Crying over the price of gas

I don't understand the price of gas! How can it go from $3.92 in the morning to $4.17 in the afternoon?!? I just bumped my gas budget up by about 15% to accommodate the prices we've seen the last month or so. Is it really ok for gas prices to jump 6% in a day?!? I heard on the news that there's higher demand. What?!? Did 1 million 16 year olds just get cars or something? I find it hard to believe the rest of us are really driving more. I'm going with the 1 million 16 year olds added to the road theory.

TusaRebecca

Weekly Money Check Up

I've really started to look forward to these weekly money check ups from MyPrettyPennies. Here's the Easter edition.

Weekly Money Check-Up is a fill-in-the blank post once a week. The first four questions are always the same each week and the fifth is always different. Care to participate? Fill in the blanks in the comments section or post it on your blog and link back to here! I usually post it on Mondays, but it can be posted any time of the week. Thanks for participating! :)

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on an iPad deposit at Best Buy. Adds a new dimension to the waiting game.
2. Today I am thankful that I had something clean to wear to church this morning.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was sleep. I slept for nearly 12 hours Friday night and then took a 3 hour nap on Saturday afternoon. It was just what the doctor ordered.
4. I will consider this week a success if I get all my grading done. Thank goodness for group assignments!
5. This Easter I spent the day with family. 

Easter Memories

For me, Easter memories involve church and pretty dresses. I don't remember so much about the Easter bunny. All I really remember is that our baskets were always hidden. There was always plastic easter grass stuck to the Peeps and you never knew if you were about to bite into a chocolate malted milk ball or a bubble gum egg. We had easter egg hunts in the front yard with real, hard boiled eggs. In retrospect, we probably shouldn't have eaten some of those eggs. Usually we didn't even know how many we were looking for, because mom never counted. One year, mom got plastic eggs and hid them all over the neighborhood for the neighbor-hoodies. What we like to call good, old fashioned insurance. Mom was nice to the kids and in turn they didn't vandalize our property. Not a bad gig. Another year when Martin and I were a bit older, we had a piñata. For some reason there was an argument and mom was pretty mad at us about something, but there are old pictures that don't show any remnants of arguing. Just scrawny kids whacking at a piñata. Now, I still get a chocolate bunny that I couldn't possible finish even if I tried and a bunch of candy. If one thing is for certain...Starburst has really changed the standard for jelly beans. Thank goodness!

I had the prettiest dresses. Usually my mom would sew me a new dress, but one year I got a gorgeous dress from Zayres. Zayres was kind of like K-Mart, but it didn't even have the business model to last as long as K-Mart has. Now there's a Rural King where Zayres used to be. Anyway, I had my heart set on this dress. It was right in the front of the store calling my little 3 or 4 year old name. The dress was probably horrible in all ways the 1980's made dresses horrible. I think there were pink on pink polka dots, tulle, and probably some satin thrown in for good measure. I couldn't have felt more beautiful in that dress even though is was probably the chinciest thing I ever wore. Ever! I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure I had white gloves and big hats other years. Other dresses had more class. I remember a navy blue calico dress with a white collar that mom made. There was a little white pinafore type thing with a bunny embroidered on it. Mom didn't have time to get the buttons on, so she sewed it to me. Not the first or the last time I had a dress sewn on me! Those were the glory years!

I don't remember much about church when I was little other than it was a festive, happy place to be on Easter. I do remember church at St. James. I thought the Easter breakfast was the coolest thing since sliced bread! What could be better than sitting around eating scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes with all your Sunday School friends? And any one who has ever been to St. James on Easter Sunday surely has Pastor French's booming voice etched in their heads as he yelled, "He is risen!" And of course we all replied as enthusiastically as possible, "He is risen indeed!" It was never enthusiastic enough. Pastor French always boomed a little louder, "I said, HE IS RISEN!" And mustering a little more enthusiasm, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!" That followed by the singing of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" with trumpets blaring and little girls in pretty dresses...that sums up Easter in my book.

Cleaning tirade!

image credit

Not sure what got into me. Must be the spring cleaning bug! Maybe my room will be all neat and tidy by the end of the day. And maybe there will be several bags of clothes to donate by the end of the day. I can only hope! It all started with a 15 minute task list. I was bored on a flight and made a table with a bunch of things I thought I could get done in 15 minutes. Today that 15 minutes turned into a whole morning! Gotta take advantage of the situation for sure!

I still want an iPad2

I want an iPad 2. I want one real bad. I've been waiting for a really long time. A term that came up a lot during my conferences was, "early adopter." Early adopters tend to be the technology freaks who wait in line for the latest and greatest. I can relate to these people, but I'm not one of them. I want to be waiting in line. I want to be one of the first. I'm never one of the first though. It's all for the better in my opinion. For the iPod, iPhone and the iPad, I've waited one very long painful year for the next version to come out. Actually, the iPod was a fluke. Sure, I wanted one. I didn't spend my own money on it though. Landed myself in the hospital for a while and my godmother suggested someone get me one. Boom. iPod nano 2nd generation. It's my general opinion that the iPhone 3Gs is quite a bit better than the iPhone 3G. Worth the wait. The iPhone 4 doesn't tempt me. I think the iPad 2 has been worth the wait, but the problem is I'm still waiting!!!! I finally broke down and put a deposit down at Best Buy. Here's the logic...

I wanted to get something engraved on the back of it, but I couldn't decide what. No longer need to buy from the Apple Store. Everyone suggested I engrave something generic, so that I can sell my iPad someday. What? I've never sold any technology. I tend to use it till it dies. Or in the case of my iPod, till it dies and comes back to life. That baby has been through the wash! Once it dried out, it worked like a gem.

I have a Best Buy rewards card, so basically I'll get 1% cash back from my credit card and $10 in gift certificates back from Best Buy.

I'm tired of called the AT&T store and Best Buy every day to see if they have any in yet. Best Buy will call me when the iPad comes in. Could be tomorrow, could be in a week or so. Until then, I'll be waiting at the edge of my seat! Can you guess what color I ended up with? Black or white? And what color case do you suppose I'll get? The color has been chosen!

April showers

I was a bit bummed by all the rain yesterday. I'm ready for spring! I'm ready to garden. Yes, that's right...I'm going to have a garden. Purdue Extension for Tippecanoe County has a great community garden program. Basically, for $20 you get a 15x20 foot garden plot that's already tilled! A few of my friends and I are in cahoots and plan to work together on this endeavor. I'm super excited and trying to remember that April showers bring May flowers. And maybe vegetables too! You'll want to watch the video. It might not be as cool as Kevin's music videos, but it'll make you smile. I promise!

Staying calm when your flight is delayed isn't always easy

 I’m writing this while stuck in the airport. I was trying to stay calm, so reading a magazine seemed to be a good idea. It was until I found out that in Hong Kong you can have your wedding reception at McDonalds. They have a reception room. No joke. Instead of a wedding cake, they serve a pyramid of single serve apple pies. I can’t imagine a worse wedding reception! I mean really…what is this world coming to?

Second not so calming factor…a whole plane load of kids who are on their way home from space camp. Holy canolli! Talk about a good dose of birth control! There’s one kid who I’ve observed to be a bit of a social outcaste. You might say he’s in his own little world. Nothing wrong with that. I’m often in my own little world. This guy must be about 12 years old. He’s wearing a bright blue space suit and he’s hiding between the chairs. Or under the chairs. Despite his awkward behavior, I have a feeling he just had the time of his life at space camp! It’s my general opinion that there’s nothing better in the world for a kid than camp!

Time for more Sudafed. Experiencing spring in 4 states and one commonwealth in a 10 day span has been a bit much for me. Serious sinus thing going on and I’m not happy about it. Thank goodness for Sudafed. I hope the meth heads don’t ruin a good thing. If I wasn’t able to buy Sudafed, I don’t know how I’d survive. My sinuses might actually explode!

Need to get back to couponing!

I almost watched Extreme Couponing on TLC last night, but then decided against it. Seemed like a bad idea to get all motivated to be a crazy couponer when the reality is I don’t have time right now. For a while there I was totally organized and into it. I was getting free stuff at CVS every week. Sometimes more than once a week! I was surprised how much I could get for just pennies.

If you are interested in getting free stuff at the grocery store or the drug store, there are a bazillion web sites to help with that. Before you get started, let me share a few things that I learned the hard way. I just wasn’t convinced at first.

1. You need motivation. You need to separate SAVING from NOT SPENDING. I can’t stand it when people say, “I just saved so much money!” when in fact, they just didn’t spend so much money. It’s only saved if you don’t spend it! For example: some people set a reasonable grocery budget, use coupons to get discounts, and then put the money saved in a special accounts towards a savings goal. Maybe you want to put that money towards paying off debt or maybe you want to save for an iPad. Coupons are used by some people who either don’t have the money to spend, or people who have other things to spend the money on. I fall into that category. I try to keep my toiletry budget to a bare minimum so that I can spend that money on fun stuff. Who wants to spend $4 on a toothbrush when you could spend $4 on a latte?

1. You need multiple copies of the Sunday paper. In order to get the best deals, you need multiple coupons for the same item. If an item is buy one, get one free…you want 2 coupons. If it’s 3 for $5…you want 3 coupons. Get the picture? You can try to get it delivered for cheap, get it from neighbors (with their permission of course), look at Starbucks or other hangouts for discarded papers, etc.

2. You do NOT need to “clip” the coupons. At first I was overwhelmed trying to clip the coupons, organize them, and then find them when I needed them. Reality is, some people clip, some people don’t. My favorite system is to keep an accordion file and simply put each week’s fliers in one section. That way I can go to the date of the coupon release. Every couple of weeks I discard all the expired ones.

3. You need to be bold. Now and again, you’re going to run into a grumpy cashier. Other times, there will be a line behind you. Do not fret! Grumpy cashiers aren’t so bad. Just keep smiling and thank them for their help. Long lines…well…if you’re doing multiple transactions, you could let other people go ahead of you in between transactions. As you get better with the coupon routine, you will also get more efficient. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The people behind you will be jealous when you pay a few dollars for a cart full of stuff!

Here are some websites I use to find deals, learn the tricks of the trade, and be encouraged to keep moving forward.

Couponing to Disney

This was one of the first sites I came across when I was learning about coupons. She’s got great advice for finding motivation, finding deals, and lists lots of free stuff to sign up for. I like her coupon check-lists for specific stores.

Money Saving Mom

She lists coupon match-ups by store, free stuff, and great information for menu planning.

Simply CVS

Need I say more? Every week you can find coupon matches for the best deals at CVS.

I hope you can find your own motivation for saving little bits of money with coupons. Every penny counts. Questions for the comments sections…Do you use coupons? What’s your motivation?

A summary of my trip in pictures...

Welcome chocolates from the Courtyard Marriott. Pretty much the highlight of the hotel.

Blooming tea! Pretty cool if you ask me!

The gang with a chocolatier from DC. I look like a mess, but it's because I was overwhelmed with an amazing evening of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

This is chocolate from my goody bag. For real. I'm actually in nutrition, but maybe I should get a degree in foody-ism!

Didn't buy these, but they were more tempting than I expected!

Did I mention that I like food? Steak, beans, rice, and fried plantains. Yum!

Heather went with lobster.

Kinda blurry, but that is a serious case of man purse!

Just ate this. It was in my chocolate goody pile. Now I have to find them and buy a big stash! So good!

I did more than eat on this trip! I won an award of excellence for my research poster, had great conversations with important researchers in my field, talked statistics with a statistician from NIH way more than I've ever talked statistics before in my life, got advice for applying to post-docs and got enough free pens to last me at least another year!

Things are good, but crazy!

My apologies for a boring blog the last couple of days. This conference stuff isn't for sissies! Today is the 5th and final day of my second conference. We'll head to conference 3 this evening. I'm having a great time, but I'm exhausted. Hopefully I can sleep on the plane tonight!

Pictures coming soon!

Under 1 Million

I made it! There are less than 1 million blogs that are better than mine now. Must keep plugging along.

Two things that have already happened this morning before 10am
1. I might have an opportunity to help with social media for a professional organization I'm involved with.
2. I got coupons for free orange juice and free snacks!

Conference is going well!

One conference down...two to go! Yesterday's conference went really well. I presented a poster. Think science fair on steroids! Research posters aren't so different from science fair posters in that they include the same components: background, hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusion. Obviously, way more work goes into a graduate or professional research poster, but I get just as excited about presenting now as I did back in the days of science fair! My favorite poster visitor yesterday was a 2nd grader. Evidently she had the day off from school, so she attended the conference with her grandmother. It was so fun trying to explain what I do to a 2nd grader. I had more professional conversations as well. Here's hoping I can turn all that work into a manuscript soon!

The eagle is sleeping

That's not some espionage code. Last night I really watched an eagle go to sleep! Have you ever watched a bald eagle get ready for bed? I just did! Me and 85,000 other people! There are cameras hidden next to the nest of 2 bald eagles and their little eaglets. It's ridiculously addicting to watch. I love it. Actually, I traded in pandora.com for the eagle cam. My office is in the basement of basements, so having nature sounds is a nice change of pace. Maybe if I turn the fan on it'll be like having a window open. Nature sounds and a breeze!

Earlier today I watched one of them feed the baby eaglets. Watching such a ferocious bird be so gentle was awe inspiring. Now you can watch them on my blog. Enjoy! Even my one year old nephew can say "eagle" now.


Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

A few things that make me happy

1. The estimated ship date for iPad 2 is now 2-3 weeks.
2. My alexa blog rating is almost to 1 million. That means there are just barely 1 million blog ranked better than mine. We're making progress!
3. I will be sleeping in a Marriot bed for the next 6 nights. That means I will be sleeping like a baby.
4. I'm about to experience the cherry blossoms in bloom in DC for the first time. Not DC for the first time. I've lost count of the number of times I've been to DC. This is the first time I've ever been during the Cherry Blossom Festival though!
5. I can get Starbucks whenever I want for the next 8 days! Yay for per diem!
6. I got a new sim card in my iPhone in hopes for better reception.
7. I have a plane ticket to Australia. So does my mom!
8. In just 4 weeks I can stop training for the half marathon and enjoy working out just for the pleasure of staying in shape.
9. I pretty much rocked out an enzymatic analysis that involved a lot of pipetting. Booya! I'll be presenting the results at a conference on Friday.
10. 8 days of conferences...can you say "free pens!" I love all the free pens and stuff I get at conferences.

Speedy Rewards Got Me Free Make Up

I got all this plus a bottle of foundation for $0.68!

Clinique make up is worth splurging on. I've tried a few brands available at drug stores, but none really did the trick for me. I try to make my Clinique purchases during Bonus Days so that I can get a bunch of free stuff. Typically you get some lip gloss, eye shadow, mascara and lotion. Enough to last me a while! Bonus Days sneaked up on me and I forgot to budget it in. Oops! Luckily I had enough points on my Speedy Rewards card for a $25 Macy's gift card! I blogged about the Speedy Rewards card a while ago. It takes more than a few months to build up those points. I had a sense of inner joy when I paid for my make up and got all the free stuff. I only paid $0.68!

AunT of the year award applicant!

Being an auntie rocks! This weekend I spoiled my nephews with cupcakes from Bleeding Heart Bakery. It's a punk rock, organo-schmano bakery in Chicago. I hadn't heard of it before, but evidently the owners compete on those cake decorating shows!  I got a slew of cupcakes and headed to my sister's for a surprise (kind of) visit. Oh my goodness! The big guy was so excited he could hardly stand it. He certainly couldn't stand still! The little guy decided he liked me for the first time ever which was totally worth the drive up there. And, my sister and I enjoyed really good cupcakes! The boys just ate the frosting. I suppose that was fine, but they missed out on some yummy cupcake goodness. When it was time for bed, Big Guy got the couch all ready for me which was totally sweet of him. He also woke me up earlier than you might want to wake up on  Saturday morning, but it was cool. We chilled on the couch and watched some show about sharks. What could be better?!?!? Well...Little Guy still loved me! I figured it was a one night stand, but no...I think I finally won him over! Aren't they just adorable?

This may have been the only time he stood still all night!

Pretty sure he's thinking, "Oh mommy, AunT loves me! She brought me a cupcake!"

And now time for the weekly money checkup. Questions provided by MyPrettyPennies.




1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a birthday present for a certain someone.
2. Today I am thankful for warmer weather.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was spend Saturday night and Sunday morning with my sister and my nephews!
4. I will consider this week a success if I get everything for my conferences down AND get sleep.
5. The last dream I had I don't remember. I remember a dream from last week though. I was in a boat and there was a tornado that blew away everything in the boat except the people. Luckily my passport was in my pocket!

Weekly Money Check-Up is a fill-in-the blank post once a week. The first four questions are always the same each week and the fifth is always different. Care to participate? Fill in the blanks in the comments section or post it on your blog and link back to here! I usually post it on Mondays, but it can be posted any time of the week. Thanks for participating! :)

My camera has been found!

My mom found my camera the other day. Great news for me! I was surprised by the pictures. Evidently, the last time I used my camera was at the Feast of the Hunters' Moon. This festival is a really big deal for my family. I've only missed 3...maybe 4 times in my entire life. 2 of those times I was in Ireland and another time I was in California for a school conference that was required. Otherwise I would have been at the Feast. My sister used to drive home from Toronto for the weekend of the Feast. Big deal, folks....really really big deal for our family. Here are some pictures from the past year.

 Who's corn is it?

John Figgy helping with a bonnet.

 

Aunt Alecia talking sheepish things

 

That's the face of a boy about to do something with a bow and arrow. Watch out!

The day before pay-day routine

I just took a break to quick check my bank balances. Something I always do the day before pay-day. Actually it's something I do way too much. Mint.com is amazing, but I find myself checking my accounts way more than necessary! Anyway, some of you may or may not know that this is my first month being debt free except for student loans, which are deferred and don't count! Not that you need a complete run-down of my finances, but this is kinda fun...well, it's fun for me.



I've mentioned a few times that there are days I completely resent my budget. Other days, I remind myself that it's a bit of a lifeline. Either way, it's a necessity for me and it should be a necessity for you! Pretty much every penny I get ends up in a budget category and my budget is fairly reasonable. At least as fair as any grad student budget. So even though I don't always stick to it exactly, I stick to it pretty darn close. Just watching those categories go from green to yellow to red on Mint.com keeps me on track. This month I had a few unexpected expenses. That meant juggling a few things here and there. There were days I had to practice some serious restraint. In fact, yesterday I ate peanut butter and crackers, a can of pears, and a coke for lunch. That's what I had in my desk! There were times I was totally craving Starbucks or Grey House, but I made coffee in my office instead. This is not a pity party by any means! Everything all worked out in budget land. Barely. When it's all said and done, I have a whoppin' $4.86 left over this month. That will get transferred to the wiggle room account for the future when I just can't resist a yummy coffee!

Weekly Money Check-Up

This is way super late in the game! Here's my response to MyPrettyPennies' weekly money check-up. As usual, I've posted her explanation of the deal followed by my responses.

Weekly Money Check-Up is a fill-in-the blank post once a week. The first four questions are always the same each week and the fifth is always different. Care to participate? Fill in the blanks in the comments section or post it on your blog and link back to here! I usually post it on Mondays, but it can be posted any time of the week. Thanks for participating! :)
1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a hot date at Bourbon Bistro. It was super yummy!
2. Today I feel like a helicopter parent towards money. Seriously...how many times do I need to check my bank accounts to remind myself that there is still money there?
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free/inexpensive thing I did last week that made me happy was live it up at my niece's birthday party!
4. I will consider this week a success if I get 3 conference posters done.
5. The last time I had a good nap was Saturday evening. I pretty much just passed out and it was beautiful!

Here's a good reminder that I am not poor.

Fabulously Broke hit the nail on the head. Please go read her post. Now! I mean right now, go read about what your net worth "should" be. My net worth "should" be $72,000 according to the Millionaire Next Door equation (can't stand that book, by the way). Or, somewhere closer to $7,200 if you use the other calculator listed on her site. The $7,200 takes into account paying off student loans. I've spent my fair share of time rejoicing in my budget, but if I'm completely honest, I resent my budget a lot of the time. I would love to feel like I could spend slightly more on life's conveniences without breaking the bank. Did you see the end of FB's post? The part about comparing your wealth to the rest of the world? If you didn't, you should. It's powerful. I'm not even posting the link, because I'm forcing you to go to FB's blog and find it there. Despite my measly grad student salary, I'm in the top 10% of the world's global rich list. Supposedly there are only about 620 million people who make more money than me. Gulp! Remind me to be thankful for what I have more often! What's your number? After you've read FB's post, and found your spot on the global rich list, post it in the comments section. Let's be thankful together and remember that no matter how bad it is today, it could always be worse.

My budget was my lifeline this morning.

This morning, I was faced with a tough decision. A friend of mine was 1st in line at the Apple store and had a ticket for the iPad she wanted and a ticket for close to the iPad I want. The only thing was that it was the 32GB version, not the 16GB versions. It would have cost $100 (plus tax) more than what I have budgeted. Bottom line...I said no. I would like to think I could have made it work, but extracting $100 from my budget would be hard. As a certain someone said, "you can make $100 go a long way." Does $100 make a big difference to anyone else out there? Turns out $100 is a substantial potion of my budget. If I had to scrounge up $100 in one month, it would basically mean the following:

Zero dollars for impulse buys instead of $25. Nearly impossible for me, by the way.

I could try to cut the eating out budget from $35 to $25. I've done it before, but it's NOT easy. Turns out, spending time with friends tends to cost money, so I don't think I could go below $25.

I could practice some serious discipline and go without any coffee or soda money. That would be about $15-20.  I'll say $20 even though I try to keep it towards $15.That would also be nearly impossible for me. My will power isn't as great as I'd like it to be!

I could go without any CVS shopping for a month. I'll post about that sometime soon! That's another $10.

That's only $75. The above listed budget cuts would be hard, but do-able. I could make other cuts, but basically I'm not willing to. Those cuts would be what I consider extreme measure to cover a "want." If this $100 was a "need," it would be a different story. Taking extreme measure is what got me out of the hole. I just don't want to make those extreme measures anymore!

Moral of the story? Having a budget helped me a lot in this situation. It was a life line of sorts. The decision was essentially black and white. Even though I was tempted (and trust me...I was seriously tempted!), I know I only have a certain amount budgeted for the iPad. Also, I was forced to see what would have happened if I had made a bad decision to go over budget. I would be in the hole! Bad! I don't want to be there ever again!

So here I am. Practicing being patient. Reviewing my budget for April. Happy to see I didn't go over in March! Oh, and I'm super happy for my friend, Christine, who is probably playing with her shiny new iPad right now! She's the one who has been so thoughtful to send me texts at horrible early hours while she's waiting outside the Apple store. Go Christine! Download a fun app for me!

Consolodating

I liked the idea of linking three topics together through my blog, but it's not working out so hot from a logistical perspective. From now on, I'm going to post everything to my home page. I'll try to figure out an organization scheme to shuttle posts over to their respective section for filing, but I think it will be better to have everything start here.

Another consolidating note...I was talking to an undergrad today and she was telling me about her student loans. Thank goodness I graduated back in the day when you could consolidate your loans at a super low interest rate!

And another consolidating note...I think I'm going to run to my closet and consolidate a bunch of clothes into a bag to give away. I don't even care where the clothes go as long as they are out of my closet!

Then I'm going to consolidate some clothes that I do like into a bag for the weekend! Woo hoo for weekend get-aways!

Drying off the bike

I miss my bike! My bike and I have a strong bond. So strong that a major search effort brought her back to me after she was stolen right off my porch! I can hardly wait to peddle up Chauncey Hill when the weather starts cooperating. Well...make that coast down Chauncey Hill. The peddle up is less than pleasant.

Things I'm looking forward to:
--wearing my super nerdy pink helmet with lights on it
--putting my coffee in the cup holder that my sister got me for Christmas. Oh yeah. That's right. I have a cup holder for my bike.
--not spending so much money on gas. I don't care what the gas mileage calculators say, I'm spending way more than expected for my 2 mile commute each day. I hate paying for gas.
--getting 25 minutes of extra exercise every day

Here is a "fact" that I found about women who commute in a car to work. I found this in Women's Health magazine. Obviously not the most reputable source of health information, but I love reading magazines! Sometimes the "facts" are so goofy! I just have to share this one with you and hope you can laugh with me about it.


"Fact" 24% of female commuters have high cholesterol
24% isn't bad when you think about the general population! Check this out. Info found on the American Heart Association website says:

• Among non-Hispanic whites age 20 and older, the age-adjusted prevalence of total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL is 48.7 percent of women.
• Among non-Hispanic blacks age 20 and older, the age-adjusted prevalence of total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL is 41.8 percent of women.
• Among Mexican Americans age 20 and older, the age-adjusted prevalence of total blood cholesterol levels over 200 mg/dL is 49.0 percent of women.

All the age-adjusted nerdy talk isn't so important to understand right now. The take home message is that practically half of women over the age of 20 have high cholesterol. Saying 24% of female commuters have high cholesterol sounds kind of silly when you think about it, doesn't it?

Best Dog Groomer Ever!

I’ll be completely honest and say that I don’t do a great job of keeping up with Baxter’s grooming routine. He spends a lot of time looking like a Muppet (see left). He looks sharp when he's been groomed though for sure (see right). Getting him groomed is pretty expensive. Usually costs between $45 and $50. I don’t even spend that on my own hair! Maybe I should, but I don’t. The February weekly coupon circular had a $10 off coupon for this place called AJ’s Mutts and Cuts. I drove past the place and although it’s in an odd location, the shop looks like it could be on Main Street. Last week I couldn’t take it anymore, and took Baxter in. Turns out her husband is a grad student! Obviously that’s fantastic motivation for me to support her small business. I’d much rather supplement the income of a grad student and his wife than supplement the revenue of PetSmart. When I went to pick up Baxter he was running around the shop with her dog. He seemed un-phased by the grooming ordeal. Then get this…

Yesterday I got home and Baxter had mail! There were even stickers on the envelope. Inside was a lovely note card with a hand-written note thanking us for supporting her in her first year as a small business owner plus a coupon for next time. I could hardly believe it! Not a pre-printed post card, but hand written piece of snail mail! If you’re in the Lafayette area and need to have your dog groomed or bathed, please go support Baxter’s new friend at AJ’s Mutts and Cuts. Tell her Baxter sent you! 

Thanksgiving Revisited

I know Thanksgiving was several months ago, but in this fast paced, advertising crazed world of ours I think it's important to revisit thankfulness more than we do. I'll be the first to admit that I want an iPad, but do not need an iPad. I have plenty of other wants and sometimes my wants get the best of me. My friend and I were just talking yesterday about how we get inspired by bloggers who seem to have it all together and then realize that a) our lives are not the same as theirs and b) they don't have it all together!  I focus so much on saving for the future, budgeting for things i want, and resisting everyday impulses. In the midst of all that I often forget that I have a very full and happy life just as it is now.

In the last week, these are the things that I have been thankful for:
1. I'm starting to look at Australia travel guides! Mom and I will be heading that way together this summer. I have a conference there, she's always wanted to go there and boom! There you go...we're going!
2. I get along with my family ridiculously well. I mean really...I don't know too many people who can travel with their mother without bracing for frustration. My brother and sister and I get along really well too. We always have! I love their spouses too. Don't even get me started on my nieces and nephews! It just couldn't be much better!
3. A certain someone lives in the same country as me. Need I say more?
4. I have a 3 year old lap top that works really well. Occasionally the CD drive acts up, but all in all it's a great computer. I don't have to worry about buying a new one any time soon. (knock on wood)
5. My laundry pile is a constant reminder that I have a lot of clothes!

6. I have the most amazing friends ever.

Saving Money Backfired on Me...kinda

Well, remember the new running shoes I got? The ones that were supposed to give me wings? The ones I got a super great deal on? They're killing the muscle to the outside of my shin and making my ankles hurt in a really weird way. I caved and went to Tri-n-Run to get help. Umm...they are some of the nicest people ever! I thought maybe I just needed some different inserts, but no. The shoes I bought are over-supportive for my neutral feet. The reasons my ankles hurt is because I'm basically running on the outsides of my feet. Thankfully I was able to return the original shoes. Whew. I was prepared to drop $100 or more on a pair of shoes at Tri-n-Run, but I got a different pair of Brooks that were last year's model and they gave me 20% off! I ended up paying $84 with tax. Only $10 more than the last pair I bought, so not too bad. My new shes are cuter than the last pair. I'm more of an orange and pink girl anyway!


On another note Baxter rocked 2 runs with me last night and this morning! He's getting so good at pacing and not marking every single tree. I think we'll get up to a solid 3 miles together here soon. Well, maybe. If you look at him passed out after our run, it's hard to be convinced! I'm up to 7 miles on my longest run with Marsha and Kristin. I like the mid-week long runs instead of weekends. Weekends are too crazy to have to schedule in a long run. I'm not THAT disciplined! But at least Marsha pushes me and makes me prove to myself that I am physically capable of running longer and longer distances. Only about 7 weeks till show time! Ack!

Less than 1.5 million

Yay! Things are looking up! Now there are only 1.5 million blogs ranked higher than mine. Progress, people...progress.

Blog Roll is Growing

The world of blogs is pretty interesting. I have no idea who stumbles across my blog. If you do stumble across my blog and want to leave a comment, that would rock my world! I usually stumble across a blog through a series of blog roll clicks. If I’m reading a blog I like, I look to see the list of blogs that writer likes. I’ve been following Couponing to Disney for several months now. She posts great deals, coupon matches for various stores, etc. One day she posted that a friend of hers was having a baby and needed some serious prayer. So of course I clicked on her friend’s blog and I’ve been following amazing life story of a little guy named Mason at Jelly Chronicles ever since he was born. Talk about a little fighter. One day, Mason’s mommy had her blog roll up, so I clicked on a few. One linked to another to another and then to Gavin Owens. For whatever reason, I instantly felt connected to the blog author. Weird, right? Because if you read her blog, and trust me you will be completely inspired by the love that pours out of this young woman, you will see that our lives are not so similar.  She’s amazing! She inspires me in a big way. I mean, she’ll let you know she isn’t perfect. But truth of the matter is, she’s frickin’ amazing! Her whole family is amazing! Just look at all her pictures and you’ll see love oozing out of them. So now I have another blog that I follow and glean inspiration from. That’s just the way it rolls in the blog world. 

Soles4Souls

If you're looking for a way to help out the folks experiencing devastation in Japan and other Asian countries that aren't the focus of the news stories right now, here's a neat way to clean out your closet a bit and put it to good use. Soles4Souls is a cool organization that gives shoes to those who need them. One of my favorite things about the organization is the way they help domestically as well as internationally. They plan to set aside 100,000 pair of sturdy shoes for Tsunami victims. As you can imagine, safe, study shoes are need to navigate the debris left behind! Any new or gently used shoes are welcome though. From the FAQ section, I found out that Soles4Souls accepts all types of shoes: athletic, running, dress, sandals, pumps, heels, work boots, cleats, dance, flip flops. You can go the the location finder to see if there is a donation site near you. Cool, right? I'm sure between me and my mom, we have more than one or two pair we could part with.

My GAP adventure cost me $13.

Yesterday was a good day in the shopping life of yours truly. I had a $50 gift card to the GAP family of stores PLUS my $25 off a $50 purchase code that I advertised the other day. I got a pair of fantastic jeans on clearance for $51. Jeans that fit are not easy to find. I'm not sure who they are designed for, but it's not me. These jeans are....well...tight. Gap jeans tend to stretch a lot and then I'm always really disappointed when my jeans are sagging off my butt. I outsmarted them by buying jeans I can barely breath in! They should fit perfect after a wear or two. I'll have to break them in by wearing them for the first few hours of the day and take them off as soon as I eat something! I also got a running skirt (yup...running skirt!) on clearance for $20 and a pair of running shorts for $16 both with an extra 30% off. Lastly, I got a little running arm band wallet thing for $3. I can use the arm band wallet thing soon, but the running shorts are going to have to wait till these legs have seen some sun! The grand total was $13 and change! Woohoo! Did anyone else get to use the GAP code?

Front Page Worthy Gap Deal!

Give your phone number to GAP and get a code for $25 off a $50 purchase!

This could be me!

This could easily be me. I am equally ridiculous about wanting an iPad2. Except for the part where he already has an iPad and I don't.

Does anyone want free Purex Crystals?

We have 1 winner from the previous Purex Crystals give away! Kevin...thank for being my only commenter. You win! Maybe you will be almost excited to do laundry. If anyone else wants to get almost excited about doing laundry, here is your chance to redeem yourself! Leave a comment on this post. Could be a question you'd like to see answered on any section of my blog, or a comment about something you liked, or a snide remark. Anything! Blogs need comments to get better rankings, so I'm practically begging for comments at this point. Currently there are over 2 million blogs that are ranked higher than mine. I will pick 2 more random winners for free fabric softener. Easy peasy.

Want it so bad!

Oh boy! I've been wanting an iPad for a long time. Like the iPhone, I've waited to see what the 2nd generation would be like. I held out for the iPhone 3Gs and then splurged on the 32GB. Glad I did! I have nearly all my music on there plus loads of apps and pictures! It was worth the wait. Oddly, when the iPhone 4 came out I wasn't tempted by it at all. I don't really do the face to face skype thing, so the new features weren't worth much to me. So now...the iPad 2 is coming on March 11. It's one sleek little machine for sure! I budgeted so that I can get the 16GB iPad with 3G connection. You'd be surprised how many conferences I go to that don't have free wi-fi. The 3G is a must for me. I could totally get the 16GB iPad 2, but I probably won't be able to see the difference between the old and the new graphics, I don't need the face-time application, and I don't need a 10 inch digital camera/video recorder. I do like the idea that it's lighter in weight. That's about the only real selling point for me and I'm not sure how much I'd notice it. So...here are my 2 more realistic options as I see it...
Option 1:
Buy the 16GB iPad 1 for $529. That's $100 cheaper than the 16GB iPad 2. That leaves me $100 in the budget for accessories/3G subscriptions.
Option 2:
But a refurbished 16GB iPad 1 for $479. That's $150 cheaper than the iPad 2. Leaving me $150 in the budget for accessories/3G subscriptions.

Accessories I'm pretty sure I would buy right away include the the $30 camera adapter/SD card thing and a case which I should be able to get for less than $20 on Amazon.com. A 3G subscriptions is $15-25 for 30 days. Let's say I spend $50 on accessories. Option 1 leaves 3 months of 3G. Option 2 leaves almost 7 months. Does anyone know of a reason to NOT buy refurbished from Apple? Gotta say...it's looking pretty good right now! And if the iPad 1 drops in price even more after the iPad goes on sale, I will be one happy girl!

Maybe these will give me wings!

Look at those bright white shoe laces! I finally have a new pair of running shoes. Yay! My first pair of Brooks brand runners. Everyone says they're fantastic. Here's hoping! I got a great deal too and you know how much I love a deal. No running outside today because my sinuses are at risk of exploding any minute now. It's a bit odd...only the right side of my head is bothering me. It hurts so bad. Sudafed isn't even helping. Sad sad sad.

In other news...BOILER UP! Purdue 75 Illinois 67. Woohoo!

Don't forget to leave a comment on the post below if you want to get a free bottle of fabric softener. Free is good!

Purex Crystals Giveaway!

As a Purex Insider, I get to try and promote new Purex products. Cool, right? The latest...well, the first product I've gotten is Purex Crystals fabric softener. I'm excited about the product because they say it's safe to use on wicking fabrics. I have a decent amount of wicking and waterproof gear, and fabric softener can ruin the wicking ability of the fabric. Boo to that! The nice people at Purex just sent me some laundry love so that I can try their new product. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm almost excited to do laundry just so I can try it. The best news is there's laundry love to spread around! I have 3 coupons for a free bottle of Purex Crystals fabric softener. Who wants to try it?!? Leave a comment on my blog letting me know you're dying to try this new product or something to that effect, and you'll be entered to win. Random winners will be announced on Friday, March 4th.

Check the weather. I'm about to review a book.

You might want to check the weather and see if hell froze over. I read a book! Cover to cover! Marathoning for Mortals was recommended to me, so I bought a used copy on Amazon.com and read the whole thing. Wonders never cease! It's an easy read and I recommend it without hesitation to anyone thinking about running a half marathon or a full marathon. I was almost surprise how helpful the book was! Chapters 7-16 were the most informational for me. Here are my thoughts on a few of the chapters:

Chapter 1: Deciding to train.
I'm a competitive person by nature. This chapter helped me get my mind around why I want to run. I'm never going to win a marathon. Heck...I probably won't ever even run a marathon! Here are the 3 main reasons people train...
1. train to improve
2. train to maintain
3. train to slow the rate of decline.
I'm training for all three reasons! I certainly want to improve my levels of strength an fitness! I would like to maintain my weight. And now that I've hit the big 3-0, I'm well aware that most people freak out about getting old. I don't know why 30 is the new middle age. I'ts the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Really? 30? You're not even close to middle age! Nothing to freak out about. Not a bad time to kick it in to high gear and slow the rate of physical decline though. I'll jump on that band wagon!

Chapter 12: Gear
I think I'm pretty well set with generally running gear. The best part of this chapter was the info on shoes. I'm quickly realizing that I need new running shoes. The book doesn't have a special formula to help you pick the exact right pair of shoes, but I feel like I know what to look for. I know a little more about running show lingo. Next time I head to the store, I will be much more confident shopping for runners.

Chapter 13: Race Strategy, Goals, and Objectives
Whoa! Talk about concepts I hadn't thought about. I have one goal. To run this stinkin' half marathon. It never occurred to me to have mini goals and objectives to get me through the race. My favorite suggestions is to look at a map and pick out a few land marks to look forward to during the race. In Indy, that should be easy enough.

Chapter 14: Race Preparation
This chapter has the most practical advice of all.
a) when you get to the race, get in line for the port-a-potties. When you get out, get back in line. Ha! Good call! This can't be a bad idea!
b) Love this quote, "...if you are standing in the pack at the start of your goal race, you have already accomplished more than most."

I'm not a professional book reviewer, but it's my humble opinion that this is a great book for anyone who is thinking about working out. Even if you aren't running, I think you could benefit from so many of the concepts in this book. I'm glad I read it for sure! You can buy the book on Amazon for 88 cents used or up to around $5 or $6 new. Or you can go old school and see if there's a copy at your local library.

Well check that out! Feedburner enabled baby!

I finally figured out how to enable Feedburner! See the little Feedburner Chicklet up in the right corner? This is super exciting. Now you can subscribe to my blog using your favorite reader. I usually use my iGoogle homepage for such things, but you can do whatever you like. I would appreciate any subscribers at all!

Trying to get rid of dry eyes

My job is ruining my eyes. Not really, but kind of. I sit in front of a computer for 10-12 hours a day. Sometimes more. Lately, it's been a lot. My eyes have been hurting like no one's business. It's bad. They sting and feel bruised. Yesterday I went to the eye doctor for my yearly check-up and he told me the inevitable. "You have dry eyes." No *&^% Sherlock! But what he told me next surprised me a little bit. My eyes are so dry that my corneas are irritated beyond your normal dry eye irritation. Thus, the bruised feeling. So now I have to use eye drops every 2-3 hours when I'm in front of a computer. I don't mind eye drops, but I doubt I'll remember to use them enough to help. No worries though...I have a plan! iPhone to the rescue! I've set an alarm to go off every 2.5 hours! I figure hydration will help as well, so every 2.5 hours I will be putting in eye drops and getting a fresh glass of water.

Now for some other exciting news! I'm registered with a web traffic rating company called Alexa. I don't really know how it works, but they rank websites. Yesterday my Alexa ranking was over 10 million. Today, my Alexa ranking is 8,549,990. That means there are about 8.5 million websites better than mine. But yesterday there were over 10 million that were better than mine, so this is a 15% improvement. Woot woot! The goal is to get in the 100,000s. Then I will be cool like some of my other favorite bloggers. You can help me out by reading my blog, subscribing to my blog, linking my blog to your blog, telling your friends about my blog, etc. I will probably make it Facebook official this weekend. I have some fun things up my sleeve. Maybe I have a give away coming up! Stay tuned.

Encouragement From the 500 Festival E-Trainer

Every week I get an email with training tips from the 500 Festival e-training team. Do I read these emails...not so much. Until yesterday! Good thing too, because I was having a horrible rotten morning. Here are some little tid-bits of encouragement from the email that pretty much spoke right to me.

"If you've had a hard time getting motivated to train for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon with the ice and snow, you're not alone."

Oh my gosh! No kidding! Everyone I talk says that the crappy week of snow and ice pretty much killed any motivation to work out. You were pretty much screwed unless you have a treadmill in your house. There was basically no way to run outside without risking a treacherous fall and we were under a travel warning, so no one could drive to the gym.

" If you've been running or walking pretty regularly through the winter, you should be OK if you're just getting started with your training." 
Good thing! Because um...yeah...last week was basically when I started the training program. Before that it was pretty sporadic. So basically there is still hope that I can run this thing. I mean really run this thing! So many of my professors are running and it would be a bit embarrassing to get beat by them.

"Don't be afraid to do a little walking, ... You might even find yourself feeling better after a few minutes of walking and be able to start running again."
Whew. Sometimes I feel like a loser when I start walking. I wonder what the people driving by think about me when they see me start walking. Reminds me of a funny story. My brother once told me something to the effect of, "You look like a runner! You're really going to surprise them when you can't even run a whole 5K."  This happened right before a 5K that we ran about 4 years ago. I went out a few days before the race and bought new running shoes and a cute pair of Nike running shorts. I think my training was 2 runs about a month before the race. I ran the whole dang thing and now my brother and I have this little tradition that we sign up for 5Ks and just run them without really training. He works out a lot, so he has the muscle to overpower any endurance he might be lacking even though he isn't lacking it. I, of course, have neither muscle nor power and even though I can up and run 5K I usually feel like death when I'm done. It's our version of fun. We're obviously crazy.

"As long as you are on your feet and moving your body, you are training."

I think someone once explained to me that you just have to get up off your tush and that 80% of a workout is better than no workout at all. That's basically going to be me tonight. I'm stuck working till about 10pm tonight, so I'll do a Nike Training Club workout at home. And I probably will pick an easy one. But at least I'll be on my feet and moving!

I will be keeping these encouraging words in mind the rest of this week. And I will read my 500 series e-training emails from now on! Who knew a mass email could be so personal!

Not Perfect

Obviously I'm not perfect in a lot of ways, but right now I'm frustrated because I don't know how to make all my blog pages seem like one page to the rating folks on the internet. What I want is www.tusarebecca.com/thoughtsonfood. The only way I know to do it right now is to have a totally different blog linked to look like it's just a different page. If anyone knows how to change this, please let me know!

And now I will redirect you to my thoughts on food page where you can read about me as the less than perfect dietitian! Thanks for reading!

My heart is in better shape than my legs

For this College of Health and Human Sciences mini-marathon deal, we were all provided the opportunity to participate in body composition testing as well as cardiovascular fitness testing.

For body composition, I had to put on a swim suit and sit in a giant egg thing all Mork and Mindy style. It's called a BodPod and is a very sophisticated piece of equipment that measures fat mass and fat free mass through air displacement plethysmography. That's a fancy way of saying changes in air pressure are used to determining total body volume and with a measure of weight, there are calculations that can be used to derive fat mass and fat free mass. No real surprises. My percent body fat is 22%. That puts me in the fitness, but not athlete range. About what I would expect since I would consider myself somewhat fit, but no where close to an athlete.

The second test was for cardiovascular fitness. The outcome was a measure of maximal oxygen consumption or VO2 max. VO2 max depends on how much blood can be pumped by the heart in one minute, the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen, and the amount of exercising skeletal muscle and that muscles' ability to use the oxygen supplied by the blood. My result completely surprised me. I've been working out fairly regularly over the past year, but I wouldn't say I'm in great shape. I can barely run 3 miles without dying! My VO2 max is 52 ml Oxygen/ kg-min. That puts me in the 99th percentile for girls my age and my cardiovascular fitness is "superior." What? Really? I would expect Lance Armstrong to be in the 99th percentile and to be considered to have superior cardiovascular fitness, but me? Not so much. Problem is, I'm being compared with all women my age. And most people in the US are sedentary. So if you compare me to sedentary people, then being in the 99th percentile is sad and logical at the same time. I looked into the situation a bit more and will post on that tomorrow. Get excited!

Meet my coach

Just before Thanksgiving I made the brilliant decision to sign up for the One America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. I don't like running. In fact this is the 3rd mini-marathon I've signed up for. My first mini would have been in Prague. A certain someone (me) didn't really train for it and conveniently a certain someone else got stuck in Spain, so I never showed up for the mini. Credit from my plane ticket was transferred to the ticket I used to get to my first Oktoberfest. Much more fun than running 13 miles for sure! The second mini I signed up for was in Champaign-Urbana. Friday night meetings that lasted till 10pm along with all the work to get ready for those marathon meetings were a pretty good excuse to drop the ball on that mini. No excuses this time though. There are 85 or so people from the College of Health and Human Sciences signed up for the mini. Pretty big deal. We're having shirts made and everything! Shirts from "wicking" fabric which on the order form is described as "fabric designed to keep athletes cool and dry in hot temperatures." Very fancy. Glad they defined "wicking" for us.

Last night was my first training run with my coach. He's pretty tough on me. Doesn't really take no for an answer. Practically drags me along. He's all about speed training an intervals too. Thankfully he's good for short breaks between intervals so I can catch my breath.

So here's my coach...



Looks pretty tough, right? Maybe this will change your mind...



Anyway, we have a goal to run a 5-K together. He's actually only good for about 1.5 miles right now, but the pace is faster than my usual pace so I'm ok with that. Nike+ guy tells me our pace is around 8.5 minute miles. My usual pace is a lot closer to 9.5 minute miles! Fun times. If you have any suggestions for running with dogs, let me know. Right now I'm just following his lead a little too literally!

Under Construction

This blog is a work in progress. I'm trying to figure out how to get everything looking way cooler and make sure I can link from one place to another. Right now I'm just excited that I got a few tabs working!

Time to Get Things Started

It's just about time to revamp this blog. Who knows, I might even do that .com thing sooner or later. Blogspot is my friend for now. I have all kinds of ideas, but haven't quite figured out how to "go public" as it were. It's hard to figure out exactly how to sell your blog, but given that I'm a dietitian who likes to eat normal food I figure food should be a big part of the blog. Seems like mom's have the market on blogs with meal ideas and deal ideas. I'm not a mom. Most of my friends aren't moms. We like to save money too, but wading through all the diaper deals gets old. Given that I'm currently a grad student AND I like to travel as often as possible I have figured out a bunch of ways to save money here and there. I'll give you tips on that too. I'm not a personal finance guru, so I won't dwell on personal finance. I will point you to personal finance blogs that I follow. Here's what you can expect in the not so distant future:
1. frequent posts!
2. weekly menu ideas that will score you 5 fruits and vegetables a day and won't break your budget.
3. fun recipes that I've tried and think you will actually like
4. food product reviews. you know...new stuff, low fat stuff, low sodium stuff
5. loyalty program reviews.
6. occasional rants about grad school
7. adventures in traveling
8. oh, and I'm training for a mini-marathon, so you'll get those up-dates too.

I think eight things is enough to expect for now. Get excited!

Contest on one of my favorite blogs!

I've been pretty hooked on the personal finance world the last few months and stumbled across a few blogs I really like. One of them is http://www.thousandaire.com. What really drew me to this blog is Kevin's budget template. Actually, he's not the one who made the template, but he souped it up a bit and it's really good. He's having a amazon gift card give-away right now, so it would be a good time to check out and maybe even subscribe to his blog if you like it!Go check it out!

Swagtastic!

I have to admit that I love free stuff. I found out about Swagbucks from a blog and I was skeptical. Turns out that several of my friends use the Swagbucks website. I've been using it and it's legit. It's basically a search engine interface. You search through Swagbucks and you earn points and in return for those points you can "buy" stuff. The best deal is $5 gift cards to amazon. I've used the site for about 3 weeks-ish and have earned 2, $10 gift cards. Today I earned about $100 swagbucks. You only need 450 to get a $5 amazon gift card. So here's my plug! Use Swagbucks and earn free stuff! Fun times ahead!

One heck of a domestic weekend

For the first time in several weeks, I'm rested! I owe it all to a fantastic, school free weekend. It turned out to be a crazy domestic weekend as well!

Saturday:
Baking with Marie. Result = blueberry cobbler!


Sewing with Marie. Result = adorable satchel bags!

Sunday:
Home brew class with my dad. Result = enough stuff to make 103 bottles of beer on the wall!

Knitting at the river surrounded by friends and family. Result = 4 inches of scarf!

(Pictures will be added soon!)

Holy Crazy Cow!

I am grateful to my friend Bethany for giving me not one, but 2 fantastic excuses to finally buy the cowboy boots I've been drooling over for a while now. We're going to the Brooks and Dunn concert in a few weeks AND all her bridesmaids are wearing boots to the reception. She's just that cool! Here they are...in all their beauty!

What I'd really like to show is the UPS tracking page. I ordered standard free shipping. Soon after I ordered I got a friendly email from Zappos.com that my order had been shipped. When I checked the UPS tracking page I see that my boots are on schedule to be delivered today. Seriously! My boots are in Lafayette in a UPS truck riding around town right now. I've never heard of such fantastic shipping service. And it's free! So I am shamelessly putting in a plug for zappos.com. Again that's z-a-p-p-s-z-dot-c-o-m. Got it? Good.