Category: Musings

Gnomes

by A Purple Life, posted in Musings

I’m not sure what’s going on in this picture, but I love it.

I don’t know where a lot of the “things” in my life come from. I was walking with my partner to the grocery store earlier and saw an awesome pen in the driveway – the type of pen I’ve been using to practice faux-lligraphy the last few days (my new obsession). My partner saw me reaching for it and exclaimed “don’t pick that up off the ground!!!” To which I responded “why not? That’s how I get a lot of my pens.” He was horrified. Continue reading “Gnomes” →

Saying No To A Discount Vacation

by A Purple Life, posted in Musings, Spending, Travel
I keep surprising myself with what I say no to during this journey to early retirement. My friend and former colleague works at a company that offers discounted stays at a Four Seasons in Mexico. It looks beautiful (see above). Their rooms usually start at $400/night and we would get to stay for $75/night so $37.50/person/night. That’s a crazy discount. We would also receive half priced food and drinks…which would probably bring them to regular restaurant prices. Continue reading “Saying No To A Discount Vacation” →

Bringing Retirement Into Now: A Visit From Mom

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Musings

One of the things I’m trying to work on is not putting things off for retirement. If there’s something that I want in retirement – I ask “Is there a way to bring it more into my daily life now?” My main driver for retirement is to spend A LOT MORE time with the people I love. And not just more time, but less distracted, more focused and less tired time. Continue reading “Bringing Retirement Into Now: A Visit From Mom” →

What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up?

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Musings

My Mom recently told me a story about myself that I completely don’t remember, but SPOILER ALERT: I’ve always been this way y’all. Apparently my dreams of retirement were not born out of frustration after job hopping once a year and finding more ways that traditional work is incompatible with the life I want to lead. Here’s the proof. This is an interaction between 10 year old me and my uncle: Continue reading “What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up?” →

Simple Living Like A Princess

by A Purple Life, posted in Food, Musings, Spending

I’ve always been fairly frugal. I’ve always bought generic brand everything – maybe it’s because I was in advertising, but I knew that the only difference was the label. I didn’t see the point. When I cracked down on my budget at the end of 2014 and started paying attention to what I was spending and trying to reduce it I discovered that the one place that wasn’t out of control was my grocery budget…possibly because I didn’t cook 🙂 . Continue reading “Simple Living Like A Princess” →

Time Distortion

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Musings

2 years, 4 months until I retire. That timeframe at once sounds short because I began this journey thinking this goal was 10 years away. And it is at once long: multiple years – almost two and a half more years of this. This stress, this tiredness, this sense of ineffective wastefulness. I know I have the cushiest job situation I’ve ever had, but 2.4 years still feels like a long time. However, looking back at what I was doing 2.4 years ago I remember it vividly like it was not that long ago.

Time is strange. My partner asked what my current timing is and his response to “2 years, 4 months” was “WOW that’s soon!” I found this interesting since I had the opposite reaction. “Goodness that’s far away.” I guess that’s the weirdness of time distortion. Let’s see how it feels when I get there.