Quarterlife Lifestyle

Last post ever: I’ll never let go, Jack!

Well, we all know how that movie ends.

I was talking to my friend earlier this week about how I wanted my final semester in graduate school to resemble a romantic comedy. I want someone to fast forward through these next few months like a movie montage (background music: “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall or maybe “Girl on the Verge” by Sarah Hudson) that ends with me putting on a suit and hailing a taxi to my thesis defense. Unfortunately, there is no fast forwarding through this. I have to actually code and travel to interviews and write and do all of the work in real time. Which pretty much sucks.

On the positive side, I do have sassy/witty best friends who provide lots of encouragement (except they are Jewish, not black and/or gay), and I think I will get my happy ending– a PhD and a job. A worthwhile compromise.

Anyway, when I look at how I should be spending my time, blogging is pretty low on the agenda. I can’t respond to the emails I get, I barely go out and do anything interesting anymore, and I am 95% confident (hahaha) that blogging won’t jive with my grown-up job. So I’m going to go ahead and call this my final post.

Here is what I learned after n years of grad school (where n –> infinity):

1. You need not live in a hovel. Buy some real furniture and put some nails in the wall. It will make you feel better.

2. If you hate your roommate, move out. You probably shouldn’t live alone (it is pretty cost-prohibitive in a city like Boston), but you don’t have to live with an asshole who has heart to heart conversations outside your bedroom door at 4 in the morning with some guy who broke up with her 6 years ago.

Notes I wish I wrote to my old roommate

3. When you move, hire movers. Chances are, you don’t have that much stuff, so it shouldn’t cost too much. It will be worth it and your friends will thank you. Use a coupon or something.

4. Couponing works. Because I wasn’t teaching or doing paid research assistant work, I made like a pitiful amount of money last year. Way under $30K. But I also went to a few weddings, bought people nice presents, paid for a car that is not falling apart, had a personal trainer, and even went to Paris. I don’t worry about my checking account balance (too much). People will make fun of you for being obsessed with sales, but take solace in the fact that you have savings whereas they are eating ramen.

This is me, give or take a few gold coins

5. Get a hobby. It will distract you from work and give you something besides work to talk about in social situations. Speaking of social situations…

6. Make some friends, but not too many. I know this sounds depressing, but leaving work at 6pm every day because you have plans is distracting. Some of you will disagree with me, which is fine. In my mind, graduate school isn’t a 9 to 5 job and at some point you will need to buckle down. You’re going to have a lot of late nights, but it is temporary.

7. Keep a snuggie in your cubicle. They turn down the heat in the office at night and on weekends. Also, I just really like snuggies. And if someone got me a Forever Lazy for my birthday tomorrow, I wouldn’t complain…

8. Learn how to do stuff for yourself. Get some tools and stop calling your parents to do everything for you. That’s annoying.

9. For the love of God, do not wear sweatpants. The only excuse for wearing sweats is if you are sick or going to the gym. In either case, they shouldn’t be worn to the classroom or office. If you dress business casual or nicer every day, people will think you have your shit together even when you don’t. It’s the “razzle-dazzle” effect and it works wonders.

A Walk On The Charles by Adam O'Day

10. Explore your city. Make some friends who aren’t in grad school. Venture into new neighborhoods. Blogging about Boston made me view the city differently, and I’m glad for it. I’ve had lots of fun interacting with other bloggers and having new adventures. I do not yet know where I will be after May, but I will miss Boston immensely, thunder-snow and all. This city has a lot to offer, and I would have missed out on a lot if I refused to leave Harvard Square.

And that’s all I have to say. This blog has been very fun and very rewarding. Thanks for visiting, so long, and farewell!

Annelise

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Job Market

Look, I understand that the job market is tough right now, but I did not expect to see this in my school email:

I am not that desperate for a job.

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If I Weren’t Moving…

I was at TJ Maxx the other day looking for one or two specific things, but a bunch of other pieces caught my eye. If I weren’t moving soon, I’d totally snap these up.

Dutch ovens and ceramic bakeware. The pots were about $30-$59 each, which is an excellent deal.

These shower caddies and organizers ($11-20)…

…for the express purpose of recreating this storage idea (as seen on Pinterest) inside my closet:

And these napkins and under the bed boxes. Just because they are cheap and practical.

While I showed no restraint with respect to buying new curtains and bedding, these I think I should resist.

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Pillow excitement

So…I basically did almost everything I said I wasn’t going to do in my nesting post. I slipcovered my boxspring with a fitted sheet (easy), I bought a new duvet (majorly on sale, of course), I bought new fabric for curtains, and I made new pillows to match the new curtains and duvet. I also had two job interviews, wrote the methods section of one of my papers, and did some CS coding from scratch. I’m like Jessie Spano on caffeine pills.

As I mentioned earlier, there was (and maybe still is?) a huge sale on bedding at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I picked up two euro shams, which are 26″ x 26″ pillow covers. These were marked down to $9.99 each plus an additional 33% off. I had a $5 off $15 coupon, which means I got these for less than $5 each. I actually didn’t have $15 worth of stuff in my cart, so had to buy a Diet Coke to make up the difference. Anyway, these shams were cheap.

Amy Butler sham: before

The Amy Butler sham was awesome…for the most part. I don’t know if you can tell from the crappy cell phone photos, but the entire thing is embroidered. I wasn’t a big fan of the trim or the fabric on the back, so those came off. I replaced the back fabric with something from my stash. I also objected to the daisies on the front, so I made a 19″ x 19″ template for my pillows and strategically cut off the parts I didn’t want.

made a template out of a Whole Foods bag because I am classy

bye, daisies!

bye, ugly parts

Then I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew* and sewed a new cover that would fit my existing 18″ pillow. I did the same with the quilted sham. I didn’t really object to anything on that sham, but it was too big. So I ripped it apart, cut it down to size, and made a smaller cover with a zipper. The results look like so:

I should also note that I serged the edges of each piece to on the inside to prevent fraying. You can probably use a zig zag stitch to achieve the same effect.

The back pillow looks a little janky from the back in the photo, but looks fine in real life. Anyway, each pillow cost $5, so I’m not going to be too anal. It’s better than buying a $30+ cover from West Elm, that’s for sure.

They say the closer you get to finishing your dissertation, the more you craft. I think it’s the idea that you can see something come together so quickly, whereas the papers and analyses literally take years to complete. At my current crafting rate, this must mean my dissertation is almost done!

*The Sew Mama Sew pillow tutorial calls for some sort of adhesive for your zipper. I just used Jiffy Fuse, but you can also probably use a glue stick and be just fine.

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For other nesters: Bed, Bath, and Beyond sale

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ll be birthing something (a secret baby or a dissertation) in 4 months and I’m totally in nesting mode. I innocently swung by Bed Bath and Beyond today and guess what? They’re having a sale!

This isn’t surprising, as January is the best time of year to buy linens. (Check out other ideal purchasing timelines here.) But I was shocked that things were crazy cheap.

Amy Butler organic full sized sheets. $39.99 + an extra 33% off + a 20% Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon = $21!

King sateen quilt (similar to this). $49.99 + an extra 33% off + a 20% Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon = $27!

They also had a bunch of pillows like this little dude. $9.99 + an extra 33% off + a 20% Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon = $5!

There were tons of comforters, lots of Amy Butler, pillows, sheets, and shams. I picked up two shams for a project. More on that later.

Target was also having a linen sale, but I didn’t spend much time browsing since I was running late for a meeting. But if you want to cover your boxspring with a fitted sheet, they’re on sale for $9.50-ish, which is a good deal. Sheets are expensive!

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Giveaway: Stephanie’s Choice

Last month, I did a giveaway with Lands’ End and DonorsChoose.org. The talented Stephanie Sabbe helped me out with this. I’m way behind on posting this, but check out her post to find out what classroom she supported and find out how you can win a Thomas Paul-print pillow sham!

Deets on how to win at SabbeSpot.

Thanks, Stephanie!

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Nesting

I am deep in dissertation writing mode, firmly on the job market, and almost certainly not going to be living in Boston after this summer. But lately, I have found that I am nesting.

Nesting [ˈnɛstɪŋ] noun: (1) The tendency to arrange one’s immediate surroundings to create a place where one feels secure, comfortable, or in control, (2) A primal instinct and uncontrollable urge to clean one’s house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects, and to organize your world.

Am I preparing for the upcoming birth of my dissertation?

Here are the things I really want to do:

1. Create a chevron wall with Happy Tape. (Image 1 & 2)

2. If I can’t find a new duvet or quilt to buy, I’m going to make a duvet cover.

3. Make custom new curtains for my gigantic windows (5 feet wide and 8 feet tall, ugh).

4. And hang them properly.

5. Make a half-clear shower curtain for our clawfoot tub. Or maybe I’ll just buy one.

6. Get new bath mats. Most of the ones out there are surprisingly pricey and almost all ugly.

7. Convert a kitchen cabinet into drawers.

8. Make a fitted sheet to “upholster” my box spring. (Image)

9. Find a new mirror for above my dresser.

10. Get a new floor lamp like this one from West Elm.

Alternatively, maybe I’m just pregnant.

In either case, it’s probably better to wait until I move and have a job, so I’ll limit my nesting to Pinterest for now.

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iSave: 20% off iTunes gift cards

As seen on Maven of Savin. The title says it all! Best Buy is selling iTunes digital gift cards at 20% off.

If you’re going to spend money on iTunes anyway, you might as well save a few bucks, right?

iSave!

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Keeping Resolutions

Happy New Year!

There are many exciting things on the horizon in 2012 for me– finishing my PhD, a new job, a new city, and once I graduate I’ll allow myself to start making new friends again! (I imposed a a “no new friends rule” in the fall of 2010 so I could be more productive at work. Amazingly, I stuck to it.) In the next few months, I’ll also be ending this blog. Leaving grad school and Boston will be sad, but I’m excited about new beginnings too!

I have so many changes on the horizon that I don’t know if I need to make any resolutions in order to see any big differences in my life this year. However, if you’re looking to make resolutions, here are two tools to help you out:

(1) GymPact. I talked about GymPact a few months ago on the blog, but the program has changed radically since then. You can use the GymPact iPhone app to monitor your gym progress at any gym you want. Long story short, you put up some cash and make a commitment to go to the gym x times per week. If you don’t go to the gym as many times as you say you will, you forfeit the money. If you do go, you get a small cash bonus. Learn more here.

(2) Stikk. This is another commitment contract program similar to GymPact. With Stickk, however, you can set any goal you want– it doesn’t have to be fitness-related. Again, you put up some money and if you don’t meet your goal, your money goes to a charity you would support, an anti-charity (like the Santorum campaign), or to a friend (or enemy, I suppose). You can be honest and verify goal completion yourself, or set a proxy to verify that you stuck to your commitment.

Both of these programs are based on the science of behavioral decision making, which you may have read about in books like Nudge. If you’re as a cheap as I am, the financial incentive is enough to keep your resolution. And if you’re as much of a hater as I am, the idea that someone you hate could benefit from your failure is icing on the cake.

Wishing you a very happy and healthy new year. I hope you keep all of your resolutions!

-A

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Student becomes teacher becomes student

Did you guys see that Jet Blue is having a sale today and tomorrow?

Me too, which was pretty distressing given that I booked a ticket on Sunday for an interview next month. The fare is $45 lower today than it was on Sunday. I was on the phone with my mom when I realized this. Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: “Didn’t you check the Bing Travel Predictor before you booked your flight?”

Me: “No. I was worried the flight would sell out, so I wanted to book it ASAP.”

Mom: “Oh, so the student becomes the teacher!”

This is coming from the lady who doesn’t know how to copy + paste a URL from a browser.

My mom suggested I call JetBlue and ask for a price adjustment. And you know what? They did it without any hesitation whatsoever! So now I have $45 credit to use on a future flight. Go Jet Blue! According to Airfare Watchdog, Alaska Airlines and Southwest will also give price adjustments.

Now that my flight is set, I need to book a hotel. I was thinking about using Airbnb to book a cheap guest room, but a little research on BetterBidding.com tells me I can do just as well (with a bit more privacy) bidding on Priceline.

A happy cheap start to the new year!

P.S. Note: All JetBlue fares don’t show up on Kayak, so be sure to double check on the site first.

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