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On Those Standalone News Stands
Those fruit stands have really awesome avocados that are perfectly ripe and like $1 each. The ones at the grocery store are twice the price, and often take a week to ripen. That does not help me. I want a same-day avocado. Who decides to make tacos a week in advance?
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On Financial Aid Practices
I'm not sure how to feel about this. Perhaps somehow I got lucky, or things have changed since I was in school. I'm from West Virginia, and am the child of two small-town school teachers who divorced the week after I graduated from high school. I did well in high school and on my entry exams- great for my peer group, but nothing extraordinary vs the national competition. I went to George Washington in 1998 with most of my tuition covered by the school. The cost of living in dorms, books, etc. was covered by loans. I felt I'd been given a pretty fair package, but am still paying down the original $45K in loans ten years later (though deferred during grad school). I probably could have gone to a state school for cheap/free, but my choice of GW was both a ticket out of WV and a ticket up. I can't say I wouldn't have gotten to where I am without that school and the merit/financial aid, but I think it had a lot to do with it.
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On Can You Wear a Cocktail Dress to Work?
A former colleague of mine used to do a one-man "Tie Friday". It's a pretty casual workplace, and everyone else would be in jeans, but he'd be in a collared shirt and tie.
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On 1 Thing You're Like a Dream Come True
@SarcasticFringehead Sure. I like the idea of being diversified, too. The IRA has good tax benefits, but the Roth accounts and others have their own merits as well. I decided last night rather than putting more money into yet another account, where it'll earn small interest right now, that it would be better idea to dump it into my student loan repayment, which is actively costing me 3.75% interest. Someday I hope to not have an overall negative net worth!
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On 1 Thing You're Like a Dream Come True
My 1 thing is to figure out whether it's better to put my retirement contributions into several different types of accounts or to put them in one or two. I currently have a 401K, a 457 and just opened an IRA. Too many? Not the right ones? Gah.
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On Should Your Wedding Gift Cover Your Meal?
This type of sentiment is the worst. Having recently gone through the wedding rodeo myself, it was much more important for us to have friends and a few family around us than to get any gift from any of them. I only set up a Honeyfund account because a couple friends asked for it. I made it clear on the site that our guests' presence was gift enough, but if they really wanted to give us something, we'd put it towards a fun trip because that's what we love. In the end, people were more than generous, both via Honeyfund and at the reception, especially considering that a number had come from Europe and the West Coast to be there with us. Since this is the Billfold- if you want some insight on how it shook out for us, I just downloaded our Honeyfund transactions. Lowest was $20 from a colleague of my husband's who wasn't even invited (lives in London), and the highest was $175 from some close friends.
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On Things I've Bought My Mom for Her Birthday
@Lily Rowan This is true. I sent my sister some flowers last week to congratulate her on a well-deserved new job. I looked at all the 1800flowers.com type sites and then decided I'd find a local florist who would do same day delivery. The flowers were much more stylish and cheaper for the quality than the big "chain" sites. And I gave my money directly to a local business, which is always nice. They arrived 5hrs after I ordered them and were lovely.
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On Monday Check-In
@amglory89 Thanks, everyone! It was totally awesome, and I'd be happy to write a post about it once I get caught up on my sleep. I don't know if it's weird to share photos with people I don't know, but I love them so much. If you're interested in seeing a few, here they are: Me: http://bit.ly/109t7xe, http://bit.ly/ZhT7Mh Us: http://bit.ly/109tdou
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On Monday Check-In
I didn't do an estimate Friday because I was at City Hall tying the knot and kicking off a weekend of partying. It was wonderful, and I didn't even worry about the spend (though I did check all itemized receipts for accuracy). Here's a rough breakdown: $250- hairstyles for Friday City Hall ceremony and Saturday party $320- makeup artist for myself and my mom on Friday (mom paid $200) and myself on Saturday ($120 with tip) $200- 1hr rental of a 1969 checker cab to take us from a photography session in Central Park to City Hall on Friday $1500: Photographer and assistant for 4.5hrs (on top of a $500 deposit paid in January) Other wedding costs (paid out of husband's bonus, thank goodness) $35: Marriage license $60: Cabs Friday and Saturday $1750: Tasting menu dinner Friday night for 18 close friends and family members $600: Dinner Saturday night before cocktail party reception, 19 close friends and family members. Mostly the same people from Friday, with a few differences. $3350: Cocktail party for ~60 people at a swanky lounge, open bar, some food (hummus/pita and chips/guac). Includes tax and tip. Total for big events, excluding dress ($500 with alterations), rings ($5000, bought in Dec) and decor (~$200): $7,615. Worth every penny for an amazing weekend of celebrating our marriage.
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On The Triumphant Return of Do 1 Thing
Congrats on the new job, Logan. I hope you'll enjoy it. My one thing, which has been my one thing since Sunday, is to finish tweaking and proofing my CV and a cover letter. Tonight's the night.