The Unexpected Power of Putting Your Best Foot Forward

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The Unexpected Power of Putting Your Best Foot Forward

A hair stylist once told me “You’re not a high-maintenance woman, are you?”. Others have been more polite, with statements such as “You’d be best with something that’s easy to style and maintain.” and others less so: “No. I’m not going to do that type of colour on you because you won’t maintain it.”

OUCH! Suffice it to say that most people would not peg me as someone who invests a lot in her looks, unless I absolutely have to. Truth is, if I don’t have a corporate gig to go to or a theatre production to prep for, you’ll find me in cargo pants, a t-shirt and a zip-up hoodie as opposed to more professional-looking options. Yup, that’s how I roll 90+% of the time, especially now that I work my magic at home.

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Ten Days in Paradise for Less Than $1000

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Ten Days in Paradise for Less Than $1000

In a little over 100-days’ time, we’re going on a 10-day vacation to Costa Rica, our longest vacation together in over five years.

What prompted my research on the potential for us to go there was an invitation from my girlfriend Michelle (with whom I went on safari in 2014) to join her and her husband there this coming January. Unfortunately, our schedules didn’t align and we had to pass on their invitation, but all is not lost: we’ll be going about a month later.

I bring this trip up for a half-dozen reasons that I think might be worthy of discussion...

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We Accumulated $429 of Stupid Tax In Just Three Days

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We Accumulated $429 of Stupid Tax In Just Three Days

The online Personal Finance community talks a great deal about the cost of payday loan operations—especially now that they’re popping up on every corner and seem more pervasive than McDonald’s. We also talk about our out-of-control consumerism that leads us towards spiralling levels of debt, especially credit card debt and HELOCs. But there’s one thing we don’t talk about enough when it comes to what can put a dent into our finances: fines & traffic violations.

Mr. F2P and I were painfully reminded of this fact last week. He and I had a lot on our plate and a scarcity mindset [in this case a lack of time] created by our respective preoccupations left us a distracted mess.

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When Ideas Have Sex

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When Ideas Have Sex

I was away at a conference last week (the first of a few trips I alluded to in this post) and the experience was overwhelming to say the least.

Not because of the number of people—though 1,200 is a lot—but because of the number of opportunities that presented themselves. I have never had so many great conversations in a short four days, and I mean never.

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Don’t Be That [Mercedes] Guy

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Don’t Be That [Mercedes] Guy

I had an experience this Spring that I just can’t get out of my mind, which means I probably should share it with you. 

As I sometimes do when I want a change of pace, I go to one of three coffee shops within walking distance of our home. I’m waiting in line for my free refill and notice this guy two spots ahead of me, pacing back and forth from his spot to the window and back.

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What Does "Doing the Work" Mean?

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What Does "Doing the Work" Mean?

It’s 4:45am and I’m sitting in the same coffee shop where I started writing three years ago. It’s also about the same time of the day when I used to come here (thank heaven for 24hr shops) because I couldn’t sleep. What got me up then is the same thing that got me up this morning: a drive, an itch, a deep desire to explore and share ideas with others that might cause us all to wake up to the reality that the way the majority of us currently live is not the way it has to be, should be.

The idea? The itch? Here’s the thesis: In most areas of life, we don’t do the work anymore.

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Don't Be a Moron, Life Happens

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Don't Be a Moron, Life Happens

I work with a number of people every week, as do most people. What's unusual at present is that most of the people I interact with have experienced significant life events that were out of their control: death of a loved one, illness, job change, career opportunity, new relationship. All of these were highly unexpected. And their sheer number reminds me of the following:

Anyone who thinks that every step in life can be planned out and executed to perfection is a moron.

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