Happy Valentine's Day - Melting Pot Memories Are Expensive But Worth It

By MoneyBlueBook

I would like to wish my readers and my lovely girl a Happy Valentine's Day! For those of you who don't have a clue where to take your Valentine's date, I recommend The Melting Pot, a classy fondue restaurant. Fondue is basically a communal type of dinner meal shared around an earthenware pot cooked over a small burner at your table. The light fondue cheese mix inside the pot is usually cooked with traces of wine and kept warm while diners use specially pronged forks to dip bread and other bits of food into it. Although it's deliciously fun, the dining experience can be rather expensive.

Love May Be Cheap, But Fondue Isn't

The Melting Pot is definitely not a place for patrons who are financially squeamish about opening up their wallets wide for a rare romantic dinner. On special occasions like Valentine's Day, expect reservations to be in demand and planned dinner courses for two to cost upwards of $130.00. On other days, the price doesn't fare all that much better - at around $85 per couple. It's amazing how high prices soar for love-related events and merchandise during special holiday occasions like Valentine's Day (just look at the price of online Valentine's day flowers in my last post).

I'm not really a high end restaurant connoisseur (usually preferring to save my money by going elsewhere), but I've been there a few times and enjoyed the food and ambiance. Don't get me wrong - a dinner at the Melting Pot is incredibly expensive,

By MoneyBlueBook

Well it's mid January and unless you live near the equator or in a southern hemisphere region where seasons are flipped upside down like say, Australia, then it should be getting very cold just about now. Although come to think of it, this year's temperatures have been strangely and unseasonably warm. Global warming in action perhaps? Well mother nature must have finally heard the call because my area just got dumped today with the season's first significant snowfall. Temperatures are projected to plunge into the 20's this weekend. Brrrrr!

If you plan on staying indoors, it's likely the freezing drop will follow you inside. To combat the frigid winter temperatures, there are four ways to deal with the situation:

If You Can't Upgrade The Insulation, Beat The Cost By Putting On A Sweater and Using A Space Heater

Unless you are extremely well off and money is not an issue, most ordinary folks are concerned with the rising cost of home heating bills. With surging oil and gasoline prices, the cost of heating houses and apartments has become more expensive than in years past. It's in our own

By MoneyBlueBook

I got a sudden phone call from my friend yesterday. His stunned voice said it all - he and his newlywed wife had just become victims of an attempted home burglary. The shocking part is that he and his wife were home at the time sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Their early morning meal was interrupted by a sudden loud banging noise from the direction of their back porch - sounds made by someone knocking on the door. The tapping sound was quickly followed by the chilling clang of breaking glass and creaking window latches. Within moments my friend dashed to the back door and caught the glimpse of the male intruder. Startled by the appearance of the home's occupants, the stranger hastily retreated on foot, leaving behind broken glass and evidence of his attempted break in.

Home Invasion Robbery Is A Crime Of Opportunity and We Can Do Something About It

The good news is that there are common sense steps we can all take to drastically reduce our chances of having our houses, apartments, or condos burglarized. Looking back in greater depth with my friend, he and I both realized that he had committed a series of crucial home maintenance mistakes that made him a bullseye target for such activity. Since moving into the old Northwest Washington D.C. house a month ago after taking it over from his remaining parent who had just passed away, he failed and neglected to immediately fix up and repair the home's exterior upkeep. The grass had

By MoneyBlueBook

I've had numerous financial milestones in my life, but one still seems to stand out in my relatively young working life. From the time I eventually emerged from under my parent's financial wing to finally working and fending for myself, I still remember when I finally saved and banked that first $10,000. Everything else accumulated after that just seems to pale in significance to that first ten grand.

Crossing the $10,000 Milestone Signified the Mature Transition From Paycheck Living To A Forward Looking, Savings Oriented Lifestyle

During college, I was financially spoiled and completely under my parent's financial protection. Whenever I was low on funds I simply received a parental handout. But as time passed, the funds began to dwindle as my parents started to reinforce the importance of keeping spending habits in check. At the time, my spoiled mentality prevented me from realizing that my parent's growing refusal to give in to all my financial demands was due to their desire to teach me the importance of frugal living. At the time, I was childishly bitter when my handout demands were rejected. Looking back though, I now feel very lucky and grateful to have had parents who had the love and care to teach me important life lessons I would need in the future, as well as the financial means to help partially subsidize my education.

When I graduated and started working for the first time I began to face the harsh financial realities of the real world. My first legal job was a low paying

By MoneyBlueBook

I left the traditional attorney job behind a few years ago and now do finance and legal work on a contractual basis. I've been doing this for more than a year now and so far it's been enjoyable, although not without its ups and downs. But then they don't call it a job for nothing. I probably can go on and on about how miserable I was working as an attorney but I think I'll save that for another day. Suffice to say, the legal field is overly saturated and the profession simply isn't the lucrative and inspiring field it used to be. I think most attorneys today, including myself would be wary about recommending law school to those contemplating a field of study. I am constantly trying to tell younger friends to bypass law school and do something more worthwhile and meaningful with their lives, but they never seem to listen. They'll know what I mean when they get out.

A Change Of Profession Is What I Needed

So here I am in my current job, working on a contractual basis in a field somewhat related to my area of study. The job security and rapid advancement opportunities may be gone, but my sanity and happiness have flourished ten fold. Working on a contractual basis, I now have the opportunity and time to develop and improve my various side ventures - things I'm quite passionate about. Of course, perhaps one day I will tire and choose to get back to the nitty gritty legal practice. Tax

By MoneyBlueBook

For those who haven't seen it before, MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" is one of the many things in television pop culture today that is seriously messing up the minds of kids today, leading them down the path of excessive consumerism and obsession with wealth and entitlement. The MTV reality TV show follows and documents the 16th birthday celebrations of upper class teenagers. Now these are no ordinary birthday parties. We're not talking about a day at Dave and Busters or the bowling alley. On this program we have stretch Hummers, horses, live dancers, famous rap stars, decked out ballrooms, and budget rolls in excess of $300,000. Everything is paid for in cash or with quick obligatory swipes of the parents' trusty Amex Black Cards or Visa Black Cards, indispensable and exclusive tools of the trade. You won't see any "paltry presents" like Apple iPods or Gap clothing here. Instead, the doting parents of these spoiled rotten kids prefer to give them top of the line BMW's and Land Rover's, capped with red bows on top to quench their material thirst. The show, although quite entertaining, proclaims the non-stop need to spend, spend, and spend to the utter collective delight of all luxury car dealerships and luxury boutiques everywhere.

Spoiled Bratty Kids Come In All Sizes

The show features spoiled teens of all race, nationality, and even sex - black, white, Persian, and even shockingly, a few teenage boys among the mostly teenage girls. The show follows the same template,