15 posts tagged “december”

Ah, looking forward to a new year is always so fun! I have BIG PLANS, my friends. huge.

As per usual, much of my plans involve travel. The big! exciting! one is that I'm going to the UK for three weeks in April/May. Friends are getting married in Belfast and are being incredibly gracious in allowing this C-list-friend (at BEST) to crash the party. Since I'll be out that way, I'm going to spend a week circling Ireland, 2-3 days being wedding-focused, a week exploring Scotland, and approximately 4 days in Wales or something. I spent 2 weeks in London in 1999 so don't feel the need to dip that far south this time.

I'll also be going back to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival. I may be going in Julyish this time - partly so we can experience a different season, and partly because I may be crewing for crazy bike friends on a weekend event outside of Portland. I figure I can head north to Ashland, head further north and do the bike race support thing, and then come home. They're not sure they're doing the ride, though, so it may be only Ashland, which is fine, as I'll have thoroughly pillaged my vacation time already.

Other travel: Florida to help my sister move/see her new place at the end of January. Portland and Rhode Island in December. I've heard rumblings of some friends maybe hiking Half Dome, possibly this fall, and I would love to do that (though... it looks scary hard). Every year I intend to camp and hike more than I actually do, so maybe a trip to Big Sur or Shasta is in order. Then of course there's wine country day trips, some biking, and hopefully I'll have visitors this year (though none booked yet!), and there you go: 2009.

What else does the year hold? Most importantly, I'm going to pay off my final scrap of debt: my student loans. Right now I'm saving aggressively so I can pay for all of my big trip as it occurs (I already paid for my ticket), but after that, Sallie Mae is getting the giant smackdown. And I will be 100% out of debt for the first time since I got out of college! (of course then I start saving for a mortgage.. but that'll take ages before I nerve myself up to purchasing real estate)

Well, I learned to knit. 12 scarves, 9 hats, 5 pairs of fingerless mitts, 4 pairs of socks, and 1 baby dress later, you might say I jumped enthusiastically into the deep end. I like knitting because it lets me sit in front of tv-on-dvd for a LONG time without feeling horrifically unproductive. I like making pretty things and giving them away. I like learning a new technique and having something to show for it.

I also traveled: to Key West, NYC, Boston, my college (for a reunion!), Rhode Island, Lake Tahoe (day trip), Yosemite (twice!), Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare festival, Portland, Oregon (twice! for miscellaneous hanging out), and did Cycle Oregon for the third time.

I was physically active: I hiked, snowshoed, and biked over a thousand miles.

I had visitors: my parents, siblings, and friends from Boston, NYC, Seattle, and Portland all stayed with me over the course of the year, and I had the pleasure of meeting several people for lunch or dinner as they passed through town.

I also cooked! My lunch group is going strong, and I think my favorite meals I provided this year were two recipes of my invention: a) Winter Mix: quinoa/wheat berry/barley, combined with mushroom, roasted sweet potato, and two types of roasted beet; b) Masala lentils & black beans, served on a bed of mixed grains: brown rice and wheat berries, cooked in light coconut milk & water.

So, it's a really satisfying year to look back on. I think this is one of my favorite pics from Christmas at home:

yep, it's been ages since I posted. Addressing that may be a new year's resolution.. we'll see. I've been busy at work and at home, so the blog, she suffers.

But at this time of year there are lots of things worthy of updating: what tracking my spending reveals about my year, notes about my travels, plans for the coming year, all manner of good things. Today I'm working on a few posts and will dribble them out over the next couple of days. We can call that my Christmas gift to you, okay?

First off: charitable giving, 2008!
Last year I did the majority of my giving in the last few months of the year. I donated to my local public radio station, and to two food banks (one in Oregon, for old times' sake, one local). At the time, I resolved to donate more often, and to have my 2008 giving surpass that of 2007.

Well, I certainly didn't donate as I went along - I gave a pitiful $82 from January through November. That left me with some last-minute decisions to make! Here's who I donated to, and why.

Alameda County Community Food Bank - because I have never gone to bed hungry. I have never wondered where my next meal was coming from. Because I'm so grateful for the lovingly-prepared food my lunch group gives me every week!

Hope Line - because I read Post Secret every week, and because that page's founder won't accept donations.His preferred cause is Hope Line. I donated because Frank asked me to.

Chicago Public Radio/This American Life - I subscribe to the free This American Life podcasts, and love listening to them when I travel. They've asked for some support this year, as providing the podcast costs their parent organization money.

Doctors Without Borders - because I am a happy reader of the Yarn Harlot, and this is her favorite organization. Read about her Tricoteuses Sans Frontières/Knitters Without Borders idea here and, even better, here.

To forestall this rather uncomfortable feeling I'm having - I really didn't have that spare cash in my budget this month! - I'm planning ahead for next year. I'm going to set aside just under 1% of each month's income, and will either donate as I go along in the year OR will have a specific pool of money to use at this time next year! My giving ranged from $20 to $100 and I am confident that every little bit helps.

So, what's important to you? Can you share a little bit of love and money?

Well, I'm back in my lovely quiet apartment, all by myself for the first time in ten days, after a week in RI and a weekend of a house guest. There were a few indignities, some successfully great food, lots of laughs, a genuwine grade-A miracle, and good times all around.

First, the indignities, because of COURSE you want to know:

• Delta separated me from my bags BOTH directions. They were delivered within 12 hours or so of my arrival each time, but still, and really!
• I'd carefully packed a lovely framed picture, which was a gift for my mom. Word of advice: don't ever pack a sheet of glass in the same suitcase that has your clothes in it. 'nuff said? It was a big mess, and I had to replace both the sheet of glass AND all four pictures it had been covering, as they were all shredded by glassy bits. 
• The idiot TSA woman took twenty minutes rooting around in my suitcase to find the bottle of coffee syrup (coffee milk is Rhode Island's state drink!),
  
• I burned my fingers repeatedly when cooking our Fabulous Christmas Eve Dinner

This brings me to the "great food" part of the event. I'd asked for menu suggestions for beef stew, because for the annual siblings-cook-the-Eve-feast meal, we'd planned on Boeuf Bourguignon (aka fancy beef stew). We wound up having a green salad with sauteed apples & pears, hazelnuts, and blue cheese; warm salad of fingerling potatoes; a mixed green vegetables stir-fry; and an amazing chocolate roulade (pics of that later).
 

The miracle happened earlier this year, and entailed my older brother moving into a group home. It's so amazing and lovely to see him happy and out of my parent's house. They've done a great job helping him build a varied life, but he has been ready to move out since about the time I did, and finally, nearly twenty years later, he has.

So, wow, 2007 I scarcely new ye, but onward and upward to 2008. I'm looking forward to good times, more great meals, and I'd take another miracle or two, for sure. But enough with the indignities!

I got the table. I didn't have to rearrange at all, after all - slid the couch forward a couple of inches, and moved the rocking chair into the Conversational Grouping Area, but there's still plenty of space. T kindly helped me get it home, and we only scratched it up a little bit (dang it.. I knew that if S were here she'd have made me take the time to be careful with the table) and it fits beautifully. I'm sitting at it now! AND doing laundry... I'm such a good multi-tasker.

Here's the pictures. Yep, I know I've got to do something with that big blank wall - I've got pictures on the way that I will frame, and hopefully that will help a LOT.

I might be getting a dining room table tonight... which of course means that much rearranging and before & after photos will ensue.

The timing is BAD, as this weekend is mainly filled with holiday party prep, holiday party, and holiday party recovery, then I work a few days, leave town for a week, come back to a houseguest, then it's new year's, then January... but, exciting!!!! nonetheless.The price is good, and the condition looks excellent. Of course I only have four mismatched chairs and it seats ten, but that can be a later project.

Here are pics of it in its current setting:

If you were making a fancy dinner and at this stage in your planning, the main course was going to be an upscale version of beef stew, what on earth would you also serve? Or would you scrap the plan and start over with a different main course?

I was recently wondering what to do with some fun money - I thought it might be about $150. Not only is the fun money I anticipated more than that, but I also just got a totally unexpected check from my beloved Oregon - in years that the tax receipts are more than 2% over the projected amount they expected to receive, they refund it, and my last year there, 2006, was one such year! I got back 18% of the taxes I paid (they said.. no, I didn't calculate it). Let's just say that my fun money is a lot more than I anticipated!

I had already considered donating some, so I just did it. Since I'm so grateful for nutritious, home-made food every day, and because the rate of hunger in this country is unconscionably high, I donated money to two food banks: the Oregon Food Bank and the Alameda County Community Food Bank. And I'll still have a lot more fun money than I expected. I'm going to save it toward travel - at this point I really don't need anything else, so may as well use it to seed a new account.

Merry Christmas indeed!

I finally got around to updating my usage information with my car insurance company. I used to drive 20 miles each way, five days a week; now I drive 3 miles each way, 2 days a week (I walk/shuttle or carpool the rest of the time), and figure I drive 4000 miles per year.

The savings? just over ten bucks per month - nothing huge, but better than not having it. Too bad I didn't do that 18 months ago when I moved here - $180 bucks would've got me that much closer to paying the car off altogether!

Next up? As soon as I'm off-plan with my cell phone company (March, I think), I'm totally switching to a pay-as-you-go plan. I talk very little, and text a bit, so I'll save as much as 25 bucks a month when I make that change. I'd love to nix the landline, but I need it to buzz people into my apartment. No way I'm running up and down all the stairs when people come over. I don't have cable, and my electric bill is ~12 per month, so I think this is the last of the economizing I'll be able to do on my regular bills.

One crazy-busy trip down! My four days in Portland were a whirl of activity. I got to see almost everyone I wanted to see, we had a very good turnout at the 12th Annual Cookie Party: