One of my favorite “I’m so bored!” features is Stumble Upon. I love coming across the most random pages and sites. But, I’ve found I also com across some great sources. I figured Wednesday, being hump day and all, might make a great day to just share some of those sources I’ve come across, from the most helpful to the silliest things.

In no order of favoritism:

1. Dafont.com’s top fonts: So many delicious, free fonts. I love seeing some of the creativity behind these, even if I’d never use (unfortunately, pretty doesn’t necessarily equal user-friendly).
2. 0 to 255: If you’re like me, you find yourself hovering over the same colors (ahem, purple). 0 to 255 let’s you browse a lot more colors, including different shades of one. It also provides you with the hex code of each shade so you can quickly implement it in your web site or in Photoshop.
3. 63 of the Best Free Online Tools for Designers and Developers: So many goodies here. I haven’t given them all a try yet, but they’re definitely worth some testing. If you’re a designer, I would give carbonmade.com a try for your portfolio.
4. Book Seer: I’ve been wanting something like this for AGES. When you’ve finished a book you’ve enjoyed, you can enter the title and it will give you recommendations based off similar titles purchases on Amazon.
5. Calvin and Hobbes Wonderland:

Enough said

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There’s this new summer show that started called Huge. It’s about a group of teenagers at a weight-lost camp, and it’s definitely something that will get you hooked.

I find myself watching it and thinking, “I wish I could go to a weight-loss camp.” In my mind, I picture it as the perfect place to lose ten pounds or so, completely cut off from tempting foods and forced to do exercise. Realistically, I know it wouldn’t work for me: I hate being bossed around, I hate the outdoors, and I hate sharing a room with seven other people.

Yes, this is probably how miserable I would look.

Then I thought, “Why can’t I create my own weight-loss camp?” I’m not food-stupid. I know what foods are healthy and what to avoid. I could cut myself off from chocolate, force myself to go back to the gym or take walks, make sure I eat healthy balance meals.

And I wouldn’t have to fork over the $500+ to go to camp.

It’s about will power and making smart choices and sticking to a plan. Which I’m not particularly good about. I need to be held accountable to someone. I need to be able to check in with someone on a weekly, biweekly, monthly, x-time basis, and provide them with a result.

This is another reason why I’m bad with imaginary deadlines, ahem.

But baby steps, right? So tomorrow I take my first step: going back to the gym.

Stay tuned for Natalia’s weight loss camp. Free of charge.

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It’s hard enough finding a job for one. Think about finding a job for two.

I am, of course, speaking about when you’re in a relationship.

I have had friends who have moved to a location because their significant other found a job. They would move, hoping that the relocation would grant them a job in their desired career path. Usually it didn’t happen. The economy, of course, doesn’t care much for those in loves. It just doesn’t discriminate that way.

Now, I find myself in a similar position where it’s like a ticking bomb. Will I get a job first, or will he? Will neither of us, and then we’re stuck trying to juggle unemployment, a crappy job at a gas station, trying to temp to bring in money?

Photo by Alex E. Proimos

Not necessarily this gas station.

But most importantly: do we think of this us an “us” thing or as a “me” thing? Here are some things to consider:

1. Have the talk now, not later. Not after he’s left, because he was thinking “me,” or after you’ve signed your contract to work in Maine when he can’t stand to be anywhere that has a winter. You can always come back and readjust if needed, but you need to set down some of the ground work.
2. Have a back-up plan. Have many. I have Plans A-F, and I’m always adding more based on my day, new talks, new options. Write them down. You want to have something to focus on.
3. Be realistic and optimistic about the future. A little contradictory, you may say. I disagree. If you’re fresh out of college, the sky is pretty much the limit, give or take your career. Write a list (or you can put your all into it and make one of those “dream” boards), and write down where you (or both of you) would like to live, what kind of work you’d like, what kind of salary, and anything else that might be important, such as school area, beach view, etc. Once you’re reach the sky, bring it down one practical level. Add steps you might have to take to secure something. Put items (such as CEO salary) on a side-table that you can return to in the future.

Three things to start you off with.

And, remember, even if your relationship doesn’t work out, there are plenty of donuts in the box. Or something along those lines.

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A couple of months ago I stumbled upon www.girlfuture.com, an online magazine that specializes in creating a supportive environment for girls ages 9-15. There might have been some squeeing, since this is a cause I HIGHLY believe in, and even want to end up investing in when I have enough money to fund my own projects.

I pitched an idea for an article on video games and how girls are getting more of a share in them. (They are no longer just for stinky boys who live in their basements, yay!) I spent a couple of months going back and forth with the associate editor, doing edits, figuring out titles and endings.

And it paid off! Today I got my first check!

It was very exciting, and I spent some time doing a happy dance with my beautiful check.

The article is not up on the web site yet (they’ve been going through the process of fundraising, so things are a little slow), but I can’t wait to write something else.

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I’ve never been financially savvy. I overspent a lot my first two years at college. My third year I realized I would soon have to pay off student loans, so I amassed about $1,000 in savings.

And then I blew it all, despite the fact that I was unemployed. Yeah, if I could talk to myself one year ago I would have given me better advice.

In January, my credit card was only a few hundred dollars away from hitting its limit of $4,500. So I changed my gears and focused on paying it off.

Now I’m only $423 away from having it completely paid off. (I’ve also “misplaced” my card to avoid using it, which has been very helpful.)

I start paying student loans back soon, but it makes me SO happy to be able to say I will soon have no credit card debt. That I managed to put the will power into it going from $4,500 to nothing.

My next goal is to figure out what to do financially after that. I start going part-time in July, which means I’ll only be making half of what I do. I want to invest some money, but I’m not even sure if that’s possible, since student loans will be taking about half of my monthly paycheck.

In the mean time, here’s a reminder of how much better I’m doing and how much more I have to go:

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