What to Expect from Here on Out

Minor updates or anything I think is nice or cute at the time of posting :)

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Under Pressure...but only from myself

I love the song Under Pressure by Queen and as my husband and I are planning our babies First Birthday party I just keep replaying the song in my head. I'm not sure why I feel so much pressure about her first birthday, it's not as if the baby will remember it. But I want it to be a good memory for all our family and friends. Our first debate was whether to have it at home or in a place, the decision was made after we wrote out the guest list. We have a lot of people to invite and wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable. The second thing we mulled over was whether to try to cook ourselves or cater the party. After doing the math we decided it'd be about the same amount of money to cater it and luckily found a hall close to home (mostly within our budget) that would accomodate. Plus having it catered will allow us to enjoy ourselves at the party. There's also the benefit of me not accidentally poison all my loved ones since cooking is not my strongest suit. :) Onto phase three, the theme!! What to do, what to do, she likes a book from Bunnies By the Bay but of course there's no decorations for that. Then I looked online and just got inundated and confused - TMI! I have a lot of ideas but in the end and with good advice decided to keep it generic and simple. I never much thought about themes for parties but from the ones I've attended it really does make a difference, especially for a kids party. I think planning the party would be worse and make me anxious if I didn't have the help of our families. Knowing that I can turn to everyone to ask for advice or their opinions is really helping me out. My sister, sister-in-law, and friends have experience with throwing kid parties so they've all been a great resource for me.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Coffee Without The Attitude

A new coffee shop opened up last year next door to my job called Gregory's Coffee, I stop in every now and again. I like the coffee, but also the staff are surprisingly pleasant. I say surprising because in the rush of the city I feel there's not too much time for customer service. I don't know if it's the chain or just this particular location, the baristas know a lot about coffee. I tend to get confused if I try to order outside my normal regular coffee but once asked what a cortado was and got a quick history lesson, which sadly I can't remember. Since they put in so much effort I felt like I should try one. It packed a punch but was pretty tasty. Since it's close to Valentines day they have a promotion going on if you bring them a valentine you get a free cup of coffee. I thought this was such a cute idea, and remembered that in December if you brought them a snowflake made of paper you'd get a free coffee as well. It's very cute because they then had all these snowflakes decorating the shop. It's nice to see that kind of connection with customers.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Next Warren Buffett?

I've had an account for picking stocks for awhile and mostly left it dormant with virtual tumble weeds passing through. Lately I've been trying to educate myself about the stock market and started to invest the least amount possible. I think there's real potential for even a layman like myself to earn a little extra spending income or at least that's what I hope. Now am I the next Warren Buffett? Not going to happen, but I found that I had a fear of the stock market. I realized I had the mindset that choosing stocks was complicated, risky, and not for 'someone like me'. In this day and age where we have access to articles, and stock forecasts to help you learn what may be a good buy for you, I got to thinking it's ridiculous for me to think I can't do this when it's literally at my fingertips. I don't have thousands of dollars to buy large stock in a great company, but I don't need it. I can focus on start-ups and invest small amounts. The great thing about it, I can put in $10 a month and choose some under performing stock whose value I think may increase in six months or more. The downside, if the stock doesn't pick up, I lose $10 but won't break the bank. So really I don't see a downside, may as well try and hope for the best.

Twice online consignment

I recently came upon a site called Like Twice and fell in definite like :) It took me a couple of visits to the site to get the genius of it, as someone who prefers the quality that you can sometimes get from high-end brands but can't justify to my bank account why I'm paying high prices this is a great site. I've been to thrift or consignment stores before but depending on the store set-up, it's not the best shopping experience. Sometimes thrift stores can be down right frustrating. On 'Like Twice' I can just select my sizes, item, and even which brands I'm looking for and they pull up a selection of gently used clothes, bags, even shoes. Maybe the best part of this online gem is that they buy your old brands, with some criteria for condition and age. I'm going to try to send some items, I'll post again once I find out if the process really is good as it seems. The best part for me is that I can clean out some items in my closet that I'm tired of or outgrew (baby weight) and either get some money for them or store credit. I'm thinking I may opt for the store credit.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Super Bowl Sunday

So it was Super Bowl Sunday, I'm not a big sports fan but joined a pool which for me helped make the game more interesting. Who knew that for me gambling could make sports fun! As long as its within reason (everything in moderation people) :) I didn't win the pool but no harm no foul, I still enjoyed it. I found that by paying more attention and seeing who won the pool made me more interested in the game, it was different from my usual ritual of just watching the commercials. Although if I'm being honest I think the Budweiser puppy was the cutest! Not knowing much about football I have to say I thought it was a good game, the score was never too far apart. I felt a little bad they started fighting at the end but they both wanted to win so badly, it makes me think of the amount of pressure athletes have to cope with. I have a lot of respect for them to be able to handle that kind of pressure. Now to the good stuff, I thought the big cat Katy Perry rode in on was amazing!!! Especially since its movements were coordinated by people on the bottom. It reminded me of the dragons I've seen at parades in China town here in NY, just people moving together to bring an object to life. The other thing I enjoyed during the game was the food, I had half a hero and wings. Well, I left the wings to my husband I can't really eat hot wings (too spicy) but the celery was good. Definitely a good time :)