Lately...

I guess I've fallen off the face of the earth a little....well, for three weeks-ish. My journey to "Frugal Living," well, that's another post (or maybe not, because the daily challenges are sitting unread in my inbox). There's not even a reason for my lack of blogging other than I've been readjusting to five day work weeks after the holidays.

The closest thing to exciting that happened recently is a couple weeks ago, I won tickets to see Sarah Jarosz at Neighborhood Theatre here in Charlotte! She is what I would consider bluegrass...but I guess maybe more progressive bluegrass. Probably a couple years ago, I purchased her first album on iTunes after randomly stumbling across it, so I was kind of familiar with her songs (although she had also put out a new album since then). I happened to see that Creative Loafing was giving away a pair of tickets, so I submitted my email address and won! It was a nice surprise since I think I had forgotten I even entered to win in the first place.

Several things hit me that night: (1) Sarah Jarsoz is far more talented than I realized. (2) Going to see live shows of not-so-well-known musicians is something I should do WAY more often. (3) There is a difference in spending time with your husband on the couch watching tv and actually going out and doing something. (4) Someday, I want to learn how to play the banjo.

Items #1 and 4 are pretty self explanatory. Sarah spent most her time on an octave mandolin, which I had never seen before, but she also switched between it and the banjo. She usually performs alongside a cellist and fiddler, but was sans cellist for this one. Sad face. BUT, fiddler Alex Hargreaves was out of this world.

Number two, Charlotte isn't exactly what I'd call a music scene hotspot, but I think it's improving. Not too long ago, Sara Bareilles played at Neighborhood Theatre. Ross and I have seen a couple good smaller shows at Amos' Southend, too.

As for number three, it really was kind of an "a-ha!" moment. My husband and I both thoroughly enjoy being at home, but we realized that it is fun to actually go out and do things together sometimes. Who would have thought? We eat out a lot, but that doesn't count. And to be honest, seeing a movie doesn't really count either. I mean, those are fun things to do, but we both love music...and it was just something different. Had we paid for the tickets, seeing Sarah Jarosz would've cost us the same as seeing a movie, anyway.

Since we live right down the road, we also need to take more advantage of NoDa, and I suggest you visit if you live near Charlotte...it's almost like a mini-Boone, which I love. I really liked Neighborhood Theatre as a venue, and we tried Revolution Pizza for the first time and enjoyed that as well (side note: I tried Four Friends Queen City Red there and would recommend it).

So those are the recent happenings, and hopefully there will be more similar things to discuss in the future now that we have realized there is a world outside our apartment!

end-of-the-week hodgepodge: movies & money

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween weekend/Monday! I have zero to report from Halloween, since Ross and I spent the weekend hanging out at home. :) This is the first year in quite a while that we didn't dress up and go out, but a weekend of rest is definitely what we needed. Well, a weekend of rest and switching out summer and fall clothes for me. That was a chore, and I'm still not quite finished yet. I really don't mind doing it though, because I forget what I have and then I'm like "I forgot I had that sweater...love it!"

Aside from swapping out clothes, I also spent the weekend watching all the Halloween movies on ABC Family. Saw Coraline for the first time and was thoroughly freaked out. What a weird flick. But then it came on again, and I loved it after watching it a second time. Same with The Corpse Bride (except I loved it after watching it the first time).

We saw Puss in Boots as well. Very cute. It got great reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and someone even said it was funnier than Shrek. I wouldn't go that far, but I'd say it's worth seeing if you like Shrek-ish movies. Had no idea Zach Galifianakis was in it either, so that was an added bonus.

On a completely different subject, in my quest to be more organized lately (I haven't gotten too far with that), I've also been thinking about getting organized financially. I will be the first to admit that personal money management is not my strong point, nor has it ever been. Marriage has forced me to be a little better about finances only because I know that my decisions affect someone else now. So this is mostly a question to you all. What are your tips on money management? What budgeting programs (if any) do you use? What have you found to work and not work? I've tried using Mint.com, but it was too elaborate for me. I just need something simple where I can keep track of everything, and see when I'm spending too much in one area, etc.

Not that this post needs anymore randomness, but I want to end with a couple links:

Clean Mama - I stumbled upon this blog somehow and found "31 days to a cleaning routine" (and free printables to go with it). She also has an etsy store for all her additional cleaning/organizing printables which look awesome. AND, there is currently a giveaway going on for two of her starter kits! *crosses fingers*

Best Case Scenario Me - Something I really enjoyed reading. Featured on KylaRoma.com, written by Sarah Von from Yes & Yes

slowing down...and the madness ahead

This time next week, I will be married. CRAZINESS. I'm happy to report there have been no meltdowns...yet. I have come very close, but luckily avoided them thus far. Tonight, it kind of clicked in my head why I've gotten close several times. With the exception of late night moments like this, my schedule seems to have been planned down to the minute every day. It's a constant feeling that I was unsuccessful at getting everything done for that day that I should have done. And really, by all accounts, it still doesn't add up. I still can't figure out exactly what it is about weddings that takes up so much damn time. I guess it's just the thinking and the planning, which is a very broad description of what I've been doing since January. There are a lot of things that have to be done at just the right time. For example, you can't tally up your response cards til you've sent out invitations. You can't write thank you cards until you get gifts. So I had much more free time from January to April because I couldn't do those things yet. That goes for a lot of other tasks also.

This brings me to my other point. Tonight I realized that I am a slow moving person. I like to enjoy life, and I am admittedly a homebody. I'm not a go-getter by any stretch of the imagination, which probably relates to the fact that I'm not a planner. I feel like all this planning and organizing has been quite difficult for me, and I have a mother AND a sister who I'm pretty sure have done 70% of the work compared to the 30% I put in.

The bottom line is that I want to eventually find the perfect balance. The perfect balance between being myself, but still being an organized and put-together person who gets things done. Completely random, but I caught an interview on the radio the other night with Demetri Martin (who I love). He talked about how he had devised this points system every week where he gave himself points for getting things done and for spending time working on things he wanted to accomplish. It sounded like a good idea, but the guy graduated with straight A's from Yale, and I didn't understand anything he said about it other than that points were involved. Either way, I hope that after everything settles down post-wedding, I'll be able to find the balance I'm looking for. I'm open to suggestions on how you keep yourself organized and motivated.

Oh, the waiting...

The next three weeks are going to be cah-razy! Moving+wedding=insanity. But good insanity. I visited my new apartment for the first time on Saturday...so exciting! Ross and I had visited probably ten different places, and finally, I told him to check out a place near where he works (an hour away from where I am). We had actually started our search there, but left when we got there early and didn't want to wait for the main office to open. The rent was decently priced in comparison to other places, it was in a great location, and I knew it was fairly new as far as age goes. So, I went from being terribly picky to "just do it, I don't care if I haven't even seen it." And it worked out PERFECT! So glad.

I was told by several people that I was a little on the crazy side for trying to plan a wedding in four months, but I can't imagine it any other way. The time between now and the wedding seems to be creeping by - I can't imagine waiting any longer. I'm sure it all depends on what your situation is and how much you have going on in your life, but I feel like a shorter time frame forced me to get things done. If I had half a year or more, seems like it would have been planned and I would've been sitting around waiting on the next three or four months just to go by. Whatever floats your boat, but that's how it worked out for me.

Moving has been relatively painless, but that could be because I haven't moved much at all yet. So, it's probably going to suck. I'm considering just opening my room up to a bunch of people and saying, "come in and take whatever you want!" I have a feeling I'm going to have about an eighteen-wheeler's worth of stuff to take to Goodwill after it's all said and done.

To end on a random sidenote - I am loving the song "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes right now. They are new to me, but conveniently, their new album (entitled Helplessness Blues) came out yesterday...can't wait to give the whole thing a listen!

I was raised up believing I was somehow unique

like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes,

unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking

I'd say I'd rather be a functioning cog

in some great machinery

serving something beyond me

But I don't, I don't know what that will be

I'll get back to you someday soon, you will see

-Fleet Foxes