Hint of Mint

I like to shop. A lot. And not only do I enjoy retail therapy, but also: going to the movies, eating out (while cooking is enjoyable, there's nothing like trying a new restaurant, hence my Yelp addiction) and exploring the city's endless festivals and museums. Combine all these activities together and you have the potential for a budget disaster. Living in San Francisco is not cheap by any means, and sometimes you have to sit down with a calculator and make sure the sorbet/wine bar/fancy jeans/running gear purchases aren't going to suck up the rent funds for the month.

Luckily the internet gods have been looking down on us financial nitwits and have come up with a solution for money management. Mint.com is a free web-based application to help manage personal finances (and it just recently came out of beta).

What's great is that you can manage all of your accounts from one central site. The main page can be linked to all of your accounts (credit cards, checking and savings accounts) and Mint.com will automatically categorize your purchases.

Not like I needed a pie chart to tell me that I spend more on necklaces and scarves than I do on groceries...

An Apple a Day...

I've recently picked up a semi-lame habit. When I order something at a restaurant that is accompanied by french fries, I've been substituting them for a side salad instead. While I'm the self-proclaimed queen of fried food, I've tried to steer clear of anything that will give me a serious case of eaters remorse the next day.

But let's be honest here- when I do choose to eat fries, I will go all out. Sweet potato fries and garlic fries in particular. Imagine my dismay when I saw that Burger King (oops, "BK") is going to be selling apple fries: raw apples cut to look like french fries. Are we so desperate to get kids to eat fruit that they must now look like something deep fried? And if parents are hoping to introduce fruits and vegetables into their family's diets, I'm guessing they should be turning away from fast food restaurants in the first place (unless you are in a dire road trip situation, of course!).

I hope that my zucchini isn't going to start masquerading as cheeseburgers.

Media Overload

I left my cell phone at home today. In the typical morning frenzy of grabbing my pilates mat, gym bag, purse, banana and other assorted snacks, I left my BlackBerry buddy behind. Once I got past the initial feeling of shock and social inadequacy (not to mention I had no idea what time it was), it was a little refreshing to know that I couldn't be contacted while I was commuting through the city.

Let's face it, sometimes we are overloaded with media. I wake up in the morning to the tune of my cell phone alarm and clock radio, then automatically turn on Today. On my way to work on the bus, I pass countless billboards as I read my EW and listen to my iPod. Upon sitting at my desk, I immediately open my iGoogle page, check my Bloglines feeds and read DailyCandy. I check my Facebook page and spend an entire day with Outlook. At night, I cook dinner (usually a recipe that I found online and saved to my del.icio.us page for future reference), watch Food Network and send countless text messages.

I haven't blogged much recently because this amazing amount of media consumption has been somewhat overwhelming. My daily inspiration hasn't felt as unique or special when I know the next day will bring something even more interesting and different.

I think my vacation is over and it's time to write again. But sometimes I feel like I'm constantly running out the door and it's hard to grab everything!