Lessons Learned from My Mom

When I look around I can tell that I’m different from other people. Some have even told me so. I’m not sure if they meant it as an insult, but I didn’t take it that way. When I look around even a less consumer city (compared to NYC) like Seattle I see people in name brand coats with name brand bags wearing the same name brand boots. They like to talk about the other name brand things they are planning to buy while decked out daily in jewelry and make up. Continue reading “Lessons Learned from My Mom”

Writing for Myself

I seem to be writing several posts lately about what I don’t want to do 🙂 . I’ve learned a lot this year and it’s only early February. While working as an advisor for this financial start up I was asked to write blogs for her. I originally declined saying I had to write blogs for my current company (true) and was already struggling with that. That is still true to an extent. I find it a lot easier to write about a subject I am passionate about (finance) without a hidden agenda or a particular tone I need to hit that is not my own voice.
Continue reading “Writing for Myself”

Writing Cured My Writer’s Block

My latest job is unlike anything else I have done in my adult life. Instead of being a cog in giant ad agencies where everyone has their place and sometimes I’m asked to lend a hand in another part of the process, we are now all responsible for creating every part of the process. There are no writers or designers or strategists. There is no one dedicated to client service. We are all of these things. We are consultants. We’re whatever the client needs us to be. This is so refreshing and exciting. In the ad world I am usually bored with my work after 3 months and hungry to quit after 6, but now what we do changes so rapidly I’m always learning or doing something new. Continue reading “Writing Cured My Writer’s Block”

I Don’t Want To Be A Financial Adviser

After hearing that I want to retire early several people have tried to talk me out of it – saying that I just haven’t found the right career or job. “What do you like to do?” they ask. “Personal finance” I respond. “Why don’t you become a financial adviser?” they say. My original response was that I do not like the idea of my pay being linked to giving biased or bad advice. Continue reading “I Don’t Want To Be A Financial Adviser”

Eating High Fat Made Me Like Cooking

I’ve never enjoyed cooking. I’ve always seen it as a chore. I cook something for an hour, dirty many pots and pans and since I’m a fast eater scarf it down in about five minutes. This does not seem like a great use of my time. Bad ROI 🙂 . Now that I’m eating Low Carb, High Fat food while doing an Uber Frugal Month challenge I’ve discovered something weird. I don’t hate cooking anymore. I haven’t done a full 180, but I don’t mind cooking. I usually do it at least once a day. I make my breakfast from scratch: 3 scrambled eggs cooking in half a tbsp of butter, an ounce of mozzarella cheese, an ounce of an onion (high carb/sugary – who knew?) and whatever treat I want to put it in: yesterday it was pesto (yum), today it was avocado (YUM!). It takes maybe 10 minutes and I eat it slowly with my tea in a sun-soaked living room. Continue reading “Eating High Fat Made Me Like Cooking”

Dietary Musings Part II: High-Fat, Low Carb

I’m surprised by what my brain absorbs and clings onto. I just re-read my original Dietary Musings post. It was two years ago when I looked into a vegan/whole food plant based diet. I planned to record my ailments that the books I was reading claimed would be resolved by eating this way to track my progress. It….didn’t go well :). Cutting all animal products out of my diet made me tired, constantly hungry and didn’t cure anything. I dropped it after less than a month of creating unique recipes that frankly didn’t taste like much of anything at all and went back to my original American diet which includes bouts of low calorie eating combined with overeating at restaurants and binge drinking. Continue reading “Dietary Musings Part II: High-Fat, Low Carb”

Dodging Bullets: Work Edition

It might be the tumultuous nature of ad agencies, but I seem to have accidentally dodged some serious bullets in my career. In the moment a lot of situations have looked less than ideal, but in hindsight (like most things) they look amazing. My Mom truly believes there’s a reason for everything and each step is pointing you in a positive direction. I’m less optimistic, but it’s a nice thought and looking back at my career it seems to be very true. Continue reading “Dodging Bullets: Work Edition”