Tag Archives: shopping

Working On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge)

Posted on April 29, 2016 | Comments Off on Working On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge)

I’ve really been working lately on spending less. I know it’s important for me to do this because I need to use that extra money toward my credit card debt (and not creating more debt). And obviously, there are some costs that I can’t avoid (bills and stuff), but I’ve gotten more serious at taking a look at my fun expenses.

I’m sure it sounds like I spend a ton because I go to Disneyland pretty often and now I have a pass to Universal Studios as well. This Disneyland pass was pretty much half paid for by recycling ink. That option won’t work for me in the future (the loophole that let me do that was fixed), but pretty much what I paid out of pocket was the same as 2 days at Disneyland. And my pass has the parking so I’m not paying $18 each time to park. I know I’ll go more than 2 times in a year so it’s easily worth it. And my Universal Studios pass was something I got at Costco for almost the same price as a 1 day ticket. The issue with my pass is that you can’t use it on weekends at all, but since I will probably only go on Mondays that isn’t an issue for me as well.

I am still spending money on other fun things, but I’m really trying to limit them to fun experiences like my season tickets to the Pantages or other shows (I just got tickets to see “The Little Mermaid” live at the Hollywood Bowl soon!). And when I do tickets like those, I’m working hard at finding good deals or making sure what I’m paying is a good value (like the season tickets being about $300 for all 7 shows). Part of why I love going to so many shows is it keeps me busy. And when I’m busy I’m not focusing on food.

And speaking of food, one of the biggest savings I’ve had lately is food related. I set the monthly challenge not to order any delivery food in March, and I’ve been able to keep that up so far this month too! I’m not doing as great about cooking from scratch, but even getting microwave food from the grocery store is cheaper than delivery food. When I’m not cooking, I’m going out to eat and that tends to be with friends so it makes it more of an outing than just eating. My grocery bills have gone up a bit since I’m eating at home more, but the amount they have gone up is significantly less than what I was spending on delivery food so that is a win for me.

But I think the biggest savings for me as been shopping. Mainly buying books, but I’m trying to be better about shopping in general. I used to buy a lot more stuff. Now, if I’m buying things online it tends to be household stuff I need or workout clothes. I’m not buying as much “normal” clothes because honestly I’m not in “normal” clothes that often. And even on non-workout days I usually wear my workout pants because they are more comfortable to work in.

But my book spending was pretty bad in the past. I used to be a huge library person, then there was an ordeal with my library card not working (I don’t know what happened and neither do they). Instead of doing the easy thing and just registering for a new card, I took advantage of how easy it is to get books on my Kindle. My old e-reader was much more difficult to get books on so just being able to press a button and order a book was so fun! But the spending was adding up. And while most of the books I buy I love and read over and over again, there were some that I got because they were on sale for $0.99 that I’ve read once and that’s it.

So recently I finally got a new library card and I’ve been taking advantage of it so much!

Library Card

It is so easy to get books on my Kindle from the library. Yes, I have to use my computer to get them. But then they are sent wirelessly to my Kindle and are on the device for 21 days. So most of the time I can read them more than once if I want to. I actually went a little overboard with putting Kindle books on hold from the library and had to delay a couple of holds (I had gotten 8 library books available at once). But I’m starting to find my groove with the library again and I feel like an idiot that I waited so long and spent so much money. I can’t go back and change it, but I’m glad I’ve changed now.

I know that there are still a few more places I can save money in my monthly spending. I want to get my grocery bills down a bit more as well as my household stuff (cleaning supplies, paper goods, and those things). I’m going to do some price checking between stores near me and Amazon and hopefully I can figure out the best options for me to maximize my money.

I’ve got a lot of fun things coming up this summer and a lot of them will involve money. But hopefully with the cutting back that I’ve been able to do I will not put myself into more debt just to do them.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailRelaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself) Default ThumbnailFinding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money (or A Prosperous Heart Update) Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money) Default ThumbnailAnother Year Of Disneyland (or No More Ink Money) Default ThumbnailWorking On Priorities (or Adding And Taking Away)

Comments Off on Working On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge)

Posted in Saving, Shopping

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Relaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself)

Posted on April 7, 2016 | Comments Off on Relaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself)

I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. Between work, workouts, acting, and other stuff I feel like my days are getting filled up really quickly. This is awesome and I’m so happy about it, but sometimes I realize that I need to take a step back and relax for a bit. I’m finally getting better at realizing when my body feels like it’s getting to a breaking point, so when I started to feel like that at the beginning of this week I took some time to myself. I’m glad that I didn’t get to the point where I got exhausted and needed a few days to get back to my usual self. This time, I really only spent 2 afternoons being selfish and doing things for myself and I feel back to normal already.

I ended up canceling plans that I had made this Monday to do some stuff that I needed to do but had been putting off. Even though my plans were more fun, getting stuff crossed off my to-do list is really nice too! None of the things on my to-do list were urgent, so I had been putting them off for a while. I think knowing that I should be doing something but not was causing a bit of stress in my life. So getting those done relived some stress and made the rest of the things I needed to get done not feel as overwhelming.

I’ve also rediscovered my love for the library. I used to use the library all the time. My original e-reader was a Sony because at the time that was the only one that could get library e-books. But then I almost forgot about the library and I let my library card expire (did you know they could do that?). So a few weeks ago, I went down to the local library branch to get a new library card so I could start enjoying library books again. I’ve checked out a bunch of stuff lately. It’s so easy to get library books on my Kindle (much easier than my old e-reader) so I’ve gotten a ton of new books lately.

I feel so silly that I haven’t used the library lately, but now I’m back and obsessed! After running the errands I had to run on Monday, my afternoon and evening were spent reading and that was such a perfect way to spend the day. I still have books that I buy, but I’m so glad that the library is pretty well stocked with e-books so I can curb that spending habit. I know I’ve spent a lot of money on books (I love them so much!) and if I could limit my book spending just to the books I love so much and know I’ll be reading over and over again, that will help me budget better. I still can’t get over how this wasn’t something I thought of sooner, but at least know I’m on the right track to reducing my spending habits without reducing my reading material.

I also spent time getting ready for my upcoming trip for Rayshell’s wedding. I had already gotten a dress to wear and some cute and comfortable shoes. But I realized that if I was wearing open toed shoes at a nice event my feet probably should look nice. So on Tuesday after work, I went to my favorite pedicure place and splurged on a pedicure. My last pedicure was last spring, so I think that I had deserved to get another one. And I found the perfect color to put on my toes for a wedding!

Pedicure

I’ve still got a couple of other things that I need to do before this weekend, but there’s nothing that feels so big that it will be tough to complete. I want to be able to enjoy my weekend (which includes the wedding and a 5K race) and not have to stress about things at home or things that need to be done. Most of the things on my to-do list now are ideas that I’d like to work on (like reorganizing my desk and cleaning out my workout clothes drawer), but they won’t affect me if they don’t happen this week or month. I would like to work on checking things off more often so they don’t build up like they have. That’s just something else I need to work on in my self-improvement so I can maybe start treating these relaxation days and rewards for getting stuff done!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSo Much Reading (or Really Taking Advantage Of The Library) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge) Default ThumbnailStill Being A Bit Selfish (or Using Some Pressure) Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Christmas (or Not Spending My Day Off Doing My Usual Stuff) Default ThumbnailHaving A Book Nerd Moment (or The Little Things That Make Me Smile) Default ThumbnailBooks and Roses (or A Day By USC)

Comments Off on Relaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Knowing My Limitations (or Going Easy On Myself)

Posted on March 29, 2016 | 1 comment

I’ve struggled a lot with my limitations and how much I can do. This isn’t just workout related (although that is a big part of things), it’s also about scheduling myself and not getting overwhelmed. It’s so easy for me to think that I can do 100 things in a day and then get upset when I only get 10 of them done. There’s so much I feel like I should get done every day and there are days where it’s suddenly 8pm and I feel like I’ve done nothing at all.

I’m like that with my day jobs. I work really hard at getting both of my main day jobs done each day. Many days I can to both at the same time (working one in between the customer calls/chats at the other), but sometimes there’s just no way to make that happen. That’s fine and I know most people can’t work more than one job at a time, but it’s still frustrating when that’s how I imagine my schedule to go that day. I’m working harder and harder at creating backup plans for myself, but I sometimes get upset when I realize that there’s no way to complete both jobs at the time I expected. It’s really childish that is upsetting me, but I guess I’m just so used to having a set schedule and things ending exactly at the time I expected them to. That’s the benefit of having a job with a set schedule instead of one that is on my own time. But the jobs on my own time are the ones with the flexibility I need so those are better for me.

It’s the same thing with clothes and shoes. I really want to be able to wear cute things, but sometimes that can’t happen. Some of it is due to the clothes I want to wear not coming in my size (which is so annoying!) and some of it is how it fits on me. I know that everyone probably has this problem, but I hate when I see something in a catalog or online on someone my size but it doesn’t look right on me. It’s the main reason that I really don’t do online shopping (except for my workout clothes). Or there are tons of cute shoes that I’d love to wear but I can’t because of my hip issues. I’m trying to find cute shoes that are more “comfort” style shoes, and fortunately many companies make super cute comfort shoes. I’ve been struggling with what I will wear to Rayshell’s wedding. I didn’t want to wear the same dress I’ve worn to several weddings and I actually found something online at Target and it fit me perfectly. But now I’m stressed out about what shoes to wear. Sometimes I feel like I just want to collapse and cry when I can’t figure out how to do what I want.

This has been an issue for me for a long time, but lately it’s been getting worse. I’m not exactly sure what brought it on. But I am taking on more projects (day job and acting related) that take up time. And I have more events where I need cute outfits. And I feel like I should be making progress with my fitness because I work so hard and then I have a setback or don’t make progress at all. I’m sure I’m just in a slump right now, but it’s not fun at all.

I’m really trying to figure out better ways to set myself up for success. I’m doing  a lot more planning in my life right now. Planning out my day more specifically than I have in the past allows me to find where I have extra time to get things done that I haven’t been able to complete when I thought I would. And I’m working on closet planning to be able to put together more outfits and see what I have and not focus on what I want to get for a specific event. I think that having more organization in that sense will help me find some peace in what is stressing me out lately. And if it doesn’t bring me peace, hopefully it will allow me to pinpoint exactly what is bringing on the stress and frustration so I can work on that specific issue and not the issue in whole.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAnother Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping) Default ThumbnailFinding New Limitations (or Trying My Best) Default ThumbnailMore Cute Workout Clothes (or Why Can’t More Companies Be Like Old Navy?) Default ThumbnailMixed Up Workouts (or Not Knowing What To Expect) Default ThumbnailThe Tale Of Two Fitness Studios (or Knowing Where Your Home Is) Default ThumbnailTrying A New Spin (or Knowing When A Place Does Feel Like Home)

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Replacing My Scale (or Somehow It Wasn’t A Big Deal To Me This Time)

Posted on February 18, 2016 | Comments Off on Replacing My Scale (or Somehow It Wasn’t A Big Deal To Me This Time)

I’ve seriously had a love/hate relationship with the scale. I refuse to look at any scale other than my own because I know that the scale might not be calibrated correctly and I’m not being weighed in the condition that I always weigh myself in (which is first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and before I eat or drink anything). If I have to get weighed in somewhere (like at the doctor or for an Orangetheory challenge), I do blind weight where I step on the scale backwards and don’t find out what it says.

I’ve had panic attacks related to my scale. If I have to replace it, I feel like all the effort I had previously put into my weight loss is worthless because the new scale might weigh me differently than the old one. I’m aware how crazy that sounds, but panic attacks aren’t rational and that’s really what my crazy brain thinks. So I’ve gone months in the past without a working scale (which doesn’t help my panic attacks either because I’m terrified I’ve gained a ton of weight and don’t know it), or I search high and low for the exact same scale I previously owned thinking that somehow that would make a difference.

I don’t know when this issue with the scale started, but it’s been like this for a very long time. So when my scale was acting weird I got really nervous. I would step on the scale and a variety of error messages came up. But since it would eventually zero out I thought I could weigh myself. But I would get such an extreme range of weights from the scale. It could start at 375 pounds and then go down to 17 pounds and everything in between. So I knew that something wasn’t right and it needed to be fixed.

First, I changed out the batteries thinking that it would fix the issue. But even with the new batteries I had the exact same error messages (mainly it was an overload message which shouldn’t have happened because the scale is good up to 400 pounds and I’m not near that weight at all). So since the new batteries didn’t work, I immediately went on the search for a new scale and was scared that it would take a long time to be ok with a new one.

I’m shocked that I went onto Amazon, found a scale with decent ratings, and felt totally ok ordering it right then and there. Because of Amazon Prime the new scale was at my doorstep early the next morning and the old scale went immediately into the trash.

New Scale

As soon as the new scale was set up (I’m happy that it came with batteries so I didn’t have to buy them), I stepped on it. I weighed 4 pounds more than I did on my old scale, but that’s ok. That is my new current weight and as long as this scale keeps working that will be the weight that I will be working with.

It was as simple as that. No panic attacks (although I was mad that my scale broke and the company had gone out of business so I couldn’t get a replacement or any help) and I’m fine with the new scale. I don’t know what changed in my life to make this so much easier than all the other times I’ve had to do it in the past. I still plan on doing blind weights when I’m not at home, but I know that doing that will keep me from worrying what the scale says at other places or under other conditions. I wish that so many other things that cause me panic attacks or anxiety could go away for no reason like this did. So many things would be so much easier if that happened, but I know that it’s a bit of an unrealistic dream.

I’ve got a few other things coming up that have always caused me panic that I haven’t had to deal with recently (more on that in another post) and I’m cautiously optimistic that somehow they will be easier for me now. I had that experience at the dentist recently and there really is no reason for it. I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the Vyvanse dose I’m taking. It’s supposed to make my panic/anxiety disorder worse, but maybe it’s making it better?

I can only hope that that’s true.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAttempting To Go Scale-Free (or A Personal Challenge) Default ThumbnailEnding My Scale Hiatus (or That Will Be A One-Time Experiment) Default ThumbnailMy Love/Hate Relationship with the Scale (or Can I Drop Kick a Scale without Hurting Myself?) Default ThumbnailMeasuring My Success (or I Really Shouldn’t Have Stepped On The Scale) Default ThumbnailReality TV (or How Losing 200 Pounds Can Be Something That Is Booed) Default ThumbnailGetting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge)

Comments Off on Replacing My Scale (or Somehow It Wasn’t A Big Deal To Me This Time)

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Shopping, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged , , , , ,

My Christmas Eve and Christmas (or A Late Night Target Run)

Posted on December 29, 2015 | Comments Off on My Christmas Eve and Christmas (or A Late Night Target Run)

My Christmas plans were pretty low-key this year. I was going to have some friends over to watch movies and we were going to order Chinese food. Nothing too special, but I was looking forward to a fun and relaxing day at home with some fun company.

On Christmas Eve, I enjoyed a workout in the morning and then really didn’t have much as far as plans go for the rest of the day. I went to the grocery store (where it was insanely crowded!) and then spent the afternoon reading and watching some stuff on Hulu and Netflix.

Then just after dinnertime when I was watching a show on tv, my tv died. I’m not sure what happened. All I know is one second it worked and the next the screen was black. I could turn the tv on and off, but the screen stayed black. I couldn’t get the menu to come up or the input to change (so it wasn’t a reception issue). I looked up what I could online and nothing looked good to me. It seems like one of the graphics cards inside of my tv might have broken but I wasn’t going to spend money trying to find out.

So at 10pm on Christmas Eve, I headed to Target prepared to deal with all the last minute Christmas shoppers. I picked Target because they were pretty much the only ones open that late and they had a tv that would work for me in stock (and I needed a working tv for the movie day the next day).

To my surprise, Target was emptier than I’ve ever seen it. I’d guess that maybe there were under 10 shoppers in the entire store. So it was pretty easy for me to get to the electronics section and get a new tv.

Target

Not only was the store empty, but the tv was about 30% off! I wasn’t expecting that at all based on the prices online so that was a nice surprise. I used the money that I had leftover from paying my 2014 taxes to buy the tv (it wasn’t an expense I planned for or really had in my budget). That money was originally going to go toward another acting class, but maybe after I pay my 2015 taxes I’ll have leftover money to do that.

I spend the rest of my Christmas Eve night getting the new tv set up and the old tv out of the living room. It’s a much bigger tv than I’m used to, but I think it looks nice.

New TV

On Christmas, I started my day by baking some cookies to bring to all of my neighbors. They are super easy meringue cookies and they are very fast to get together (they just take a long time to bake).

Christmas Cookies

Then it was time for the traditional movie and Chinese food day. It was perfect and lazy and exactly what I wanted to do.

The last thing I had to do after Christmas that related to my last minute tv purchase was to get rid of the old tv. Obviously since it was broken I couldn’t sell it or donate it. So I had to go to the e-waste disposal site in LAX to get rid of it. It isn’t super close to me, but the drive has a pretty awesome view so I can’t complain.

Ocean View

While I would have rather not had to get a new tv suddenly, it really did work out well for me. I’m sure that any other day I would have been at Target anytime soon it would have been very crowded. And I doubt that the discount I got on the tv would have lasted much longer (I think it might have been a deal leading up to Christmas). So if my tv had to break randomly, it was a pretty ideal circumstance for me and now I have a nice big tv for all my future movie days/nights at my house.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Christmas (or Not Spending My Day Off Doing My Usual Stuff) Default ThumbnailA Solitary Christmas (or Just Enjoying Being Alone) Default ThumbnailA Christmas Lunch (or The Levin-Levin-Levine Summit) Default ThumbnailMerry Christmas! (or I’m Good With Whatever Happens Today) Default ThumbnailMerry Christmas (or I’ll Be Enjoying My Movies And Chinese Food) Default ThumbnailNighthawk Breakfast Bar (or A Late Night Breakfast/Dinner)

Comments Off on My Christmas Eve and Christmas (or A Late Night Target Run)

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , , ,

Hard Time At The Hard Rock Cafe 5K (or At Least I Looked Awesome!)

Posted on November 10, 2015 | 6 comments

This past Saturday was the Hard Rock Cafe 5K (this year they also had a 10K, but I wasn’t going to do a 10K). It was my 3rd year doing this race and I was really excited to be doing the race again this year. And even more exciting, my friend Kate flew down to LA for the weekend to do the race with me (more about our weekend adventures tomorrow).

I wish I could tell you that I killed it at the race and everything went amazing. But sadly, that wasn’t the case.

I’m not 100% sure what happened, but things seemed weird starting the night before. As I was going to bed, I said to Kate how it didn’t feel like the night before a race. Maybe it’s because someone was sleeping in my living room. Maybe it was because I hadn’t gone to the bib pickup that day to get all my race stuff (Kate and I were going to pick our race things up on Saturday morning).

On race day, I was up at 4:30am and we were out the door by 5:15. Traffic was light so we got to the Hard Rock Cafe nice and early. We got our race stuff, went back down to my car in the parking structure, and got ready. Once it was closer to 6am, we went back up to the street to warm up and make sure we had good spots in the starting area so Kate could avoid the walkers and I could be out-of-the-way for the runners.

Hard Rock Cafe

And of course, we had to take a pre-race photo together.

Pre Race Photo

Kate went up to the front of the pack after that and I hung back and tried to relax and not stress out about the race. While I was waiting for the race to start, I managed to make a few new friends because of the awesome tank top I was wearing that day (hi Susie!!). The race was supposed to start at 7am, but we ended up starting closer to 7:15am.

Right from the beginning, things didn’t feel right to me. My legs were stiff from waiting so long for the start of the race and I was feeling pain in my shins and calf starting at the half mile mark. As much as I wanted to push myself, I was struggling. I checked out my tracking app on my phone at the 1 mile marker and saw that the first mile was about 30 seconds slower than what my mile time was at my PR.

At that point, I realized it would be pretty impossible to make up that time plus be 30 seconds faster on the next two miles, so I stopped trying to push as hard and decided to just focus on finishing without having to take a break.

Right after that realization, Kate was passing me going back toward the finish line. She was having a tough race as well (but she ended up placing 4th in our division, 7th in women, and 41st in the entire race).

The rest of the race seemed to take a while. I tried to focus on the streets going by and knowing that I will be done with the race soon enough. My race photos are all pretty serious looking since I was so focused.

Race Time

As I was almost at the finish line, I saw Kate hanging out there waiting for me to finish. She walked next to me for the last minute and we both were sharing how we had pretty bad race days. I crossed the finish line about 90 seconds slower than my PR (I split the different between my time at the Hard Rock Cafe 5K last year and the Hollywood Half 5K in April).

Even though I didn’t PR, I still got my amazing medal!

Post Race Selfie

After the race, Kate and I got breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe and I got one last photo on the stairs to the Dolby theater to celebrate completing my race.

Oscar Stairs

As soon as I got home, I added my newest medal to my wall (which is starting to look very full now).

Medal Hanger

Even though the race wasn’t great for me, I did it and I didn’t finish last (which is something that I am terrified of doing one day). I’m so proud of Kate for how well she finished in the race and I’m glad that neither of us really gave up.

While I love my race medal (it’s so sparkly!), my favorite thing from the race was the shirt that I wore! I ordered a tank top from Mighty Petunia after doing a random google search for motivational tank tops. So many motivational tank tops are silly and cheesy, but I love the messages that are on the Mighty Petunia tanks. They are fun and I am already picking out which ones I want next! And I got a ton of compliments on it at the race.

Since I loved my Mighty Petunia tank top so much, Cathy (who is the owner of Mighty Petunia) has given me a promo code to share with all of you! If you buy something from their site, use the promo code “Bombshell” and you’ll get 10% off of your order. And the shirts are so reasonably priced already so the 10% off is just icing on the cake! I hope that you guys will take advantage of the discount and support this great business!

While my race day wasn’t great, I managed to find ways to keep a somewhat positive mindset and was able to focus on the things that made me happy (like my tank top and the medal I got at the finish line). My next 5K is in April and while I’m hoping I’ll PR at that race, I just want to have a more positive race experience and I’ll be happy.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailHard Rock Cafe 5K Take 2 (or Trying To Not Be Frustrated With A PR) Default ThumbnailI Can’t Believe My Race Time (or A 5K With My TIU Friends) Default ThumbnailRevlon Run/Walk (or I Survived 5K #3!) Default ThumbnailTraining For A 5K Without Planning On Doing Them (or I Think I’m Only Doing 3 5Ks This Year) Default Thumbnail5K #7 (or I Was Prepared For The Worst And Got The Best) Default ThumbnailOnce Upon A Time: The Rock Opera (or An Awesome Giveaway!)

6 Comments

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Restoring My Computer (or Glad For A Backup)

Posted on October 29, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve had my computer for close to 6 years now. That may not seem like a lot, but considering how much I use it every day (I have to do multiple jobs on my computer every week), it’s pretty impressive how long it’s lasted. I’ve been pretty good about trying to update things as they come up and making sure that I clean out old files when I can. And of course, I have an external hard drive always attached that backs up my laptop on a very regular basis.

The other day after work, I got an alert that there was an update ready for my computers. I checked the reviews online first to make sure the update was good and compatible with my computer. And once it all looked good I started the download.

The actual download of the update went fine, but when my computer rebooted and tried to install the update everything went wrong. It froze on the update and no matter how many times I tried to restart my computer it wouldn’t budge.

Finally after an hour or so of restarting I got my computer up and running again but everything was gone. There were no settings, no photos, no documents, and no downloaded apps on my computer. It was like it came straight out of the box (or more like straight out of the box 6 years ago because it was using the operating system that came with the computer when it was new).

After a minor freak out and google search on my phone on how to restore my computer from my backups, I finally got the restoration process started.

Computer Restore

Restoring my computer took about 6 hours and then resetting the last few things on it took another hour or so. I was up all night making sure that this worked because I knew that I had to work in the morning and if my computer wasn’t working I’d have to figure out how to fix it before 10am.

This entire problem was resolved pretty simply (I’m very lucky), but it made me realize how reliant I am on my computer. Obviously, I need it for work but it also has all my photos on it. And while I feel pretty good that my backup is reliable, it still terrified me that all my things might be gone.

I’m not going to try to update my computer again. I’m worried that I’ll have this issue again and I’m planning on getting a new laptop in December or January. While this laptop does an ok job, I need more storage for photos and files and it’s getting very slow and glitchy (in order to open my web browser I usually have to attempt to open it 5 or 6 times and force quit it until it works).

I know that a new computer is a really big expense and probably considered a luxury. And people may think I should buy the cheapest computer I can to save money. But those cheaper computers seem to not last as long and I won’t be able to do all the fun things that I use my computer for (editing photos, collage projects, syncing with my phone the same way). To me, it’s worth spending the extra money in order to make sure I have a computer that is good and will last me at least another 5 years.

I’m getting very excited for a new computer because I know it will work really nicely, but I’m already starting to think about how I will transfer all my data from one computer to the other. My mom is also looking at a new computer (her computer is as old or older than mine) and I want to be able to help her too.

I’m doing so much planning for this purchase that won’t happen for another month or two. But there’s nothing wrong about getting excited for something that should make my life much easier!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA New Computer (or Out With The Old And In With The New) Default ThumbnailFall Cleaning (or Making My Workplace Spotless) Default ThumbnailHoping To Fix My Computer (or Can The New MacBook Pros Please Come Out Soon?) Default ThumbnailNew Shoes! (or I’m Glad I Had A Pedicure) Default ThumbnailTrying To Cut Back On Clutter (or Why Won’t My Computer Do What I Want It To Do?!?) Default ThumbnailMore Computer Frustration (or Trying To Let It Go)

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

Brunch and Shopping (or Helping A Friend Make Some Upgrades)

Posted on September 1, 2015 | 1 comment

I had the best Sunday this past Sunday! I got to hang out with my friend Jane (who is in my Women In Film mentoring group) and help her do some awesome things!

We had originally made plans for brunch. We went to Flores and Sons in West LA (I’m a bad blogger and forgot to take pictures of the food). We were seated on the front patio which was perfect because we had a fan right next to us! Over brunch, we were catching up on things that we have been up to lately. I told her about the SAG-AFTRA election and stuff about my day jobs. And she was telling me about her new apartment.

Jane had just moved into a new place very recently and she was still trying to get settled in. She was lacking a lot of furniture that she wanted to get and was hoping to get a mattress in a Labor Day sale. I told her about Sofa Club (where I got my couch) and told her I’d be happy to take her there to see if she could get a good deal on a mattress.

After talking about that, Jane had mentioned that she needed to do some more upgrades in her life. Mainly with her wallet and purse. She had asked me where I had gotten mine (they are both by Lodis) and I mentioned how I had bought them both years ago and they aren’t made anymore. But I knew that there was a really awesome Nordstrom Rack near where we were and said that we should take the day to do some shopping for fun and her new apartment!

The first stop was Nordstrom Rack. Of course, as soon as we got to the purse section I found my dream purse that was on sale for $130 (from $395). As much as I wanted to get it, I don’t have the money for it right now and this shopping day was for Jane. We ended up finding her the perfect purse and wallet, plus a really cute set of outdoor lights for her new patio. I think that the purse upgrade was a big upgrade and she’s going to look super chic now when she’s out and about town.

Shopping

Next was an adventure to Sofa Club. I warned her that the outside of the building isn’t impressive but they have great stuff and amazing deals. We had to wait to be helped (we sat on one of their comfy couches while we waited) but the wait was totally worth it! She got a new mattress, box spring, and frame for much less than she was expecting to pay. And they gave her free next day delivery too!

After all that shopping, we needed a quick cool down snack (it was insanely hot out). And right by Sofa Club is Rita’s. I hadn’t been to a Rita’s since the tasting event and this location is super close to my house. I got the mint chocolate ice with vanilla custard and it was perfect!

Ritas

Finally to end our adventure, I got to see Jane’s new apartment. I was so inspired by her new place and we spent probably an hour or so rearranging the furniture she has now and planning what she should get to complete the place. I think that I’m going to go shopping again with her this weekend to help her set up some more stuff.

It was seriously such a great day. Obviously, it’s always fun shopping when it’s for someone else (and with someone else’s money). But it was more than that. Jane had said that she needed to upgrade her life a bit and I got to be a part of that! She’s such a fabulous person and she deserves to feel that way too!

Hopefully after our next shopping adventure, I will have some before and after pictures of her new place to share with you all!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailBrunch Celebration (or Everyone Has Awesome News) Default ThumbnailMaking My Friend Try On Wedding Dresses (or I’m So Glad She Found The Perfect Dress!) Default ThumbnailEvil Twin Brunch (or Catching Up On Life) Default ThumbnailWedding Dress Outing (or Helping A Friend Find The Perfect Dress) Default ThumbnailA Random Brunch With A Friend (or So Many Pancakes) Default ThumbnailHelping A Friend With Their LA Bucket List (or Hot Dogs, Tar Pits, and Ocean Views)

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

Wedding Dress Outing (or Helping A Friend Find The Perfect Dress)

Posted on July 28, 2015 | 2 comments

When Rayshell and I had dinner recently, one of the topics we talked about was her wedding planning. She’s actually gotten a ton of planning done already. The venue is set and they’ve got the caterer and hotel blocks done. But the one thing she was having trouble with was finding the perfect wedding dress.

She had found a couple of dresses that she liked, but didn’t really love. And one dress that she almost loved, but it was way over her budget.

As we were talking, I remembered how years ago I had gone wedding dress shopping with a friend. She was looking for a very particular dress (she is very religious and needed it to cover from neck to the ground and have long sleeves), so we had gone to a handful of store together. The only one that I really remembered was Alfred Angelo. So while Rayshell and I were at dinner, we pulled up their website and checked out some of their dresses. There were a couple that she liked (and were in her budget), so Rayshell made an appointment and invited me to go dress shopping with her!

We got to the store about 10 minutes before the appointment, so we sat down and looked at some of the dresses in the store and in some of the catalogs they gave us.

Alfred Angelo

Rayshell found several dresses that she wanted to try on while we were waiting for someone to come and help her pull dresses. When the stylists came over, we showed them the ones that Rayshell liked, and then we got the bad news. Most of the dresses that she liked are discontinued and not in the store. But one of the ones that she liked was still there, but there was only one dress left and the stylist wasn’t sure if it was in her size.

So we started wandering through the store together pulling dresses. We found the one that was on the list that Rayshell liked, and luckily it was in Rayshell’s size! So we grabbed that one. Rayshell and the stylist pulled a couple of other dresses and while Rayshell and I were looking we pulled that original dress again two more times!

Finally it was time for Rayshell to go into the dressing room and start trying the dresses on.

Wedding Dresses

The first dress Rayshell tried one was pretty, but it seemed not quite right (and Rayshell seemed to think the same thing). The second dress looked too much like a costume to me.

Finally it was time for the third dress which was the one that we had selected 3 separate times. And when Rayshell came out of the dressing room, I knew instantly that that was her dress!

She was glowing and smiling and it was exactly what she had described to me as her dream dress! It was the only one in the store like that because it was discontinued the day that the sample arrived so nobody else would have that same dress. I felt that it was fate that the only one of that dress was in the size and color she needed!

Of course, Rayshell had to walk around and see how the dress looked in sunlight (versus the store lighting) and I took tons of pictures so she could see how it looked from every angle. I can’t share the pictures of the dress with you (because then her fiancée might see them), but I did get permission from Rayshell to show you one detail from the dress.

Rayshell's Dress!

That detail doesn’t even do it justice. That dress is so incredible and so perfect for Rayshell! After Rayshell was pretty sure that it was the dress, she Facetimed her mom (I held up the phone) so she could show her mom the dress too. After her mom approved, it was settled that Rayshell had found her dress!

I felt so lucky that Rayshell invited me to go dress shopping with her. It was a really fun and special afternoon. And it was a nice added bonus that I got to be there when she found her dress. I haven’t had that opportunity before so it was really cool for me to do that. For most weddings I’ve gone to, I only get to see the dress at the wedding (or maybe a picture of it from a website). With my sister-in-law, I got to see the dress at the fitting, but that’s different from getting to go shopping for it together.

Rayshell’s wedding is still months away, but I’m even more excited for it now because I can’t wait to see how she looks in the dress when it’s all fitted and accessorized!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMaking My Friend Try On Wedding Dresses (or I’m So Glad She Found The Perfect Dress!) Default ThumbnailRenting A Dress (or Testing Out Gwynnie Bee) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Wedding (or Dancing The Night Away) Default ThumbnailA Happy Hour Celebration (or Looking Forward To Another Wedding) Default ThumbnailBrunch and Shopping (or Helping A Friend Make Some Upgrades) Default ThumbnailBeautiful Wedding For A Beautiful Friend (or I’m Glad I Wore Waterproof Mascara)

2 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

Workout Clothes Addict (or Didn’t I Used To Complain About Workout Clothes?)

Posted on June 18, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve talked about my love/hate relationship with workout clothes on here before. I’m still super annoyed that a majority of workout clothes do not come in my size (or even close to my size). I’m always seeing really cute workout clothes and they claim they come in larger sizes. But more often than not, those “larger” sizes are up to size 12.

That’s just stupid.

Fortunately, Old Navy still continues to make workout clothes in my size. And they are getting more and more options for workout clothes. So my workout clothes collection is getting pretty decent.

Workout Clothes

And of course, Old Navy was doing a pretty awesome online sale over the weekend so I ordered a bunch of new workout clothes. I’m trying to find more bottoms that are something other than black. I do have one pair of printed workout capris, but I don’t have a top that goes with it. So I also ordered a plain white workout top so that I can wear that with the patterned pants.

I have had to expand my workout clothes collection in the past because I was working out more and more. When I only had 3 pairs of workout pants, I couldn’t work out 4 days in a week unless I wanted to do an extra load of laundry in the middle of the week.

I’m also finding that I’m wearing my workout clothes more often than “normal” clothes. On the days that I work out in the afternoon, I wear my workout clothes for the day. When I wake up, I put on my workout clothes and wear those while I’m working. Then I go and work out and when I get home I shower and put on pajamas for the evening. So I don’t wear regular clothes then. And on my off days, I’m usually in workout pants and a shirt because I’m just going to be sitting at my desk for several hours. Also, being in workout clothes makes it easier for me to get in my steps for the day (usually done while standing in front of the tv or computer).

I never thought I’d be the person who lives in yoga pants, but I really am becoming that person. Some of it is due to laziness, but honestly I feel more confident and happier in my workout clothes (or at least my workout capris/pants) than I do in my regular clothes. I know that this should be a bad thing, but my workout clothes don’t make me feel like I have fat or skinny days in my clothes. I know that some people say you shouldn’t live in stretchy pants because you won’t notice when you gain weight, but for me I need to not notice those little changes. It can be due to so many things and I don’t want a weight gain due to salt or something make me think I’ve screwed it all up and then eat a bunch of food. These pants almost help me feel a sense of normalcy.

Obviously there are plenty of times I have to get dressed in real clothes and go out into the world. But I really don’t see a problem with being in clothes that are both comfortable and make me feel good. Soon, my workout clothes will overtake regular clothes in my closet, and I’m good with that.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailPlus Sized Workouts (or Are Clothing Companies Trying To Keep Me Heavy?) Default ThumbnailAnother Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping) Default ThumbnailMore Cute Workout Clothes (or Why Can’t More Companies Be Like Old Navy?) Default ThumbnailSaying Goodbye To A Workout Buddy (or Hanging Out In Normal Clothes) Default ThumbnailAn Up And Down Workout Week (or I Love Having Workout Buddies) Default ThumbnailA Week Of Workout Wins (Or 3 Days Of Awesomeness)

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , ,