youthmystique

Image from boston.com

I am a big fan of the show, Project Runway. Recently, I found out that the Web site, www.projectrunwaysweeps.com,  is offering a chance to win $1,000, or you could win $25,000 and have lunch with Tim Gunn. 

You can enter many times. All you have to do is watch a clip of last week’s episode and vote on who you thought should have gone home. They pick the bottom two from the week before to choose from.

It would be so exciting to meet Tim Gunn! I wonder what kind of restaurant you’d be able to go to in NYC and what he would order. Is he a martini man? Or is he a mixed drink man? What would we talk about? Would he tell Heidi about me? Would I get a chance to meet Heidi too?

And of course, the big question, “WHAT WOULD I WEAR?”

I’d have to get a whole new outfit!

I would also be happy with winning $1,000. That could pay for a lot of nice things.

My chances are probably slim with either of the prizes but oh well. It’s fun to dream, right?!

Well, it’s been some time since I updated my blog.

My theme of my blog is to concentrate mostly on issues that affect young people. I am now 25 and consider myself a young person. I don’t always feel like it though.

What do some young people do? Get married. I am not there quite yet but slowly getting there. I became engaged last year and I will be getting married not this fall but next fall. I have my dress and I’m pretty excited about that.

If you are getting married, go to David’s Bridal. They have a great variety of styles and decent prices.

We just booked our photographer. We are using the same one my brother and sister-in-law used. I feel pretty confident in that choice because they did an awesome job. We decided to get a videographer from the same place. Several people I know don’t remember their weddings. My fiancé and I would like to remember ours.

Wedding planning is stressful and exciting. Everything is so expensive but there are ways to be frugal. Time always helps that.

As you may know, I’ve done a lot of freaking out about my job situation this week. Half of our employees experienced layoffs this week.

I’m trying to just keep on doing what I’ve been doing: work hard and get my work done in a timely manner.  It’s difficult to concentrate. Employees from other offices are now in my office. It definitely feels strange not to have the same crew that was there before.

I now feel that there’s been such a shakeup that people are so joyless now. I guess it’s to be expected. I’m sure they are feeling the same pressure that I am.

My one coworker is now working in a different office under the same company. I used to put cat pictures on his computer because he was not a big cat fan. It was kind of comic relief during a long day. People would walk by his desk and ask, “What’s this all about?” while laughing. I would draw chat bubbles and make the cats say things.

I’ve been told that I shouldn’t worry about things I can’t control. We’ll just see what happens during the next couple of weeks.

It’s been an emotional week at work. On Wednesday, our top manager announced that eight people in our office had been laid off as well as staff members from other offices in our company. Those of us at the meeting were ok.

A lady that worked with the company for 40 years was one of the eight. It’s hard to see someone so loyal to the company leave.

Some people from my age group also lost their jobs. The only way I’m keeping mine is because a fellow coworker put in her two weeks’ notice before the announcement. She had no idea that there were going to be layoffs. Because of her I am not doing serious job hunting yet.

My direct boss got laid off too.

We had a meeting with those staff members that are left after the cutbacks. One coworker said he felt like it was like the TV show “Survivor” and was scared he was going to be the next voted off the island.

For me, it feels like we’ve been through a war zone. We are the remaining soldiers that have to move on and still complete the mission.

It’s difficult to move on when your work environment has been turned upside down. You think “Am I next?”

I already miss kidding around with my excoworkers. I’m tired of saying goodbye to friends and the uneasy feeling in my stomach.

This fall my boyfriend of four years proposed to me on his birthday. What a wonderful surprise that was!

That week as we told family and friends we faced the big question: “Have you set a date?”

That’s very overwhelming. We thought “just let us enjoy this time.”

We chose October 2010 as our time to get married. I am waiting on my mother-in-law’s list of people she would like to invite.

I started looking at prices for some food and  man, it’s overwhelming. I had trouble sleeping last night and half of the reason was because I was worrying about how we’re going to afford a wedding. My parents are going to help of course but I feel bad making them pay for everything especially with all of the help they have given me throughout the years.

People are putting pressure on us to move up the date of our wedding but what they don’t realize is that it’s better to have a long engagement. That was it is easier to budget. I want us to have a nice wedding but I don’t need to have it at the fanciest place.

Yes, I was a college student once. It felt like just yesterday.

All during college my friends and I were like “we’re poor!”

Of course professors told us that we weren’t that poor, just poor by choice for a short while.

I remember what it was like to struggle during college. I had a little bit of money saved up from working my senior year of high school, but still, that went in a hurry. I also worked summer jobs to try to build up my bank account.

I lived in the dorms my freshman and sophomore year. Then I lived in an apartment with friends junior and senior year.

At our college, we had the option of having a meal plan junior and senior year. I stopped mine after sophomore year. (I didn’t live near the cafeteria or in the dorms anymore so there was no point.)

Not having a meal plan definitely saves money. Besides, you get sick of cafeteria food anyway.

If you have a Wal-mart near your college and a way to get there, I suggest going grocery shopping there.

If you shop at the grocery store for your items, definitely make a list before you go. This may help stop you from getting extra junk food you don’t need. Also, get a bonus card the first time you go. This will help you save money with specials.

Look for the generics rather than the name brand stuff. Some Giant foods taste exactly like the brand names. Buy generics for paper towels. They might not work like Bounty, but they do the job.

When I was in college, I remember buying bread really cheap. I think I paid 67 or 87 cents for it.

Another way for college students to save money is to go grocery shopping with a roommate. (This only works if you get along with a roommate and if you like the same foods.)

It’s a shame we spend so much money on food but if we shop smarter, we can cut down on the cost of groceries.

For more information on saving money on groceries, CNN wrote a good article on this subject.