So, yesterday I took the audit section of the CPA exam. I knew walking into the test that it wasn't going to be easy, but man that test was rough. I know everyone has their "niche" and some will find audit easy and some will find it difficult; however, seeing as I am an auditor by profession, I thought audit would be my niche. Oh well, I guess all I can do is sit back and wait for my score to be released.
Although shedding blood, sweat, and tears in an attempt to become a CPA can be challenging, I guess it's good to know that the CPA certification isn't just handed out like it's free candy. When you meet a CPA, you know they are intelligent and have serious drive. I mean, there is just no way a stupid person can pass all four of these exams.
For all of my accountant friends daydreaming about being a CPA, another71.com has a lot of forums that can help you study and/or motivate you to pass. Or if you just want a laugh, howshouldweaccountforme.tumblr.com is probably the funniest accounting site in all of history.
Christmas is a time to celebrate with your family and friends. Although giving gifts has become an important aspect of Christmas, the best part of Christmas is cherishing precious time with your loved ones. I know that I have posted before about my annual Christmas traditions (see Confession #29) but this year, old traditions were thrown to the wind and new traditions were made. Being an immigrant, the only family I have in this country are my parents and my brother. This year, my family has returned to our home country for the holidays. I will admit that Christmas without them has been strange (but wonderful in its own, new way).
My husband and I celebrated Christmas alone today. We slept in late which is a rare thing indeed nowadays. When we finally got up, I immediately put on Christmas music to get into the spirit and then we opened presents. You know you have gotten old when you get freakishly excited about receiving clothes for Christmas. We decided to be ridiculous cat people and get our kittens presents as well. They ran around with their toys for hours until they both collapsed onto the floor and slept until we were getting ready for bed. After we opened presents, we did some yoga to relax and then I went into instant stress mode about cooking.
Cooking was by far the most interesting part of the day. I wanted to make a special Christmas dinner but damnit cooking for two is not easy. Making a whole turkey is impractical. Even a small turkey would have created an inordinate amount of leftovers. So I decided to take things a different route. As a diversion tactic, I made spanakopita as an appetizer so that my husband would be too busy munching to follow me around the kitchen. I then made stuffing, mashed potatoes, and broccoli just so that the meal still felt like Christmas. As the main dish, I made New York Strip marinated in lager and red wine vinegar (steak and beer...how awesome is that!?) and then topped the steak with a blue cheese sauce (ohhh my). To finish the meal off, we had some strawberry cheesecake. After all was said and done, I felt so fat I could barely get out of my chair.
Christmas has been good to us this year. Although we were both missing our families, we had a great and relaxing day. Well y'all, I hope that you had a very merry Christmas as well. Good night!
(PS: People who have cats will know exactly what I am talking about when I say that the picture above is a short-lived calm moment with my cat and our Christmas tree. If I find one more smashed ornament I might break into deep sobs.)
So...I disappeared for a while. I have been so busy with work (traveling constantly) that this blog definitely took a back burner. I assumed not many people were reading anyways (getting a blog following sure is difficult) but I was quite surprised when I finally logged on today. I had a lot more views than I expected which is so cool! Can't believe people actually read this malarkey ;).
Today is Christmas Eve and I am about to go do my Christmas shopping (I am such a bad person) but I swear I have not had a single spare moment to get it done. If only time was a trade-able commodity. I would buy up so much time which I would use to clean my house, actually read a freaking book that doesn't involve accounting, volunteer at a homeless shelter, go to the mall and buy my family Christmas presents. Time is such a funny thing. It passes us by mostly unnoticed as we are always rushing to get to the next thing (I can't wait until the weekend...until Christmas...until I get married...until I quit my job...etc). One day I will be looking back instead of forward and I will wish that I had lived more in the moment and spent more time on myself.
Oh well. I should probably spend this "free time" getting my shopping done. Maybe tomorrow I will post all of the delicious food that I will be making for Christmas dinner. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas Eve, everyone!
I have been flying on planes since I was a couple of weeks old. I think it is safe to say that I have flown at least 100 times and I have been to many countries. When I was a little kid, I would occasionally get motion sickness on flights but I was never really bothered by it.
Flying never made me at all nervous until I was an adult and I had to start flying alone. I am not nervous about the actual flying (which is what makes this so ridiculous). I am nervous that I will get lost, get on the wrong plane, miss my flight, etc. But I think the TSA gives me more anxiety than anything else. I am always the one who gets her bags routed through, gets patted down, and gets the evil eye from all of the agents. It's not so bad when you have someone with you that stands and waits for you and is there for you to vent to.
But I guess we all have to grow up and learn how to board a plane on our own at some point. I have flown internationally by myself, and domestically for work. Still, I never get any less anxious about going to the airport.
One of the things on my bucket list is to see a Broadway musical actually on Broadway. I have seen my fair share of off-Broadway musicals and I am obsessed. I can't imagine what it is like to see the real thing.
The other night I went and saw Chicago in my local city. I have seen it before in London which was incredible, so my standards were pretty high. Some characters were not as good this time, but overall, I just really enjoyed myself. I would recommend Chicago to anyone who enjoys a good musical. It is about a group of women in jail who, for various reasons, have murdered a man in their life. It is a hilarious look at the U.S. justice system. and portrays the intensity of love and jealousy. Plus the music is so catchy. I love the mix of jazz and theatrical music.
Although Chicago is excellent, my top 2 favorite Broadway shows are Wicked, and surprisingly enough, The Lion King. I have been crazy about Wicked since I was very young so when I finally got to see it live, I loved it even more than I thought that I would. I have seen it 3 times and I would see it again in a heartbeat (I may also know all the words to every song). I would venture to say that Wicked it at the top of most people's list. When I first went to see the Lion King, I will admit that I was skeptical. There are so many amazing Broadway shows out there and I just didn't think that this show could ever compare to the likes of Rent or Cats. But I was blown away within the first 30 seconds of the show. If you haven't seen it, well...you have to. Every single second of it is intensely incredible.
I have been trying to do more "likes" than "dislikes" as confessions (or at least alternating each day between good and bad) but today I have to do a second dislike in a row. I apologize in advance.
So I order a new Vera Bradley makeup bag from Amazon (which, by the way, I absolutely love Amazon) and it is shipped from a third-party. I am super excited about it and a few days later I get an email from Amazon saying that it has been delivered.
Weird...I have been home all day and no one ever knocked on my door with a package. I go to my front door and there is no package and I do not have a "Sorry you missed us" sticker on my door. I live in an apartment complex so I go down to my mailbox and the package is not there but I have a message saying that my package has been left in the apartment leasing office.
Great! So I happily skip along to the office while daydreaming of all the wonderful makeup I can put in my new bag. And when I get to the office, guess what? No package. The leasing manager says to me "Ohhh sometimes they forget to bring it to the office so check back tomorrow". Fine. I am busy for the next few days but by the time I finally get down there (6 days later), still no package. The post office blames it on the leasing office and the leasing office blames it on the post office.
I blame it on everybody. I am angry, broke, and makeup bag-less. And no one can give me any answers. I swear I have the worse luck in the world.
The whole unspoken rule of non-mandatory events is quite frustrating. If you want me to go somewhere or do something that I probably won't want to do, tell me that it is required. Because come on...if you give me the option of not going, we all know what I am going to do.
I get so mad when people tell me I don't have to do something but then get upset when I don't do it. I know this is a very vague vent (say that 10 times fast) but it just really gets under my skin.
If a pizza place tells you that you can have a whole pizza for free with the option of paying $5 for it, you are probably going to take the pizza for free. If they don't give you the option, you pay the dang $5 because otherwise you would either have to steal it or have a lonely pizza-less night. Bad example, I know. But seriously.
Let's just be honest with each other. There should be two, straight-forward categories: mandatory and not mandatory. The third made-up category ("it's not required but if you don't go I will chop your head off") should be discarded immediately.
So, yesterday I took the audit section of the CPA exam. I knew walking into the test that it wasn't going to be easy, but man that test was rough. I know everyone has their "niche" and some will find audit easy and some will find it difficult; however, seeing as I am an auditor by profession, I thought audit would be my niche. Oh well, I guess all I can do is sit back and wait for my score to be released.
