No money!

#18. Go one month without buying anything except food at the grocery store.

A few years ago, I read an article about a man who committed to spending no money for an entire year, and got his roommate to do the same. When I read this article, I was fascinated, inspired, and in awe all at the same time. Could I possibly do this?? Add in the fact that recently I've been reflecting on consumerism, waste, and how much I spend money on things I don't necessarily need and I thought that this summer would be a great time to try to do this.

The people in the article really went all out. They were making their own laundry detergent, taking public transit everywhere, and even tried growing their own food. I decided to set a more realistic goal for myself: I wouldn't buy anything for a month except for food at the grocery store. In addition, I'm adding these exceptions for myself:
*Rent, insurance, and bills (these seemed important)
*Gas for my car, since as a freelancer in Austin, I don't have the option of taking reliable public transportation to the places where I teach or perform
*Any health related items (prescription refills, doctor's appointments, etc)
*I will do this item on the list in chunks:

• For the beginning, I'll give myself 10 days with the goal of not spending money during 7 of those.
• For the remaining three weeks, I'll do this one week at a time (not necessarily three weeks in a row)

So, here we go!

First 10 day chunk, aiming for 7/10:
Day 1: Tuesday, 6/25. Didn't spend any money! 1/10
Day 2: Wednesday, 6/26. Bought coffee in the morning. Whoops. Still at 1/10.
Day 3: Thursday, 6/27. I did spend money today, but it was for grocery shopping, so...exception! 2/10
Day 4: Friday, 6/28. This day was a test. My running group always goes out to coffee on Friday mornings after our run and I knew I wouldn't be able to resist my weekly breakfast taco, so I intentionally left my wallet at home. It worked. I spent a large chunk of money on a health related appointment this morning though, so even though this day will count for this challenge, my wallet is hurting. 3/10
Day 5: Saturday, 6/29. It's easy to spend no money when you don't leave your house and keep your laptop closed. 4/10
Day 6: Sunday, 6/30. Crap, I went out for a beer with a friend I have a hard time saying no to. Still at 4/10.
Day 7: Monday, 7/1. Today I took Matt out for dinner as a thank you for watching the cat while I was gone for 10 days. Definitely does not count...still 4/10.
Day 8: Tuesday, 7/2. Had another health appointment this morning but that counts as an exception so... 5/10
Day 9: Wednesday, 7/3. Grocery shopping as an exception. 6/10
Day 10: Thursday, 7/4. I spent absolutely zero money today and made it to seven days! 7/10

First full week, aiming for 7 out of 7 days:
Day 1: Sunday, 7/7. Day one, done. 1/7
Day 2: Monday, 7/8. Health appointment. 2/7
Day 3: Tuesday, 7/9. Resisted buying ice cream on the way home from yoga. 3/7
Day 5: Wednesday, 7/10. Happy hour fell through (maybe a good thing?). 4/7
Day 5: Thursday, 7/11. Ok. This day was a little weird. I bought a new dining table. But, I needed it for another item on the list that will be happening next week (and will be posted before this one is posted) so....even though it might be a little dicey, I'm gonna count this day. 5/7
Day 6: Friday, 7/12. Nothing bought today. 6/7
Day 7: Saturday, 7/13. Went to Jester King but AJ bought! 7/7

Halfway done! For the next two weeks to complete this challenge, I'm going to aim to be a little more stringent about my purchases that do need to happen.

Second full week: 
The timing of this couldn't have been better, if that's the right word to use. Medical bills and other bills started to pile up and it meant that I really needed to spend as little money as possible this week/at all.
Day 1: Saturday, 9/21. I had to buy gas to get Antonio and me to San Antonio, but otherwise the wallet stayed closed.
Day 2: Sunday, 9/22. Minimal grocery shopping.
Day 3: Monday, 9/23. Our health care system is broken.
Day 4: Tuesday, 9/24. It seemed like replacing the brakes on my car was a worthy investment for today.
Day 5: Wednesday, 9/25. 
Day 6: Thursday, 9/26. You guys, I was so bummed about this day, I did such a good job of not spending ANY money, and then I couldn't find the area with free parking downtown for a gig and I ended up spending $5 to park for 3 hours. :(
Day 7: Friday, 9/27. I resisted coffee and tacos at post-running coffee!
BONUS Day 8: Saturday, 9/28. 

As soon as I started to see days where I was "forced" to spend money on something (like gas or grocery shopping) it made me want to work that much harder to not spend money on things like coffee or food. I was originally going to do another full week of no spending, but then I took part in an Instagram challenge: Only One Hundred October. The idea was to curb discretionary spending and limit it to only $100 for the entire month. I set a list of exceptions (groceries, bills, cat, car) and then set out to spend $100 or less on fun things for all of October. And...I did it! I came out with having spent only $72 on things like coffee/eating out in October.

This challenge was interesting in that instead of focusing on spending money to have an experience, it forced me to do the opposite. It was a little extreme, but I think it was a good exercise in self control, and forced me to have better spending habits overall (which I hope I can keep up with!). 

15 down. 15 to go! Eek! Over halfway there (if you count the partly done ones)!

Movies: "That one's a classic!"

#17. Watch The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, The Pianist, Boondock Saints, Goodfellas, Scarface, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

On my phone, I keep a list of movies that I want to see, and these are usually movies that look interesting to me after I've seen snippets of them at the Oscars every year. During my senior year of college, I also took a "music in political film" class that helped to put more movies on the list. But, there are some movies that seem to be so classic that I thought I should add them to my 30 before 30 list. Most of the movies on this list came from IMDB's Top 250 Movies list (and some of them I had already seen, so I didn't bother putting them on the list again).

17.1: Pulp Fiction: 7/26/15
This was my first ever Quentin Tarantino movie. I really liked it, and I thought the way he brought all the threads together at the end was really effective. (I couldn't quite get over John Travolta's hair, though...yikes. Not becoming at all.) Really interesting movie, and it had some funny parts too. 7/10

17.2: Scarface: 5/8/16
Right now the movies I'm watching are based solely on what's available on Netflix. Since Scarface was on there, I hit this one next. One word: VIOLENT. Yikes. Lots of blood! I watched this one by myself on a Sunday night accompanied by chocolate chip pancakes; next time I'll skip the eating while watching this bloody movie. There was also a LOT of snorting cocaine: towards the end of the movie, it happened multiple times in a frame. Guess that's what I should expect in a movie about a drug kingpin! Also, swearing. Lots of it. One of my favorite scenes might have been when Elvira says, "Can't you stop saying fuck all the time?" Hey girl, that's exactly what I was thinking too.
BUT, I really, really liked this one. The character development of Tony Montana was fascinating, and Al Pacino did an absolutely stunning acting job. It also put some of my rusty Spanish skills to use! And the use of music was a bit cheesy, but strangely overall very effective. Highly recommend, as long as you can handle lots of blood in movies. 8.5/10

17.3: The Godfather: 5/27/16
I realized (after looking through Netflix and Amazing Video multiple times) that I'm sitting on a goldmine of free movie rentals: the UT library! What I didn't think of, though, was the fact that these DVDs may have some substantial damage to them since they've probably been in the library since they came out. Thankfully, for this movie that wasn't such an issue until the very last scene--the entire last minute was skipped over and it went straight to the credits. I had to look up "the ending of the godfather" on YouTube. Bless modern technology.
I'm not sure what to think about this one. Honestly, I had a HORRIBLE time trying to keep all the characters straight: who was whom, who was in which family, who was trying to kill whom, who was married into which family, on and on. I'm thinking watching it again would definitely help. But again, Al Pacino won me over. Not in the sense that I loved his character, but that he did a great job of developing his character. I did appreciate the themes in the movie, about family and honor and loyalty. Maybe I'm weird, or you have to be a huge Italian mafia aficionado to appreciate the nuances of this film, but somehow I wasn't nuts about this one. (*Edit: after talking with Tim, he said he felt the same way the first time he saw it. Maybe I'll give it another try in a few months and see how I feel then.) 7/10

17.4: Fight Club: 5/28/16
Yes, I know, two in a row. Whatever. This was one of the only other ones I could get from the UT library. And holy hell was it fantastic.
I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I was engaged the whole time and it was awesome and I can't say any more without giving anything away so GO WATCH IT NOW! 15/10

This damage made my DVD player freak out. Not cool.

The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club.

17.5: The Boondock Saints: 1/6/19

Definitely took a big break from this one but there's no excuse to not finish this goal in the next month! I had actually seen the ending of this movie twice before while at parties in undergrad, but had never seen the first hour and 45 minutes. It brought up an interesting concept of what happens when citizens play God; thought-provoking and mostly enjoyable (although it could tie with Scarface for the amount of times they threw the f-bomb around). 7/10

17.6: The Pianist: 2/17/19
What a haunting story. This could probably tie with Schindler's List for me in regard to heartbreaking atrocities. Loved this one. 10/10

17.7: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: 8/11/19
I found this DVD at Half Price Books for $5 and realized it was a sign for me to buy it and finally finish watching all my movies. I'm fairly certain this was the first Clint Eastwood movie I've seen, and he was pretty great. The movie itself was SO LONG (almost three hours) and very longwinded. And, being made in the 60s, the music and cinematography and camera work weren't up to the same standards as I've seen lately with the improvements that technology has made. But, I loved how all the story lines came together. There was definite comical chemistry between Blondie and Tuco. And it might have gotten me interested in watching more Westerns? 8/10

14 down. 16 to go!

Good food and great company

#16. Host a dinner party.

When I sat down to make my 30 before 30 list, I did a lot of Googling. I Googled sample 30-before-30 lists and got tons of hits. These helped me curate my own personal list, and one of things that kept coming back (aside from travel, that was a big one) was hosting some sort of an event. I love the idea of connecting with people over good food and drinks, and that's how this one landed on the list.

A challenge of this was scheduling: during the school year, everyone is bedraggled and tired and I couldn't see myself putting together a three course dinner and being in a good enough mood to entertain. So, I kept putting it off. That is, until the marvelous Julia Krakauer told me she would be coming to Austin in July. Jackpot.

Julia is one of my oldest, dearest friends (we met in 6th grade) and gets equally excited about things like hosting a dinner party. (Maybe this is why we get along so well. I'm sure it doesn't hurt.) I asked her if she would help me pull this off and to my extreme delight, she agreed! I immediately started thinking of the menu and guest list, we picked a date while she would be here, and now it's happening wheeeee!

The week before, I kept alternating between "I'm so excited!" and "OHMYGOD everyone is going to be in my house and I have to clean and what if there's a cockroach and there's cat hair everywhere" so you could say it's been a bit of a roller coaster so far. Preparations so far have included everything from buying a new table to fit everyone, getting around to hanging pictures in my house, and cocktail mixing/tasting by Julia. Once she arrived, we got down to business shopping, chopping, arranging, cooking, tasting, etc.

The flower queen at work

Menu

Featured cocktail: The Palomaesque from Food and Wine Magazine, carefully curated and crafted by Julia. 

Appetizers: Chips and assorted salsas.

Course 1: Gazpacho from this recipe. We used peppers from my farmshare, which made it extra delicious.

Course 2: Tacos! (Obviously.) We did two different types of tacos: Spaghetti squash and black bean from Smitten Kitchen and Caramelized Pork Tacos with Cucumber and Pineapple Salsa from one of my favorite food bloggers.

Course 3: No dinner party is complete without dessert. Brown sugar cake with ricotta mousse and blueberry sauce (from Food and Wine) rounded out the evening.

Takeaways:

1) Having another person help me with all the preparation was HUGE. Chopping would have taken me three times as long, there may have been zero flowers, and the cocktail game would have suffered if Julia had not been here. I think if I were to do one on my own in the future, I would make one dish and have everyone else bring a side dish to complement. Otherwise, I can see how it would be absolutely overwhelming. 

2) I let go early on of the expectation that things would be perfect, and that helped me to enjoy everything much more.

3) Listening (and singing along) to Taylor Swift while doing prep work helped calm my nerves.

4) I wish I had taken more pictures, but I think the fact that I wasn't reaching for my phone during the dinner is a testament to how "in the moment" I was, which is more important to me anyway.

5) It was one of the most fun nights I've had this summer, with some of my favorite people all gathered in my house having good food, conversation, and drinks.

Taco assembly line

Daniel trying to befriend Miranda

13 down. 17 to go!

Green thumbery

#15. Start and maintain my own garden (herbs ok!). 

When I lived right next to UT, my apartment complex had a community garden. While my commitment was minimal (think once-a-week watering), I was still allowed and even encouraged to reap the benefits of the plants. (Homegrown tomatoes are AMAZING.) I decided that when I got my own place with some outdoor real estate, I wanted to grow my own garden!

Fast forward two years. I'd become slightly obsessed with herb gardens (maybe because they're so small and cute? I'm still not sure.). I potted three different types, and was ready to see my green thumb at work!

Look!! They're sprouting!

Then I got a cat.

And not just any cat, but a cat who has made it her life's work to destroy every living green  thing that I bring in through the door. Ok. This was not going to work. I gave up.

Until! Until 2019, when 1) I moved to a place with a patio that got more sun and 2) the farmshare program I subscribe to (jbgorganic.com) had a transplant sale. You could get any seedlings of your favorite vegetable or fruit for $3. I hemmed and hawed, and finally clicked "purchase." If not now, when??

I got one each of cilantro, tomatoes, and sweet peppers. I planted them in mid-March, and we'll see how they (and I) do! 

Ok little seedlings, let's do this.

Three weeks after I planted the seedlings, I started seeing some little green tomatoes!

Look how cute they are!!

Then--oh my--they got bigger and turned orange! I hadn't killed them! (Though I had a couple of close calls with the leaves looking a little sad.) I picked three when they looked like they might burst off of the branches and immediately washed and ate them. So sweet. So warm. So good.

First harvest! They were delicious.

The cilantro plant has been sprouting flowers, so I think I might've messed up on that one. I probably should've started to harvest the cilantro as soon as I got it. The pepper plant is sprouting slowly but surely! I'm not sure what color or size I should expect them to be when they're ready to be picked. 

Takeaways:
1) Get more seedlings. Now I understand why the default amount of seedlings to purchase online was three. Next time I will buy at least three tomato plants.
2) Don't forget to water the plants! I had some close calls where I walked out of my house on the way to work and went, "Ahh! My tomato plant needs watering!"
3) If I get any more plants, I will need an actual planter box (they are expensive!!). For this year, I was ok with just pots.
4) Get different varieties of plants! I think next year I'll aim for tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and maybe another. 
5) I was weirdly more excited about the tomatoes than the herbs.

12 down. 18 to go!