Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.
-Winnie the Pooh
You know the pressure of bringing a good bottle of wine to a dinner party, right? You hope your hosts won’t drink it that night and that they’ll forget who brought it, but just in case they decide to pop the cork that night, you should bring something good. Stressful, right? Especially if you’re meeting future in-laws.
Well, I don’t have to worry about that! (1) Because I am single, although I hope that will change in the very near future. (2) Because I am spending Thanksgiving Day in my sweats, watching movies, and eating Chinese food and Whole Foods pumpkin pie. I have turned down invitations in order to give myself a complete and total day off. No playing Martha Stewart on Thursday– I reserve that for the other 364 days of the year. I need to conserve my energy for Black Friday. Also, the fact that I am skipping out on something makes me feel cunning.
In case you do not have the same luxury I do, here are your recommended Thanksgiving wines from Wine ConneXtion. I heartily recommend the Edna Valley Chardonnay.
Happy T-Day. Be good. I hope you enjoy your own Thanksgiving traditions!!
Our recycling bin magically disappeared from the curb on trash day, never to be seen again. Being environmentally friendly folk, we headed down to the Cambridge Recycling Drop-off Center to pick up another. I found a bin for sure, but I also found a few other surprises:
Did you know they just give away books there for free??
I didn’t have much time to sort through the shelves, but a special book caught my eye pretty quickly. I scored a 1970s copy of the Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette in near perfect condition. I’m going to start reading it while drinking tea out of my Votes for Women teapot. It seems appropriate.
The recycling center is near the east side of Inman Square at 147 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA. It is open T/Th from 4 pm-7:30 pm and Saturday from 9 am-4 pm.
I was talking to my friend last week about her Thanksgiving plans. She’s headed down to Florida to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time, so she is trying to carefully plan out what she’ll be wearing each day. And like every normal, but non-rational person out there, this meant buying new outfits despite the fact that everything you already own is new to the eyes of strangers. (Why do we do that?)
Anyway, we’re talking and she mentions she’s going to stop by NY & Company and Ann Taylor. Before she can get the “Taylor” out of her mouth, I scream, “USE A COUPON!” like I’m some sort of deranged crazy lady. I searched online for a few printable coupons and emailed them to her immediately. And right then I realized that in the same way that some people would advise their friend to be safe and use a condom, I’m throwing coupons at people. Not getting something on sale isn’t as bad as accidentally getting pregnant, but it’s still dangerous.
So you can imagine my excitement when I met the good people of RedPlum at “My Frugalicious Holiday,” a Boston blogger event held at the Liberty Hotel. RedPlum is a coupon haven– they have everything from printable coupons and online coupon codes to entertaining and shopping guides. For instance, check out these crowd pleasing tips:
5 glasses of wine per bottle, not 4, Sara
There’s far, far more on their website: how to negotiate a better deal on anything, easy holiday centerpieces, quick fixes for party accidents. I highly recommend you take a look.
RedPlum–helpful as they are–was kind enough to share with us their recommendations for 30 gifts under $30. I have many thoughts about choosing presents for people and I hope to explore some different options over the coming weeks as we delve deep into the throws of the holiday season. This list is a good start. Some of my favorites included the one-liner onesies from So Bubbly ($17-20), Dinner Party 101 ($10-20), and the random, but sort of cool scented sidewalk salt by Fruits & Passion ($16).
My Grandpa Rocks! My Mom is Fly!
Two of my favorite resources were also there to teach us about throwing good parties. Ikea gave us some ideas for how to create beautiful place settings on a budget and our old friend Sam from WineConneXtion recommended great wines under $20/bottle (more on that tomorrow).
Great idea: Using an ornament as a placecard
To top it off, I also got to meet up with Boston bloggers Neha Leela, Carissa from Starving Artist, Chelsea from We Are Not Martha, Pam from Cave Cibum, Megan from A Girl Must Shop, Ann from sockinatoaster, Michele from FoodieMommy, and Alison from Old Ways Table. That was probably the best part of the whole night. Because as I learned the hard way, good company is the most important element of any event!
Thanks so much to Red Plum, to Ikea, and to Wine ConneXtion for sponsoring the event. And remember, use a coupon!
Blue Mosque, Istanbul (credit to E)
Being a graduate student is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing: You can take a vacation for as long as you want, almost whenever you want. Curse: You have limited funds with which to travel.
That said, I’m always searching for “fat finger fares” and sales. Recently, I’ve been floored by the tweets I’ve seen from @airfarewatchdog. NYC to Costa Rica for $197 round trip. NYC to New Delhi for under $700 this winter. NYC to Lima, Peru for $277 round trip, nonstop. LAX to Cairo <$600 in February. All cheap, all including taxes and fees.
Check out their blog. In addition to cheap flights, they also have useful info about getting upgrades, earning free miles, and super cheap baggage insurance.
Bon Voyage!
The CW network is planning a new show about Harvard Medical School called HMS. The project is supposedly about “a bright group of young students at Harvard Medical School.”
I lived with a screenwriter when I was in Los Angeles. We briefly discussed writing a screenplay about graduate school, but quickly realized it would be the most boring screenplay ever. What were we going to write about? Sleeping with the teacher? Scooping someone’s journal article? Failing out of school? I don’t think Harvard gives anything lower than a B-, so that’s not possible.
Is medical school really that much more interesting than graduate school?
I was running some errands a few weekends ago and driving down 93, when it suddenly hit me:
I live in Massachusetts. Like, full time, for real.
Some grad students pass through town and spend two years hiding out in their university neighborhoods without ever really getting to know the city. But I’ve lived here for over 5 years now (yikes) and the city feels like home. I have school friends, but I also have friends who just live here. Full time, not transitory, with no intention of moving. Somehow in the past 5 years, I’ve made the city my own. I have my favorite bars and restaurants, I know my way around the suburbs, and I know never to walk down Prospect St in the heavy rain if I want to be dry when I get to work.
The one thing I haven’t found, however, is a good fabric store. I pester my friends in a desperate search for cheap fabric in the Boston area every year. Jo-Ann’s is fine, but Burlington is a haul. Sewfisticated in Cambridge and Winmil Fabric in Chinatown are okay, but their stuff isn’t always the best quality. Sew Low shows some promise, but I think you are really, truly underestimating how frugal I am.
Fortunately, I have an incredible mother. A mother who took me the Mecca of fabric in Stone Mountain, GA*– FABRIC WORLD, INC..
*{The good and noble town of Stone Mountain, GA was vilified in the 4th season of 30 Rock. In SAT terms, Stone Mountain : Atlanta as Newton : Boston. Please do not believe everything you see on TV. Yes, we sort of have a park that seems oddly fond of plantations and The War of Northern Aggression, but Stone Mountain has more country clubs than farms, people.}
Taking a crafter to Fabric World is like taking a 5 year old to Disney Land. There’s so much to take in. Buttons for 1¢ a piece, endless rows of bolts of upholstery fabric for $3.99/yard, and apparel fabric for $1.99-2.99/yard. They have cheap solid cottons for 88¢/yard too. These are normal, every day prices, not sales.
There are literally thousands of buttons here
I’m just saying, you can go to Jo-Ann’s and they will make you pay $2 for a button.
During the sales, you can do much, much better. I got 6 yards of thick upholstery fabric for $3.99. Total. 5 yards of cream jersey knit? $1/yard. I’m making a backboard from my friend’s dartboard and I got a yard and a half of velvet to upholster it for only $5.
I will admit that sometimes you have to do a little digging to find what you’re looking for, but that’s okay. Because your friend just paid $15 for that jersey scarf from American Apparel and you made one for $2.
I’m not going to lie– I wouldn’t go to Atlanta for a vacation out of the blue. It’s the kind of city where you’d love to live, but it’s not super exciting to visit. But if you are going for a conference, or to visit family, or you have a long layover, bring an extra suitcase and fill it with fabric. Correct me if I’m wrong (I would love to be wrong!), but there’s nothing in Boston that compares.
Hey kids,
Wine ConneXtion is having it’s grand opening this weekend! I must confess I went to Trader Joe’s this week with my roommates to buy a case worth of wine for a party. I was excited about the prices, but disappointed in the quality and selection. I won’t lie–I wanted to go back up to Wine ConneXtion and milk Sam for more advice on choosing wines.
North Andover is only a 30 min drive up 93 and no more than 5 minutes off of the highway. I seriously encourage you to head on up for some quality wine and free food.
Have a great weekend!
–
Wine ConneXtion Celebrates Grand Opening with Cuisine by Food Network’s Tommy Grella
WHAT: New wine hot spot, Wine ConneXtion, opens its doors with an afternoon of incredible, affordable wines paired with Food Network Chef Tommy Grella’s creative cuisine.
The Next Food Network Star contestant Tommy Grella and Wine ConneXtion Wine Director Sam Messina have teamed up for an afternoon of cooking and wine tasting. Guests will watch celebrity Chef Grella cook-up some of his favorite recipes while Sam will carefully select an assortment of quality wines at great prices.
WHO: Wine ConneXtion is a new wine store celebrating its Grand Opening on November 14th in North Andover. The experts behind Wine ConneXtion are bringing an entirely new concept to the Greater Boston area. The store offers an ever-changing selection of high-value wines at deep discount prices on every bottle. The store is highly energy-efficient and consumer friendly – shoppers can browse, sip wine at the store’s Tasting Station and grab a bulk case of their favorites with minimal hassle. Customers are encouraged to peruse the large, open, cellar-style design where each wine has a descriptive narrative to educate the customer on everything from the characteristics of the wine to the best choices of foods to pair with the wine. Whatever the quantity, customers will always get the lowest prices on all types of purchases.
WHEN: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Wine ConneXtion 117 Main Street North Andover, MA 01845
For the first year of grad school, my mother would call me every week and say, “Anne, please don’t wear sweatpants to class.” I could never figure out why until she saw me at my sister’s wedding and told me that she never ever sees me dressed up. I mean, I haven’t really lived at home since I was 15, so my mother doesn’t have a sense of my day to day style. I realized that whenever I go home to visit my parents, I sort of lounge around the house and don’t really go anywhere. Obviously if I’m not leaving home, I’m not really going to put on clothes and makeup. For some reason, this led my mother to believe that I wear sweatpants everywhere.
Ironically, I’ve only worn sweatpants to school once. And some stranger in an elevator asked me out on a date that day. Granted I was at MIT, but I was at Sloan so he couldn’t have been too desperate…
Anyway, I digress. I will admit that I do a really good job of getting dressed during the summer. I own a milion and ten sundresses and sandals and I pretty much refuse to wear pants from May-September. I cling to my skirts for as long as possible, but in Boston I can never make it past November. I need to find a way to look good in the fall and winter too.
So Sara and I were at work yesterday, the only two people in the office on a holiday. Long story short, we bolted out of the office around 7 once we suspected there was a stalker/crazy person/ghost locked in the women’s restroom and drowned our sorrows in shopping at Downtown Crossing.
Look at what we found:
Civico 10 Topeka Leather Cowboy Boot $100 @ DSW
Diba Pilot Cowboy Boot $45 @ DSW
Aerosoles Infamous Fashion Boot $60 @ DSW
The Georgia girl in me is pretty excited about the cowboy boots. I sort of feel bad about wanting to buy these, but I’m justifying it by telling myself that this is what my mother wants, right?
Also, I have coupons (you can combine some of these, depending on how expensive your shoes are):
- Use code SNOWMAN for free shipping over $35
- Use code SHOP10 to save $10
- Use code NOVPKG to save $5 (min $49 purchase)
- Use code ACTNOW to save $10
- Use code KCPROMO to save $5
No more sweatpants, no more clogs!
