Emilio's in Lansdowne

Work has been kind of stressful so there's only one thing to do, right? EAT!

Recently, Michael and I decided to eat at Emilio's in Lansdowne. We have eaten there a few times before but either all those visits were during lunch or they raised their prices. It was just a small notch above what we normally pay to eat out but when you're trying to stay on budget, a small notch means a lot.

Well, I chose the mushroom ravioli.


It was good but the portion, for the price, was kind of small. I have always wished that restaurants serve smaller portions... But at a cheaper price, you know? Don't get me wrong, it wasn't skimpy, but I definitely wished there were like, I don't know, maybe three or four more raviolis, especially since they weren't that big. I suppose it's quality over quantity. The pasta was just the right thickness and al dente. However, you can get a bag of mushroom raviolis for like $4 at Wegman's. Of course, it's not as good but it comes kind of close and, it's $4.

Michael chose the seafood linguine.


It was one of the most priciest thing on the menu and came with a generous amount of squid, muscle, and clam but they totally skimped out on the shrimp. Since he paid so much for it I lied and said it was fantastic but, to be honest, I found it very bland. He said it was absolutely delicious. Either his taste buds are more sensitive than mine or he was trying to justify spending so much on pasta.

Will we go back? Meh, maybe for lunch. I heard pizza is where they really shine so maybe we'll give that a try. However, if it's dinner time and I'm feeling hungry for some pasta Emilio's is not where I would want to go.

Money Saving Tip No One Talks About: Eat More Korean Food

The best way I know to cut down on food cost is to eat like a Korean. There are many reason why a Korean diet is awesome for your budget:

1) Cheap protein- Western dishes rely on meat, which is expensive. Korean dishes usually use eggs, tofu and fish as the protein. Oh, and not the fluffy kind of fish like salmon and tuna, but the little salty kind like... the kind my mom used to use. With the exception of Korean BBQ (which, is what most non-Korean people are familiar with) when beef, chicken, and pork are used, it's used more as a flavoring.

2) No dairy- Milk, cheese, butter, yogurt... dairy can get pretty pricey. Korean dishes do not use dairy.

3) Practically Vegan- Korean dishes are very, very heavy on the vegetables, the cheap, healthy, weird kind like sprouts, spinach, eggplants, seaweed and so forth.

4) Rice is cheap- Koreans eat rice with almost every meal and with almost every dish. It's why so many Korean dishes are so... strongly flavored, to counter balance the blandness. Rice is a really cheap filler. Whatever you're eating, you only need half as much if you eat it with some rice.

5) It's all very mix and match- At the end of the week, there's not a whole lot you can do with some left over lasagna, beef taco fillings, some grilled chicken, and some meatloaf. Korean foods are very mix and match. You can either toss any and all leftover into a soup or use it for fried rice.

6) Water is for thirst, all other drinks are a treat- To this day, I still can't quite fully wrap my head around the concept that people drink sodas and juice for thirst... Koreans drink water. All other drinks are more of a treat or a snack. I mean, you don't eat cookies with your dinner all the time, so why would you drink soda with your meal?

7) A lot of it is peasant food- I say that as a compliment. It's a very creative diet working with limited resources all designed to deliver the maximum amount of energy on a tight budget.

Even though Michael has become quite a fan of Korean foods it's not something we'll be eating every day. Still, I think it would be beneficial to our food budget for me to remember my roots a little and not eat so much dairy and meat. Rice is good. Rice is cheap.

Drunken Noodles: Aiyara Thai Restaurant

I learned something new recently: Drunken Noodles should not be eaten as left overs because they taste horrible if you reheat them.

Still clutching onto this precious coupon clipper magazines and other various junk mail, Michael ordered some food from Aiyara Thai Restaurant the other day. Since we were too tired, we even had it delivered. That's a treat for us. Michael ordered his favorite, Shrimp Pad Thai, and I ordered my favorite, Chicken Drunken Noodle.


Well, I think it was good but I couldn't really tell because it was too spicy. Not so spicy that I couldn't eat it but spicy enough that I didn't really want to eat it. In all fairness, the dude did give Michael a heads up, "You know it's spicy" to which he replied, "Ooooh, I love spicy!" Note to self: Remind Michael to order it "American Spicy" next time.

Michael's Pad Thai seemed very... Pei Wei-ish, which, I don't mind because I like Pei Wei.

The portions were huge and neither of us could finish our dish. We had the left overs next day and yeah... a significant drop in quality. Next time I think we'll just order one dish and split.

Every Month? For How Many Years?!

Paid my first mortgage payment today. Wow. That was a large check... and I have to write one every month... Hmmm... Starting to rethink this whole home ownership deal... Seriously it was a large check...

I mean, for a mortgage in NoVa, it's actually pretty good and I've ran the numbers like fifty times, we can comfortably and safely afford it. I'm just not used to writing large checks and every time I have to write a check for an amount in the thousands... Yikes!

In all my life these are the biggest checks I've ever written:

1) Cashier's check for down payment on the house.
2) Down payment on second car.
3) Pay off credit card balance after college.
4) Down payment on first car.
5) Pay off second car.
6) Mortgage.

That mortgage check was the 6th largest check I've had to write in my entire life and I have to write it every month!

Oh, and some clarification on #3... It's not so much that my credit card balance was that high but more so that I didn't put down a lot of money on my first car (hey, it was my first car) and waited awhile to pay off the loan on my second car.

Money Saving Tip No One Talks About: Sleep

Several years ago, back when we were roommates, Jamie mentioned that she was going to bed because she was tired, bored, and hungry- sleeping will fix all three.

So true!

As much as I love, love sleep, it's something I've been putting off everyday for some time now. For some reason I never want to go to bed unless I'm absolutely dead tired or when logic tells me it's time ("Damn, I have to wake up in five hours... I guess I should go to sleep.") It's not insomnia, I have no problem falling asleep, it's... I don't know what it is.

Sleep is so beautiful. It's a cure all for just about everything! Heartbroken? Well, time heals all wounds and nothing speeds up time like sleeping (plus, you can't be sad in your sleep)! Sick with the flu? Sleep it off! Bored? Sleep! Cold? Load up on some blankets and sleep!

And, you know, sleep can save you a lot of money... Think of all the money you would save on:

1) Electricity
2) Heating/cooling cost
3) Food (if you're a late night snacker, which I totally am)
4) Entertainment cost
5) Caffeine or other stimulants
6) Medical costs
7) Temporary moments of stupidity due to unclear thinking

Oh, and did you that going for several days with 5 hours or less of sleep is the equivalent of being legally drunk? I've been going to work drunk all this time?! Think of how much more productive and bad ass you would be at your job if you weren't thinking and acting like such a lush.

Tonight, I'm going to give it a shot. Well, maybe... Okay, the the very least, if I end up staying late, I will use that time to do something a bit more productive then playing solitaire all night (it's addictive!).

Thank You Japan!

My mom recently came back from Korea and brought me the most epic present ever. Are you ready for it?


It's Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel dressed up in traditional Korean Wedding attire!!!

People think it's disturbing that I know the name of Hello Kitty's BF but I always thought it was kind of a common knowledge.



I, however, did not know all this.

Whoa. Whoa- whoa.... Whoa. Hello Kitty has a name and it's not Hello Kitty?!?! WTF?!

I'm really not as obsessed as everyone seems to think I am. I would never, for example, buy a Hello Kitty toaster. However, there is just something about her that is irresistibly cute. I am convinced that she is a highly formulated character developed after years of research by a covert Japanese government group. As Japan was rebuilding itself after the war, they quickly realized that trade is very vital to their growth, they have almost no viable natural resources, and the world pretty much thinks that they're the weird creepy kid who draws gory pictures during homeroom and, rumor has it, once stuck his cat in the microwave. So, they develop Hello Kitty and BAM! All of sudden Japan is so awesome! Japan is so cute!

Impressive job Japan, very impressive...

Food Budget?

Michael is ever convinced that a $400 a month food budget is a ridiculous amount for just the two of us. He keeps talking about how we're going to stock up on the essentials and cook at home. I'm totally fine with that idea but I'm the only one that seems to do all the cooking and when ever I don't feel like cooking we end up eating out. Hmmm... funny how that works out.

$400 food budget might seem excessive for just two but it comes out to $13.33 a day... for two people!

Food is definitely our weakness. When Michael gets those coupon clipper magazines in the mail he'll excitedly go through them and every once in awhile I hear him yell out, "Oooh... Free spring rolls with a $20 purchase!!!... Oh, oh, can we go here?! Buy one entree get the second one half off!!!..."

Recently I decided to take break from all the "painting" (hahahaha!!!) and check out Bed, Bath, and Beyond for some curtains. Michael, sensing an opportunity for some food, insisted on coming along... with his stack of coupon clipper magazines. When we pulled into the shopping plaza he instantly said, "Ooh! Jersey Mike's! I have a coupon for that place!" I was annoyed, partly because we have food at home but mostly because I am really not a fan of sandwiches and if he was going to eat out, I wanted to eat out too!

I used it as an opportunity to take the high road, "You can waste your money on eating out if you want but I am going to eat the food we have at home!" but I almost crumbled when I saw his sandwich.


It's not really eating out if you just take bites out of someone else's food, right? It was the best steak and cheese I've had in awhile.

Just did a quick research on-line and it seems that a lot of people think $400-$600 is a perfectly reasonable food budget for 2 adults. Man, how much does it cost to feed a family?

Country Flowers of Somerset

Michael's parents went to England to visit his brother and came back with a little souvenir for us, a printed dish towel!


I absolutely love it! It kind of looks vintage-ish and looks like something you'd find in a thrift store, and I mean that as a total compliment. I wouldn't put it past Michael to use it to mop up a marinara spill or run it through the wash with some bleach so I wanted to preserve it and use it as wall hanging for our kitchen.

His brother, by the way, lives in Wells.


From the pictures I've seen it's like this super picture-esq little historic town. So lucky! If you want to see what it looks like just watch Hot Fuzz; it was filmed in that town!

Last Quarter Earning Statement!!! Yay!!!

YAY!!!

Today is indeed an exciting day because I got my quarterly retirement earning statement in the mail!!! Even though I can check it on-line at any time I really like getting the report. What can I say, I'm a sucker for graphs.

So, how did I do?!?!?!

My Personal Rate of Return

This Period: 10.55%
Last 12 Months: 8.91%
Since Inception: 6.09%

Not bad.

I recently found out about this rule of thumb that says by age 35 you should have a years worth of salary in your retirement fund- double that amount by age 45. Uh-oh... I'm about... Not quite there. Not, you know, 'cause I make so much money but because I wasn't always socking away 10% of my pay into a retirement fund and my company didn't always match. So, I guess that will be my new goal and I think I can do... By which I mean I'm just going to continue to contribute 10% of my pay and just hope for the best.

Actually, when you break it down, just by contributing 10% of pay (and assuming the market doesn't tank) I should exceed that goal by the time I hit 35! See, big numbers aren't scary when you break it down into small chunks!

Besides, according to my brother, rule of thumbs are for idiots who can't think for themselves, all financial advice should be taken with a grain of salt since they are heavily biased, and we're all fucked in the end so the best thing you can do is hoard as much money as you possibly can and hope for the best. Oh, and of course, move to Canada.

I am a little bit more optimistic.

Screw You and Your Stupid Mattress Sales!

Can someone please explain to me why we celebrate Columbus Day?

Let's see...

1) Everyone knew the Earth was round centuries before Columbus. The Greeks and Egyptians proved that with nothing more than like a shadow or something.

2) He did not "discover" America, as in the United States of America. He landed in the Bahamas.

3) No European can claim to have "discovered" any of the Americas since you can't really discover an area of land that has people and culture and society already well in place. I can't drive to Cincinnati and claim to have discovered Ohio.

4) The Vikings landed in North America like half a millennium before Columbus.

5) Columbus was a horrible, horrible, evil, horrible man!

I, like most US children, grew up learning the myth of Christopher Columbus. I learned that he was ridiculed for believing the Earth was round but he held unto his conviction and, on that faithful day in 1942, he sailed the ocean blue on the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Oh blessed be thy name Columbus for if it weren't for your bravery the whole half of the Earth would never have been discovered! Ever! It's a cute, nice little story to tell kids. Hi little ones, hold dearly to your beliefs, fight for your convictions, and believe in your dreams and one day, you too will have a Federal holiday and numerous mattress sales named after you!

In 6th grade my mom agreed to let me subscribe to the National Geographic. My first issue was one featuring Christopher Columbus and I was shocked! Horrified! Very Disturbed to learn that he was, in fact, a cruel horrible man who butchered, massacred, and enslaved an entire society! WTF?!?!

Look. I get it. We Americans LOVE our three day weekends and October doesn't have one. But, why not celebrate Leif Ericson day? He found North America centuries before Columbus! What, because he was a Viking, and all Vikings are cruel and Godless? Well, Columbus was cruel. He was Italian so he was probably Catholic but if at any point he stopped to wonder WWJD and he came up with, "Genocide for greed, duh!" then, well... It's obvious he wasn't too down with JC. What, Ericson didn't land on North American in October and we need a three day weekend in October? Well, hate to break this to you buddy but Jesus wasn't really born in December.

Seriously, what are we celebrating here? He didn't discover the US and he the man was greedy merciless bastard.

I am convinced that Americans can be swayed to celebrate just about anything and anyone for a government sanctioned three day weekend and a promise of decent sales.

Spanky's Pub

If you went to JMU, you've been to Spanky's. If you've been to Spanky's you've had their nachos and would know that their nachos are legendary!

Michael and I are slowly starting to settle into Leesburg and we're in search of our go to restaurant. You know, that place you always go to when you can't think of anywhere else to eat. One night, as we were driving around the area, I saw a place called Spanky's Shenanigan and got very excited. Could this be an actual Spanky's? Do I really live so close to the world's most amazing nachos?

As soon as we walked in I knew this wasn't it. It's been awhile since I ate at a Spanky's but I recall lots of local tchokies on the wall, booths scrawled with people's names, and a decidedly not so Irish theme. That's cool, oh well, maybe the food will still be good.

Spanky's Pub had a very unglamorous, dive bar feel to it, which isn't a bad thing. It's not pretentious, the bathroom sinks do not resemble giant salad bowls, and there's an overwhelming smell of old, well, we'll call it history and tradition. Most importantly, the service was amazing and the food was decent.

I ordered the shrimp and something pasta, Cajun something, I think.


Grilled shrimp and vegetable over pasta and white sauce with a generous shakes of seasoning and cheese from the green can. It's food that anyone can make at home but it was satisfying and, for a $10 pasta meal, it came with a generous amount of shrimp.

Michael ordered a BLT.


Yeah, toasted white Wonder Bread!

I don't know that Spanky's will be our go to choice but I really liked the casualness of the whole place. As for the most important part, the food, I appreciate the fact that the food is very, "You know you can probably make this at home, right? Well, since you're paying us to make it for you I'll at least charge you a fair amount." It's not that I'm some kind of a foodie who's used to eating complex meals with exotic ingredients, far from it. However, it seems like lately every restaurants from chains to mom and pops, try to make their dishes seem way more exotic then they are (or should be). All of sudden, a BLT on a toasted white bread isn't enough. Now it's peppered strips of smoked bacon, spring garden mix of greens, and locally grown organic tomatoes on toasted artisan bread. You can frou frou it up all you want but it still tastes like BLT only now I have to pay $7.99 for just the sandwich alone.

Anyway, The Spanky's of my college days is dead. Good bye awesome nachos! The Spanky's in Leesburg sells nachos but it's called Catoctin Nachos and it's been my experience that stuff named after local places are never very good. It's like the restaurant knows that the only way they'll be able to sell it is to name it after something local and hope people go, "OMG! I live on Catoctin Road! They made this nacho just for me!"

The Job Hunting Tip No One Mentions

Did you know that the average person has like 8 voice mails in their inbox at any given time? Did you know that the average voice mail isn't listened to for 3 days?

Personally, I love voice mails but I don't really know too many people under the age of 30 that regularly checks their messages. I don't know of a single person under the age of 25 that checks their voice mail unless they're specifically asked to check.

So, to all those kids and young adults out there looking for a job, I have a vital tip for you: Check your voice mail!

The business world does not operate via text. No one's going to text you for an interview and I doubt very many places will email you either. Oh, and "Hey, this is Bob, someone from this number called me," is not the first impression you want to make! Chances are HUGE that who ever picks up the phone has no idea who you are and why anyone called you. If you checked your message you'll know the name of your contact person and the reason for the call. Argh, that's (one of) my biggest pet peeve. It's busy, we don't have time to figure out who you are and why someone called you. If you waste my time I'm not hiring you.

There have been so many times when I leave a voice mail to arrange an interview, even to offer a job, and end up having to give it to someone else because the person I contacted never returned my call (or I get that " We're sorry but the voice mail box of the caller is full. Goodbye."). The kicker is when they call me a week later to ask why they never heard from me and I get to tell them, "Sorry, should've checked your voice mail."

Surprisingly, it's the older candidates applying for management positions that sucks the most at checking their messages. Maybe the younger kids are more inclined because it's so old fashioned it's novel- like actual handwritten letters or something. It makes me wonder if there is a mode of communication out there that fell through the generation gap and is preventing me from advancing in my career. Like there's some old dude out there shaking his fist and going, "Why can't those kids just learn how to read Morse code!" or something.

You've Been Saying that For the Past Five Years!

Hoo, yeah, tired. I don't know how people travel all the time for work; it's exhausting.

The highlight of our manager's meeting are all the band performances. They're not always a band/an artist that I'm into but they're always someone that's relevant. At the very least I can always impress a 14 year old by going, "Oh yeah, totally saw them live."

First we saw Melissa Auf der Maur.


She was in Hole and Smashing Pumpkins and is now doing a solo thing. It was inside a meeting hall and the acoustic was meh so I couldn't get a good sense of her sound but I'm thinking she might appeal to fans of Lacuna Coil, though, I could just be thinking that 'cause of all the Viking and bleeding trees image that was playing in the back. I was a bit jet lagged and out of it but she was very personable on stage, which I liked. I hate it when bands just go up, do their thing, and leave.

The next day we saw Bruno Mars.



He sings that, "Beautiful girl, all over the world, nah nah nah nah something something something got nothing on you babe... Got nothing on you babe..." I liked the B.O.B. album a lot but chose to eat my In-n-Out burger in the shade rather than stand in the hot sun near the stage.

After Bruno, we were treated to 3OH!3.


I'll admit that they've grown on me a bit, especially since the performance; they were a lot of fun. The biggest debate seems to be: Do they know they're big douche buckets? Do they take themselves seriously? Is it all an act? Like it's somehow okay to like them if it's all for show and in real life they're just nice, humble, quiet gentlemen who respect all women. Does it matter? Does it change the fact that millions of impressionable 13 year old girls listen to, and love, their demeaning lyrics?

Back inside, we were treated to...


...Christina something I think... Perri? Yeah, Christina Perri sounds about right. She was apparently a struggling singer working as a waitress (or a barista) just three months ago until Dancing With the Stars used one of her songs (something about a jar full of hearts) and BOOM! Suddenly she's everywhere. She had a very nice voice.

Usually all performances are kept secret but I knew Black Veil Brides were going to play 'cause I saw two of the dudes walking around the office earlier. By the way, they are the skinniest group of guys I've ever seen. I was actually excited to see them because they are one of those immensely popular bands that I never took the trouble to actually check out. I mean, look at them:


Who would not be intrigued? And yet, can you blame me for not rushing home to check out their myspace?


The music was... Meh. But, you know, as someone said of their performance, you got to admire someone who's willing to go all balls out.

The main performance, the one that everyone's supposed to get all super excited about, the one that's kept super super secret hush hush is the one after the awards ceremony on Sunday night. Now, every year I cross my fingers for AFI and every year there's a rumor that it's AFI, but every year I'm disappointed. This year, due to some detective work, we were absolutely certain that it was going to be a band that starts with the letter "A". Could it be? Will this finally be the year...


No, it was Alice Cooper.

Off Topic: I strongly, strongly believe that artist should be alphabetized by their last name and not their first. I know most music stores and iTunes use their first name but, you know, when ever my name gets entered into a file, it's always last name first, right? I mean, I guess you can make the argument that artists are more of a brand than a name but still... Last name first!

Back on Topic: I actually wasn't that bummed it wasn't AFI since I've now seen them live. Besides, Alice Cooper is a rock legend! He was in an episode of Monk! I got a very good place in the pit. As the performance went on, Alice Cooper kept throwing stuff onto the crowd, who would surge forward to catch it, pushing me closer and closer to the stage. Normally, that would be awesome, but I didn't know any of his songs really so there I was was, like right by the stage, surrounded rabid fans just totally rocking out, and I'm just, you know, standing there. I swear he made eye contact with me several times and he didn't seem pleased. Sorry Alice Cooper... Loved you in Monk though!