Confession: A Long Distance Relationship (LDR)

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A lot of things have been on my mind lately, and one that I can’t keep from writing about any longer is a very likely long distance relationship in the near future for BF and myself. BF has been applying for MBA programs and he has been accepted to some of the world’s finest, with full tuition paid to boot. He has worked very hard, and he is so smart, and I am so proud of him and excited.

But another part of me is really scared and dreading the long distance relationship. BF and I have done LDR before when he was traveling for work, but it was never for that long. We’d go 3 to 6 weeks without seeing each other, before his company flew him back (and into my arms!). But things are going to be a bit harder now (and more expensive!).

My Plan

At first, I didn’t have a plan going forward, and I hate that. I’m a planning type of girl! I like plans.

Then, I started thinking some more and I knew that I needed a plan or else these 2 – 3 years will pass by very, very slowly and possibly painfully. After BF decides which school and program he will accept, we can work out a schedule for visiting and seeing one another and how we can stay in touch and be a part of each other’s lives.

Two years may seem like a long time, but it also means having summer and Christmas holidays. With summer holidays, he will only be away 8 months at a time, and I’m pretty sure that I can go see him at least once or twice during that time, or him come back. So, I will be focusing on the 2-3 months we will be apart instead of the 2-3 years.

I will need figure out my new budget for traveling and also see if there is a better rewards card which can make it worth it.

Self Improvement

I used to have my hands full between work, sports and maybe even taking a course. Now, I’ve gotten lazy, and only have been going to work and vegging at home (awful, I know).

I need to kick it up a notch, and look into ways to improve myself.

Option 1: Take a course or Write a Test

I’ve been curious about writing the first CFA test. I would like to learn more about finances and perhaps advance my degree in that direction, as opposed to just doing technical engineering. I think this would be a good first step, and also keep my busy and learning.

Option 2: Enroll in a MBA Program Part-time

This obviously takes a lot more commitment and planning than Option 1, but it’s not off my radar.

I’ve told myself that I won’t pursue more education until I feel a real need for it- such as a roadblock in my career. However, if I have the flexibility at work to work 9 – 5, I think that doing 2 courses a week would be do-able.

Even though the thought of being apart of my BF for so long is daunting, having a plan makes it a lot less scary. Well-heeled also had a great article about how her and her husband to be will be getting ahead financially by doing long distance.

Have you been in a long distance relationship with your sweetie? How do you guys cope with being apart? What made up your plan to work on yourself and your relationship?

Cheers,

Thoughts on Slice’s Princess Show

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“Princess” is a show hosted by one of my finance gurus – Gail Vaz-Oxlade.  It follows a similar format as Gail’s first show “Til Debt do us Part“, but focuses on (mostly) single women who feel they are entitled to spend money they don’t have on anything from make-up, clothes, cars, condos, eating out, entertainment, amongst other “luxuries”.

I’m not sure why I am so captivated by these “Princesses” – I guess a part of me is giving myself a pat on the back for not being “that bad”, but I guess that’s the lure of reality television.

Although I don’t consider myself a Princess, I can see how I can become one.  A nice haircut here, buying a nice outfit there, oh, and stocking up on some make-up — rinse, wash, and repeat — and tada.

A Low Annual Salary

Most of the Princesses make an income that is nowhere near sustaining their lifestyle, and they supplement their income with their parents’, siblings’, friends’ and boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s income.  Some Princesses are unemployed or work very minimal hours.

The income range of most Princesses range between $20,000 – $35,000 annually, but spent as if they earned much, much more – usually between $50,000 to over $100,000 annually.

What’s with these guys???

I know there are a lot of things that I don’t understand or know about these girls, but what always boggles my mind is that there is usually guy in the picture and he has been putting up with it.

In last night’s episode, one of the Princess’s boyfriend was giving her an “allowance” of $250.00 a week.  This Princess is unemployed, and wasn’t even looking for work.  Instead of taking public transportation, she was — get this — hiring a private driver!!  She was making about $6,000 a year and spending like she made $97,000 a year.

Maybe it’s because I’m biased and know so many great, smart and single females.  But why are these great women single, and why are these ladies just mooching off these men?  (Check out Mochi’s article – it really struck a chord with me.)  It just seems so off balance to me.

I’m not so naive to think that these types of guys would even be compatible with these women.  But it just seems unfair to me, you know?

Do you watch Gail Vax-Oxlade’s shows?  What do you think of the Princess show?

Cheers,

Checking in… this and that

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well!

I’ve missed blogging, but I think it was a much needed break. Prior to taking my break, I felt that my online life wasn’t balanced with my offline life.  Blogging and connecting with people is so much but I think that I had trouble balancing.  Since this blog is a hobby, I want to keep enjoying it, and I think I will get my posting to once or twice a week, so I can enjoy my offline life, as well.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been able to focus on studying for and writing my professional licensing exam.  Whew, am I glad that’s over with.  It was so hard getting into the groove of studying, again!  I’ve been studying for the professional engineer’s law and ethics exam, and it’s not terribly difficult exam, and I got a lot of helpful notes from my colleagues.  The funniest thing that came from this, was that my friend witnessed someone cheating on the exam!  It’s a law and ethics exam for goodness sakes!

I’ve also started job searching as I’ve been at my first job since graduation and I’ve been feeling kinda “blah” about it for a while now.  I’ve been slowly trying to see if I could make adjustments that would make me want to stay, but it hasn’t been working, and I think I need to look elsewhere.  Not really enjoying my job has also been affecting my life outside of work, and I really need to kick my job searching up a notch.  Any helpful tips you have would be much appreciated.  I went for my first interview in years last week, and I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I’m planning to celebrate with BF, my sister and my close girl friends this weekend, and I am really excited.  On the agenda – dinner at my favourite wine and cheese bar, and karaoke-ing!  I haven’t karaoke’d in soooo long, and I am so glad that my friends have obliged.  We are doing the “Asian style” karaoke where we have private rooms – it would take a lot of liquid courage for me to sing in front of a crowd.

I’ve finally got around to cleaning my room and apartment.  Having a clean place is so much nicer than having a cluttered space.  It just makes me feel so calm :).  I also attacked my mountain of laundry.  BF and I were getting tired of picking out our clean clothes from the pile on my couch.

I took BF out for a very special dinner, since have accumulated quite a number of celebrations since January: BF’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, BF getting into business school.  We went to this little restaurant and had a wonderful dinner.  I had a delicious duck and BF had the tenderloin. I think I impressed BF 😉

And my taxes have been submitted, as of two weeks ago, and I am eagerly awaiting to get my grubby hands on my refund.  I know, I know, I am giving the government an interest free loan.  In my defense, most of my RRSP contribution is not taxes, and I have been saving my charitable donation receipts for the last 4 years.

Even though I won an H&R tax software from the lovely Young and Thrifty (thanks again!), I just can’t wrap my head around filing electronically!  This is my second attempt to complete my taxes electronically.  Every time, I complete my taxes electronically, I owe money.  This makes no sense, whatsoever.  When I took a closer look at the H&R forms, I think that the provincial forms weren’t part of the package (or I didn’t know where to find them), and that threw things off.  It only takes me about an hour to do my taxes by hand, they are very straight forward, so I think I’m just going to continue with that.  Unfortunately, it takes forever to get a refund.  I guess that makes it more the reason to pay less taxes throughout the year so I won’t need a refund, right?

That’s about all that’s going on in my life right now!

What have you been up to lately?  Are your taxes handed in?  And do you prefer to do taxes by hand or electronically?

I’ve been trying to follow everyone on Google Readers, but have fallen desperately behind.  So many new blogs!  And have you checked out Modest Money’s list of Canadian PF Bloggers?  I’m on the list, and I’ve got 9 votes (including my own vote!).  So, if you like my blog, I urge you to check Modest Money’s blog and vote for your favourite Canadian PF blogger 🙂

Cheers,

Taking a Short Break…

Hello readers, sorry I’ve just dropped off and gone MIA for the past 2 weeks.

Things have been really busy in my offline life.   I have a few things I need to focus on, and my blog will need to take a backseat for likely, most of this month.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to come back soon.

Cheers,
FFG