Campus Tour and Jimmy's

Brandon is in construction management. Right now he's got a big student housing project going on at the SMU campus so we thought it would be fun to take a tour! (It's the closest I'll EVER get to that ridiculously EXPENSIVE place of higher learning.)

The experience was interesting and fun. I have never seen so much scaffolding in one place. I was rather amazed. We climbed up up up. And again I was amazed we didn't go crashing down.

The scaffolding is inside this dome below. It's one of the cafeterias.

Up on the top level.

Then we made our way to another tower. Climbed up a secret ladder...

into the inside of this! It will be blocked off, so we thought ourselves very cool we will be some of the only people to have ever been inside. (We should have signed our names somewhere. Doh.)

Later we drove around Highland Park (a very well-to-do neighborhood/area). It was at twilight, when it's dark enough for people to turn their lights on, but light enough that they haven't closed their drapes yet. Yes, we were the creepers driving super slow to see inside your gigantic awesome houses to see how you've decorated them. A girl's gotta know.

Then we headed over to Jimmy's Italian Food Store. Adam enjoyed looking at all their meats and other treats. Dafni got into a conversation with a very tall dark and handsome Italian man. I looked at wine labels and drooled over cannoli filling. Brandon…disappeared, he was probably plotting against the handsome Italian….

Jimmy's has won awards and recognition for their Italian sandwiches. And after having one myself, I can totally see why! Menu here. Again–here's another great new place for you to visit.

Melty cheesy, spicy sausage, goodness. This is a sammy Joey Tribbiani would approve of—and NOT share.

Brewed

We've been a little desperate to find cool/hip places to hang out with friends. (I hate chain restaurants, and always feel like we have to leave right after eating but we like talking!) Dafni found Brewed and we will absolutely be going back. It's totally hipster, inviting, and somewhat new on Magnolia street in Fort Worth. So as a reward for reading our blog here's a treat for you locals: a recommendation for a great hangout spot that's open late. You're welcome. :)

Photos above courtesy Brewed Website

Fun drinks and great food. Below is a pot roast slider. It was juicy and flavorful.

Caveman Dinner

Our New Year dinner was caveman style! Dad went out to get caveman food…and was gone forever. Turns out he'd visited 5 stores just to find turkey legs! Cooked with purple, red and gold potatoes, they were delicious.

Along with the turkey legs and potatoes, we ate freshly foraged carrots  a nut and berry side dish and a fresh fruit drink.

Adam made sure his hair and face looked the part.

Mo came to the table with mud on his face. (Can't see it though…)

After dinner we watched The Croods of course. And then banged on pots and pans at midnight.

Letter From the Poor

Over a month ago Adam and I decided to send this little decree out:

Letter From the Poor

Family and Friends,
Like everyone else on the planet, the Moon/Zenk residence has decided to start this year with an outrageous goal.

Let's  state the obvious:

We like money.
We want more money.
We want to be wealthy enough to share money.

But we're still in debt.
….So we're going to become workaholics and not going to spend ANY of our green.

Here's the math:
Normal pace = 6.1 years to get out of debt.
Trotting pace = 2.8 years to get out of debt.
Gazelle Intense pace = 1 year. ONE YEAR PEOPLE! Say whaaaat?!

Consequently, in front of us is a shiny, new, waist squeezing budget. And it includes sound effects like this one:

          NO

We are going to say it a lot. You might worry we don't like you anymore. Or even worse you'll say we've "changed" and have become *gulp* LAME. We will probably be thinking the same thing about ourselves, and it's going to be hard.

But we still love you. And when we aren't busy shoveling ourselves out of debt we would still like to see you.

We like Netflix, games, and are always up for something FREE!

We could use your help too:
Adam's new business, Ultrim is looking for projects. They do finish work and build wooden furniture. If you have any leads please send them his way. Anna is weighing her options but it is becoming more clear that the best path is a full time job. She will still take print design work though—so send people her way. Both parties are up for an odd job here and there too.

Also a word of encouragement is always welcome—cheerleader style if you please, and video taped of course, so we can watch it during moments of weakness. :)

Thank you for understanding and all your support,
We love you all the way!

-Adam and Anna

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The letter was well received! Within an hour of sending it, our mobile devices started dinging with words of encouragement from many of you! So thanks. The letter was hard to send, and hearing from you put us at peace.

How Are Things Going?

Really well! We've acquired a couple of tricks that gave us an extra $289 to add to our already whopping payment toward debt last month. 

Tricks

• Eating out : We gave ourselves a tiny allowance and we share EVERYTHING. This has saved us a ton!

• Meal Planning: I know you've heard this trick before. And I've tried to do it but really hated the planning part. However, I started to use Pinterest and it has changed our life! Every week I create a new board called "Menu" where I pin 3-4 meals and base all my grocery shopping on them. We came in $90 under budget, and still ate really great food. (Mind you, there is nothing else in the house to eat…but that's ok.)

I have also ramped things up to get a job. (I applied for one yesterday in fact.) I'll talk about that a little later. 

So all in all —things are on the up'n up! Thank you for your encouragement—it really is helpful.