Not so easy.

May 3! Friday! What do you have planned for this weekend? Tomorrow night DH and I have a house warming / cinco de Mayo party to go to, and Sunday is my sister's engagement shower. As long as the weather keeps up here in SF I will be a happy camper, although I'm sure my chinchillas will beg to differ.

Hello, heat wave...

Speaking of things not being so easy.... a few things that make me uncomfortable per todays prompt. Crowds, especially at bars/restaurants/clubs/venues where people are constantly bumping up into you. Snakes (thanks dad). Bathing suits. People clipping their nails at work or on public transit. Spitting. Awkward social situations where you are the third/fifth/seventh wheel. In high school and college it was boys.  Flying, although I'm getting better at it. And taking photos of myself, especially for my blog. The majority of the time DH isn't home and I don't have anything but my iPhone around, so its the bathroom at work for me. Work situations, especially in my field, can leave me wanting to cry/scream/drink/have a day off. But what can you do but hope that tomorrow is better, no?

What things or situations make you uncomfortable, and what have you done to try make those situations better?

My traveling tips

May 2nd - another prompt for writing today. Hurrah!

Lowenbrau Hall at Oktoberfest

Ichia Island off the coast of Naples

Educate readers on something you are good at or know a lot about.

I guess I know a bit about a lot of things... but I thought I'd take a stab at my vacation planning skills.

The most fun thing to do first? Decide where you want to go. Scope out points of interest - for us, we had never been to Naples and wanted to eat real Napolitana pizza. We had been to Cinque Terre but only on a day trip. And Oktoberfest is pretty much all you need to know about Munich in the fall. Narrow down the big things you want to see and you can start to plan your travel around them.

The second most important thing is... setting a budget. Yep. Realizing how much you want to spend on a trip can be the worst part. For our honeymoon, DH and I knew we wanted to get back to Italy.. but we decided to throw Oktoberfest in Munich into the mix. Because Oktoberfest happens in late September/early October we already knew when we would be traveling. We booked our hotel in Munich in February and it was by far the most expensive hotel of the trip, so we attempted to average about 150.00 USD per night for every hotel after that, and about 50USD per day in food (all of our hotels in Italy included breakfast, hurrah!)

Because we live in SF and are at a United hub we stockpiled our frequent flier miles to use for award flights. We paid out of pocket about 500 in airfare for all of our flights (SFO to Dulles [we had a two day layover for family events], Dulles to Munich, Munich to Naples, Bergamo to Frankfurt, and Frankfurt back to SFO). Airline affiliates and smaller European airlines are your friend.

Once we had our plane travel booked we started looking into hotels. We chose hotels that were conveniently located but also offered perks such as breakfast and free wifi (an easy way for us to communicate with our families back home). We then booked train travel to get us around Italy and ensure that we had seats (because sitting in the middle of the aisle is just not a fun way to go).

As we got closer to our departure date we went to our bank and got some Euros so we would have money for taxi or bus fare if we needed it, called our credit card companies, and packed our bags. DH and I both took a carry on to Europe and we did laundry once. Plus, we avoided any nasty fees for checking bags on intra-European flights.

And before you know it... your trip is here and all you have to do is have fun.

Some tips:

• Start reward accounts with hotel groups, airlines, car rental companies - you name it. Anything you can accrue rewards on to use in the future or get discounts on is a plus.
• Make a list of important things you'd like to see (and where they are located..we've been to Florence twice and have yet to see the real David. Or find him. Ooops.)
• Call your credit card company so that you can use your card if you are going out of the country - and if you use your ATM card your pin should be only 4 digits.
• Print out your itineraries, tickets, and boarding passes ahead of time to cut back on freaking out before you leave for the airport.
• Charge your camera batteries and bring extra cords for charging items.

And there you have it!

May blogging month & about me

I saw this on a few of my blogs today and thought I'd attempt the challenge over at Story of my life: Blogging every day in May. I'm always game for a challenge. :) Today's topic is the story of my life in 250 words or less.

My name is Laura. I was born August 30, 1984 to two amazing people I get to call my parents, and was graced by my baby sister Lisa in 1988. I was raised in the suburbs of San Francisco and lived in the same house until I went to college. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2007 with a degree in english language literatures and dreams of one day writing a book. I'm the only person in my immediate family to graduate college with a bachelors degree. I travelled Europe for 6 weeks post graduation with my then boyfriend (aka, my husband) and promptly got a job upon returning. That was 6 years ago and today I work full time in human resources and love it. I live in downtown San Francisco with my husband, our cat, two chinchillas, and our fish. I have four tattoos (although most people always say they never think I would have any), and aside from my husband my mom is my best friend. San Francisco is one of my most favorite cities on Earth but I also have been bitten by the travel bug. I still want to write a book, adopt more cats, own a home, and not a day goes by that I don't miss my grandparents terribly. I love food, photographs, the sun, and laughter.

And... there you have it. Me. :)

Linking up for today's blog post.

April budget

Or... as I shall say, ouch. I went way over budget this month. New York really threw a wrench into my plans. I thought I was done.. and then there was C Wonder. And J Crew. And no sales tax on clothes if you spend under 110.
At least everything I got was on sale? :/

April budget by lnforner featuring j.crew tees

C Wonder jeweled necklace: 28

C Wonder Chevron sweater: ~35

C Wonder Long sleeve striped shirt: ~25

J Crew silk collared blouse: 35

J Crew factory tissue tee: 7

J Crew factory white button down: 25

J Crew dot blazer: 55

Ralph Lauren long sleeved blouse: 35

Not pictured:

J Crew outlet convertible skirt/dress: ~30

J Crew peter pan collared sweater: ~30

So yeah. I'll have to be really, really good in May. Although I do need a new swimsuit for the Mexico trip that may be the only thing that I allow myself for next month.

Linking up with Franish - how did you do this month?

New York

New York you are fantastic. I've prolly left your fantastic city with a few more pounds to my hips but that's okay.  I had such a fun time with all of my coworkers and being able to stay and visit with my in laws, but its always good to come home and sleep in my own bed and be with the furkids.

Here's some snapshots from our trip:

Near Columbus Circle, a few blocks away from the inlaws 

Yankee Stadium

Cheese fries at the ballgame.

Baked by Melissa peanut butter chocolate cupcakes. YUM!

My friend I made walking to work on 28th..

Globe outside 59th St Station

View from office 1 

Empire State Building 

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Office number 2's pool room 

A flagel. It was good! 

Central park 

Manolo store

C Wonder goodies

Whew. I swear each night we had something going on after work and the jet lag messed with me for a few days. But I had a great time and hope to go back soon. Next month is Mexico... so I might need some beach clothes!

April wishlist

Life has been busy lately.. but here's what I'm dreaming of for the rest of April and May. 

What are you eying lately?

Liberty for J Crew Floral Blazer

Oh Liberty, how I love you, let me count the ways. There is something about the Liberty of London for J Crew line that seems to get me every time. Whimsical floral prints that before I'd shy away from have suddenly become some of my favorite go-to's in my closet. And these little notebooks found their way home from London with me, too.

When I first spotted this blazer I was too sure about it... but it eventually grew on me. So I took the plunge this past weekend when it was marked down in store to 99.99 - 30%. I figured it would be a good transitional piece from spring to summer here - and since our summers often go through September I'm hoping to get some good use out of it. The material is a lighter fabric and the buttons are gold with an adorable coat of arms on them. I took my normal size 8 in this blazer and its the schoolboy fit.

 
And oh look, crooked smile up above. Because it's almost 5 PM.

I'm also really excited about the chain necklace my mom got me - I might need to add an extender on to it but its a good weight and good length.

Blazer: Liberty of London for J Crew
Turtleneck: J Crew, exact
Necklace: Gift (thanks mom!), similar
Jeans: Seven for all mankind