 4 in the afternoon to pick him up from work.

This temporary arrangement has allowed for one part of the balancing act to get a little easier, and that is to find more time to spend with TGF. Before, it always felt that by the time we were both home, all we could do was make and eat dinner and then go to bed. This lead to many fast food dinners, so we could spend more time hanging out together.

For awhile though, before my schedule shift, I had a pretty good routine going. I’d get up with TGF and then do my 5K training and clean up around the apartment. Nothing major, just do the dishes, make the bed and maybe pick up the clothes from the day before. It doesn’t sound exciting, but I liked my routine. Now, my life feel chaotic. I don’t know when to work out, the apartment stays in a constant state of chaos and filth and it is driving me crazy. It doesn’t help that I’ve got a wedding coming up!!

I’m trying to find balance. I’m just lost in the process.

5k Someday

Back in January, I decided to sign up for a 5k. Color Me Rad, to be exact. So, I got the 0-5k app on my iPad. I did pretty good for a couple of weeks. Then, I changed my schedule at work to help out with TGF being carless. So, I lost my time in the morning that I would do my training.

So far, I’ve yet to work in training in my current schedule. The race is fast approaching, and now I’m almost resigned to just walking the damn thing. :\

I’m bummed out. I can only think that if I can get up at 5 a.m. and do my training before TGF has to be at work, that will be the only way I can get back into it. When we get home, we never feel like training (TGF keeps saying “we can do it together after work!” but we never do). I still have two mornings a week that I can do it, but for some reason, I forget.

I’m serious! It’s not like I get home after dropping TGF at work and think “I could train OR I could just sit around and read this book and drink coffee.” I literally get back home and just grab my book!

Oh well. I’m still going to do the 5K. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself at it in May.

Call me “Master”

Pound o’ die. Not mine though. :\

So, I am a nerd. I’ve never pretended not to be. I love to read comic books & web comics, play video games, read science fiction and fantasy novels, and play D&D and Magic the Gathering. For a few years now, I’ve been playing a 3.5 edition D&D game with my friends who live along the Gulf coast (or close enough, we have MS, LA and AL covered). We don’t get to play very often and every time we finish up a night of playing, I spend weeks wanting more.

The 3.5 edition crew, minus TGF (this was before we started dating) and myself, of course, because I’m taking the photo.

TGF started playing with us once we started getting more serious with our relationship. Then we introduced his friends to the world of D&D with the hopes that we could start a game more locally. They were down, and since I was the one in the group with the most experience with D&D, I naturally took on the role of Dungeon Master.

Our adventurers’ journey began on a boat, but they were attacked by PIRATES!! Muwhahahahahaha.

Anyway, I decided to test out the 5th Edition Beta pack for our local game. A couple of weekends ago, we had our first chance to sit down and play. It was fun! I was a little stressed being the DM. I had so many NPCs with them, and so many monsters that I had to roll a lot while the three players waited (not so patiently) for their turns in combat. I’m still not sure about some rules, and I can’t remember why they wrote things where they did on their player sheets (even though I more than likely told them to write them there), but I just went with it and played it off like I knew what I was doing.

Oh no! Shipwrecked! Ha ha. Btw, the king cake baby, Green Lantern ring and warrior figure are my players’ markers. None of them represent what their characters actually look like, which I find quite amusing.

TGF’s friends seemed into it, I’ll need to work on my DMing skills though.  I really wish we had a real table and chairs set-up to play on, but one day we might.

This weekend, TGF and I are off to see the 3.5 gang for another game. I’m going to be asking our DM a lot of questions, I can already tell.

Going to the Chapel

I’m back! This will be a quick post today. Just wanted to share some news from last week:

I got engaged! TGF wants to be my Mr. Lazy Lady!

That is all.

She Works Hard for the Money

As some of my posts in the past have hinted at (America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money by Steve Economides, Annette Economides, and the review for that book as well as The Future is Here), I’ve been a bit financially obsessed. I want to pay off my credit card, pay off the loan to my grandmother, and start saving more money. In order to achieve these goals, I’ve been budgeting.

I started my budget project last August. First, I read the Economides book (that I checked out from the library), and made notes on the advice they gave which I felt fit my lifestyle (and TGF’s). Then I developed and budget list, based on the examples they gave in the book, and for the month of September, I kept track our money. Then, I edited the budget sheets to better fit our reality.

PAUSE. I should probably clarify that last sentence. In America’s Cheapest Family, they suggest you sort of mentally make your bank account into a lot of little accounts (if I am remembering it correctly). Like you have $200 in an account for groceries, but it’s really just in you bank account; then, when you spend money on groceries, you subtract it from the “Groceries” account. I suppose it is a lot like the envelope system that some people use, but without the envelopes of cash floating around. ANYWAY, they had A TON of categories to put money away in, like Emergency, Medical, Clothes, etc. that just didn’t work for me and TGF. As much as we’d like to put away a little something each month for an emergency or medical bills that may come up, we just can’t do that right now. Ok, back to the show.

So, I kept this up through mid-November. Editing the budget lists, keeping track of our spending. Finally, I got a little fed up with the whole thing.

I remember when Mint.com

came out, I was intrigued and horrified by it. I just didn’t feel comfortable giving a website that much access to all my financial institutions. But that was years ago. I haven’t heard of anything happening with them, and now that I use it, I see that no one could really do anything immediate with what I give the site. So, I set up an account. It’s been great. I get to see where my money is going and how long it will take me to pay off my debt at the rate I’m going. My only qualm is that it duplicates EVERY FREAKIN’ THING that happens on my checking account. I spend $5 at the gas station, it’s on there three separate times. I have to go in and “exclude” those extra debits. It only takes a second, but it just seems like something they could fix.

Sorry for long wordy post. I’m still working out the whole budgeting thing, and TGF and I are still living pretty much hand-to-mouth, but I’ll try to keep you all informed of my journey so that maybe my mistakes and successes can help you budget too!

Dropping the ball

Wow. So last week. Man, I don’t know what happened there. I had so decent content planned for last week, but never got around to finishing any of the posts (except the Reading Review, of course).

I was planning on doing a 5K on Friday, Jan. 25th, and blog about it last Monday; but life got in the way of that happening. I couldn’t do the 5K in the morning before work  (it was a virtual 5K by Runs for Cookies, one of my favorite blogs) so I was planning to do it after work. Well, I ended up having to work late. Then I had to pick up TGF after work. And then we were both starving. By the time we finished dinner it was almost 10pm and I just gave up on the run.

For Wednesday-Fridays posts, well, that was just straight up forgetfulness on my part. I was doing so well getting content set-up ahead to post that I just assumed I had done so for last week. Nope! Oh well, nothing to do about it now. Just trying to get back into the grove and keep weeks like that a rare occurrence!

The Future Is Here

I am a little late to the “What I want to do in 2013″ blogging-game, but here’s my thoughts on this year anyway.

After years of declaring myself a “not a resolution person” and yet posting resolutions on here anyway, I’ve finally given up on that label. I really consider them more like “goals” than “resolutions” though.

Before we jump into the new, let’s take a look at the old:

In 2011, I set myself up to be cleaner, more productive, more money conscious, find a therapist and work on my faith. I think I’ve been getting better and better with the cleaning; slowly but surely, at least. My productivity has gone poopy since the boyfriend, but in 2011 and 2012 I feel like I was pretty productive for a Lazy Lady. Definitely been super up on my money game. Like whoa. Never found a therapist or really do much with my faith though. Oh well.

And last year, I wanted to take more pictures–didn’t do well on this one; do more dates on the Date List–did do some of this one; update my portfolio webiste–I actually got rid of it, wasn’t worth the money as I don’t want to do freelance work right now and I’m very happy at my current job; try freezer cooking–still want to do this someday, but didn’t do it in 2012; bake my own bread–same as freezer cooking; and of course, be even cleaner, an ongoing journey.

Now it is 2013 and I have a new set of goals for myself:

• Run a 5K I am currently training using a 0-5k app on my iPad so I can run in the Color Me Rad 5K in May. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. TGF said he’d do it with me, so at least we’ll be together.
• Pay off my credit card  We put a lot of money on my credit card for xmas presents this year. I’d like to pay it off and leave it alone so it’s there in case of an emergency.
• Pay off my loan to my grandmother A bit of a debt theme here, huh? Once I pay off my credit card, I’m going to put the money I was paying there towards the money I’ve been paying my grandmother. She loaned me $2000 when I moved to New Orleans over 5 years ago. I’ve been paying her back for just over a year now, but only $50 a month. I’d like to have it all paid off this year.
• Start saving for some big changes I won’t go into too much detail here, but there are some big events coming this year (I hope) and even more after that, and I want to save up so the costs don’t hit TGF and I all at once.
• And as ever, be cleaner!

There is so much more I want to expect of myself for this year, but I know that if I can keep it down to the major things I want to do/achieve, I’ll be less likely to end up disappointed.

What are your plans for this year?

It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding

Last week I shared with you the Lingerie/Bachelorette party my friend, Maile, and I threw my best friend Annie. This week I’m telling you about the wedding! It was on Saturday, January 5th and it was beautiful.

Annie backstage, anxiously and beautifully waiting for the whole thing to begin.

Annie looked amazing in her custom made gown. The ceremony was nice (although having the nativity set up was a bit off putting, but what can you do? The church said they couldn’t remove it for the wedding) and reception was lovely.

The Friday before the wedding, TGF and I drove over there for the rehearsal and set-up. The rehearsal was confusing but I think the wedding went ok despite the wedding planner lady.

Then we stayed at the church till midnight setting everything up for the reception. I was SO tired when we got back to Annie’s. I don’t know if was nerves or what, but I didn’t sleep well that night, despite the weariness in my bones.

The next morning, Annie’s make-up artist came to her apartment and did Annie’s make-up. It was beautiful. Then Maile, Annie and I head out to the salon. TGF came too, but he left us to go explore some shops around the area instead of sitting in the salon. Annie and Maile had their hair done and I had my nails done (we all three were supposed to get our nails done Friday before the rehearsal, but TGF didn’t get off work in time). Then it was off to the church.

We piddled about for a bit because we got their earlier than we had told them to expect us. We could only get into the reception area and not the church where we needed to be to change and get ready.

Getting ready was an adventure for me. I forgot my spanx at Annie’s! TGF sped back to her apartment to get them for me. Gotta love the man! But other than that, it was a lot of just anxiety and laughter. Then it was show time!

TGF snapped pix for me during the wedding.

It was a long Catholic ceremony, but not a full mass (thank goodness!). The wedding planner lady told me that as maid of honor, I had to go down from the altar to where Annie and Daniel were kneeling and fluff out her dress EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. she knelt. Which was a lot of times. Oh well. I didn’t mind. I was just worried that I was going to fall on the steps.

The reception is a blur. They had a moon photo booth set up and I cannot wait to see the pictures from that! I took a lot. >.> Annie and Daniel were all over the place talking to everyone. TGF and I mostly stuck together. We danced one song together.

TGF and I at the reception.

Then we sent them off with wands and bubbles. The bridal party and all our friends then got together at the hotel most everyone was staying at and had a little after party. Annie and Daniel came to it after they had a chance to decompress in their new place. I was so tired though, and TGF too, that we decided to bow out early and drive back home.

Hotel after party! Sorry the pic is kinda crappy. I was tired and it was dark.

It was a wonderful wedding though. I am so excited for my friends, Annie and Daniel, to start on this new chapter in their lives.

Bachelorettes In Space!

This past Saturday was my best friend, Annie’s wedding! But the Saturday before that, my friend Maile and I threw her a Lingerie/Bachelorette Party at my place. Annie loves space and so we decided to tailor the party to her tastes as opposed to the “typical” bachelorette party themes.

And I need to give Maile her due, she did a lot of the work for this party. She got all the decorations, worked on the games, made the goodie boxes and the Moon piñata and so much more.

We played a 20 Questions drinking game, where Annie had to answer questions about her now husband. Then a panty drinking game in which she had to guess which of her guests gave her which pair of panties. We played Pin the Space Junk on the Space Hunk. And then we let Annie go at the Moon piñata. The plan after that was to go to a drag show in the French Quarter, but the weather had turned SUPER cold (to us Southern magnolias anyway), so we just stayed in and drank more, played Mad Libs and Life. It was a lot of fun.

Here are just a few pictures from the evening.

The food spread. Maile took great pains making those star sandwiches as well as making clever names for all the food stuffs.

I LOVE this Space Shuttle cupcake stand Maile got for the party.

Goodie boxes! They had Cosmic Brownies (the Little Debbie kind), Star Crunches, shot glass “diamond” rings for the drinking games, star soaps, bouncy balls and astronaut ice cream.

Pin the Space Junk on the Space Hunk! Maile got a space helmet and blacked out the visor area so we could use as a blindfold for the party.

Annie might not have been able to smash the moon, but she got that flag in it!