Being Frugal

Now that we are approaching the end of the first term, it is apparent that for some, not having an adequate sum of money to carry over until the next financial aid disbursement is a reality. I was almost caught in the above situation if it wasn't for a timely intervention. I consider myself to be tight fisted with money. Hence, receiving my first FA disbursement seemed manageable; the first thing I did was to place myself on a strict budget and lived within my means. Nevertheless, despite my frugality, I still found myself 'dipping' into my resources to make up for expenses such as paying more to get my hair done, engaging in a Starbucks moments, indulging in several retail therapies, and the least expected, parking and speeding tickets.
What this has taught me is despite how much I plan there are still unaccounted expenses that I encountered. Now, as I anticipate my new FA disbursement, I am ever more cognizant of the fact that the cost of living differs from the city where I previously resided to the one in which I currently reside. I am also more cognizant of the unanticipated expenses that can pose problems for me if I am not careful. In my planning and budgeting, more emphasis is now being placed on being frugal, and at the same time trying to avoid having to unnecessarily and wastefully spend what I do not have. The worst thing that can happen to any of us is to run out of money before our next disbursement comes around.
As professional students, managing our finances is a necessary skill that we must be good at. As future dentists, medical doctors, or the likes, managing the finances of our practice will not be something that we want to learn on the job, hence the time to do so is now. I'm learning from my mistakes, how about you?

Whirlwind week wrap-up

It's back to school for me next week, which means it's time to pull out my big girl crayons and put on my big girl thinking cap. I'm very excited to start Dental School and finally live part of a dream that I've had for so long. As is the intention of this blog, you will be hearing of my dental school experiences, both inside and out of the classroom.

It was Orientation week at my school, which means it was a free 5 days before hell - literally, and I've been busy trying to know and memorize the names of ALL 80 students (dork! I know...) I must say this week has been a whirlwind of fun, excitement, jitters, boredom and outright tiredness. It was soo. loong! but I've met some very interesting people, some of which I hope to develop friendships and build memories with over the years to come (we'll see). Now that the week  is all behind me I'm looking forward to a weekend of fun and REST, and of course a very productive semester.

On another note, I miss New York, I miss my old life - family and friends. I'll admit I'm a little home sick which probably explains my weight loss, moodiness and why I found myself 40 mins out yesterday on the I-95.  However, as with everything else this is a process and one that will help to build character and  strengthen me in the long run. My best friend likes to refer to it as growing pains, and he is correct. I'm open to all the lessons and perspective I will gain from this experience which I will share on my other blog (Climb.Reach.Achieve).

Just so you know, the courses that will be kicking my butt (*chuckle) this semester includes:
Biochemistry
Anatomy
Occlusion
Intro. to Clinic

Wish me luck!

Holy Heat-Happy?!

I don't eat much and I'm not high maintenance (at all). Thank God for that because I will be needing to save the money from those expenses for the hair salon. I thought New York was expensive! Would you believe it costs $75 for a perm and $35 for a wash and set at the Dominicans in D.C? That is WITHOUT a deep conditioner and WITHOUT the tip. The cost of getting my hair doubled at the very point in my life where I'm as broke as a joke.

Anyway, the hair was all frizzy and the funk was becoming unbearable so I decided to venture out in the D.C area to find me a Dominican hair salon. I found Giovani's off of Adam's Mill Rd. in the Adam's Morgan area. First impression when I walked through the door was hmm it's clean, neat, small...and the people are friendly. So I sat in the chair and got my perm, got the really big rollers and was placed under a dryer in a corner that was hotter than a branding fork ( I swear). I had to strip down to my tank top and fan myself with some dusty magazine, just to make it through the torture-chamber.  I never knew I would be happy about parking rules, but I had to get up from the dryer several times to go move my car as the surrounding area has strict 1hr parking rules (thank God for small mercies!). I got crazy stares by walking around in the street with a head full of jumbo rollers, eh whatever.

70 mins. later I was removed from the torture-chamber and got my blow-out, which was good. Soon my hair was bone straight with a nice bounce (isn't that what a perm does?). So I think I'm done and I start to get up, and holy heat-happy! the stylist reaches for the flat-iron. Whaat? Now why on earth would my hair need to be flat-ironed after a perm, surviving the torture-chamber with jumbo rollers AND a blow-out?! I didn't get this heat-happy stylist's logic at all, but hell for $75 PLUS tip I should have made her iron the damn thing.

All in all my hair looked great, felt great and most importantly smelled great - but wait, doesn't it always after my $40 perm in New York? This $75 hair-do thing is so unnecessary.

**Enter the sweepstakes to win a compact digital camera. Go here for details.**

Business Mode, Road Rage and Facebook Robbery

Phew! Like I said in my last post, I had a busy week ahead. Last week I was M.I.A due to my move from the Big Apple, getting everything set up around my apartment and getting everything straightened out for the start of the school year. Last week wore me out! but now that all that is out of the way it's now time to get myself in business mode.

School begins in approximately 1 week. I'm settled and ready for the rough road ahead. As reality starts to set in, I find myself praying for patience and understanding. Patience - to deal with the different personalities I am yet to encounter and for the road rage I've developed since I've moved. People in Maryland drive like it's Sunday everyday or like they're on their way to a funeral. Seriously! the last time I drove 30-40mph was during my driving test and that was eons ago. And Understanding to, of course, grasp the gazillion information that will soon be thrown at me (God help me).

I know I promised to post pics of the new apartment but I had a change of heart (sorry) after watching CNN the other night and caught news of a  facebook robbery. Did you hear about it? This lady, Keri McMullen from Indiana posted a simple status update stating that she and her hubby would be going out that night to a local bar. Apparently, one of her facebook "friends" took her not being home as an opportunity to break in and rob her apartment. Yes, I did say her facebook "friend." Lucky for her, she had installed cameras in the apartment and so the robbers (at least the one on her "friend" list on facebook) was caught. So you see, I have to now be very careful of what I reveal on the net. The last thing I need is someone busting in on me, or something. You can find news here if you missed it: Facebook Robbery.

As a heads up for those who enjoy my ramblings and ridiculousness, once schools starts I will be in business mode. That means that this page will become "serious" again. But not to worry, I will try to drop in some craziness once in a while and you can always go to Patrice's Corner for more of me, go shopping or enjoy some discounts, ok?

I-95

I was up by the crack of dawn on Sunday morning all ready and excited for my debut in a new city. Packed up my 16 yr old car "old faithful" with all my stuff and I was ready to hit the road - for good. Traffic flowed smoothly on the I-95 and I whisked my way into D dot C dot 4hrs, 250 miles and an empty gas tank later, I arrived at my new home - beat - but safe, sound, clean, dry and in one piece.

So, I've been in my new town a total of 2 days and I've already gotten lost like a dozen times! I have no sense of direction; couple that with night time and you've got yourself a very lost girl. Lucky for me I have a little thing called common sense and I somehow always seem to find my way back home, albeit it takes me an hour or 2 to find somewhere that looks familiar.
I've been keeping myself busy by shopping and...shopping, and decorating.
It should get a little more exciting here when the rest of the fam (classmates) arrive. Until then, you're stuck with my adventure-less, lost stories.

Deuces...

New York!! On to some new stuff! moving on to something better (by way of Chris Breezy), lol.
Today marks the day I'm no longer a New Yorker. I'm leaving the big apple to the nation's capital, that's right I'm moving to Washington D.C.
Don't cry for me New York, I gotta do what I gotta do but I promise I'll be back to visit, and just so you know, you'll always be my favorite state.
So I'll be super duper busy today and for the rest of this week as I'll have lots of packing and un-packing, driving, getting lost, finding my way, site seeing, meeting Mr. Obama - chyeea I wish!
Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to it all. Best part of my move will be decorating my new apartment (eek!!) and of course meeting the fam (classmates). I call us family because we're basically stuck with each other for the next four years. Should be a great day, a great week, a great four years!!

Commitment Issues & Furniture craziness

Just so you know and for lack of a better post, I have 13 days until the big move and 29 until the BIG day! I'm uber excited! So excited that I have changed my furniture selection for my new apartment a total of FOUR times thus far. The themes I have in my head changes the longer  I wait.
First It was all traditional - mahogany cradle bed, matching dressing table, night stands and dining table, earth tone sofa, loveseat and armchair; everything all matchy and monotone. It took me all of 1 week to realize that the 22 years of living under my mother's roof  had rubbed off and in. This arrangement had to be changed immediately! talk about boring. It kinda looked something like this:

 <yya! totally boring and grandmother-ish>

A call to the furniture store to cancel the order was all that took. Phew! saved myself from total doom and premature...oldness? By this time I'm troubleshooting and watching HGTV. David Bromstad, host of colorsplash quickly became my new best friend and I was totally inspired to go all bright bubbly colors and mix & match; but that was AFTER another change of heart. The monotone earth tones bruised me so deeply that I wanted to go completely opposite, black and white opposite. It took me all of 3 weeks to realize it this time... I suppose because it was the total opposite of the household and I felt a long coming rebellion. This look was quite pricey though, and all the accessorizing to not make the place look totally drab would totally break the bank. Not only that but if you know me you'll know I sometimes like to eat dinner on the couch and I'd be damned if I got Ragu on all the luxury.

.

 <It don't matter if you're black or white...but geesh! >

Now back to David Bromstad and his evil flurry of colors. This would have actually been a pretty chic look, except I have commitment issues and knew I'd get tired of all the bright cheery colors. Like, what are youuu so happy about? Anyway it would have looked liked this:

 < look at it long enough at it'll slowly start to resemble vomit *gag>

Yeah, commitment issues. I finally decided that I liked all these variations and maybe, just maybe I could find a way to blend them all into one big comfy, chic and stylish apartment. If I get tired of all the color, there'd be sultry earth tones to tone it down and when I feel like jazzing it up we'll have those bright cheery colors. When I feel to be different and edgy...yeah I guess that'll be there too. So what did I finally decide? What will the final product look like?

You'll have to wait until after 13 days to find out kids! =) Or should I stick with one of the above? Make something the fifth and final switch? What do you think?

Sharing some Fireworks

It was blue, red and white day yesterday! aka 4th of July - the day of barbecues, fire works and lots of drinking. It might have been just that for most people - a day to celebrate the Independence of America, but for me there was more to celebrate...

In a way, yesterday also marked my independence. In a matter of 4 weeks I'll be moving away to a new state to be totally on my own. It will be the beginning of my life, the beginning of a new journey, the beginning of a new chapter...it was also my favorite little cousins 4th birthday - on the 4th of July.

So here's to Independence and new beginnings! Some fireworks for everyone. Enjoy!