May 29, 2010
Soap!
One of my goals for this year was to switch to all organic bath products in an effort to ditch the acne that’s been chasing me around for my whole life. It’s actually working really well!! But that’s a story for another time. Anyway, I now buy my soap from a company called Pangea Organics, which is really really cool if you’re interested in organic products. It’s on the pricey side though, so I usually have to wait for the sales. But man oh man, did I score the jackpot on this last order! First off, the soaps I use are BOGO for the month of May. Then I signed up to review free samples of new products, and they gave me a 20% off AND $5 off coupon that I could layer. So I just bought FOUR bars of yummy smelling organic soap for less than the price of two… $15.50, to be exact (and that includes their uber-expensive $7 shipping, thank you very much!!). Ahhh, I how I love the smell of a great deal in the morning. :-)
May 23, 2010
'Fessing Up
Ok ok, I have something to confess. It’s not anything super juicy or horrible, for those of you who got super excited just now. ;-) I don’t secretly have a love child, a married lover or $1,000,000 in credit card debt.
But if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember this one little goal I made way back when concerning my student loan. Last May I promised that I would pay my student loan down to $14,500, or $1,500 off the principal in one year. And, well, I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. I made it about halfway... I’m sitting at $15,273 right now. It’s better than nothing of course, but I still didn’t make it. At the time it didn’t seem like such an ambitious goal at all, tough but not impossible. And then I bought a car. And planned a trip to Italy. It’s funny how things can change so much in just one year’s time, and so I didn't end up throwing all my extra money at that loan like I thought I would.
So there you have it... my confession. Go easy on me.
But if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember this one little goal I made way back when concerning my student loan. Last May I promised that I would pay my student loan down to $14,500, or $1,500 off the principal in one year. And, well, I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. I made it about halfway... I’m sitting at $15,273 right now. It’s better than nothing of course, but I still didn’t make it. At the time it didn’t seem like such an ambitious goal at all, tough but not impossible. And then I bought a car. And planned a trip to Italy. It’s funny how things can change so much in just one year’s time, and so I didn't end up throwing all my extra money at that loan like I thought I would.
So there you have it... my confession. Go easy on me.
May 19, 2010
No more responsibilities
Man, summer is a wonderful time of year. No time restraints, nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do... I love it! Too bad life can't always be like this.
I'm also happy because I got to erase one more thing off of my list of responsibilities this summer... My apartment is signed over. Our subletter signed the documents, I paid the balance of the rent, and now I don't have to do anything at all except enjoy my time with the boyfriend, sit in the sunshine (if it ever freaking shows up!) and pack up my stuff to take it home. Everything is taken care of until I show back up in August!!
I'm also happy because I got to erase one more thing off of my list of responsibilities this summer... My apartment is signed over. Our subletter signed the documents, I paid the balance of the rent, and now I don't have to do anything at all except enjoy my time with the boyfriend, sit in the sunshine (if it ever freaking shows up!) and pack up my stuff to take it home. Everything is taken care of until I show back up in August!!
May 13, 2010
Shutting it all down
I called the cable company today, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. I figured the big bad Comcast wolf would never let me cancel service without a battle to the death. But... it was eerily peaceful and easy! I mean, I called to cancel a free trial of some lame dippy internet service awhile ago and had to argue with the guy for about 5 years before he let me go. But Comcast? I just walked away no problem. So weird!
Check off another thing I don't have to worry about until August! Woot!
Check off another thing I don't have to worry about until August! Woot!
May 12, 2010
Subletting is Annoying
Lately I have adoped the absolutely wonderful, fun, relaxing activity of... trying to find a subletter. Ugh. You’d think it’d be easy in a college town, with thousands upon thousands of people moving around and changing apartments, etc. But it took me 3 solid months with no bites before I found someone! I was posting on Craigslist, in the classifieds, in the grad student newsletter, and mailing people who needed housing for the summer... and I got nothing until just this week. Ridiculous!
But at least I finally have a subletter, a girl in my department actually. Good things are that I know her, my roommate knows her, and she is responsible. The bad thing is she can only afford $250 a month because she will be paying rent on both her apartment and mine (long story). So, that leaves me to pay the extra $250 to cover the rest of rent and utilities for June and July. I guess at a certain point, anything is better than nothing, though. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.
But at least I finally have a subletter, a girl in my department actually. Good things are that I know her, my roommate knows her, and she is responsible. The bad thing is she can only afford $250 a month because she will be paying rent on both her apartment and mine (long story). So, that leaves me to pay the extra $250 to cover the rest of rent and utilities for June and July. I guess at a certain point, anything is better than nothing, though. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.
May 10, 2010
SUMMER! Finally!
My semester has FINALLY come to an end! And I am proud to report that I got A's in two of my classes, with the third grade still to come. :-) Now it's time for the lazy days... reading, sitting in the sunshine, and studying Italian. I'm at home for a week, back up at school with the boyfriend for another week, and then home for 3 more weeks until it's time to go to Europe!
One goal of mine before I leave for Italy (besides learning 2 semesters worth of Italian) is to work out more. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous. Can't even run for a minute before I can't breathe and get dizzy. That's insane (and really embarrassing to admit, actually)! I've been trying to work out every day though, something cardio and then followed by a full body weight-lifting session. So we'll see if I make it the full month until mid-June!
One goal of mine before I leave for Italy (besides learning 2 semesters worth of Italian) is to work out more. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous. Can't even run for a minute before I can't breathe and get dizzy. That's insane (and really embarrassing to admit, actually)! I've been trying to work out every day though, something cardio and then followed by a full body weight-lifting session. So we'll see if I make it the full month until mid-June!
May 7, 2010
Summer Bill Trickiness
My summer tuition bill is PAID! This means all my fees are taken care of, and I have nothing to do but sit back and relax until Italy!
Just one problem-- I was a dummy and didn't know there was a convenience fee of 2% on every credit card payment made through the university. I waited until the very last minute to pay my bill so that it would show up on June's cycle and my money could collect a bit more interest in the bank. Makes sense in my mind. BUT now I got slapped with a $30 fee to pay with my credit card! And the money isn't in my checking to pay with an e-check, so I had no other choice. Well... the lady at the Bursar did try to trick me into taking another choice. Deferred payments! Sounds wonderful! Until you factor in the FIFTY DOLLAR deferment fee!! Aaaahh those people are sneaky sometimes. I *almost* fell for it...
Just one problem-- I was a dummy and didn't know there was a convenience fee of 2% on every credit card payment made through the university. I waited until the very last minute to pay my bill so that it would show up on June's cycle and my money could collect a bit more interest in the bank. Makes sense in my mind. BUT now I got slapped with a $30 fee to pay with my credit card! And the money isn't in my checking to pay with an e-check, so I had no other choice. Well... the lady at the Bursar did try to trick me into taking another choice. Deferred payments! Sounds wonderful! Until you factor in the FIFTY DOLLAR deferment fee!! Aaaahh those people are sneaky sometimes. I *almost* fell for it...
May 3, 2010
"As we headed off to exciting destinations like... Milwaukee"
I have a paper due at midnight, that still needs lots of working over, so of course... it's time for a blog post! Right.
I just got back from my road trip (with my profs!) to the conference in Milwaukee, and let me tell you, that is a cool place! I had so much fun, who knew conferences could be so cool? And traveling on the department... amazing! I didn't have to stress if I could afford the $15 entree for ONCE in my life, I could live it up! I ate tons of cheese (including Limberger-- don't ever do it!), visited a brewery, tried famous Wisconsin cheese curds (DO do it!) and walked along the river. :)
My presentation went well too, even if there weren't that many people there. Apparently not too many people are interested in experimental L2 phonology... I've run into this problem before. But it's so cool, I just don't know why people don't like it! Oh well, it was a good group for my first conference presentation, and one of the profs there offered to send me all this extra material and things to help me out, so that will be sweet. I already can't wait till next year- Austin baby!
I just got back from my road trip (with my profs!) to the conference in Milwaukee, and let me tell you, that is a cool place! I had so much fun, who knew conferences could be so cool? And traveling on the department... amazing! I didn't have to stress if I could afford the $15 entree for ONCE in my life, I could live it up! I ate tons of cheese (including Limberger-- don't ever do it!), visited a brewery, tried famous Wisconsin cheese curds (DO do it!) and walked along the river. :)
My presentation went well too, even if there weren't that many people there. Apparently not too many people are interested in experimental L2 phonology... I've run into this problem before. But it's so cool, I just don't know why people don't like it! Oh well, it was a good group for my first conference presentation, and one of the profs there offered to send me all this extra material and things to help me out, so that will be sweet. I already can't wait till next year- Austin baby!
