Grocery challenge: week 3

I skipped week 2 because I was on vacation and didn't buy any groceries. Week 3 went thusly:

Trader Joes: $49.97
The trip included the basics like cereal, soy milk, fruits and vegetables, and also some less frequent purchases like orange juice and yogurt (I wanted smoothies) and pomegranate iced tea, which I was really in the mood for at the time but actually still haven't tried.

Ranch 99 Market: $7.68
I picked up 100 bags of brown rice tea for $4.99. It's usually $3 for 16 bags at the regular market. I also grabbed some chili sauce, since, for the life of me, I have no idea where my last bottle of chili sauce went (it's certainly not like I used it all!).

Ralphs: $14.20
I needed some canned tomatoes for a new recipe I tried out earlier this week, and some fruit popsicles. Fruit popsicles are the key to everything, the answer to every question. Try it. How old are you? Fruit popsicles. I also needed corn starch and a few miscellaneous items that TJ's doesn't carry.

So that brings me to $96.81 so far of my $150 grocery budget.

Week 3's recap isn't up yet, so see how everyone did last week.

More budget busters: migraines?

I used to get a lot of headaches when I was little, until I started wearing glasses. As an adult, I started to get a lot of headaches again—sinus pressure. Lately, even when the allergies are firmly and expensively under control, I still get wicked headaches: they start behind my eyes, eventually they feel like giant claw machines are clamping on my head, and leave me feeling nauseous and seeing flashes of color. They, um, kind of hurt.

Yesterday I was in the grips of one when #1 volunteered to pick me up some Excedrin. Everybody I know who gets migraines (I'm not really sure if they're migraines, but what else could those symptoms possibly be?) swears by Excedrin, so I let him get some for me, even though I already have Tylenol and plenty of caffeine at home and all I was short on was the aspirin. Anyway, I took some, and pretty soon the sharpest pain that left me shoving my palm into my left eye earlier had dulled, and I was able to go to sleep.

I woke up this morning with something of a headache still, but now that I'm home (while my life-saving Excedrin is at #1's place), I am faced with a dilemma: buy more Excedrin? Or just take the Tylenol I've got? The few bucks isn't really so much of an issue as getting to the drug store is: it's hot and sunny and I feel like dying every time I try to get out of my chair. On the other hand, I keep trying to deal with the (gradually worsening) pain by pinching the bridge of my nose (why? I have no idea) and I swear to god if I keep this up I'm going to break it.

So to those of you who get insane headaches, what do you do to treat them? And, more importantly, who do you send out to get everything for you? ;)

Things look better in the light of day

Last night's whining was actually about a big, dumb fight with #1. We're just fine, but since he's kind of the reason I stayed in L.A (not that I might not have done it anyway)... I was feeling a bit bleh. (I know. I'm so articulate.)

Anyway. Let's just forget that ever happened, shall we?

Yesterday I was browsing some PFblogs when I came across a link to this site (you must visit the gallery; it is insane). I wish I could find the original link again; they'd posted some really interesting video clips with the owner/cake creator about how she came up with the idea to go into the cake business from her fine arts background, how to keep the cakes light, fluffy and shapeable (it involves skipping the cake flower and a custom-built oven), and the sticker shock that people experience upon hearing the price of her cakes. So first it reminded me of this (although she specifically says she will not do vegan cakes... I wonder if she would do dairy-free ones, since I am totally fine eating the young of a chicken?), and then I saw the pricing page. Naturally nothing is specific, and I bet the really artsy cakes probably get insanely expensive. But her wedding cakes only start at $600. That is actually not nearly as high as I would have expected. Not that I actually know what wedding cakes cost, because even when I got all nutty a few weeks ago, I never priced any wedding cakes. Well, I would have, if any of the sites had listed prices. :)

Rough night

Since posting the new design, I've gone back and read some archives from back when I was still trying to decide where to go for law school. I was so torn up about the decision, that I can't help but laugh at my stupid issues. I knew it was silly then, but how incredibly irritating to read myself complaining ad nauseum about a problem that I was so lucky to have, as if it even made much of a difference anyway? I'm amazed so many of you stuck with me ;).

So in further reflection upon the 1L year, I can only say that I am not really sure that I made the right choice in law schools. I didn't kick as much ass as I was supposed to (I bet I would have done at least as well, if not better, if I'd moved away to a "better" school), and fees were raised approximately 3000% here (I'd be paying a LOT less if I'd gone to USC). I know that I made the only choice I really could have made at the time (well, I could have gone to USC), after lots of soul-searching and priority-balancing, but sometimes I wonder if my priorities were just... dumb.

One of the nice things about summer break...

...is that I have time to waste. On this blog. Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Year 1(L): too tired for a recap

I'd like to write a silly, cheeky post right now, but that would take too much energy and, seeing as how I just finished my last final today and seem to be coming down with a bit of a fever, I have none to spare. So I'll be serious instead.

I've learned a few things in my first year of law school (which is good, because there are a lot of things that I didn't learn, like the Rule Against Perpetuities or, really, anything about constitutional law). The most important one, and the one that I'll try to remember over the years, is that I am quite capable of doing very stressful, very difficult things. I didn't think I could survive my first year of teaching, but the first year of law school has turned out to be significantly harder. It turns out, I can get through a whole lot of stress if it's important to me to do so. I'm glad I know that about myself now.

Anyway, that's all I've got right now. I'm meeting my parents for dinner and then I'm off to Hawaii! ;) (Do you have any idea how cheap it is to fly there before Memorial Day? Holy crap!)