No Lunch Outs!

So after a long weekend, I feel as if I will never drink, eat, or spend money again (in order of importance).

This mess may have begun on Tuesday, when we took advantage of Hudson Restaurant Week. The Brass Rail makes some great crab cakes and who doesn't like crab cakes? Perhaps it was the pitcher of sangria we should have held off on or the chocolate dumplings. Or maybe it was that wine tasting on Thursday where I discovered a new love for white wine.

2006's outlook compare to 2005's baseline of wine consumed may provide some competition. I blame my co-workers for getting me started. Coming out of college I was probably the most dry person I knew, except for almost all the EGW participants, save one. Those 4-5 weeks I was in Belgium (work-relate) introduced me to a whole new world of controlled over-indulgence1., good alki1., and extremely fashionable clothes.

Friday was suppose to be the well-anticipated-for Media Night Out. We intended to also re-take advantage of Hudson Restaurant Week again, but instead ended up at Ruth's Chris, where 2 Medallion served Medium rare opened myself up to jokes by their "friendly" wait staff.

The wine was plentiful as well as well as the martinis.

My Chocolate Explosion dessert I would recommend to anyone. It was well worth it even though it provided another opportunity for the wait staff to add on to their earlier joke.

Saturday provided me with the opportunity to retrieve my car from the dealership. It was the first tune-up I have receive since becoming a car owner and a licensed driver. It was expensive but everyone says it's worth it. I'm sure it is, but the day I brought it in I recalled why I was able to save (and spend!) so much money when I was in college.

Kelly, Vaughn [N... are you crazy busy right now?
Kelly, Vaughn [... I need to go pick up my car.
Martinez, Sandr... lol
Kelly, Vaughn [... I'm serious.
Martinez, Sandr... my car is at the dealership too!
Kelly, Vaughn [... hahahaha
Kelly, Vaughn [... man.
Martinez, Sandr... millenium VW
Kelly, Vaughn [... impossible!

Not only am I paying so much money on gas, car payments, and insurance but also maintenance. If I were to get a job accessible through public transportation, I would probably save about $8,000 a year, conservatively. That's a lot of money.

I tried to be more frugal for the rest of the weekend, did my piano thing for 2 hours, and even made some healthy version of Southern Fried Chicken, which was baked with Special K and some other ingredients and walked about 5 miles through the rain. It was a nice walk despite the weather, but I ended buying a skirt that I loved (and didn't regret). We even found some Nag Champa and a new facial mask to try. That was shortly followed by the purchase of two bottle of white wine, one of which we'd drink while watching that Family Guy Movie.

Saturday was additionally defeated by Sunday, where we were defeated in my first-ever game of Beer Pong. I have never heard of Beer Pong, by the way, until I entered the work force1., thus adding more evidence to the corruption of me by Corporate America.

Also, if anyone asks, we drank the other teams beer and didn't pour it down the sink... Unit 1 is 50/50 in believing that and we will leave it at that.

Our pre-gaming provided some damage as well as the bets I didn't win.


I don't think my hunny won anything either but we were happy we were next to each other on the paper. By the way, I've never bet on football before, but someone at work explained this grid once to me while she was soliciting bets for some sports game (or something).1

Yay!

So, anyway, the lessons learned from the weekend include:
1. I don't like beer
2. I don't really like to watch football either
3. Football fanatics make loud TV-watchers
4. Ruth's Chris is the place to go for steaks
5. Corporate America will lead to my downfall
6. Don't bet cookies on football

So, to make a long story short, as a part of my cost-savings initiative, I will not be eating out this week. =)

1. Corporate America will lead to my downfall.