Celebrity Personal Finance Gurus!

Check it out! Getting Suze Orman to sign her new book for my boss. I was all excited and nervous and afterwards, I had a celebrity high that you get from meeting someone you admire. She had a really fun 1 hour talk, that is pretty much all about her new book, "Women and Money" She yelled at a single woman w/o dependents for buying term life insurance. Public humiliation! She answered a question about the dollar value of taking care of kids at home. But basically, all the people in the audience were already on the "Suze Boat" and from what she was saying about how women like to take care of other people with their money before they take care of themselves, it was pretty obvious that those women who REALLY needed Suze's book the most were not in the audience, and and may never know to read her book in order to fix their lives up.
Anyway, check out the TD Ameritrade Save yourself plan offer in her book! It's so cool! I'm so excited about applying for this Money market account!
 

Suze the Life Changing Financial Guru Lady

A very sad girl

I was driving home tonight- listening to NPR's "All Things Considered" and they were discussing the hardship of military families who lost a loved one who was deployed. And I was so surprised when they introduced a woman named Wendy. She was a sorority sister a year or two younger than me who went to my undergrad school and then left to West Point to finish her degree and become an army officer. I don't know her that well, and haven't seen her since school, but my other sorority sisters do.

Wendy's picture and story

She was amazing in her interview. And so sad. And so deeply respectful to everybody involved in the war effort. I'm so glad I stayed late to work. I'm so glad I listened to NPR when I did. She really reminded people that whatever the people in the highest chain of command decide to do, it really affects the people and their families, the soldiers who have to carry out their orders. It must be crazy difficult for her. She also wished that everyday people had more conscious understanding of wartime and what soldiers and their families go through when they are deployed.

Girls who are cute

How cool is this? One of my friends, who lives in San Diego, got on the front page of the NY Times, because she just so happened to attend a surfing class when the journalists were here reporting on how trendy and business oriented surfing is becoming!
 Surfer Girl
She's soooo adorable in this picture! Makes me miss being unemployed, a little....

Another cute girl, A., is demonstrating that you can make FREE local phone calls on the Sergio Vega PARROT phone that is outside the ICA! That's right. Free! So go look up someone on your cell phone in the 617 area code to call and then call them on the parrot!

Patagonia's cradle to cradle- Missing that school I went to

Stuff that I learned at Cornell is coming back to life! At work, the higher ups and merchandisers had a big meeting about fit, and that the higher-ups hired a consultant to assess the fit of the clothing sold. They said that the pants here have the most consistent fit out of all of the womenswear apparel companies, and then they listed that there are so many ways that more clothing can get sold by improving the fit of the product. They have no idea that I studied so much about fit in school, and have done that class bodyscanning project...

The other thing that I was studying about was apparel sustainability, and not only shoes, but underwear is now going to be going through a cradle to cradle system! Yay for underwear! I just wish that one day that my company will get on this green bandwagon soon....

Check out the stupid yet cute video!

Patagonia recycling

Christmas Memories for 2006

So, call me weird, but I asked for a xmas tree from my nicey nicey bf this year- and it's a very nice tree. Since there was more room in his parents house, we put it up in there and decorated it with stuff that's been hiding in the attic for several years! Free ornaments! From decades past!
It's so ridiculously fun to decorate trees. In New England, it is a given that your tree will be a live tree. Ours was a very prickly blue spruce that was very wide. We had a couple hundred glass ornaments on it, but for some funny reason, the ornaments that were the most fun were these guys that were probably made by one of Cs sisters at some point...


Last but not least, Cs sister made me this very cool stocking- it's made of OLD SWEATERS! Tres chic example of reuse, no?

Is Flatulence Good Or Evil?

That is one of the questions I will be asking my tour audiences when I take them around the ICA. I love this building! The highest floor is a glowing box, and the wood on the inside is a really nice color gray. It is the first time I've seen a place finish wood to look like how it will be when it's outdoors, because the outside wood will weather naturally, and what color will it be? Gray! Those of my friends who need that one more excuse to come to Boston just to visit me, this new museum is another reason to come over, ok? I'll be your personal tour guide, and maybe one day in the nicer weather, we might be able to board a Duck tour and get to the museum!
Or get on the T and use a CharlieCard!

Tapping Card T Fare Info

When I was in Singapore, we used this system to get around on the bus and the train- it is SO EFFICIENT!!! Instead of feeding a card in a specific direction, which takes time and hand coordination, you just tap your card on the black reader. Simple. Functional. That's why I love Singapore.


Paris Fashion Show exhibit is coming to town!

So Exciting! At the MFA, there will be a fashion show exhibit on display for the next few months. For the first time garments from 2006 collections from Paris, shown in the Carrousel de Louvre, will be in Boston (?) And I'm sure none of my students know about this blog, so they won't have any clue that I'm going to make them do an assignment involving this exhibit, heh heh.

 

MFA Fashion Show 2006 Exhibit Link

And speaking of museums, yay for the ICA- it's almost done! December 10th it will open on the waterfront- I better start studying the museum tour guide book!

ICA Home Page