Ski Trip February 2014

This past weekend Clay and I went skiing at Hunter Mountain, located a little over two hours north of New York City, with three other couples from our Hillsong Connect Group.  We stayed at an adorable mountain motel, Phoenicia Lodge.  

from Phoenecia Lodge's Facebook page

My first and last time skiing was over 10 years ago and I was worse than I expected to be while Clay tried snowboarding and had a pretty rough time of it.  We were both very sore after one day of being on the slopes so went snow tubing the next day.

me in the white jacket while our friend tripped over me and is upside-downhill in the green/purple

snow tubing!

Hillsong Family!

We saw people ice climbing all over the place!  How amazing, beautiful, and awe-inspiring is this!

We stopped by Lucky Chocolate in Saugerties, New York on the way back to the City.  It is definitely a business I quickly became passionate about supporting in the long term-- maybe by purchasing their chocolates to be shipped to friends.  

From their website:

Lucky's Cafe!

Visit our cafe for a seasonally changing simple menu which incorporates local produce and organic ingredients. In summer, salads, fresh juices & paninis, in winter, chilli, quiches, soups & paninis are available.We always have a good supply of savory & sweet croissants, and pie to warm & revive you during holiday shopping. (Our pies and quiches are also gluten-free).

Handmade, luxurious, small batch chocolates made from organic and fair trade chocolate.

Fair trade chocolate is made from cocoa beans bought directly from growers co-ops. The money goes directly to the farmers, by-passing the corporate middle-men, allowing farmers to be paid a living wage and avoiding slave and child labor.

I had the BEST ice cream sandwich ever!  Two thick vegan, grain free chocolate chip cookies with New York made Ronnybrook Farm Dairy ice cream!  The ice cream was unbelievably good with a homemade taste and texture!

We are returning to Hunter Mountain with another couple sometime in March to use up our extra day of lift tickets and ski rentals.  Pray for us! :)

Viva Las Vegas February 2014

Saturday, February 8th and Sunday, February 9th we enjoyed a long weekend in Las Vegas with two other couples, the guys Clay worked with at Wachovia and both are now living in Denver.  Our Vegas highlights included dinners at Le Cirque and Nobu, seeing Cirque de Soliel's Ka, and Razoring in the desert.

As we flew out of NYC!

A half hour outside Vegas

Clay at the wheel

Rachael, Clay, Rachael, Jeff, Hayley, Ryan

Rachael & Clay

We were sure dusty afterwards!

We eat got a different dessert to try at Le Cirque in the Bellagio

January 2014

We rang in the New Year by having dinner with two couples from our Hillsong Connect Group at Draught 55 NYC, a restaurant with a great selection of craft beers.  

It was after dinner we started playing Heads Up! which is a great $.99 app for group events where you put the phone on your head and everyone describes the word and you guess it, so much fun!  We learned the hard way that Clay has never seen Pretty Woman after giving hints like "Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, escort service!"

We've had two weeks of blizzards and below zero temperatures:

Made hundreds of dollas off eBay starting the New Year by purging:

$$$

Last year we aimed to see every major NYC sporting event and this year we're working our way through the list of NYC Museums and some cultural sites:

Guggenheim:

And fun pictures with The Pug:

And found our new favorite local Saturday spot:

The Penrose

January was a great month with a fair share of hibernating because we're doing a lot of travelling in the coming months:

Feb. 7th-10th Vegas

Feb. 22nd-23rd church girls' weekend trip

March 28th-30th church couples' ski weekend

April 9th-13th Hilton Head

Summer: 705 Trip to Denver, East Hampton!

Summer/Fall: SCOTLAND!!!

2014 Resolutions

01: take more photos -- I mentioned on Facebook that I wanted to be sure to take more photos with Clay this year because in the past two years we've taken less than 10 a year together.  I also want to start taking group photos each time we see family and each time we have an event with friends. Also known as - not just pictures of Mr. Duke Pug!!!

02: rest -- I stress a lot about completing my list of errands on the weekends and cramming all this self-imposed work on myself when I should be relaxing and enjoying time with friends instead of looking at my watch wondering if I'll have time to complete x,y,z which actually doesn't matter in the long run.  Rest is the reason we didn't go home for Christmas this past year, I was just too tired and stressed to think about traveling during the holiday season.

03: be healthy --  Most importantly this means cutting down on my sugar intake and enjoying my long walks with Mr. Duke while not being lazy and taking escalators when there are stairs.  In New York this means I can also walk to and from work more and walk to meet friends instead of using public transportation.

04: finish what you start -- I usually do this but I'd like to finish David McCullough's biography on Truman, I'm on page 600/900!

05: be free -- Digging into my faith as a beloved child of God.  Not over committing my time and energy.  Continuing to be frugal to put more money aside in savings for long-term goals.  A work life balance that works for me.  Continuously purging clutter from my life and creating a healthy and happy home.  Switching to USA made, cruelty free products.  Eating food and using products that contain less manufactured chemicals and more natural ones.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

-Bug

Our Closet Hustle

One of my greatest takeaways from Australia was learning to live as a more frugal conscious consumer in a way that embraces minimalism and is more environmentally friendly.  This is a pretty broad lifestyle statement but I'd like to show you how it affects our Closet Hustle.  I call it a 'hustle' because I'm simultaneously clearing clutter, making money, and recycling clothing.

While returning our Christmas decorations to their storage place under the bed Bird and I decided it was also time to sort through everything else under our bed and in our closets.  After living in New York a full year through all four seasons we were easily able to reevaluate what clothes/shoes/accessories we no longer wanted.  During this exercise we also took mental notes to help make better purchasing decisions in the future.

But cleaning out a closet doesn't end in a simple trip to Goodwill.

First I separate items I want to give to specific people.  Last week I gifted a necklace to a coworker as both an engagement and farewell gift, she wore it for the next 4 days and other coworkers were coming to me praising my fine taste in picking out presents.  Last summer I held onto two cashmere scarves to give to a 705er for her birthday and I also gave a bag of scrapbooking materials to another friend to use.  Free gifts save money and in my experience the recipients have always been more touched that I saw and saved something for them than have been weirded out that it's a hand-me-down.

Then I separate what I think I can sell on either Craigstlist or eBay.  This past week it took us less than 24 hours to sell a Belgium-made dog crate on Craigslist for $65 that we originally purchased from a neighbor for $40.  In 7 days we made over $150 on eBay selling a pair of 7FAM jeans, a cashmere sweater, and a Patagonia fleece vest.  It takes a few minutes to take some pictures and fill in some details but it's a great way to make money and recycle items.  

After selling items I separate out what I think someone would actually purchase from a consignment or thrift store.  I personally save money on name brand items (Michael Kors, Coach, Dooney and Bourke) by purchasing secondhand through eBay, consignment stores, and Goodwill.  When donating to consignment/thrift stores I think, "Would I buy this?"  If not, I don't donate the item.  What I mean by this is... do you think someone really wants to purchase your adult cotton t-shirts you receive free at charity events?  I feel these items take employees longer to sort through and never sell, making no money for the company.  When donating a bag of items, always remember to get your Charitable Tax Deduction form!  Unfortunately Goodwill makes you go to their website to value your items yourself but last year when we moved to New York I took two large bags of Bird's suits, shirts, and belts to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Thrift Shop and they mailed me a completed donation slip valuing the donation for over $300.  I'm recycling clothing while receiving a tax deduction.

With whatever clothing items are left I have two options: H&M and my local NYC GreenMarket.

There is an H&M in my office building and I keep two or three pieces of unwanted clothing in a drawer for whenever I feel like browsing H&M.  You can read this Bloomberg article for more details but in a nutshell when I donate clothing items to H&M I receive a 15% off coupon available to use during that shopping trip.  I just saved 15% on my choice of any full priced item!  They actually let me choose to use it on the most expensive item of that trip if I have more than one item which is also nice.  H&M then resells the clothing and then recycles what can't be sold.  From the Bloomberg article:

The Swedish retailer collects clothing of any brand and in any condition in white and green boxes in stores. Switzerland’s I:Collect AG buys the garments and, depending on quality, either resells them or gives them new life in things like cleaning cloths and stuffed toys.“We don’t want clothes to become waste, we want them to become a resource instead,” H&M sustainability manager Henrik Lampa said in the retailer’s headquarters overlooking Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street in Stockholm. “We want to make new commercial fibers out of this, to make new clothes and textiles.”

My other last-ditch option is every Saturday morning I walk Mr. Duke to our local GrowNYC Greenmarket to throw our weekly vegetable/tea/coffee/grains scraps into a large bin to be composted for use throughout NYC parks and neighborhood gardens.  They also recycle clothing.  Click to see GrowNYC Greenmarket's Clothing Recycling page.   From their website:

What happens to materials donated? 

Textiles are sorted into different grades including usable clothing, cotton scrap, cotton blend scrap and synthetics. These commodities are then sold for reuse as clothing, linens, etc or to recycling markets that turn materials into wiping rags, fiber for car door panels and insulation.

I know it seems like a lot but I honestly feel better about taking my time and being more conscious about what ends up happening with my 'trash.'  One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Not only do I get rid of unwanted excess and clutter in my life, I've taught myself better purchasing habits for the future by evaluating what I'm getting rid of and what is missing from my closest while also creating income to use towards future purchases.

Please feel free to react in the comment section below.

-Bug