Friday Reflection & Round Up

It’s Friday and it’s been a busy and productive week. I’m happy that I’ll be able to sleep in tomorrow. It’s the first time in a while where that’s been the case. I hope you get to sleep in too–you know, if you’re into that sort of stuff.

Here’s some other stuff you might be into too:

• My friend, Afarin, is raising funds for Camp Kindle–an amazing organization that does fantastic things for kids affected by HIV/AIDS. Consider supporting her today!
• For you voracious readers out there, this might be a good resource to save some moola and try out some books.
• The NYT just ran an article about the challenge of making friends.  In a new city, in a new job, I can relate. I hope it gets easier.
  
• Apparently, you should avoid going to hospitals in July. Here’s why.
• What is this sorcery?
• TimBieberLake. Just think about that for a second. And then watch this.
• Planning on supporting 826NYC next month and playing some Bingo! Join  me?
• You’ve got to sell your heart.
• Trying to arrange a skype date with seven people in three (or four) time zones is tough work. So is planning hang outs with friends in the city you live in. Doodle  is a neat tool you can use to help streamline the process.

And lastly, I want to close by sending my condolences and well wishes to those who were affected the by the awful shooting in Colorado last night. I usually keep the fare here pretty light-hearted or upbeat, but I thought I would take a moment to talk about this.

This resonates with me on so many different levels but mostly because when I heard this particular piece of news, I thought of this:

This picture was taken late one night in 2008. We were home for the summer from our second year of college. We were excited to be together and excited for a movie. We played cards and ate dinner on the sidewalk. And in that moment, we didn’t have a worry in the world–aside from nabbing good seats for the show.

And it’s that moment I think about when I hear news like the shooting today. My heart goes out to those kids who had their lives irrevocably altered at a moment that was supposed to be outside of the world of problems we face every day.

Why do we go to movies? It’s a chance to hop into a theater with friends and leave your life at the ticket counter. That for two hours, you get to be in a different time and place, and look at a world that is easier than the world you live in. Where there are bad guys, and soundtracks, and the suspension of your disbelief. Where anything is possible.

And I’m so sorry that that secret, safe place where cinema can take you was brought crashing down by the stark reality of the troubled world we live in. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

For those in Colorado, my hope is they find that sense of peace and safety again. And soon.

Free Drinks Friday

For realz.

To beat the heat today, Starbucks is offering free 12 oz. samples of their new “Refreshers.” I would not lie about free things to you. Ever.

I hope all of your Fridays are lovely. I’m excited because this weekend I shall be reunited with Suzanne and Holly.

I don’t think the three of us (top row) have been in the same room in at least a year. Probably longer. But that will be remedied this weekend!

Also, I miss that bottom row dearly as well.

Here are some things happening around the web to distract you this fine Friday.

• Whoever is in charge of the TacoBell twitter is sort of fantastic. (My twitter is cool too.)
• In case you like LCD Soundsystem. Apparently, I totally missed this boat.
• I wish I thought of “Where the Hell is Matt?” and made this awesome around the world dance video. It makes me smile.
• Who knew Katie Holmes was so sneaky.
• And Nicki Minaj defines the difference between a “buhoss” and a beezy.
• I don’t even understand how this works.
• I want to try this subway stop adventure! Also, those kids are too cute.
• In concept a loop-de-loop water slide sounds fun. In real life, it’s not the best idea. (You have to scroll down to “Waterworld” to read the description.)
• Pintester. Her tagline is “Effing up pins so you don’t have to.” Well, thanks!
• And another Thought Catalog piecebut this time about how nice us twenty-somethings should and can be.

Hope you have a fantabulous weekend where you get to see your friends, enjoy the sun, and have something good to eat. I plan on doing all three!

Tardy Tuesday…

Does time ever get away from you? Do you lay down at night and ever wonder where all those hours went? Is this starting to sound like one of those informercials that play late at night?

Well, it seems like the last few days have gotten away from me. I had a fantastic weekend that was busy and relaxing at the same time. There was a beach day on Saturday at Far Rockaway which was a smashing success but left me drained for the rest of the day. And then a day spent indoors cleaning and cooking–we made beef bourguignon a la Julia Child.

Blog post to follow.

But let’s get back on track first.

So here’s a belated “Monday Monday” if you will.

So recently there have been two developments in the student loan game that sort of negate one another. First off, President Obama just signed off on a bill that would keep student loan interests fixed at 3.4% for the next year. Which is good. I mean it helps out thousands of students this upcoming school year who are going to take out loans. But that fixed interest rate is only guaranteed for a year. Who knows what it’ll just up to 365 days from now. It’s a start though.

Secondly, starting this past Sunday, graduate student loans going forward will no longer have a grace period. Traditionally, you take out your loans, finish school, have six months to scrabble together some income and then your loans start accruing interest. Now loans will start accruing interest while you’re still in school. So by the time you graduate your loans have already been billed interest for the last two or four years or more if you’re in a PHD program…

Every now and then I think about going back to school to pursue a graduate degree. In what exactly? I’m not sure. But the idea of tacking on more debt terrifies me. So as much as I would like to increase my skill set, actively learn, and have summers again I’m hesitant to take on more schooling with no guarantee that I’ll be able to make ends meet afterwards.

I just found this resource on Kiplinger–a personal finance site–that breaks down the best value colleges for those considering a return to school. They have a ton of other related tools as well including information about stocks, taxes, and general basics.

Interested in learning more about your loans? If they’re held by Nelnet you can attend a webinar for more information on their Money Mondays!

Now here’s what I really want to ask you…

Do you want more informational posts like these or more personal ones about what I’m dealing with? A little of both?

I want to hear from you!
So comment, email doogenblogs@gmail.com or tweet @doogencreates 

Second Friday!

Hello hello! Happy Second Friday of the week! Because July 4th was in the middle of the week it felt like we had two itty bitty two-day weeks. Monday Friday Saturday. Monday Friday Saturday Sunday. Right? Or was that just me?

I hope everyone had a lovely day off. I slept in for a bit, headed to the park for burgers and frisbee playing, saw Ted (which was funnier than I thought!) and finished it off with some fish tacos. All in all, a good day. I did miss CA and BBQs and pools and fireworks but change is good.

Last Friday, I was headed off to Maine for Julia’s wedding and we stayed at a cottage on the water with this as a backyard…

As we drove across the state line, I noticed that Maine’s state motto is “The way life should be.” Which I thought was a little pretentious and pompous of them. But then I woke up on Saturday and went swimming in the river, ate eggs benedict with blackberry lemonade, stopped by an exhibit about Frances Perkins because the Museum’s Board Member, Morrison, (with full gray beard & Gilligan boat hat) told us to, and then headed for a rustic wedding complete with strawberries, lobster, and blues/folk dancing. The sun was shining and people were friendly. The way life should be. Oh Maine, you’ve weaseled yourself into my heart.

On the road I also spotted some New Hampshire license plates and their motto is “Live Free or Die.” Live.Free.Or.DIE. John McClane would be proud. Yippee-Kay-yay…

Some internet findings that I liked this week:

• Sisters doing it for themselves. And an article about how realistic this is for average working women.
• Another Motto.
• Well, now I really can’t leave the UWS.
• Some writing tips from McSweeney’s that make me smile.
• Tom Hanks remembers Nora Ephron.
• Is being busy all in  your head?
• Love these pictures of bloggers. If you work on your computer,  you know the feeling.
• Wish I had these Pop-Ups in my books when I was a kid. Or now!
• This neat planter waters your little green friends for you. Or if your thumb really isn’t green, these little guys can’t be killed! And are so freaking adorable.
• Oh, the power of Twitter…for finding bicycles!
• If you’re looking to adopt from a shelter in NYC, this website is full of bright, personable descriptions and big pictures!

Hope your weekend is full of sun, sunscreen, and watermelon!

Sushi Chef.

Every time someone starts talking about winning the lottery and what they would do I always have two answers that come after buying my parents their house, paying off my loans, smart investments, etc. The second is to have a hair stylist do my hair whenever I want. The first is to have an on-call sushi chef. Legit, right?

Well, now I can check one of those off my list!

Brett surprised me and got together all the supplies for some at-home sushi making.

And it’s much easier and cheaper than you would think to make some of this delicious stuff yourself.

First, you’re going to want to make your sushi rice because you have to let it cool before making the rolls. I  just followed the recipe on the sushi rice bag but here’s a good recipe to use if you’d like. While it cools you can cut up all your other ingredients. Multi-tasking at its finest!

If you’re impatient, and hungry, you can use a fan to help cool down your rice…

Like so.

And now you can start adding your favorite fish, vegetables, and other accoutrements to your rolls.

Make sure if you get raw fish you want to make sure it’s sushi/sashimi grade–salmonella is not something you want to mess with. I got mine from Chelsea Market’s fish market. You can tell them how many rolls you want to make or how many people you plan on feeding and they can recommend how much you should get.

Salmon. Tuna. Cucumber. Avocado. Eel. Crab Stick.

Now that you have your cooled sushi rice, fish, and vegetables, you can start rolling!

I covered my bamboo mat with plastic wrap so that my rolls wouldn’t stick to it and get it dirty. You’ll want to lay down a sheet of seaweed and make a small ball of rice with your hands and put that on top.

You can eat the excess rice off your hands if you so please.

Construct your favorite combination and then roll away! I found that putting a dab of water on the very edge of the seaweed paper helps the roll stay together.

Now just run your knife under some warm water (to keep it from sticking/tearing your roll) and cut into bite-size pieces. It should end up looking something like this…

A. Masterpiece.

Now all there’s left to do is enjoy! And figure out my new number one frivolous service in case I win the lottery one day.

But for now, I’m just excited I can have sushi all day. Every day.

Money Monday$: Guest Blog–A Drop of Jewel

Happy Monday ladies and gents! I hope y’all had a fantastic weekend. I know I did. I headed up to Maine for Julia and Eric’s wedding and it was so lovely to see them and take part in their special day. It was a wedding straight out of Pinterest but still so reflective of who they are as individuals and as a couple.

In a tiny and fun little Fiat 500!

And here’s a car rental tip if you live in NYC or another large city:

When you’re researching a rental try using a pickup location just outside of the city. Instead of picking up our car in Manhattan, we got it at the Westchester airport instead which is a quick train ride ($7 each way) and bus ride ($2.25) away. It took us about the same amount of time to get to the Westchester airport that it would have taken to get the car out of the city and the rental was at least 30% less. Just because we changed locations! Try it out the next time you rent a car and let me know how it goes!

In other moola related news…

It’s an exciting day because Jewel from A Drop of Jewel will be guest blogging about some money saving tips and tricks for the recent grad…and pretty much anybody! She spent the entire month of June blogging about finances and budgeting so head on over and take a look for more tips!

“So college is over and you’re out on your own. You’ve traded in juggling books for juggling bills. I can bet that managing your personal finances was not part of the curriculum either. Student loans are knocking at your door waiting to be paid back along with the rest of your debts. If you’ve managed to land a good job, congratulations you’re ahead of the masses. My suggestion to you would be: Be confident in your position at work but never get too comfortable. Layoffs, downsizing, and unemployment for degree-holding graduates are at an all time high
just like everyone else.

That is why it is so important to save some of your earnings. No one ever wants to think they will be laid off from their job, but it certainly does happen. The question is how prepared will you be if that should occur? Sure, you may qualify for unemployment should you get let go but unemployment is barely enough to survive off of. If you’re not prepared, unexpected unemployment can easily cause a chain reaction in your life. When you lose your income, you can’t pay all your bills. When you can’t pay all your bills, you get late charges tacked on until it gets to the point where your bill is sent to collections. Once it gets to collections and you still can’t pay, it goes on your credit report. Your credit becomes all messed up making it harder for you to buy anything else on credit, harder for you to rent or buy a home, and ultimately harder to land another job (as most good jobs do credit checks these days).

Credit lenders don’t care whether you have a job or not. They want their money either way. So to avoid this chain reaction, start saving NOW! The ideal amount to have saved up is about six months worth of your salary. This may sound like a lot and almost impossible to do, but it’s not. The following are just a few tips to help:

• Pay Yourself First: I’m sure you’ve heard this expression before, but it’s such good advice I had to repeat. I hear friends say all the time that they can’t save because they have too many other financial obligations. Well…there are always going to be other financial obligations. Once you decide on a reasonable, comfortable amount for you to set aside each month for savings, just do it off the top. Before you pay anyone else, take the money out your check and put it in your savings. A lot of jobs these days allow you to link your direct deposit into two different accounts so you can have it transferred to your savings automatically. This is the best way because you don’t  even miss it. Really.
• Take Baby Steps: Six months worth of salary is a lot. Whatever your salary may be; it may seem like it will take forever for you to save that amount of money. So start small. When I first started building my savings, I only saved $25 from each paycheck. Once I started paying off other debts and loans, I was able to increase the amount little by little. Whenever I got a pay raise, I would increase the amount again. You can do it too !
• Get a High Yield Savings Account: This is something I’ve been looking into lately since American Express keeps sending me the advertisements for it (lol). This is a safe secure way to have your savings make money for you while you are still adding to it. American Express and ING Direct are two that I know of that are offering high interest on savings accounts. These rates are higher than your regular, traditional savings accounts and some of these high yield accounts have compounded interest. This is a small way to help get to your goal a little faster.
• Don’t Touch!: Some of us are good at saving, yes. However, we sometimes find ourselves dipping into the stash. The best advice I can offer is to pretend the account doesn’t even exist. Of course there are some types of accounts where you can get penalized for withdrawing from the savings, but I don’t really care for those. I like having access to my money without any threats of penalty. However, if you know you don’t have the self-discipline not to touch, then this type of account might be good for you. Whatever you have to do to get control, do it and stop dipping into the savings.

So what is the overall takeaway from this? Start saving your money. By putting some money to the side, you will be able to save yourself in the event you should ever face difficult financial times.”

Thanks Jewel for the great post!