Weekly Update 12

This week we’ve been recovering from our trip to TN last weekend and looking forward to our 5-year college reunion next weekend!

 

On Tuesday night we saw Bring It On at our local theater as part of their Broadway musicals series!  I thought it was great!  The plotlines and characters were completely different from the movie and I thought it was quite funny (especially the characters of Bridget and Skylar).  Kyle was not quite as enthused as I was.  The gender ratio of audience was skewed even more than usual toward women.

 

our friend ogling "The Pile" - French fries covered in cheese and who knows what else

On Friday night we went out to celebrate a friend’s birthday and were able to catch up with some friends for several hours over dinner.  We learned that one of them keeps pet spiders in his house – all over his house.  And he names them and claims they are his friends.  This information was presented slowly and in a less weird way than it sounds just coming out with it – we had a good laugh.  At the end of our time (we actually kind of got cut off) we were discussing whether early-season Barney from “How I Met Your Mother” or Joey from “Friends” (different woman every night, no interest in LTRs) could exist in real life or if virtually everyone eventually becomes unsatisfied with sleeping around and wants to be in a romantic relationship.  Even at our relatively young age I don’t know anyone who is (openly) such a playboy so I sort of doubt it’s common.  Kyle (who also doesn’t know anyone like this) is more willing to believe they exist.  What do you think?

 

Work-wise, I didn’t get that much done this week because my department hosted a couple day-long conferences and I attended a bunch of talks.  Some of them were career-related so I’m all jazzed about networking now.  Kyle had a paper published this week!  And he received an email from the father of a child suffering from the disease he published about thanking him for his work.  That hasn’t happened to us before and it made the research seem a lot more real.

 

 

Posts I Liked

 

Young Professional Finances revealed her first name!  Check out her blog to discover it!

 

Grad Budget put up a net worth graph with various life events labeled on it.  I would love to make a graph like this – perhaps I will regularly track our net worth after all.

 

Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has decided to buy a second home!  She and her husband picked out a lot and a floor plan and have put down money so it is official.

 

The Happy Homeowner has some straight talk for people living beyond their means and financial bloggers who make excuses for their off-plan spending.

 

Andrea from So Over Debt posted at Daily Money Shot the three ways her parents raised her to be a financial disaster.  My parents also raised me to be a financial disaster, and they are kind of disaster-y themselves!  While I made it out okay, I definitely want to do better by my children.

 

 

Mentions

 

What’s the Point of Calculating Net Worth? was mentioned by Cult of Money and SB @ Finance Product Reviews.

 

Five Money-Saving Moves from Our Wedding was mentioned by Leigh @ Leigh’s Financial Journey.

 

 

Carnivals

 

The Slippery Slope of Separate Money was featured in the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #30.

 

 

Top Comment

 

The Slippery Slope of Separate Money received a few comments that delineated how the commenter and his/her spouse decided what to pay for with joint money and what to pay for with separate money, but I would still like to read some additional data!  Please share!  Several commenters on that post said they weren’t in a joint-money relationship but were very interested in the details.  One such commenter was Jessica from Life in Transition, who came to a wonderful insight when elaborating on her comment, saying “I’ve noticed that couples from other countries aren’t as concerned about “fairness” in a relationship in regards… I would conjecture that our individualism and desire to be self-sufficient, which aren’t bad ideals, could cause problems for married couples in regard to finances, since we aren’t use to being interdependent.”  Wonderful observation and I totally agree that the ideals of marriage and community often create a tension with (most of) our ingrained American individualistic streaks.

 

 

Most Frequent Commenters

 

  1. Leigh @ Leigh’s Financial Journey
  2. Jessica @ Life in Transition
  3. Frugal Portland
  4. Jason @ Work Save Live
  5. Well Heeled Blog
  6. Heather

 

 

Top Referring Blogs

 

  1. Well Heeled Blog
  2. Leigh’s Financial Journey
  3. Young Professional Finances
  4. Bog of Debt
  5. When Life Gives You Lemons

 

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11 Responses to "Weekly Update 12"

  1. Crystal says:

    Thanks for the mention! I have known a few Barney’s but they settled down 5-10 years later. I think 99% of us are hard-wired to look for long term mates/partners. 🙂
    Crystal recently posted..Our New Home Wish List

    1. Emily says:

      I think so too but I don’t have the life experience to back it up.

  2. Leigh says:

    I haven’t really known many Barneys either and I know a TON of guys with how male-dominated my field is. Maybe I just avoid being friends with those guys 🙂 I know a few, but I think it’s still too early to know if they will settle down or not.

    I have one friend who spent a lot of first year sleeping around, but he met his now wife in second year and they got married the summer after graduation. I honestly think it’s just a matter of time really.
    Leigh recently posted..April food habits, Week 3

    1. Emily says:

      I know lots of guy too, but they seem to all either be in LTRs from time to time or not overtly interested in girls.

  3. Jessica says:

    Thanks for highlighting my comment! I don’t know any real Barney’s either but I have a few male friends who are Barney wanna-bees (and are just as insecure as Barney). Fortunately all of them are starting to grow up.

    1. Emily says:

      I know one guy I would put in that category, but he still has had at least one long-term girlfriend. Glad to hear your friends are maturing a bit – at least in loving themselves!

  4. Thanks for including my post!!
    The Happy Homeowner recently posted..Minimize the Pain at the Pump: 27 Ways to Save on Gas

  5. renee says:

    I’ve met several guys in my aero experience who have no qualms about their sleeping-around lifestyle. They literally can’t count the number of girls they’ve been with. While I think they wouldn’t mind settling down, I think they are well aware of the lifestyle sacrifices and want to make sure the girl is really worth it. I’ve also been shocked by the number of people in my program who have cheated on significant others – or at least have several friends who have cheated. It took me a while to believe their stories – I hadn’t met anyone who had cheated until my labmates and I had this conversation!

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this experience is unique to the DC metro area. The culture there is very much about living the single life to its fullest and moving up in the world.

    1. Emily says:

      Wow, such a different world! I don’t think I invite that kind of discussion. I’ve only known of a couple peers who have cheated on their boyfriends/girlfriends, not a whole bunch. I bet you’re right about the big city/young people’s city enabling that kind of lifestyle. While my current university is known to have a hookup scene (not encouraging of relationships), it definitely seems to me that the South more generally encourages settling into relationships and marrying quickly.

  6. Julia says:

    Thanks for the mention! And a big congrats to Kyle! It’s always nice to get recognition for all of that hard work. 🙂
    Julia recently posted..I wish I was a minimalist…

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