At a recent social gathering, I was admiring another guest's copper-colored dressy t-shirt. When I inquired about where I might purchase one of the same, she told me it was from Anthropologie - and it was this season. Excited to order online, I found the shirt, but I became less excited when I saw the $48 price tag. Pre-part-time, I would have hit the "add to basket" link it a heart-beat, but $50 for a t-shirt doesn't fit in the new lifestyle budget.
I was bummed because I liked the style and color a lot, and my summer wardrobe hasn't had any new additions this season, so things were feeling a bit stale.
Hoping to find some new summer pieces inside the budget, I ventured to New York & Company. Much to my surprise and delight, I found a similar color and style, but I liked the fit and color better. Even more to my delight was the sale price tag - $17.46! If you are interested in getting one yourself, they run a bit big, so I got a size smaller than I usually wear.
So now I am the proud owner of the new copper t-shirt I wanted, which fits me perfectly and carries zero buyers remorse. Quite the opposite actually - I think I have a bargain-hunter's high.
When you first bring home a baby, he can almost be considered a large purse when it comes to eating out. The loud hum of a restaurant seems to keep a new babe in a deep slumber. Just find a a spot for the car seat and it's almost as if it's just the two of you again. But then a few months go by and your sweet babe wakes up. Much more fun, but eating out for dinner becomes more of a challenge. The baby factor, plus my quick realization that my 40% pay cut would be permanent for the foreseeable future, drew me back to my fondness for cooking.
I can remember the exact day actually. We had planned to go out for brunch with some baby-less friends. Our baby was about 4 months old. I found myself so stressed about what time he would need to eat and whether he would be in a good mood and what time he would need to nap (which didn't happen in busy restaurants anymore. It was all starting to feel so hard, and the uncertainty of the baby's schedule make planning seem futile.
Then it struck me - I could make a fabulous brunch for us with just a little effort. It was as if a huge weight was immediately lifted. I quickly scanned my cookbooks and made a breakfast casserole and picked up some fresh fruit. Ta-da. We had a great time - easy and stress free. That was the day the switch flipped, and I got excited about cooking again.
Shortly after I decided to try to make a new recipe every week. After finding "Cuisine at home," a magazine and collection of cookbooks, I found this a fun and fairly easy task. This is my favorite new collection of recipes - with the "Weeknight Menus" book at the very top of the list. The recipes are quick, creative, taste amazing, and don't break the bank. Instead of needing 5 new pantry items per recipe, I always have what these recipes call for in stock. What I love is that most of the recipes don't have that many ingredients at all - they are just different enough to get excited about.
Sure, sometimes after a long hard day I don't feel like cooking and we pick something up, but for the most part, we eat at home now. And sure it's nice to do nothing and be served, but nowadays, that doesn't outweigh the risk of taking a toddler nearing bedtime out to a busy restaurant.
The eternal optimist in me can't help but create a quick list of why dining in is better than dining out:
- We know where out food came from, and it's organic where it counts
- It costs so very much less
- The wine costs even less
- No worries if the baby is cranky
- We control our portions (more and less)
- We can season to our liking
- It's healthier
- No crappy service
- It often just plain tastes better
This past Mother's day was the first where I felt like a real mom. Last year was a c-section pain killer haze -- this year was the real deal. I slept in until 8:30 and came downstairs to my two wonderful guys and a bouquet of flowers from the local grocery co-op. They were simple, in one of my favorite vases, and a perfectly beautiful way to start the day.
Flash back a year and a bit to Valentine's day of 2007. I was 6 months pregnant, my husband was traveling on business, and I had a 4-hour glucose test as my first test showed risk for gestational diabetes. I knew it would be a rough day, so I asked my husband the week before to just do something special. Didn't have to be big, just something on that day. At 11pm I got into bed, called him to say good night, and just asked "Really? Not even a little something?" I wasn't mad, but disappointed. I missed him, was drained from the test, and was just looking forward to a little pick-me-up. He said "Didn't you get my flowers?" Umm, no!
So, here's what happened:
My husband ordered a bouquet of Vera Wang roses from ftd.com. The shipping location had a huge snow storm, and the planes were grounded. The flowers arrived Feb 15 - not looking too good. They didn't open. I threw them out. Then when he got home, he tried to call to get the money back -- but he wasn't the only one with the problem, so the lines were all busy. Finally three days later, after worrying about how much they cost and if we would get the money back, he got through and FTD refunded the money.
Flash forward to Mother's day this year. They were beautiful, they were local, they had no brand name, they were not expensive -- and yet they were perfect.
Better with less? Definitely so.
I keep having this nagging feeling that I need to share how life has gotten better since I started cutting back. After the birth of my baby Jack, I decided that part-time work was the way for me to go, but that meant doing without some things that I thought made me happy. The result has not been sacrifice, but instead, to my surprise, life has gotten better along the way.
