Hot Chocolate & Film Incentives

Today was an eventful day. Most exciting of all I went the whole day without spending any money. Though I had been getting good at packing lunches for work, I couldn't ever seem to break myself of the compulsion to stop for a latte or plain coffee at $1.50 to $3.50 a pop almost daily. It was kind of like a smoking habit -- expensive and provided a reason to take a break from whatever I was doing.

Today, in lieu of the $3.50 latte, I substituted homemade hot chocolate from Hershey's cocoa powder. I may not always have instant hot chocolate in the cupboard, but usually there's some cocoa powder so I made myself some from scratch: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Hershey%27s-Cocoa-Hot-Chocolate

I sent a flurry of e-mails this morning and afternoon trying to tie up loose ends with the well established architecture office--almost done. COBRA is appearing to be too expensive so it is looking like I will try my luck with a cheap health care policy on my own. I did however find another unemployed architect to be my study buddy this week; exam #6, 'materials and methods', is this coming Saturday.

I also did some of my first volunteering since the layoff. TxMPA had their kick off lobbying meeting for the Motion Picture Incentive bill. Texas has been loosing a lot of motion picture business to neighboring states due to lucrative incentives those states have for the industry (i.e. Louisiana). If you think that the business and culture that film productions bring to Texas is important, which it most certainly is, you should contact your Texas senator and representative and tell them to vote yes. More info on what to do: http://www.txmpa.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118:who-do-you-know&catid=37:-our-legislative-agenda&Itemid=70

I've also been baking cookies: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-chocolate-sandwich-cookie-recipe/index.html