Weekend Spending Report!

I had an amazing weekend! On Friday I had girl's night with 2 of my closest girlfriends - we got pedicures, went out for dinner and then made martinis and watched chick flicks. On Saturday I hung out with another friend at the beach and then went to the opera with K in the evening. I had a blast! We got all dressed up (he wore a tux and brought me a rose when he picked me up!) and had a really good time - even though we both nodded off a bit during the first act thanks to the pre-show wine... lol. This morning I got up to go to the gym and K joined me, then we had brunch and watched a movie. :)

Friday
$5.70, Lunch
$22, Pedicure + tip
$11, Dinner

Saturday
$0, Opera (K paid for our pre-opera drinks, the opera tickets & the after-dinner drinks...)

Sunday
$0, Brunch (K paid - even though I insisted, he refused. Told me that I just owe him a home-cooked meal, which I am VERY happy to do!)

Total: $38.70

Dinner & a Movie!

Last night, K and I went on yet another date. It was dinner and a movie, and I offered to pay for dinner. He's paid for all our dates so far except when we went to the driving range last weekend. However, that $10 isn't exactly much! It's 2009 - the guy doesn't have to and shouldn't pay for everything! (Especially in this economy.) But he insisted on paying for the movie, which I gladly accepted. :)

Dinner: $64.38 (We both had leftovers - hooray! But our drinks were a disappointment.)
Movie: $22 (Go see I Love You, Man! It was hilarious! K paid.)
Starbucks: $0 (via Starbucks gift card I had)

Survey Checks!

I received 2 survey checks in the mail today. $3 from Pinecone Research and $10 from Your2Cents.

That $13 is going into my Car Fund!

CA State Refund!

My California state tax refund of $332 was directly deposited into my E-fund on Monday.

Hooray!

Weekend Spending Report / Dating Update

I basically spent all of my weekend with K as we continue to date and get to know each other. I went to his place on Friday after work to hang out. We tried to go to the driving range but the pro shop was closed so we played around on the putting green for a while. He cooked dinner, a chicken and vegetable stir fry and we ended up just watching Fight Club and talking all night. On Saturday morning we went to brunch and then finally did go to the driving range! He came over to my place later that evening and one of my crockpot meals turned out terrific. Neither of my roommates were around, so we just watched some romantic comedies, played cards and had a few drinks. Sunday morning I went to the gym then ran some errands and bought my Dad's birthday present plus a card. My Gift Fund is being drained for this, but obviously it's for my father so it's completely worth it. :)

Friday
$0, Dinner at K's

Saturday
$10, Driving Range

Sunday
$15.21, Trader Joe's
$105.61, Shirt from Nordstrom for my Dad (coming out of my Gift Fund)
$3.98, Drugstore (card for my Dad)

Total: $134.80

A Few Extra Dollars!

Like Stacking Pennies, I noticed that the economic stimulus package went into effect with my last paycheck, giving me approximately $35/month extra. Since I live in the same lovely state of California, though, I'm not sure what will happen with state taxes...

However, these few extra dollars will be nice! Not quite sure what I plan on doing with them yet in my budget. Perhaps tossing it towards my Gift Fund? Or towards my Entertainment category and having a bit more fun with my friends?

I'll see what I feel like and take it on a month-to-month basis! :)

Profit Sharing

My company has a fantastic benefit for all of us employees: a profit sharing plan!

I recently received the 2008 statements for my own contributions to my 401k as well as employer-matching contributions. There was another statement in the package for profit sharing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that for 2008 (even though I only started at the firm in June), I received a nice sum of $1,424.15. However, due to the vesting schedule, I will not be 100% vested in the profit sharing plan until I have worked at the company for 6 years.

But still, even if I only receive a portion of that benefit - something is better than nothing!

I Guess We're Dating!

K and I went on yet another date on Friday night! We went mini golfing ($16 for the 2 of us, he paid) and sadly - I lost! We ended up betting on who would win, and since he won, he gets to choose one of our next dates - lol! So, we are planning on going either kayaking or rock climbing soon. K is very athletic and outdoorsy: he loves to surf, kayak, rock climb, hike, camp, ski, and golf! It's great because I want to do more activities like that, but none or very few of my friends have the same interests - or we are just too lazy to organize it all!

He also came to the BBQ party my roommates and I threw on Saturday. He met all of my very close friends, which was fun. What's interesting is that he has a very quiet/soft-spoken personality - but doesn't seem to mind that I am very outgoing and talkative! His humor is very similar to mine (and my friends') which is great - even if he doesn't say much in larger groups of people. (My brother and Dad are the EXACT same way. Weird.)

K stayed until almost midnight on Saturday. We got take out (I paid for something - finally!) and watched a movie after the BBQ ended. He asked me what my plans were for this week and suggested we cook dinner together. I love the idea because I like to cook and like learning from other people. We might do something on Tuesday night for St. Patrick's Day, too.

So far, so good! :)

Weekend Spending Report

This was a very fun weekend! On Friday, I met my roommates and some friends for happy hour and then went on a date with K. On Saturday, we threw a BBQ party and had a low-key night in and today I went grocery shopping and caught up on TV!

Friday
$10, Happy Hour!

Saturday
$6.95, Groceries (for the party)
$15.65, Take-out

Sunday
$35.35, Groceries

Total: $67.95

Another Date?!

I mentioned an interesting development earlier this week. Basically, I still check my Match.com account every few days - I paid for 3 months, so why not?! Well, last weekend, I had a long message from a guy that basically has everything in common with me. I decided to give it a shot! We met up last night for coffee and talked from 8pm-11pm. The conversation was good - but something was missing. He was cute, but fairly awkward. There wasn't that spark, there was barely any laughter and it was definitely not as comfortable as it could have been. I got a delicious chai out of the meeting and was able to relate to someone who has traveled to more countries than I have! I am not even sure if I will hear from him again - we said goodbye at my car and parted ways, without even a hug. He is a nice guy and I do wish him all the best.

So, I am still open to potential new dates - however, things are slowly developing with K and I am liking it! Friday will be great: happy hour with my roommates and some friends, mini golf with K and perhaps a movie after! :)

Survey Check!

I received a $10 check from MySurvey this week. It is going straight into my Car Fund, as I hit 60,000 miles on my '02 Honda Civic last night!

Now I need to call and schedule the tune-up - hopefully I have enough in my Car Fund to cover the costs.

Date #3

K and I went on our third date last night! We went out to dinner in his neighborhood (about a 20 minute drive from where I live) and then took a stroll on the boardwalk. (Well, more like talked and made out along the boardwalk...) He invited me over to his place to watch a movie, but by then it was almost 9pm and I had to get up early for a doctor's appointment. I definitely had a good time, even without the movie. :)

Our next plans are for miniature golf on Friday night! We both like to golf but don't want to be embarrassed on the driving range (yet) so this will be a fun activity instead of just dinner and a walk.

I do like the fact that this is not getting too intense too quickly. We are both very independent people so I don't mind the extended time between dates. However, I do have an interesting development that I'll post about in the next few days.

Weekend Spending

I had a sore throat/cough for most of the weekend, so I did not do too much. Ran a few errands, lay low, went out to dinner on Saturday night with my roommates. On Sunday I went shopping and did all my laundry, plus some cooking. I'm glad I am feeling 95% now!

Friday
$0, I stayed home

Saturday
$15, No Doubt concert tix
$33.66, Target (mostly pharmacy items for my cold & a few grocery items)

Sunday
$2.95, Chai latte from Starbucks
$13.90, Nordstrom (I bought a new shirt that was on sale for 1/2-off)

Total: $65.51

$15 Concert!

A girlfriend and I just bought $15 concert tickets for when No Doubt comes to our city in May!

I have seen them twice before... years ago when I was in middle school/high school. Both concerts were a blast! It will be fun to go with her this time and hang out on the lawn area of the concert arena! :)

The actual ticket price was $10 plus the $5 Ticketmaster fee. Not bad at all!

Mini Splurges

I do occasionally splurge. I call them my Mini Splurges!

This week, I had 2 mini splurges:

• Low-fat, organic Pomegranate-Acai kefir
• Non-fat, no-whip, extra-hot black & white mocha from Starbucks

Both are delicious and cost under $5 each. One is better for you than the other. They make me happy! :)

Date #2

I guess I should give him an initial, now that we've been on date #2. We'll call him K. (He has the same first name as one of my roommates, lol.)

Again, I had a blast last night. He called at 8pm to let me know that due to the event he was at, he wouldn't be able to pick me up until 9pm, was that too late? I said no, it was fine. He asks again if I'm sure - and I ask him if he's really giving me the option to change my mind?! "Oh, dangit, no! I'll see you at nine then." ;)

We went for frozen yogurt (fro yo, as the trend is known here in southern California) and then decided to take a walk on the beach! We held hands and talked about our families, siblings, college days gone by and travel. Very cheesy but it was cute.

He's at a work conference all weekend, so our next date will be dinner on Monday. I'm having a ton of fun right now! :)

Survey Checks

Last week I received 2 more survey checks from Pinecone Research.

The $6.00 is going into my Car Fund this time. I need to make an appointment to have it checked out/tuned-up since I am basically at 60,000 mile mark! (It's a 2002 Honda Civic.)

Weekend Spending Report

Wow - it was definitely a hot (80 degrees every day), fun and crazy weekend! I went out to dinner to celebrate a friend getting a job on Friday. On Saturday, I went to the driving range with a friend and went downtown to a club for a birthday party that night. On Sunday, I recovered by sleeping in, going out to brunch with my roommates, did some grocery shopping - and that night I had my date.

Friday
$20, Dinner

Saturday
$5, Driving Range
$14, Downtown ($6 for a drink, $5 for parking and $3 for reduced cover)

Sunday
$10, Brunch
$24.55, Groceries
$4, Parking (I had 3 hours free by way of validation, but didn't realize how time flies on a great date - I was 30 minutes late and had to pay a small fee!)

Total: $77.55

2nd Date Already!

The guy I went on a date with last night called me tonight. I didn't expect to hear from him so soon! He said, "I know that I'm probably breaking some rule and that I should probably wait 3 days to call you but I wanted to ask you out again because I had a good time last night." Well... I say screw the rules! :)

We made plans to go out for frozen yogurt on Wednesday night. Should be fun!

Networth Update!

I updated my Networth for February. Thanks to my tax refund, it definitely increased! Even though my retirement accounts are down, I am still contributing consistently. The increase of 6.09% is mostly due to my cash savings. :)

PoF Date #1 (aka Online Date #3)

Third time's the charm? :)

I went on my first Plenty of Fish (PoF) date tonight and third online date. I had a lot of fun! He was just as cute in person as in his pictures. (And told me he thought I was a lot cuter in person!) We had some drinks at a happy hour event and then went to dinner, of which he let me have the leftovers. Yum! (It was an oriental fusion restaurant.)

He did kiss me at the end of the night and we have a lot in common. Including having graduated from the same small university?! Go figure! He kept hinting at a second date, but I'll believe it when it happens - though it could be as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday based on our dinner conversation. It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely perfect and our drinks were delicious!

Here's to crossing my fingers! :)