Frugal February Day 8

I spent another day at work sending letters. But when I finished I caught the train to the city to meet James. I thought of buying a magazine to read on the way, but instead I took an old New Idea from the office. I should have spent $8 and saved my brain cells.

They had some brilliant tips to be more active in your day-to-day life, including joining a yoga class (I never knew scheduling regular exercise could help in this area!) and taking 45 minute walks during your lunch break - either this magazine is written by housewives, for housewives, or the idea is that if you are always 15 minutes late coming back from lunch you'll eventually get fired and have loads more time to work out.

But Nene King's advice column was great! Did you know: no matter what goes wrong in your life, it will never be as bad as the time her husband got eaten by a shark, so seriously, suck it up.

When I met Jimmy we went to Darling Harbour for after work drinks, like Proper Adults. Tokio Hotel had $4 drinks, but this G&T was totally flat. And that's not a lime in there either, just a seriously underripe lemon.

But we had a nice view of this beautiful day.

Bacia (is that the name?) had a two-for-one special. I wouldn't pay $9 for a G&T but I didn't mind paying it for two. These were really lovely, and it was a beautiful restaurant/bar too.

When we were good and sloshed we walked back toward Town Hall for dinner at Menya, our favourite Japanese noodle place. We've only ever been in Winter; it was nice to sit outside while it was still light.

The gyoza were SO GOOD, I can not even tell you. $7.50 for eight.

I had some kind of karaage (fried chicken) ramen - $11.50.

James had a vegetable one, which I think is the one I normally order. I'm pretty sure it costs less than $10.

If that wasn't thrifty enough, I was wearing this $3 work dress while I ate it. Thank you Salvatore!

We did the MX crossword on the train home, then we went to San Churro for a chocolate sundae. We've been getting these since we first started dating. I think the shop might have changed hands, 'cause they aren't as good as they used to be. But for $10 they aren't bad either.

Spending today: $30

(for dinner, drinks, dessert and travel I think that's decent)

Spending this week: $30

Spending this month: $85.50