Save. Spend. Splurge.

Week of Money: Where our vacation starts to wind down

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up somewhat rested. Little Bun has had his whole nap reset from the past two days because he slept for about 5 hours for his nap yesterday, and went to bed at 10-ish last night, woke up early this morning. He is completely ‘reset’.

6:40 a.m. — But.. he is “reset” and I am not. I am so tired right now. SO TIRED. Sleeping at 10, waking up at 6-ish instead of 8? FML.

6:52 a.m. — I try and keep a lid on his little boy morning happiness by watching Ratatouille with him. He loves this rat Rémy and keeps telling me sadly: He lost his family!

7:22 a.m. — Everyone wakes up. No one can sleep with this little boy awake and running around.

7:22 a.m. — My eyebrows really hurt. I mean, they’re ache-y and in pain from the semi-tattooing.. I am not certain I can live for this beauty even once a year. It hurts a lot. 🙁

8:08 a.m. — The roofers come to fix my parents’ house. They need it completely redone. They show up early, and bam, loud noises, banging… I hate this. I hate construction and am very glad I live in a condo and don’t need to live through this.

8:40 a.m. — We head out for the day, and pick up a few fruits, drop off some packages.

9:45 a.m. — Back home, I am HANGRY but because I am a Mommy, I feed Little Bun a vegetable stew appetizer, then some fish and rice, and end it with a few bites of cut up fruit. All the while, I am hungry AF. REALLY HUNGRY, but my baby eats first, and then Mommy can eat. I am snapping at people, I am so hungry.

10:28 a.m. — Fed, I hang out with Little Bun and watch the rest of Ratatouille (we didn’t get to finish it). I love the ending with Rémy and his clan, it really makes you love a rat.. albeit a cartoon one.

11:07 a.m. — I put on some of my new sample – Clinique Black Honey – and LOVE it. It is my new neutral, my holy grail.

12:05 p.m. — Little Bun is down for his nap while the workers are taking a lunch break.

2:23 p.m. — They start up again. O_o … Poor Little Bun. I hope he can sleep through it just a bit, but even if he doesn’t, that’s okay too.

2:23 p.m. — I have a hair appointment at the Dyson store in Yorkdale. If you live in Toronto and want a free hair wash and blowout / styling, go and book a Dyson appointment here online and they’ll teach you how to use the Airwrap etc.

3:11 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up, and I kiss and hug him and I am off. I run errands first.

4:20 p.m. — Letter mailed, hair clips returned, I head over to a hair appointment.

4:50 p.m. — Just in time! I learn the tips and tricks to the hairdryer and am excited to try out what I learned.

5:26 p.m. — I LOVE these shorts. I wasn’t out to buy shorts, and these are 50% off and pretty much what I am looking for in a pair – the Ted Baker Khaki Mitty -… and this brings my shorts count up to 2. That is how picky I am about buying shorts. I will want this exact pair in red as well (they fit like a dream), but it is at full price right now so I shall wait and see if they got on sale. $137.86

5:49 p.m. — I drop by and have the much touted vegetarian burger at Joey’s. I take it to go so I don’t have to pay as much in tip and service as it is take out, and decide to eat it on the benches inside. $23

6:25 p.m. — WOW. This burger IS yummy… but of course, of all the days, I wear my nice white dress and I happen to want to eat ketchup with the fries and ONE near the end drops down my entire dress. Sigh, Tide to go to the rescue.

7:40 p.m. — Home. I ran another errand trying to print passport photos of Little Bun but they did not come out exactly 35mm x 45mm (French standards)..

8:23 p.m. — I feed Little Bun vegetable stew with fish and rice again. I also wash my white dress with soap, and leave the soap suds on there while I hang it outside to face the sun to bleach out the stains and make it white again, naturally.

9:01 p.m. — My father puts on a ‘magic show’ for Little Bun with these little square lighters you hold in your hand in the dark to make it seem like the light is going all over the place. It’s a lot of fun and Little Bun squeals happily as the light goes in one ear and out the other.

10:24 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $160.86

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up to little paws patting my stomach, and Little Bun whispers: Mommy. I want you to wear a shirt please. …. I pull my shirt back on (I took it off during the night because I was so dang warm, I needed to be bare skinned). He doesn’t like me to be shirtless because he isn’t used to it, but also because he loves to sleep on my stomach and doesn’t like his cheek against bare belly, he wants a shirt in between of some sort.

??:?? — He waits for me to finish putting my shirt back on, then as I turn over on my side to sleep, he gently pulls down my shirt right down over my stomach and back. I whisper back: Thank you baby

??:?? — He now needs to go to the bathroom.

7:25 a.m. — We officially wake up.

7:59 a.m. — I get ready to go to my last physio appointment. I am good. The doctor knows I tore my knee muscle a little but it is swelling and healing well, and will be fine as long as I continue with the exercises.

9:08 a.m. —I ice my knee before I go, it feels swollen.

10:15 a.m. — She puts in two long needles into my knee for acupuncture and she stimulates the needles and it gives me a weird tapping sensation that doesn’t hurt but feels strange. $80

12:15 p.m. — I drop by for a vegan lunch. I have been trying now, to actively eat out only at vegan or vegetarian restaurants. To make THAT my default. I have a First Canadian Place bowl at Kupfert and Kim. I wanted my usual Oaxaca bowl because I hate trying new things I will hate, but I tried this and it was DELICIOUS! $12.75

12:45 p.m. — I go and hunt down new buttons for my dress. I drop by a great button shop (old, dusty, very cramped) but after 20 minutes am about to throw up. There is no A/C, there is no fan to blow air around, it is dark, it is cramped, and my motion sickness triggers. I start to feel dizzy and have to stumble out without an explanation into fresh air because it was too hot in there.

12:50 p.m. — I walk up to another sewing store. Less supply / variety in buttons, but at least they are open, a large store, and AIR CONDITIONED. $4.50

1:15 p.m. — I want to buy something cold and fresh to drink. I go into a fresh press juiced store and the sticker shock of $10 for a SINGLE CUP OF JUICE, sends me backing out very quickly. I am going to just go home and drink fresh, cold, FREE water.

1:37 p.m. — I am home. Waiting for Little Bun to get up, then we will go to my friend’s for a BBQ.

3:58 p.m. — Little Bun is up! We get ready to go and bring fresh homemade bread, and little cakes. $9.15

5:26 p.m. — At my friends’, she is the perfect hostess. We try and help out (my partner cuts all the vegetables), her BBQ marinated chicken was DELICIOUS, and the grilled vegetables really hit the spot for me. I loaded up on them. Little Bun eats 4 drumsticks, I am sure… and a lot of cheese and bread.

7:50 p.m. — Little Bun eats all of the dessert. LOL.. strawberries and blueberries, no ice cream though.  Everyone else ate the cakes and grilled peaches, but Little Bun finished this whole bowl by himself basically.

9:11 p.m. — We finally say goodbye and leave. Love these people.

10:22 p.m. — Bedtime.

Spent: $106.40

DAY THREE

??:?? — Wake up. It is too hot to sleep. I am really really really warm.

??:?? — Tired. Little Bun wakes me up and I grab his milk.

7:00 a.m. — I make some tea and wash my face. My partner starts prepping the chicken for a BBQ at my brother’s tomorrow.

9:07 a.m. — I set up my bills to pay. My card got a WORKOUT last month, look at how much I spent O_o

8:08 a.m. — I head out for the day. I pick this super bright, lovely printed dress and got no less than 6 people telling me my dress was amazing. One was a guy riding on a bike who said – I REALLY love your dress… and then lots of women who basically stared at me the whole time and told me how much they loved my dress. They were all shocked when I said “Old Navy, $12″ … which I hope will make them change their minds about what fashion could be.

11:25 a.m. — I pick up my Erdem skirt and the top they cropped off the dress ends up looking kind of cool. I could wear it as a shrug over dresses or turn it into an open-back crop top.. $50.85

 

1:28 p.m. — Lunch. This friend of mine is the only truly foodie person I know. She knows chefs like I do, has a list of restaurants she wants to visit and has gone to Michelin-starred places like Linnea just because she wanted to. We are REALLY into food together. And we have the money to spend on it, and really appreciate good meals. This is what we got – a carbonara with a hen’s egg on top that you mix in, it was so rich, creamy and full of flavour:

We also got this burrata on a toasted ciabatta with whitefish roe on top. I still think fish + cheese tastes weird, but I didn’t hate it:

Also, you know a place is FANCY when they serve you your ice for your water in a metal bucket..

3:15 p.m. — My friend ends up treating me because she’s so sweet, and I will pay for parking and gelato afterwards.

3:29 p.m. — Parking near a gelato place. $6

6:52 p.m. — We drop by a gelato place for ice cream. She takes Durian (YUCK).. and Peanut Sesame (yum), and I take Pistachio and Rosewater with Almond Tofu (both good). $15

 

5:00 p.m. — I leave my friend who wants to go back to have dinner with her mother.

5:12 p.m. — I get off the streetcar because some really beer-soaked, drunken guy sits across from me, and makes me very uncomfortable. I don’t think he will do anything but I don’t like being stared at like that. I walk into a consignment shop and end up trying on a few things like this Céline (Phoebe Philo era) … I am sort of in love with it, it is like a flapper dress tuxedo. I am not used to drop waists though, so it feels strange on me, but I very oddly want it. Would I really wear it though? Where?

I am also glad I tried on this Helmut Lang top because the print is something I had wanted to buy in a top online but in person, I see it is more Swamp Man than anything:

This next dress is Vivienne Westwood and so cool. Except it was a size 40 and it wouldn’t zip up on my side / arm / back fat.. 🙁

Smythe jacket — too Mao Zedong for me. Too many buckles and paraphernalia..

I may go back for this shirt. It shows my entire bra basically, but it would be kind of neat, I could wear a cute strappy black bra or something.. I am considering it. It also doesn’t look so bad with a nude bra underneath, albeit a cleaner one…  😛

6:52 p.m. — I drop by a vegan place and take my favourite Oaxaca bowl, but am totally turned off. Something is missing. A sauce I think. It is just vegetables. No flavour. WTF. $12.15

6:52 p.m. — I work out how much I actually spent in each category, as suggested by Luxe Strategist who is nosy like me, and likes to know breakdowns. I was kind of scared to do it, thinking it would be insane for clothing, but it turns out, it is mostly because of my parents:

6:52 p.m. — Little Bun spent the afternoon baking cake with his grandmother and father, and the final result is this decadent double-layered milk chocolate cake for his cousin’s birthday.

10:25 p.m. — Kitchen clean, everyone brushed their teeth, time for bed.

Spent: $84.00

DAY FOUR

7:00 a.m. — Tired. VERY TIRED. I want to sleep another hour or so, but Little Bun firmly climbs on top of me, hugs me tight, and kisses me (our morning ritual to waste time so I can sleep a bit more, and my trick to get my baby to hug and kiss me with a snuggle). Then he does it again and says: MOMMY. Time to get up now.

7:25 a.m. — I wake up, make some tea.. and am dragging. I could use another cup maybe.

8:08 a.m. — My mom and partner are cooking for the big BBQ birthday today. I am staying out of the way.

9:20 p.m. — I find that Céline dress from the June 2011 Resort Wear collection. I am so close to buying it. It of course looks better on a model who is 6′ than me, as the drop waist is not too long, but man.. this is a cool dress. It looks better on her than me. I think it looks too long on me.

9:52 a.m. — Little Bun causes trouble and I tell him to behave so we can have a fun BBQ with cake and everything. Gawd. I really want a nap.

11:23 a.m. — We are off to the BBQ.

7:25 p.m. — WOW. We had SUCH a good time. My brother has a fantastic place and I am so happy for him. What a lovely home, 1 acre and very well laid out and comfortable. We had a great time, the kids watched Little Bun and he was SO IN LOVE with his cousins, he loved being taken care of and played with but they tapped out near the end of the day and needed time / space to be alone without a little boy tagging along.. LOL…

8:45 p.m. — Home. We get ready for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — Tired. Little Bun was crying last night.

8:00 a.m. — I wake up .. tired. He was crying a few times. We have to visit the French consulate today for his papers.

9:59 a.m. — We leave for the consulate.

12:08 p.m. — There, she gathers all of the papers and says it will take 3 months as my partner needs to update his identity card, get a new birth certificate because his is “too old”… WTF is this nonsense? A birth certificate is a BIRTH CERTIFICATE at BIRTH. How can it be “too old”?… Who gets double copies and updated copies of their birth certificate? Utter French bureaucratic nonsense if you ask me.

1:06 p.m. — I grab a vegetable and fruit smoothie. $5

1:11 p.m. — We head home. Little Bun is upset because my mother promised him cake for tomorrow and then goes and freakin’ gives it away to other people, forgetting her promise. I am really angry and annoyed. I hate making promises and then breaking them especially to Little Bun and she SAID she would bring home the leftovers but forgot.

2:04 p.m. — Little Bun is not napping. My partner is furious. I take over and he goes out to calm down for some Daddy time. I get him to nap in about 20 minutes with my Mommy Voice. He wanted to go out as a family today but Little Bun is not cooperating, whiny… he needs a nap.

4:06 p.m. — Little Bun wakes up after about an hour and a half. He will continue to nap until around 6 years old. I cannot handle his whiny behaviour when he is so tired. My nephew who is 16, napped yesterday too LOL.. EVERYONE NEEDS NAPS.

5:28 p.m. — We play a bit, then I download a French app for him he wants, and he is eagerly learning more words.

6:45 p.m. — Strawberries! I feed him some after his vegetable stew.

6:50 p.m. — Time for a banana cake. YUM! He is so happy eating his slice.

10:25 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $5

DAY SIX

??:?? — Tired.

8:02 a.m. — I take a shower, then make tea. Little Bun has a slice of cake.

9:15 a.m. — We head out to walk around. Little Bun whines and is kind of difficult until he realizes there is NO CROISSANT or snack coming, he had a slice of banana cake for breakfast.

12:06 p.m. — Home.

12:20 p.m. — I quickly head out and run errands  – drop off returns and pick up some new dishwashing pods for the house – we ran out, along with some Gravol for Little Bun for when we head back. $31.12

1:30 p.m. — I super quickly pop into a consignment shop and try on a few things. I am now a designer 8, maybe designer 10. There’s no way these tiny clothes fit me.

This Alice and Olivia blazer was a US 6 but it was clearly NOT. More like a US 2.

My outfit for today, but also look at the bag! $85. Should I have gotten it? Still pondering because I have a satchel that is very similar..

This is what my current satchel looks like:

And I also have a Jackie O Gucci bag .. so I don’t need it:

And I spy this really cute ring but am turned off when it is skulls. I really don’t like death-wear or anything with skulls on it. Kind of creeps me out. But this Alexander McQueen ring is so cute:

1:30 p.m. — I pick up a chain necklace (finally!), another gold cuff and a pretty pearl slice circle necklace. $101.70

3:16 p.m. — Little Bun is up from his nap and really ornery. He is screaming, kicking, trying to break / smash the door against the door jamb and the doorstopper. WHY. WHAT THE F#%*# IS GOING ON.

5:07 p.m. — He is calm now, my partner is going through bags and bags of clothing from my siblings for Little Bun, and I managed to eat deep fried wontons with homemade pickled cucumbers and carrots, and am very happy right now, watching Katherine Ryan’s Glitter Room (I LOVE HER. She is SO good at nailing important issues and is a complete and utter unapologetic feminist.)

9:56 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $132.82

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — Wake up tired again. Not sleeping well because of the heat and humidity here.

7:30 a.m. — I decide to take Little Bun out for an outing. He wants to ride all the subway stops, so I take him on a 4-hour trip, riding basically everywhere as much as we can. We only covered 1/4 (have to backtrack to get to another interchange stop)

11:57 a.m. — Home. My partner is in a foul, FOUL mood, pissed off that I didn’t bring Little Bun’s hat because it was in the car and I was too lazy to go get it. In my defence, the day was cloudy not sunny, and we were on the train about 90% of the time, walking very little. He didn’t need the hat. I’m furious. He threw the bread into the garbage and now refuses to make a special meal he promised he’d do with my mother. Christ.

3:25 p.m. — Little Bun makes a lemon yoghurt pound cake with us. My partner is still sulking.

9:56 p.m. — Can’t sleep. Still f*#%ing annoyed with the whole situation this morning with the hat.

Spent: $0

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.

2 Comments

  • AtlantaTJ

    I say buy the bag. 🙂 It looked great and just from appearance I personally like the look better than what you already have.

    I say this as someone debating buying another Lo & Sons OG bag, if they would just get the color I want back in stock. I definitely don’t need a third…

    I’m usually quite frugal but have been super spendy this summer, not sure what got into me. We did have to replace our AC units (more than one, cost almost 20K) so now I’m of the mindset, what’s another couple hundred dollars. Discovered my favorite North Face fleece-jacket thing was discontinued so I’ve snapped up every color I can find.

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