Posts (page 2)

check this site out for free fruit!  they map out the areas where fruit falls and people can pick up for free.  homeowners who have fruit trees usually don't know what to do with the excess of fruit that fall from their tree.  i know my mom has shoved huge bags of peaches into my hand every year because she doesn't know what to do with them.  other fruit she has in her backyard: lemons, limes, kumquats, and chinese red bean.   when we have a yard, i'd love to grow some fruit myself. anyhow, here's the site:

http://fallenfruit.org/

drop your unwanted office supplies off to your local stapler center for children who are in need of school supplies:

http://www.dosomething.org/dosomething101/drop-off#ds101

last day of drop off is september 19!

lately money has been on the brain since no one can't avoid the financial doom and gloom in the news.

due to the enormous amount of paper money generated to support all the bailouts and government spending, i suspect that inflation will be in the near future whether we like it or not.  even warren buffett says so and i believe it.

to hedge the impact on inflation, i've looked around and found a few ways which piqued my interest:

• Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities  (TIPS)
• precious metals like gold (notice the abundant "send me your gold and we'll pay you a premium" commercials? ha ha, yeah, right!), silver, and platinum are cited as good investments.   note that these are items which will appreciate in value over long term.  i actually decided NOT to buy a diamond pendant since they generally don't appreciate in value.  i'm opting to buy a plantium necklace instead now. 
• real estate

i need to start digging and doing research about the TIPS.  i don't know much about them but i want to see if they make sense to purchase before the shit hits the fan like last year when the market tanked.  

what i am looking to invest in: green stocks and mutual funds.  i'm hoping my early investment in clean energy pays off.   i've invested in one green mutual fund and it seems to be doing pretty well so i look forward to invest in solar energy and other alternative energies.

yes, it's relatively boring yet relevant posting of these times.  we spend so much time, living day to day, that we forget what might happen in the future.  hopefully, i'll be able to churn some more informative posts about finance.  in the meantime, i'd love to hear what you think will happen in the future with the us economy.

i threw a birthday party for my husband who had a milestone birthday for about 120 people.  here are my do's and don'ts for a successful party w/o tearing your hair out:

do's

• #1 rule: do set a budget.  if you don't, well, costs can be may hit your pocket harder than you expected
• do ask your guests if they have any dietary restrictions.  one person had a wheat gluten allegry so i made sure she would be able to eat at the party.
• do make sure your guests have ample parking.

• do your research on all options and do what makes sense re: time/costs. time is money!  
• food: i wasn't going to cook for 50+, much less than 100+ so i outsourced it to a mobile taco truck since they're  trendy these days in los angeles.  my husband and i went around the trucks, sampled all the food and asked a lot questions about catering.   in the end we ended up with a great caterer who was flexible and took care of our guests and our needs for 1/2 the cost of the famous kogi taco truck.   our guests paid unsolicited compliments about the food and i was happy that people enjoyed the food because it really does make the party
• negotiate your costs with your caterer and make sure your caterer sticks to agreed terms.  since there's a lot of competition, your vendor should be flexible and if they're not, find someone else!
• DYI items which you know can be done easily and cheaply.  I had looked into fruit platters from all markets and it averaged $30/platter for 20.  since it's season for all fruits, we went to a chinese market (they have the cheapest prices on fruit) and we had a crew of people cut up fruit for the party
• do give your caterers what time you expect to start and how long they should take to serve the food. they arrived late and didn't precook a lot of stuff hence the long wait for food.  that was the only low light of the party for me.
• do visit the location of the party to talk to the person who's in charge of renting the location to you. ask the person  a lot of questions where things are. i walked into the reception hall, knowing where the trash cans were, where the dumpster was, where the light switches were, where the big fans where, where the chairs were, and who was going to be in the area for classes next door. 
• do have a schedule.  i did have a schedule but there was some confusion.  we had to sing happy birthday twice because i was talking to people outside and our musical act decided to sing happy birthday.  no big deal.  :)
• do load your car with all the stuff you need for the party the night before the party rather than the day of (if applicable).
• do bring a change of clothes, makeup, and hairbrush with you.  i wore my grubby clothes and sneakers during all of set up and changed right before guests arrived.   you want to be as comfortable as possible while running around. change to look nice when it counts.
• do wear comfortable shoes as you'll be on your feet most of the party.
• do recruit separate teams of volunteers for set up/helping/clean up.  even though you have help, remember that the volunteers are also invited guests and should enjoy the party, too.
• do assign a lead for areas which need attention. for our party, one person was directing music and another was directing the food table.  i was really lucky because my friends knew how to take charge!
• do overcommunicate with your volunteers and everyone else.  outline what your volunteers and guests should do prior to the party.   they can ask you questions prior to the party.  sharing information in advance definitely saves so much time because people will know what to expect rather than have to ask you at the party.     
• do donate food is left from the party to the local homeless shelter.   our caterers were awesome; they cooked and delivered the food on our behalf to the LA rescue mission.
• do donate flowers to the local senior center or somewhere you think would be appreciate a little longer.

don't's

• don't go to party city or a big box party store for all of your party needs.  they're expensive and overprice everything. 
• DYI decorations: go to michael's or joann's. the crafts are cheaper esp. with the weekly 40% off coupons you can print off from the internet.
• ready made decorations can be also found at other craft stores.  most of the party stuff i got from moskatel's in the flowermart district.   for example, for a roll of table cloth was only $10.   at party city, it was $24 for the same roll.  a savings of $14!  a roll of tickets i used to pass out for food was only $4. party city sold a roll for $8; twice the price!
• don't be stingy with the amount of food.  always overestimate because the worst thing that can happen at a party is when you run out of food.  we ran out of drinks towards the very end because it was a pretty warm day.  i had 3 packs of coke zero that i forgot to bring out.  darn.
• don't do balloons or have them professionally done. i don't know if it's the balloons i got but they didn't hold up very well at the party.
• don't do last minute.  it's really stressful when you're scrambling to get something done in front of the guests.
• don't forget the serving utensils! 
• dont' forget to thank and reward your volunteers. they're the main reason why a party's successful.   i didn't have time to do this yet but i'm planning to give everyone who volunteered a movie ticket or in 'n out gift certificate to thank them for their hard work.

i watched food inc movie last weekend and it changed how i view food and like the tag line, i will never look at dinner the same way.

to summarize, the movie takes us on a journey from how the food industry progressed into one which is owned by a few companies to mass produce food under unethical methods.   supporting the unconscious-able practices of pumping antibodies into chickens to overcrowding cattle farms, those few corporations don't care as long as it can feed the demand of the fast food industry.    it doesn't matter if consumers were growing obese and if we were get infected with ecoli.

i couldn't help but feel helpless. what i can do to prevent the inhumane treatment of animals?  as an advocate of animals, it was unbearable to watch some of the footage.  i had to turn away in fear of crying in the theater (i did watch the parts i missed on youtube later that night).  

so i am making a pledge to change the way i consume:  avoiding the mass fast food chains and visiting farmer markets more often.   here's a short list of what you can do to help:

http://www.foodincmovie.com/get-involved.php

i found a great organization, scrap, in the bay area which will take all types of stuff you find lying around the house and would throw away in a heartbeat. 

http://www.scrap-sf.org

take a look at what they'll accept:

i'm happy to say that our household has kicked the water bottle habit!   we no longer buy water bottles in bulk anymore.  we drink from the filter and fill our reuseable bottles (as seen below) when we leave the house.   the hubs has his own nalgene bottle he carries around and i use a water tumbler at work and refill from our water filtering system in the break room. 

it took almost a year but i can now safely say that we no longer buy bottled water at home.   we are still guilty for buying a 6-pack of bottled water when we're on vacation.  i like to justify it by saying that we don't have an adequate method of sanitizing the bottles unless we bring along dishwash soap with us!   the thought of washing our bottles in a hotel bathroom makes me ill, considering that the hotel rooms aren't properly cleaned.

Waterweek

if you don't have a clue what your dad wants for father's day, check out harry and david's sale at harryanddavid.com.    there is a sale AND free shipping on everything if you order by 5/26!  use code: FLAG when you check out.  if your father can't have sweets, there's always fruit and their rivera pears are so delicious!

i ordered a tower of treats and a gourmet giftbox for my father in law and grandpa for $45 with a cost savings of $25.  you can't beat that! 

finally, i post!  it's hard to post when you run out of ideas to write about.  :)

i don't know how trustworthy this site is but here's an interesting site where you can trade your cd's for new ipod.

http://ipodmeister.com/

i hardly bought cd's back in the day.   i couldn't bring myself in spending $15 for 2 good songs and 6-10 crap songs.   my husband, the musician, had an infinite number of cds and ended up selling most of them on http://www.secondspin.com/.   now the exchange rate on second spin sucks so i don't know what other options you have other maybe donating them to the library for a tax break?

from now on, i'll be on a mission to grab at least one floral center piece at wedding banquets if left over.

i was at a wedding recently and someone just handed me an unwanted bouquet of flowers in a vase.   you don't understand how many times this happens.

instead of wasting the flowers and throwing them away, i delivered a lovely vase of roses and lilies to the senior center right down my street.   it was very welcomed by the staff.  what a great feeling!

my cousin is getting married soon.  i wonder if i can talk her into repurposing the unwanted flowers from her wedding to a local convalescent home.