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All 24 macarons from La Maison du Macaron for $30 CAD (tax included)

And well worth it, I might add.

I offered BF some, but he thinks they’re too sweet.

What’s a girl to do?

I had to eat them all, or they’d go bad

My favourites:

• Litchi & Tea (OBVIOUSLY. Look at how many I snagged.)
• Mango with Pepper (Sounds weird, but it’s so tasty)
• Coconut (Nom.)
• Vanilla (Double Nom.)

I’m going back this weekend for one last box of 24.

I’m going to get 6 of each of my favourites and go to town.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

When you’re there, try and speak French, even if all you can do is point and grunt a French number at what you want.

Why? Because….

• The first time I went, I spoke in French.
• The second time, in English.
• The third time, in French.

I daresay my service was a lot friendlier in French on both occasions.

She might have also been mad that I was reading the signs in French and saying them in English. Er… oops.

Don’t ask me why I didn’t just switch to French. It just never occurred to me…

(Oh well, it cannot be helped, as they ARE from France, after all..)

Oh and did you see what Suzie sent me!?

I won her Pink Giveaway and damn she delivered…!

(With a cute pink bag to boot. I’m using it to store my makeup now)

I also got some Modern Friction Scrub in a sample from her, with those rice things I was telling you about, and I like it.

I do find it a little abrasive, although not as bad as baking soda. I may consider buying it at retail if I can’t snag another sample somewhere (a little goes a long way).

I also got some Dior Lip Balm which is NOT a clear colour, but turns red on your lips (er.. surprise! I looked like I had a baboon’s butt.. okay nevermind).

Got some lip gloss, some pens, eyeshadows, MAC blush (which is surprisingly not as pigmented as I had imagined), some stationery and some lotion & perfume

Thanks Suzie!!

I’m staying on!

Today, I just received pretty affirmative confirmation that they want to keep me and extend the contract.

Me!!

(Of course, I am waiting for something in writing before getting all giddy, but I couldn’t help myself.)

I think the plan was to go until the end of the year, because there’s always testing and post-project support, so I don’t know the dates, but I think it’s until the end of December.

I ADORE this project, and my core team is fabulous.

I’m thrilled to be working with them.

Makes you want to smell a kitten…

2 weeks in Europe, with plans for 2-3 months in the future

I am still going on my European vacation, but it’ll only be for 2 weeks.

*cue the boos*

BF is a bit disappointed, but being a freelancer himself, he understands the importance of earning the money when it’s available, and taking vacation on the off peak times when you’re not working.

The apartment in Paris will always be available for us to use at any time (BF’s family is seriously awesome..)

Perhaps early 2011?

$$$$$$$$?

If this project goes until the end of December, I should earn approximately $120,000 gross for the entire 7 months, including my vacation & holidays.

After expenses & taxes, I’m actually expecting approximately $70,000 net.

This will be a welcome injection of cash into my savings.

Some links I’ve been saving up to share since.. forever

• Hummus catches on.. as long as it’s flavoured (NY Times) <– Food history
• Food Co-Ops (NY Times) <– I love this idea of sharing meals between many families
• A best friend? You must be kidding (NY Times) <– Kids are encouraged to NOT have besties!
• Housing market slows as buyers get picky (NY Times) <– Housing market blues

Have a great Tuesday!

First, some real life Lion King cuteness..

INCOME = $0

• Still off contract.
  

EXPENSES = $975.90

CONFESSION TIME!

Yes, I am under $1000 this month, but admittedly, I could have spent $400 less this month, as I already pre-paid my rent for May & June to BF, but … yeah I have no excuse for that.

Bad FB!

My budgeting style is more laissez-faire, because I seem to have an internal “do not spend over this limit” budget, which is $1500. I do try to stay under $1000, however, which I’ve succeeded in doing a good chunk of the time.

I’d consider my expenses to really be $1360.40

*So I’ve just noticed that I should really put that Grooming/Spa category under Toiletries/Makeup.

For me, Grooming & Spa means haircuts, pedicures, manicures.. or services. Not products. I’ve fixed that in my budget, but.. am too lazy to re-upload a new chart.

DETAILS

GROCERIES: Holy cow we ate a lot!

But really… I’ve been trying new things such as cashew butter & miso paste, in an attempt to introduce more vegetarian and vegan options into my diet.

Note: I am not going 100% vegan or vegetarian. I just want to try out new food options, because it seems like the quality of meats here has been atrocious lately, and they just don’t taste good/smell good any more. :\

So I had to buy new things. Which leads to spending more money to try new foods.

Now that I know what might and might not work, it looks like I am sticking to miso paste with seaweed and cutting out any kind of butters or fats (even nut butters are gone as I react badly to them).

Trial and error, folks.

Still, we should really watch this and get it back down to $150. I have to stop going crazy on binging on this summer’s crop of Ataulfo mangoes — they’re $0.99 each, and I eat about 5-6 a week.

Sometimes more.

Plus my other fruit intake — bananas, mostly.

EATING OUT: People came to visit

I spent more on Eating Out in this category, because Asian Pear & Co. came to visit!

I had such an awesome time going out with them.

It was really nice to have a girls day out in the company of really friendly and funny company. We ate All-You-Can-Eat sushi, then some macarons at La Maison du Macaron (highly recommended!), had a break for cold drinks at Second Cup, stopped by Schwartz’s for some smoked meat, and then spent the rest of the evening in Old Montreal.

It was a perfect day*.

(*Even when I freaked out near the end and abruptly ended things because I was afraid that the place where I left the car would be closed by the time we were done! :\

They were totally gracious about it, and even though they were all exhausted, AP insisted that they all accompany me back to my car in the empty parking lot to make sure I was safe, before leaving me. *heart*)

Oh and I also took BF out on Sunday to Bâton Rouge as a treat, and we had a delicious ol’ time inhaling steaks, in a pre-celebration (more details to come).

ELECTRONICS: This is why you have double & triple backups

One of my hard drives happened to die yesterday, hence the new purchase (I like having a few data backups).

Can you believe it? LAST DAY of the month, and it dies. *sigh* It couldn’t have waited until Tuesday Jun 1st?

This is why I keep a loose budget.

IPAD THOUGHTS

I also touched the Apple iPad while I was in Future Shop, picking up my replacement (Western Digital Firewire drive, because the cable is much better), but was disappointed in the product.

BF was enamoured with the iPad (being an Apple fanboy), but even he said it was not what he wanted — still a tad too heavy, and needs a USB port or two.

To me, it wasn’t all THAT and a bag of kale chips to me… but then again, I’m predisposed to enjoy flexibility in my electronics, rather than having a closed-system product.

I’m waiting for the HP Slate/Tablet. They better not disappoint me, and I’m happy they bought Palm, because their OS is pretty good (compared to Windows anyway).

TOILETRIES & MAKEUP, GROOMING & SPA: Went a little makeup-happy this month

This should really be ONE category — under Toiletries/Makeup. This is what happens when you rush creating a budget post.

I threw out some products that have been in my bag for.. gee, 4 years and counting now?

I also got travel versions of my favourite products in anticipation of Europe!

(Big thanks to Revanche for her help and Arianne for her suggestions or should I say, enabling??!?!)

It’s mostly out of my system, I think I’m makeup-ed out.

TRAVEL: It was a necessary expense because I have no sense of direction

After being warned by Gemma (my GPS) for the millionth time that I should update her maps, I finally bit the bullet when I realized that I took a wrong turn, but couldn’t get back onto the right road, because .. THE MAPS WERE OUTDATED!!!

It ended up taking me half an hour on the highway before I found an exit that would lead me back to Montreal proper and not towards Ontario (yes, seriously..)

Seeing as I am anticipating using my car & said GPS a lot more often in the upcoming months, I figured I might as well get ‘er done.

Note: The update to my GPS unit was for a lifetime pass at around $120 USD, and in comparison each individual update would have cost $50 USD.

And since I don’t plan on replacing my GPS within the next 5 years, this was well worth it to pay for the lifetime update & use Gemma until she gives up the ghost.

With 2 more updates, I’ll see a full ROI (Return on Investment).

Read my gushy loving review of how much I love my Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS here.

MISCELLANEOUS: Random stuffs

Postage was half of this, as I purchased stamps to mail the 6 letters I’ve written in this week alone to correct information.

I also had to mail a couple of packages *grumbles at prices*; it is surprising how expensive these little packages can be. I mean, $9 for something as light as an envelope!? *sigh*

Aannnnd I bought a Bag Clip, but was stuck for 10 minutes holding 3 options in Old Montreal’s store “Pashmina” before I decided on the very girly pink cherry blossom design.

(Yeah, another thanks to Asian Pear & Co for helping me decide!)

And I ended up buying  this one, but with a pink background rather than a red one.

Pretty, no?

And now my purse will stay off the floor, be in plain sight & not on my lap or behind my back.

NET WORTH: $75,067.86 or -8%

Decreased: $6505.85 or by 8%

Reason: Living (spending!), prepaying my rent to BF, and disappointing stock market dips.

Good thing I only have $5000 invested in individual stocks

But overall, my index funds went down, and I’m just chilling out on them until they pick back up. Not like I’m planning on selling them anytime soon, anyway.

ASSETS

• Cash: $45.61
• Emergency Fund: $20,402.70 — In ING for the moment, earning 1.2%
• Savings: $2033.05
• Retirement: $25,139 — *sigh* Took a beating.
• TFSA: $9571.01 — *double sigh*
• Business: $16696.49
• Car: $1000

DEBTS

None.

There you have it. My deep, dark, money secrets

I entered Suzie’s giveaway a while back, hoping to score a few useful, already-thought-of-buying-it items for free.

And she delivered.. in spades.

Here was the original giveaway prize pack that I won:

• L’occitane full sized hand cream – unused –> was already thinking of buying it
• Mystic lips lip balm- unused –> For BF because loves free stuff too
• Alpha H balancing cleanser
• Alpha H Rejuvenating cream
• Clinique moisturising lipgloss –> Looks like a nice colour that isn’t overdone
• Decleor eye cream
• Decleor lip cream
• Body shop facial cloth –> thought about buying this to get rid of my flaky skin

Then she kindly sent me all of the above, PLUS MORE:

First, it came in this amazing pouch from Dr. Hauschka that opens quite wide, and has little elastic bands to hold brushes:

Then inside, was all of this stuff!

She included two charms, a blue sock that looks like it’s meant for one little baby’s foot or a small pouch for something  (Suzie, please enlighten me on what it really is!!)…….two samples of SukiFace organic day lotion and a foaming exfoliate cleanser, as well as chocolate (*heart*) and a sample of Kevin Murphy’s Motion Lotion to enhance curls and control frizziness.

*SQUEEE*

I now have the items I originally expected including a lip gloss for more than a few uses for Europe, a little gift for BF, a pouch that will come in SUPER handy and a satisfied chocolate craving.

Thanks again, Suzie!

I would also like to point out to everyone that she is selling a bunch of MAC stuff here for what I think is fairly cheap, considering what I’ve seen of the brand’s prices.