Signature Polish

I have a weakness, besides JCrew this time, and it’s nail polish. For as long as I can remember I have been a nail bitter. It is only until the last few years that I have been able to stop biting my nails, although I am still a work in progress with biting my cuticles, and it’s because of nail polish.

This godsend for my nails has turned into a bummer for my wallet. As I mentioned before, it’s those little $5-7 purchases that add up before you know it!

My need to STOP buying nail polishes combined with my desire see if you could actually use a whole bottle of  has led to my new “invention.” The signature color. It’s a pretty simple concept, just find a wonderful color, splurge on the bottle and paint away. And then paint again, and then a week later paint again, and so on and so on This way people people will eventually know you for wearing that color of polish, and to me, that’s kind of cool.

My signature color:

Cantaloupe by Essie, sold at JCrew

*A side note to further explain my color choice. I was also told by my work that I can no longer wear dark polish. Has this happened to anyone else?! Apparently they don’t understand how “hip” I am!!

Wicked Wednesday

I thought for fun on Wednesday’s if I pretend I’m from Bean-Town and share a wicked sweet video with all of you This one happens to be of my pup Noodle. She just got a haircut so she’s been even more adorable as of late!

Why I Get Out of Bed

It’s 5:00 AM, I hear my iPhone alarm go off with the “barking” tone I’ve set. My mind says “F” and my body says “Don’t even think about moving.”

But I do it, because:

I’ve accomplished greater

I’m an athlete

I’ve got a family and a couch calling my name when I get home at 6, and no gym interruptions makes it all worth while

5 miles by 6 AM isn’t an easy feat, but try naming something worth it that is.

So get your butt out of bed

Make Your Own Hummus

One thing that I have learned as I’ve grown older is that you actually can get enjoyment out of doing things for yourself. Try telling that to my 17 year old self and you would get an eye roll that annoying “ugh” noise teenagers make. Since maturing through college (okay, mostly through graduate school), I have come across these instances of enjoyment on quite a few occasions:

• Buying my own things (clothes, furniture, food)
  
• Taking initiative at work to complete projects instead of waiting to be told what to do
  
• Working out instead of trying to crash diet
  
• Making my own meals instead of going out to eat or heating up Lean Cuisines (shudder….)
  

Last November I made “the change,” I became an eater of REAL food. This change has propelled me into the world of cooking that I had never explored before. An important tool in this change was the KitchenAid food processor my future hubs got me for Christmas last year (I got him a KitchenAid mixer for his birthday; what can I say, we’re romantic ). One of the first recipes I made on said processor was a household favorite, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus; from scratch.  Although making your own hummus can be more time consuming than picking a tub of Sabra off the shelf at your local grocer, it has the cool factor that Sabra doesn’t; that being you are able to tell people “I made it myself.” And don’t let the words “from scratch” scare you; unlike my fiancé who is a phenomenal cook, I am much less talented in the kitchen.  Because of this, you have my word every recipe I put on this blog will be easy.

Right off the bat when making hummus, there are a few investment pieces needed, tahini and chick peas top the list, but they are well worth the few extra dollars upfront to make mountains of hummus in the future. Making your own hummus on a consistent basis will definitely save you money in the long run.

The instructions are simple, just the way I like it.

1. Put all the ingredients in the food processor:
   1. 1 cup chickpeas (Simply soak dried beans overnight, then put in a sauce pan covered with 2-3 inches of water, bring to a boil & simmer for 1.5 hours)
   2. 3 gloves raw garlic
   3. 1/3 cup sesame tahini
   4. Juice from 1 lemon
   5. 1 tsp cumin
   6. 2 tbsp olive oil
   7. 1 tsp salt
   8. 3/4 tsp pepper
   9. 1 roasted red pepper (Click HERE for quick & easy instructions for roasting a red pepper)
   10. 1/2 cup water (only necessary if you are cooking the chickpeas from dry. If they are canned they typically have enough liquid.
2. Blend.

That’s it!

Next steps are the easiest and dare I say the most enjoyable.

1. Pack hummus as intricate part of lunch for work
2. Bring said lunch to work
3. Brag about making said hummus
4. Eat and watch others drool

Peek At My Week

At the Dr. Dog concert with one of my oldest friends.

Favorite work outfit of the week. I channel Prince in my velvet purple blazer.

Joey and a freshly cut Noodle

Damn paparazzi

Mighty successful Whole Foods visit

This is my "special" purchase from my last paycheck; clearly I've been getting my money's worth

Hope everyone had just as lovely of a week as me! xoxo

Keep in Touch With Old Friends

When I look back at my college years I think of all the amazing times I had. The parties, greek activities, boys, and some schooling of course :-) They all had one thing in common which made them so exceptional……..the friends.

Fling Finals @ MU circa 2004

In college I had a lot of friends. Between sorority life, clubs and classes, there was never a shortage of people to go out with or just hang with if I was bored.  This was something I took for granted, because what I didn’t know was this would all change pretty drastically after college.

Let’s get straight to the point; it is hard to find friends as an adult. This is especially true if you move, which happens to be the case for most young professionals (these days most of us would go anywhere just to find a job!).  Now don’t start feeling too badly for me, I do have friends, it’s just that none of them happen to live in San Antonio.

Social networking has really been a lifesaver for me. I believe I am one of few females who does not like to talk on the phone, so the internet is what keeps me connected. Between twitter, facebook, email, and my blog I have been able to keep in close contact with a lot of my friends. In fact, relationships have grown stronger with some since I left college.

There are two reasons I say to stay connected to old friends:

1) They will get you through those times when you are without friends in close proximity

2) You never know where life will take you; meaning geographically

Way Back When

My best friend in college is from Texas, and although we used to cheers while drinking quarter draws to “Ten years from now living large in Texas” (I’m very cool if you didn’t know) I never really knew where I would end up. The good news is after moving around in Missouri for graduate school I found a fantastic man from Texas and, long story short, here we are getting ready to enjoy a night out in Austin with an old friend; and man, does it feel good. And it would have never happened if I hadn’t taken the time to stay in touch.

Keep Old Friends

Project Get Finances in Line.

As previously mentioned, I am new to the “real world.” Don’t get met wrong, I think being an adult is pretty cool. I generally like living on my own, making my own choices, and going to work…..but one very uncool think about being an adult is paying the bills. I admit, I was spoiled when I was growing up. My parents are actually lucky I didn’t turn out to be a complete a-hole because until last year I never even paid for my own gas…please don’t throw rocks!! Fast forward to now, where I’m like Destiny’s Child with all these Bills, Bills, Bills.

Throwback Thursday

 

I’ve come to realize that the problem with jobs in the real world is that they simply don’t pay enough money. Due to my current financial limitations I have had to become smarter with my spending. I had to find a way to have nice things (my name is Jill and I am a JCrew addict….step 1 right?!) without breaking the bank. This brings us to my spending tip number #1:

Buy something nice for yourself once a paycheck.

When I decided to start being smarter about my finances, I looked back on my credit card statements to see just what I was spending my hard earned money on. It turns out I was mostly spending it on a lot of unnecessary little things. A trip to Ulta here, a trip to Target there (we all know these turn disastrous quickly!). All these little purchases can build up very quickly and before you know it, you have spent a lot more than you ever planned. My first goal of Project Get Finances in Line was to cut out those little unnecessary purchases. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still young, and not broke, so I know I am going to spend money on some things (mostly clothes), but instead of buying a lot of little things whenever I feel like, I decided to treat myself to one purchase per paycheck. For instance, last paycheck I bought a lovely new JCrew top (told you!). Sure it wasn’t super cheap, but I hadn’t bought anything besides groceries the two weeks prior, so I felt okay doing it. I also had a coupon, always use coupons!!

This week I ran out of perfume so I think I may be replacing my Lola as this weeks “treat.” And it really does feel like a treat when you aren’t buying all the time. It becomes more of a treasure hunt to find the one thing you want to spend your money on. I pretty much think about it for the whole 2 weeks and I’m okay with that because you know what, I don’t need another travel coffee mug, frame, or blanket from Target.

Disclaimer: I am paid biweekly if you are paid otherwise you may have to adjust accordingly

Dress Appropriately.

Having lived in multitude of locations over my 25 years, Air Force brat here, I have seen it all when it comes to fashion (and I use that term loosely). From Missouri College girls obsessed with being orange tanning

How do you look in the mirror and think "yes, this is the color I intended"

to Texas hipsters who wear their Nixon’s like a purse (I can’t even afford a damn Nixon and these girls were wearing them like they cost $5!!). Okay, I’ll calm down now.

To me, it doesn’t really matter what your style is, you still need to look presentable, especially for work. Face the music; people make judgments based on how you look. It may not be the ideal, but it is what it is.  As a recruiter I am constantly meeting potential candidates and conducting interviews for people at all job levels. Why would I want to invest my time in a worker who did not feel the need to brush their hair before our interview or one who is wearing a full-on cleavage exposing top (this one still surprises me every time).

At work in general it boggles my mind when I see someone over 40 at work wearing a top with their bra straps clearly displayed.  Major yuck. I am one who follows the motto “Don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want.” You don’t have to have the nicest or most expensive clothes (i.e. the simple Target shirt I am rocking today), but you should look presentable and appropriate.

Also, 40-something man at my office, casual Friday is not another name for “wear your newest Aeropostale t-shirt.” Oh dear…..

Wearing teenage clothing does not make you younger