Designing by Color

I love a good old neutral room, with splashes of color. But every now and again, a room with full blown color looks fantastic! Here’s some examples…

From Sarah’s House on HGTV. Red is a great accent color.

 Don’t be afraid of color. Go for it! From quintessenceblog.com

I love this yellow wall art. It’s most likely a piece of fabric that’s been framed. And the matching pillows are lovely.

This green kitchen is too awesome.

Eclectic Living Room design by San Francisco Media And Blogs Shannon Malone.

How about this lovely blue livingroom?

Or- my suggestion still stands to anyone even slightly afraid of color- Just paint a neutral color and put in great accents of color all around you. Happy Designing!

I’m a Cheap Date (And Proud of It!)

So at the ripe old age of, (ahem, twenty something,) I’ve been on my fair share of dates. Good ones, bad ones, ones you hope to never see again… ones that cost a bunch of money, (for the guy, mostly), and ones that cost almost nothing. I tend to have fun on either kind of date regardless of the money spent on either’s behalf, (depending on who the date is with!) I also find that when you don’t have a lot to spend, you tend to get creative… Here are some awesome ideas for a cheap date, a great time.

• Find your local cheap theater. Your town most likely has a movie theater that only charges $2-5, and sometimes offers discounts for being a student. The movies shown here aren’t too old either, and you’ll save about $7 per ticket.

The Movies.

• Have a photo scavenger hunt: Find all your local statues, things in rainbow order, number groups, or just make a random list of things about town, and go take your picture next to them all!
• Go for a bike ride or walk. What’s more romantic than a stroll around a lake with your sweetheart?
• Play a board game. Go on, get competitive. Make it fun, add a few drinks, and place a few wagers. You may win more than just a colored piece of the pie.
• Place a monetary limit on the night. You can have a ton of fun putting a cap on the evening and seeing how far $15 can go. Food? Spaghetti and Sauce plus garlic bread at the grocery store can total only… $6! Say what? I know, it’s awesome. Movie rental from RedBox only $1? ok! $3 bottle of wine at the grocery store? ok!
• Netflix! My new favorite discovery… I love seeing all the old television shows that you can re-discover. Hello Buffy!
• Find your local dive bar and bask in the daily specials. You can shoot pool, listen to the juke box, and have a delicious 2$ bottle of PBR.

The Paradise, Madison WI. My favorite Dive.

• If you plan for a nice little morning date, visit your local Farmer’s Market. Grab a coffee and a pastry, mingle with locals, stroll the isles of fresh flowers and cheeses. Yep. Even cheese can be romantic.
• Follow that Farmer’s Market with some garage sales and maybe a flea market. You never know what treasures you can find! You can check Craigslist or grab a paper for listings. Or, just drive around looking for those neon paper signs.

The Farmer’s Market

• Throw a party. Not all parties have to cost a bunch of money. You can have a potluck at the local park, pay for your portion of the goodies, and spend the afternoon playing frisbee and bocce ball with friends.
• Grill out! Hit your local grocery store for some grill goodies, and find yourself spending what you would if you were to go to a restaurant. But you get to talk over a few beers outside, have a great burger, and do dishes together. You may have a lady and the tramp moment when your hands touch under the soapy water…
• Take a tour. You can usually tour museums, city capitals, like the one here in Madison, for free. Or even go to open houses in your area, and browse through other people’s decorated homes, and dream of having their big backyard. You can even visit your local winery, and taste a few samples too.
• Make a pie. You can visit a local orchard, hand select apples, and take home your gems to make a fresh apple pie. I read somewhere that the number one favorite (and even aphrodisiac like) smell amongst women was the scent of an apple or pumpkin pie. It bakes for about 45 minutes. I’m sure you’ll find something to fill the time.

image credit

• Find a good place to listen to local music for really cheap. There’s a local place in Madison (The Frequency) that has louder, heavier music at night, but smoother, acoustic, and more laid back music around 6 or 7. And the shows are only $5-10. You can also find your local piano bar, cafe with a musician, or other venues for cheap. Live in Wisconsin? Check out Local Sounds for Madison or Green Bay Night Life for some ideas.
• Come up with a project. Before I was dating my boyfriend, I had an assignment due for school that had to do with measuring the entire house. I joked about him coming to help me, but was really glad when he offered to drive to my house and measure every wall in every room. (Note: I was living in a 3 story Historic Victorian.) It was really fun to work as a team, and we got to talk and find out about each other the whole time.
• Go to the Zoo. Our local Zoo here is free, and in a great little neighborhood too. After checking out the animals, you can walk around and check out local architecture and discuss your favorite kinds of houses.

That’s me. At the zoo. In the Polar Bear.

• Have a season marathon of your favorite show. This may take more than a day, but it’s fun to spend time vegging together, making snacks and meals, having coffee or even mixed drinks, and watch episode after episode of House M.D.
• Play personal trivia. You can each write down 20 questions that you really want to know about the other person, and sit down and fire away. I’m sure you’ll learn something new about the other person that you never knew before.
• Have a picnic. You can have an indoor picnic in the middle of your living room floor, or even take it to the middle of the park. Pack a lunch, grab a bottle of wine, and lay out with some food and conversation. You can even have a night picnic and star-gaze with your hubby on a blanket with a bottle of wine.
• Indulge in your sporty side. You can usually find tickets to a local sporting event for pretty cheap, and some packages include food and drinks too. Go ahead, let him know you can get into sports and yell at that bad pitcher too.

Wrigley Field.

• Check out the High School for events. I once stumbled upon a sign outside of a high school for a musical performance of Little Shop of Horrors for only $8 a person, and we had a great time watching the high school students sing their hearts out over a murderous plant. Call your local high schools and see if they are having any performances anytime soon.
• Visit your local comedy club or karaoke bar for some laugh out loud entertainment. Karaoke bars are usually free, or cost a small amount to sing a song, and Comedy Clubs can start at $5. Go ahead, laugh away. It’s good for you.

There’s some ideas that will fill your night, and keep your wallet from being empty! Find the right person to fill your time, and you’ll have a great time, even if you spend absolutely no money. Happy Dating!

Retire Rich (For Real!)

So, if you are like me, you’ll sit around sometimes, and think of all the things you want to do later in life, but sadly, you can’t do now, because you don’t have enough money. Well, you start early, and play your cards right, all of those dreams you have “down the road” may become a reality. I’ve compiled all of the best tips I could come up with to help you put your kids through college, and take a tour of Europe.

This doesn’t have to be your retirement plan!

Relying on Social Security may not be a wise choice, since by the time we (those my age – let’s say mid 20′s) retire, that may not be an option. Can you believe that only half the women between the ages of 20 and 30 have even started saving for retirement, at all? It may not seem like a viable option if you live paycheck to paycheck, but there’s always a small amount that you can put away. You can have your work put your check into your checking account with direct deposit, and put a percentage into a savings account automatically. You won’t even know that small amounts are missing from your checking, and they will all add up. Check out these stats: If a 21 year old making 30K a year saves 15% of her salary in a 401K with a 3% employer match rate, they could have almost 2 million by the time they are 60. Nice, huh?

Take advantage of work benefits.

• If your employer offers a 401K, you should sign up. Experts say contributing the max, 10-15 percent of your salary. If that seems like too much, start with 2 percent. Invest wisely! One way to figure out how to gauge how much to put into different kinds of funds (stocks and bonds) is to take your age from 100. Put that percent of your contribution into stocks, and the rest into bonds. If you are 25, that means 75 % in stocks, and 25% in bonds.
• For ratings of funds, go to Morningstar.com and click on “Funds“. Then find your fund company under “Fund Family Data Pages” click on a fund, then use the Data Interpreter for details. Avoid funds ranked in 2 stars or less. Look for a below average expense ratio (to reduce fees) and a manager who’s been with the fund for at least five years. From those, look under trailing returns for funds that match or beat the stated benchmark such as the S&P 500, over 5 years. Never cash out of a 401K early, or you could pay a hefty benefit. You can also check out sites like fidelitly.com or vanguard.com to start your own Roth IRA account as well.

These are all suggestions I found in magazines, I am not a professional financial expert, and I am just relaying some great articles that I found. Choose wisely! I also know a great person at Northwestern Mutual that sat down with me and talked to me about all of my choices at the age of 29. Looks like I may be able to start saving after all! Happy Saving!

Meatless “Meat” Adventure…

Being a vegetarian is very new to me, but not to the boyfriend. I started it about 3 months ago. I tried it to see if I could do it for a month, as a challenge. It kind of stuck when I caved, ate a burger, and was almost immediately sick. I had to ween myself off of turkey though, since it was made at a family meal about a week into my meatless venture, and I couldn’t resist. It is kind of hard to eat good, healthy foods without meat involved, and cutting back on the cheese/carb combos wasn’t easy since it seemed like that’s all there was… But slowly I started to find more and more things at the store, and started to be more creative in cooking for us. But I guess we aren’t full fledged vegetarians, since we eat the occasional fish, tuna sandwich, and I love me some fish fry. But we don’t eat red meat, and poultry. But we love to grill out on the days when it’s gorgeous outside, and we have the night off. So we venture on down to the local grocery store (either Hy-vee or Woodman’s) and check out the vegetarian section. We found so much stuff, it makes eating meat seem, well, obsolete. Here are some of the things we found…

Wings and Ribs!

The wings were actually really good! They taste and feel like chicken, and the buffalo sauce that’s on them is really tasty. All we had to do is put them on tin foil, and put them on the grill, and flip them after like 5 or so minutes. The ribs were also really good. They had a soft and meat like texture, and tasted just like the good part of rib meat you would hope to get when you eat real ribs. We cooked them the same way we cooked the “wings” and added extra BBQ sauce.

Grilling our “meat”.

Be sure to spray the foil with Pam (not ON the grill) so the “meat” doesn’t stick.

My “wings”.

All we really had to do here was take them off the grill, remove the skewers, and enjoy!

Meatless Vegan Brats

Next I tried these “brats”. I thought they were vegetarian, but they turned out to be Vegan, which wasn’t a big deal. We had them on the grill for a while, since I like them well done. I have to say though, I was disappointed when it came to the flavor and consistency of the brats. They didn’t really have a casing on them, so they didn’t have that ‘pop’ that real brats do. They tasted like ground veggies too, and I’m guessing that if they were vegetarian, they would have had some kind of egg, cheese, or other dairy product in them, and they would have tasted way better. Not bad, but just ok. I was cooking the food, to look down and notice that the food was making a face. A sad little brat face:

Sad brat face.

The burger on the grill is your basic, (fantastic) Boca burger. Just add cheese, and you have a great grill meal. Ours stuck to the grill, so make sure you spray yours with non stick cooking spray. (Again, NOT over a flame.) Our next venture (about a week later) was to make some BBQ pork sandwiches that we found at Woodman’s. See below:

BBQ “pork” sandwiches.

All you had to do here was microwave, and you were done! Once on a bun, these sandwiches were absolutely deliciously amazing. No Joke. The texture was like pulled pork, and there were big chunks to bite into, not just little pieces and the BBQ had a great flavor. I highly recommend them, even to a meat eater. The good thing about this kind of sandwich is that it doesn’t get stuck in your teeth, and you feel good about having eaten it. There was enough in the pack for 4 small sandwiches on buns. We add a squeeze of our favorite BBQ sauce, and half a slice of provolone cheese to each sandwich.

All in all our meatless adventure was a success. Next I would like to try the package of “meatless beef ground” and make our own burgers with special seasonings, cheese and some onions too. I’ll keep you posted! Happy Grilling!

Be Affordably Chic

In all my years as a thrift store scavenger, and bargain hunter, i’ve come across some really cool places to shop. Now, I know that everyone has their own shopping style. Some like brand new, some like vintage, some also like old and retro. I’m the kind of shopper that likes a combination of all three. I also know that as a more, shall we say, curvy kinda girl that it can be hard to find clothing that fits, looks great, and keeps looking great after it’s been washed. And if I find a pair of jeans that fits my many criteria, I swear that the clouds parted and a beam of angel light shown down on me that day. (Let’s say, it’s rare…)  So here are some of my shopping tips and tricks to be affordably chic.

Thrift Shopping!

Thrift- Goodwill is an amazing store. Let’s suck in our pride and don’t be stingy, if you’re someone that won’t shop at thrift stores, you’re missing out! They have so many things, and i’m someone that likes to layer my cloths, and this is a great place to layer. I check their kids t-shirts for funny little gems, their lady’s sweaters for comfy cardigans, and their coats for rocking blazers.  http://www.goodwill.org/

St. Vincent De Paul’s- Very similar to Goodwill in the wide variety of second hand clothing, and they have an awesome “Retro” section. They have some great old band t-shirts, leather jackets, and really cool accessories. (Not to mention they are the king of Halloween Costumes) I scour there for shoes and t-shirts. http://www.svdpmadison.org/

Savers is another awesome place to shop here in Madison. They have a huge selection of clothing, shoes, accessories, vintage jewelry, and when applicable, costumes. http://www.savers.com/

The Salvation Army was a staple of my childhood. Not only did they have food there (Yep. Morning pastries.) But I used to make a job out of hunting their racks one by one for awesome deals and vintage pieces. http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf

The Hospice Care Thrift Store on Junction Road is a great little place to shop for unique pieces. They have really inexpensive jewelry, and tons of sweaters and shoes, amongst other things. http://www.hospicecareinc.com/hospicecare-thrift-store.html

Another Collection from Polyvore.com

Second Hand/ Gently Used- Re-Threads is an awesome new store on State St. with some really cool second hand cloths, a bunch of retro goods, and accessories. http://rethreadsclothing.com/

Platlo’s Closet is hands down, one of my favorite places to shop. They have gently used name brand clothing, and I LOVE to shop there for jeans. They have what fits me for a fraction of the price, and they are broken in already.  http://www.platoscloset.com/

The Pink Poodle is a good place for designer and upscale fashionable re-sale clothing and other goods. Check them out! http://www.thepinkpoodleonline.net/

Ragstock on State St is a great place to go for funky new and used items. They have a ton of cool used items in great condition, a bargain basement, and low priced new items. http://www.ragstock.com/

Boomerang Resale Shop at 1133 N. Sherman Ave in Madison sounds like a great resale shop, but to tell you the truth, I haven’t been there myself. I will definitely check it out, since I read great reviews about it.

A great example of thrifty layering- Nichole Richie

Vintage/ Retro: June 3 is a little yellow place right off of state street on Johnson street, (rightfully called an “eclectic emporium” )and they have some really unique vintage and unique finds. From hats, to Cowboy boots, to hundreds of vintage tees, costumes, and  you won’t be disappointed by coming here. Just be careful if you park out front, there is a tow away zone! http://www.yelp.com/biz/june-3rd-an-eclectic-emporium-madison

The Good Style Shop on 402 E. Washington here in Madison Wi has a great selection of Vintage Clothing. http://www.goodstyleshop.com/

Circa Vintage on 825 E. Johnson Street has a modern, and urban-y vibe. Here you’ll find vintage dresses, bags, shoes, and other accessories.

Aura is a clothing store for men and women at 449 State St. The clothes are all used or vintage. They have large collections from the 40′s to the 80′s. You can find a lot of interesting items to add to your wardrobe and the prices are great.

If you are ever in LaCrosse, you MUST visit a little shop downtown called Vintage Vogue. I remember going here when I was a teen, and buying most of my wardrobe here. It’s cheap, has totally unique pieces, and separates their cloths by era. That’s right. ERA. They also have old wedding dresses, suits, embroidered hankies, and veiled 1930′s hats. It’s awesome.

Vintage and Classy!

New- Although it doesn’t always fit in my budget, i’m a huge fan of the fashion and style at Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and Bop, all located on or off of State Street here in Madison. If you make it down to State Street the third weekend in July, you’ll hit a little outdoor shopping festival called “Maxwell Street Days”. You’ll be able to find all your favorite store’s goodies for super cheep deals during this large sidewalk sale that goes all weekend.

You guessed it… The Mall. The mall has a ton of clothing stores. But where to start? I love to shop at Charlotte Rousse, they have a ton of really cool urban style clothing for low prices. The best jeans for me are found at Maurices ($30 or less) and American Eagle ($40 or less). I love shopping at H&M (cheap, and meets a ton of different styles) and Forever 21 (so cheap, and tons of styles and accessories).

I hope I hit all the good ones, and if you have any suggestions, I’m open to hear them! Happy shopping!