Tuesday, November 9, 2010

I guess even princesses get their hands dirty once in awhile...

I really love my job. No really, like I LOVE my job. It allows me to flex my creative muscles, interact with influential people in the community, and go to fun events. I get to do a variety of things that I may not have gotten the opportunity to do in the corporate world, my boss stays out of my business professionally and personally, and though my wage sucks, my healthcare benefits and vacation time are above and beyond sufficient.

There is one major bummer that comes with my job - the dump. Yes. You heard me. Twice a year, myself and the two other marketing girls clean out our storage room and everything must go to the EDCO up the street (we're green, we recycle).

I mean, as far as a day at the dump goes, it could be worse. We get to be out of the office for the whole day, wear comfy clothes and take a long lunch. But it's gross! It makes me feel less like a princess and more like a...garbage man. I mean seriously, how many times have YOU been to the dump?? In the past four years my number of dump trips has steadily increased from 0 to 8!

At least it gives me an excuse to put on one of the tiaras we keep around the house and pour a Monday night cocktail. Ya know, other than the fact that it's Monday.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

She Get It From Her Momma

Ever wonder how I came to be a princess? In the words of Juvenile....

My mom refers to herself as "Diva Master" (not just at the equestrian center, but that's an issue to address on a later date) because she leads a group of equestrians called "The Drille Divas". This network of women get together and create drille routines to music, which is essentially a dance routine on horseback.

They recently performed at the 3 day Tournament of the Phoenix 2010 and got an excellent review in The Examiner. Check it out here!

She also hosts events called "Diva Days" where participants get a full day of drille instruction, delicious food, wine tastings, mini massages and other fun treats. You can get the whole shabang by checking out her website.

Like my mom (the original Drille Diva) says, "Every woman deserves a tiara and a whip".

Damn straight momma!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Have a greener Halloweener!

If you are a procrastinator like me, you probaly have not found a Halloween costume yet. It's Friday of Halloween weekend, so your choices are limited to the following:

A) Borrow from a friend
B) Hit the nearest Party City/Spirit -esque store in your area with battle gear on
C) Turn last year's costume into this year's costume

While mine is not yet finished, I am happy to report that as of last night, I opted for option C.

I must have spent hours trying to come up with something fun and creative and, um, last minute for this year's Halloween Weekend of Debauchery.

I googled. I thrift store'd. I dug through my roommate's closet and my own and VOILA! I found a red sparkly eye sore that I used as a Jessica Rabbit costume a couple years ago.

As soon as I found it, I called up my co worker Jamie (Seamstress-extraordinaire) knowing she could help me craft something out of this polyester nightmare. And she did not let me down!

By the time we had gotten through 30 minutes of hardcore girl talk, she had hemmed the floor length early 90's thrift store find and turned it into a short and cute Betty Boop dress! Now all I need is a couple accessories and I am good to go.

Don't be afraid to recycle those costumes people! Recycling is good for the environment, and more importantly, your wallet.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Every Hour is Happy Hour!

As you know, I love the Fox! But as a princess, I try not to hang out there exclusively, even though it's incredibly convenient and wallet friendly. If it's late on a Saturday night and I want an economical cocktail that's close to home, this is the place to be, but in general I try to mix it up because there are so many fun places in my neighborhood to hang out.

Prudent as I am, I like to take full advantage of happy hours and daily specials. And almost every establishment offers them. There are a lot of websites out there that offer information on specials in your area, but my personal fave is King of Happy Hour.

Let's say I get a call from a friend that wants to meet for an impromptu after work outing to cure the Monday blues. I can go on his super princess-friendly website and pick a place to meet up based on the neighborhood we will be in and what day it is! This is great because there are a lot of stylish places that one may not always be able to foot the bill at, that have awesome specials that you may not even know about!

The King has made it much easier for us by putting all of these specials in one technically challenged-friendly place, and you can even follow him on Twitter to get real time announcements of today's best specials.

There are plenty of other websites out there that offer a similar service, so you should choose the one that you like best. But in my opinion, this one has the best variety, and is the easiest to use.

Plus, I gotta give some love to my fellow royalty. This, my friends, is Prudent Princess Boozing Rule #2.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

I Love Poland!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I don't give a crap about football. I mean, I like to catch the game or whatever, but a Charger's loss is not going to ruin my day. That's not really the general concensus in PB unfortunately, so when the Charger's lost to the Raiders last Sunday the last place I wanted to be was at a bar with a bunch of angry fans. So we decided it was time for a little Sunday Funday mix up.

Conveniently enough, just across the street there was some kind of party going on, so naturally we gotta go check it out. Turns out, it was the 2010 Annual Polish Festival! I thought, how much fun could this be, it's at a church, but it was only $2 to get in so why not. Not even kidding you, I had a blast. I mean, we were the only ones there not from Poland I'm pretty sure, but it was a great time.

There was live music and Polish Folk Dancing, and food stands with everything from the standard cotton candy and snow cones, to something called "The Taste of Poland" which was basically a sampler platter of all the Polish faves for $12. That seemed a little intense, so we split an order of potato pancakes and a sausage and called it good.

Oh, and of course, my favorite part of the festival - the beer garden! They had a nice roomy set up and the crowd was definitely jolly. They offered wine and 3 types of Polish beers. I couldn't pronounce the names, so I ordered a couple "red cans" and a "yellow can".

Everyone was so nice and welcoming, the live entertainment was super fun, the food was delicious and the beer was strong. I think I'll have to check this out every year!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Weekly Special Wednesdays

My favorite day of the work week is Wednesday. Not only is it "Hump Day" (we are over the work week hump, woot!) but it's the day that the grocery stores come out with what's on sale for the week. I LOVE food and when I eat, I want to eat a meal fit for, well, a princess. Every meal. Luckily, I love to cook, because being a prudent princess means dining in lavishly as opposed to dining out mediocrely.

Every Wednesday morning I check my local Vons sales for the week, and plan my shopping list accordingly. I always make sure to include a couple luxuries that I only treat myself to when on sale. My special treats this week include:
  • Raspberries - only $0.99/pint! That's, like, pretty much free!
  • Monterey Sliced Mushrooms - they come in this super convienent resealable 10 oz bag, and are only $2 this week!
  • Sun Maid Yogurt Raisins - $3
  • Asiatic Lilies - $3.50 and guaranteed fresh for 7 days! Because a princess must dine at a pretty table even if she is dining solo for the evening.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Feelin Foxy

In the world of booze (aka PB), everyone has their Weekday Special of choice. There's Manic Monday-ers, Taco Tuesday-ers, Wet Wednesday-ers, and Thirsty Thursday-ers, which would be ME!

There are a lot of bars that offer awesome deals on Thursdays, but my favorite Thursday night spot is without a doubt The Silver Fox. Granted, it's a total dive, but it's right around the corner from my house, and everyone I know that lives south of Garnet and east of Ingraham meets up there at 9 pm for a Thirsty Thursday cocktail or 5 (Crown Point Crew!).

This cheetah print carpeted character of a watering hole offers $3 U Call It's...which includes top shelf! (who needs any of that $3 Wells only crap?) My $3 I Call It drink of choice is a Vodka Press which is flavored vodka (I like Effen cherry!), soda water and a splash of Sprite. That's what I'd like to call Lesson #1 in Prudent Princess Boozing.