The LIW Small Talk Thread

[jitterymo]

COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC:

I realised the other day that winter must be so much more fun on the other side of the world. Snow! Christmas! Holidays! End of school year! I imagine that makes it feel much more magical than soggy grey July! No Independence Day, Thanksgiving or even Halloween to make it more interesting.

I feel we got the worse end of the deal here!

Chewbacca, I'm not sure where you are from, but I live in the United States, California (Northern California) we've had like one nice sunny day in July, the rest have been foggy and even some rainy... And we get snow about once every 15 years... Though you don't have any of those holidays, I'm sure you guys have some kind of holiday that we don't over here... you should totally try to start Halloween! though some people may think you are crazy for dressing up in a ridiculous costume and knocking on strangers door asking for candy - now that I think of it, Halloween is a creapy holiday, haha, but I still love it!

 

[Mico]

just a little push to see if we make page 1000

**dust**

 

[star sparkle]

Chewbacca, I'm not sure where you are from, but I live in the United States, California (Northern California) we've had like one nice sunny day in July, the rest have been foggy and even some rainy... And we get snow about once every 15 years... Though you don't have any of those holidays, I'm sure you guys have some kind of holiday that we don't over here... you should totally try to start Halloween! though some people may think you are crazy for dressing up in a ridiculous costume and knocking on strangers door asking for candy - now that I think of it, Halloween is a creapy holiday, haha, but I still love it!

ILoveSpinel- I'm in NorCal, too! Where are you? I'm in the South Bay Area.

 

[jitterymo]

I'm still above that, in Humboldt County...

 

[Chewbacca]

So I had my 'colours done'. (http://www.colormebeautiful.com) One of my close friends is OBSESSED with it, and she sent me a voucher to have it done as a thank you (I made her wedding cake, and did her flowers).

I'm a Winter! Which means among other colours black, grey, cobalt, silver and WG. None of which I like to wear! My favourite colour is YELLOW GOLD for goodness sake! Sad. It also means fuchsia, true yellow, white, blue-red and navy, which I do like!

I'm not planning on really following it, but it was interesting to find out what colours 'best suit me'. And a little bit funny to be told in such a blunt and factual way! Has anyone else had this done? It was very popular in the 80's!

 

[audball]

So I had my 'colours done'. (http://www.colormebeautiful.com) One of my close friends is OBSESSED with it, and she sent me a voucher to have it done as a thank you (I made her wedding cake, and did her flowers).

I'm a Winter! Which means among other colours black, grey, cobalt, silver and WG. None of which I like to wear! My favourite colour is YELLOW GOLD for goodness sake! Sad. It also means fuchsia, true yellow, white, blue-red and navy, which I do like!

I'm not planning on really following it, but it was interesting to find out what colours 'best suit me'. And a little bit funny to be told in such a blunt and factual way! Has anyone else had this done? It was very popular in the 80's!

Sounds fun Chewbacca! Sorry the colors weren't what you wanted, but they sound lovely to me!

 

[jitterymo]

I'm so bad with make-up lately I'd rather just skip it and not wear any... I wore it for so long because I had adult acne very badly, but since the doctor put me on birth control it's all cleared up (thank goodness!)

 

[audball]

I rarely wear makeup. Only for special occasions or going out. I don't wear it to work generally or home, etc. Too much effort when Andrew half the time can't tell the difference.

 

[jitterymo]

Tyler always tells me how beautiful I am, and that beautiful women don't need make-up. he's so sweet! I had a boyfriend once that wouldn't let me go out of the house without it on, what a pig!

 

[Chewbacca]

Oh my gosh ILS! A pig indeed!

Audball, apparently most women want to be Winter, because it has black! I am the opposite, I wear no black. The other colours are nice though, I agree.

My SO prefers women without makeup. Which is great, because I have always worn none/bare minimum when I'm trying to look pulled together. I do LOVE a bright lip though.

I wish I had better skin, I hate having to do concealer coverup on my spotty chin! I really want to try one of those Clarisonic face brushes, but yikes the price is crazy!

 

[audball]

Andrew's the same way. He can hardly tell when I AM wearing makeup since even when I do it's pretty minimal. Love him!

 

[pandabee]

aww I can't imagine a guy ever telling you you were hideous without makeup!!! makes me want to slap a guy.

but I'm glad you lovely ladies are as low-key as me..I also hardly wear any makeup. usually it's a little bit of foundation to smooth everything over and some mascara because my poor asian eyelashes are *so* short!!! that's about as much work as I'm willing to put in lol. maybe us ladies have a tendency to not try to put as much emphasis on makeup as we want our ~sparklies~ to do the main shining!!

 

[MBKRH]

Ladies, I am so sad. Today I turn the big 3-0. I'm feeling so down, I wish (and thought) I would have accomplished so much more by now. I want to cry.... did anyone else feel this way when they turned 30?

 

[audball]

Ladies, I am so sad. Today I turn the big 3-0. I'm feeling so down, I wish (and thought) I would have accomplished so much more by now. I want to cry.... did anyone else feel this way when they turned 30?

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day and can enjoy your 30s! I've heard the 30s are the best decade!!

Don't beat yourself up about what you have or haven't accomplished. Life has a way of taking you where you are supposed to go. I'm not yet 30 so I can't comment on that, but I can relate to feeling like I should further than I am. I'll be 26 in a few months and most of my friends are done with school, already married, buying houses, and starting families. I'm not even engaged. I'm not taking classes right now but I'm not sure if I'm "done". I feel behind.

When I feel this way people tend to remind me of exactly what I said. You are exactly where you're supposed to be. The decisions you've made in your life have led you here and you can't complain about that. Bad decisions were things you learned from and good decisions are helping you lead a happier life.

To the 30s! May they be the best decade yet!

 

[jitterymo]

I second the Happy Birthday!!!

Isn't 30 the new 20? I'm not quite 30 yet (about 16 more months), but I say go find a mirror tell yourself that you are beautiful and give the mirror a big smile... if that doesn't help, drive to the nearest safeway buy a bottle of wine and a cheesecake, enjoy!

 

[MBKRH]

Ladies, I am so sad. Today I turn the big 3-0. I'm feeling so down, I wish (and thought) I would have accomplished so much more by now. I want to cry.... did anyone else feel this way when they turned 30?

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day and can enjoy your 30s! I've heard the 30s are the best decade!!

Don't beat yourself up about what you have or haven't accomplished. Life has a way of taking you where you are supposed to go. I'm not yet 30 so I can't comment on that, but I can relate to feeling like I should further than I am. I'll be 26 in a few months and most of my friends are done with school, already married, buying houses, and starting families. I'm not even engaged. I'm not taking classes right now but I'm not sure if I'm "done". I feel behind.

When I feel this way people tend to remind me of exactly what I said. You are exactly where you're supposed to be. The decisions you've made in your life have led you here and you can't complain about that. Bad decisions were things you learned from and good decisions are helping you lead a happier life.

To the 30s! May they be the best decade yet!

Thanks audball. Like you, most of my friends are done with school, married, bought homes, etc....
After six grueling years, I finally finished my Associate Degree last July (30K in student loans later, I hate the field I'm in and desperately want to go back for something else). I most certainly feel behind.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Your post cheered me up, as this has been the worst birthday ever. I should have taken the day off from work, to say the least. I don't want to gripe, but man........... this was a BAD DAY!!!!

 

[star sparkle]

Hugs, MBKRH!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I'm sorry you had such a crummy birthday, but ditto to what audball said. Your journey of life has brought you to where you are now, so there's nowhere else you should be!

I was feeling down about my birthday this year because I turned 27 and I was so upset because I was closer to 30 than 20, and I actually commented to my mom about how everyone says the 30's are the best years of a woman's life, but I didn't think that was possible because my 20's were so awesome and how could anything else be better. She told me basically to stop being dumb, and that I have SO MUCH to look forward to in my 30's. Since then I've realized that she's right, there still so much I have yet to see and do and accomplish, and actually doing those things are going to be so much better than just *anticipating* them, as I've been doing thus far.

I second the wine and cheesecake idea!!!

 

[audball]

Thanks audball. Like you, most of my friends are done with school, married, bought homes, etc....
After six grueling years, I finally finished my Associate Degree last July (30K in student loans later, I hate the field I'm in and desperately want to go back for something else). I most certainly feel behind.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Your post cheered me up, as this has been the worst birthday ever. I should have taken the day off from work, to say the least. I don't want to gripe, but man........... this was a BAD DAY!!!!

I'm glad it helped. I'm so sorry you didn't have a good birthday!
Nowhere to go but up!

 

[Chewbacca]

Happy belated birthday MBKRH! I hope things have been looking up since.

 

[jitterymo]

I'm thinking that this will go to 1000 pages soon! anyone have an enjoyable weekend? I don't use the internet/computer during the weekend usually (Friday - Sunday). T and I had a garage sale and made $250 towards our Vegas Trip in Feb! we are super stoked about it!!! and we went to a gem fest, looked for my center stone, didn't find anything, but he did buy me a stran of freshwater pearls and a cool rock. have a good week everyone!!!

 

[audball]

I was really hoping you'd find your stone!!

But way cool about more money for Vegas!

 

[jitterymo]

We found a pretty nice pink sapphire, but wrong shape/stone, right size/price

We went and looked at a house on Thursday, and we LOVED it!!! I just wish the price was about $50,000 less... we have an appointment with the bank loan officer on next Monday to see what we qualify for together. And I'm currently putting together a write up on what I think we can afford without having to eat dried beans and tortillas for years (or going to our parents everynight for dinner). Mortgage rates are really low so that's nice, and all the housing prices are coming down where I live (houses are actually a lot cheaper if we leave the town we are in, but neither of us want to do that).

so much to think about... my mind is crazy right now, overloading on responsibilities and commitments...

 

[LJL]

...Im only 23...and dreading 24 so I have no positive thoughts on the 30s... !!! except happy belated birthday!

And ILS, you can always offer much less, they will counter, then you can counter. You never know unless you ask! Depending on the price of the house, $50k might be reasonable. Sellers know they are unlikely to get their asking price unless they sell very quickly. Good luck with it!

 

[audball]

And ILS, you can always offer much less, they will counter, then you can counter. You never know unless you ask! Depending on the price of the house, $50k might be reasonable. Sellers know they are unlikely to get their asking price unless they sell very quickly. Good luck with it!

Ditto. house prices are negotiable, it just depends on the market in the neighborhood it's located, what the list price is, and how much of a percentage 50k is. A lot of houses sell for 10% below asking.

 

[Chewbacca]

Aww LJL, why dreading 24? I'm pumped for 25! I think I just love my birthday, I haven't grown out of that yet!

 

[audball]

I find life keeps getting better in the 20s and I know the 30s will be better! I look forward to all my birthdays. Andrew and I will both be 26 in a few months and we're pretty stoked. 25 has been our best year yet (we both agree).

 

[jitterymo]

And ILS, you can always offer much less, they will counter, then you can counter. You never know unless you ask! Depending on the price of the house, $50k might be reasonable. Sellers know they are unlikely to get their asking price unless they sell very quickly. Good luck with it!

Ditto. house prices are negotiable, it just depends on the market in the neighborhood it's located, what the list price is, and how much of a percentage 50k is. A lot of houses sell for 10% below asking.

The house is very big 1800sqf but only 2 bed 1 bath, two car garage with workshop and a potting shed/house nice lawn veggie beds and fruit trees for $269900; I was thinking out max price with both would be $245000 (anything over and we will dramatically have to change our lifestyle).

 

[audball]

The house is very big 1800sqf but only 2 bed 1 bath, two car garage with workshop and a potting shed/house nice lawn veggie beds and fruit trees for $269900; I was thinking out max price with both would be $245000 (anything over and we will dramatically have to change our lifestyle).

Well that's not worth it. Buy what you can afford without completely cramping your lifestyle.

 

[MBKRH]

Happy belated birthday MBKRH! I hope things have been looking up since.

Thank you, Chewbacca. Sadly, things are about the same, if not, possibly a little worse.

We just found out that our rent was raised. Only by 20 bucks a month, but still, that's 240 dollars a year that we don't have. M has been struggling with work (he works in a commission based field, and needless to say, things are super s-l-o-w for him). I want to ask for a raise but I'm terrified, as I've never asked for one in my entire working life. My debt is getting close to becoming out of control, and I just feel like I'm getting close to hitting rock bottom. It's terrifying. And then, two more engagement announcements on Facebook.

Sorry for venting.

 

[jitterymo]

I would love to ask for a raise but sadly I work for the government and we don't get to sak for them (and I haven't gotten a pay raise in almost 2 years) I'm thinking of looking for a new job, but in my area there isn't much to choose from, unless I want something that is a very big pay decrease.

I'm sorry you are having difficulties in your finances, that must be hard. I wish I could give you advise or even words of encouragment. we are here to hear what you have to say.