New Year’s Resolution Part II

So, continuing on from the previous post, here’s the rest of the update on my New Year’s Resolution. (NYR)

My food budget is reining in my eating out expenses and helping me stay healthy. My stomach is weak in the morning, so multi-grain oatmeal is the only thing I can have for breakfast. I’ve been baking a lot more and making things like bread, pound cake, cupcakes, etc. I can’t eat them all at once, so I send them off to my friends.

Instead of eating at chain restaurants, I want to support the local neighborhood and find awesome neighborhood gems…so I’ll keep fast food to a minimum. So far, I’ve found some great places: Le Saint Amour, Ford’s Filling Station, and Cafe Brasil. When I eat at an independent restaurant, it feels special, especially if the chef physically works there!

Overall, I’m doing well on all fronts except shopping. It feels like I’m cutting expenses in all areas of my life in order TO clothes shop, which is not what I had in mind. So, I’ve re-vamped my goal to make it more realistic in the next couple of months. For my closet, I am limited to 30 pairs of shoes with a max budget of $100 per pair. Also, I can purchase clothing that fills the “holes” in my wardrobe such as slim-fitting trousers. As for accessories, I need a more substantial collection that does not consist mostly of Forever 21 wares. The rest of my clothing will adhere to the “one in, one out” rule.

Here’s a quick look at some recent nautical purchases:

Details: Madewell Navy Breton Tee XS, Martin + Osa adjustable belt S/M, Forever 21 fish necklace

All this budgeting, waste-reducing, healthy-lifestyle maintaining effort is not for nothing. I want to be more conscious of my purchases, where it is clothing or whether is it food. We’re so accustomed to fast-food and fast-fashion that I think we all need to take a step back. Sometimes, we’re so wrapped up in ourselves that we seldom take notice of how quickly the world is changing.

At the airport, I noticed that out of 50 passengers, half were hooked up – on the computer, listening to their ipod, or fiddling with their smartphones. Only two groups, less than 10 people in total, were having a physical conversation/social interaction.

Has technology made us socially isolated and awkward?

Tagged as: belt, cafe brasil, food, ford's filling station, forever 21, le saint amour, madewell, martin +osa, nautical, new year's resolution, shopping, update