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    What I Learned from 2 Weeks without Data

    When I arrived in Italy for what would be an epic 2 week honeymoon, I had a plan in mind to make sure I would not be without a cell phone and data connection. My wife got me a Nexus 5X last Christmas so I decided to sign up for Google’s Project Fi for international cell service. It’s much cheaper than ATT and I’d get to spend some quality time with Android after being away for about a year. However, when we arrived in Venice I noticed I was connecting to cell towers, but I wasn’t able to text or get online. I thought maybe Venice was spotty but as we moved down country, I still had no luck. I was relegated to calls anywhere, but text and data only on WiFi, which was basically at the hotel. Here’s how that went.

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  • Creating a Wedding Registry

    Over the weekend, Erin and I started shopping for our wedding registry. We decided on 3 stores – Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We made it to the first two. We went in with no plan and were a bit overwhelmed, but it was a good experience! We have a good starting point, but I think I’d do things a little differently from the beginning.

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  • 100 Words 011

    In under a year, I am getting married and moving to Allentown, PA to start a wonderful life with my best friend and favorite person. Because of that, I have been clearing house in my apartment.

    Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?

    Since my freshman year of college, I’ve stayed in this apartment longer than any other place, and stuff has been building up. I go through my closets regularly looking for stuff to donate and sell.

    It’s really liberating: less clutter, less worry to about. I’ll need to remember that next time I go to buy something.

  • 100 Words 002

    It’s been about 1 month (34 days) since I’ve been using an automated saving service called Digit, and I’ve really been digging it. I’ve saved around $360 without realizing or missing it, and I keep really good track of my finances.

    The way it works is you connect a bank account, it spends a couple of days figuring out your spending habits, and then it makes withdrawals every couple of days based on how it determines you spend, and what you can spare.

    I’m using this round of savings for a trip I’m taking in August. Then it’s all wedding savings.

    Oh..and it’s free.

  • Creating the Guest List for Your Wedding

    As many have told us, Erin and I are working pretty quickly through our wedding planning list. We already have a venue, a photographer, a DJ, color schemes, and some other odds and ends. The thing we are a bit stuck on right now is the guest list. Perhaps it’s a bit taboo to talk about this since we are still making it, but it’s a very important task and a possible big point of conflict, and not just between you and your fiancee.

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  • Seat Covers and Other Small Details

    Did you know it’s said that Walt Disney can be attributed with the creation of the “Push” trash cans? When he was creating Disneyland, he didn’t want people to see trash coming out of the top of the receptacles, so he challenged companies to make trash cans that hid the trash. He would use whoever did the best. That’s because Walt was very much about small details. Hearing stories like that have made me think about how small details can go a long way, even if no one ever notices them. That brings me to seat covers.

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  • Saving for a Wedding

    A lot of you probably saw on my various social media accounts that I proposed to my girlfriend and she said yes. I couldn’t be happier for the engagement, and now the fun part starts: planning a wedding. You don’t have to worry; I won’t be live-blogging every decision we make. I’m sure there are guides out there on how to plan a wedding already from much more credible sources than me, but I do want to talk about some of the practical things I come across in this adventure. The first is that we need to save some money in order to have the wedding that we want to have. Here are some of the things I’m doing.

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