No Spend 2019 – March

Well.

Good intentions, AMIRITE?

To be fair, a lot of my spending in March was due to a trip* to Washington, D.C. I took for work and which I’ll mostly be reimbursed for. Also it was tax refund time and while I never go wild when I get an unexpected windfall, I did loosen up the purse strings just a bit last month.

That said… Areas where I was successful:

• Regular bills – they don’t change much, we’re thrifty with our energy usage.
• Home & garden maintenance – I purchased some seed starting materials, but that was about it.
• I also spent way more on my car payment this month, which is the general idea of spending far less in other areas – gotta get that car paid off! Between budgeting and tax refunds, I was able to pay more than 4x the usual car payment…plus the actual car payment. Woo!

And then there were areas I was less successful:

• Groceries – somehow I ended up spending far more on groceries, despite being out of town for a week?!?
• Clothing – a series of unfortunate (and fortunate?) events led me to be at Old Navy unexpectedly. *ahem* I went searching for one particular dress I knew was there and in the process picked up a few more items on clearance. So it goes. I also bought new shoes for walking around DC and I’m so glad I did – I walked 10+ miles one day!
• Eating out – Spent loads in this category last month. Again, due mainly to being out of town…but not entirely.
• I also picked up a handful of things in DC as souvenirs. A giant pompom (which delights me to no end) and enamel pin from Fibre Space. An enamel pin from the Library of Congress.

There were also some expected, but irregular, expenses, namely:

• yearly car registration
• 6-month car insurance policy renewal (I pay in full)
• dance recital tickets

It wasn’t the greatest month, with regard to the budget, but it wasn’t terrible either! I’ve done some math and I’m hopeful that I will actually be able to meet my goal of paying off my car by the end of the summer. Fingers crossed and belts tightened!

*The trip was to the Digital POWRR Institute and it was amazing. The whole training was fantastic, the weather was perfect, the food was great, the Library of Congress was awe-inspiring, the museums were phenomenal…

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Operation Try New Restaurants: Danish Pastry House (and Popeye’s!)

In May, I was recovering from mono (fun!) when I went down to Tufts for a work event. During the previous week or two I had experienced such an awful sore throat and mouth pain (from the mono! fun!) that I had barely eaten at all. Even water was painful. The day I went down to Massachusetts started off no differently – I barely ate breakfast. (Did I eat breakfast? I may not have.) Around mid-morning, we were provided with the standard conference-fare-morning-snacks: muffins & yogurt & whatnot. I figured I’d try some and lo and behold I was actually able to eat something without excruciating pain!

And thus I ended up going across the street to the Danish Pastry House where the service was a little slow, the inside temperature was overwhelmingly hot, and my food was absolutely amazing. I think I got a salad and a little fruit tart, but I honestly don’t even remember. Also it is possible that I was so overjoyed to be eating solid food that anything would have been outstanding.

On the way home, I stopped at the Popeye’s at the highway rest stop because I’ve never been to Popeye’s. (Fried chicken joints are not A Thing I grew up around and still mostly don’t exist up here.) I had chicken tenders! And mashed potatoes that I’m pretty sure were instant! And gravy! And a buttery biscuit! The chicken was terrible but I’ve had it since and I think I got a particularly awful batch. Regardless, would not recommend, unless you’re on a road trip!

:: photo friday :: Barbara Cooney exhibit

:: photo friday :: dayjob feels a little nosy sometimes

  

:: photo friday :: under the table

  

351: after dark

Working after dark and after the library has closed is totally not creepy. No. Not at all.

(It was only 5! Winter in Maine + cloudy day + closing early because finals are over = Very. Dark. Library.)

343: ice ice…

We’re having some rain… It was freezing in spots and icing everything up but now it’s just straight up rain and my basement is spurting water through the walls. Not even kidding.

It’s…impressive.

341: Santa!

This happened today!

This morning E had a play date, I had a photo shoot, then we came home for a quick lunch before heading to my work for Santa filled festivities – Santa himself, holiday “tattoos,” Christmas crafts, cookie decorating, snacks and, most importantly, a big ol’ bounce house with a slide!

She loved it all.

We were supposed to go to our town’s tree lighting festival tonight but we were tired and it was cold and we needed groceries, so we skipped. Totally the right call. Plenty of fun for one day!

339: I hate this treadmill

But not for the reasons you might think. I like running. I like walking. I like doing it on a treadmill when it’s 17 degrees outside. But this one is so user-unfriendly. It starts up slooooowly and then you can’t just tell it how fast you want to go, you have to be walking/running and simultaneously, continuously pushing the up or down arrows. Which I loathe.

First world problems, right?

In other news, the kids had their holiday concert tonight and it was incredibly adorable. E sang her little heart out. H…didn’t. (I had to accompany him onstage and stay there. Oh well. We weren’t the only ones!)

Then we came out of the festive holiday concert to a smattering of snowflakes! Perfect.

336: run run run

First post-Thanksgiving run today! It went better than I expected, but did give me a headache later in the day. Ugh!