Quote(s) of the Day

Business reporter endorses lobster truck

“Endorsing @Lobstertruckdc — more than worth the 25-minute wait and price ($15) for this delicious pile of lobster claw meat. #dcfood”
- AP Business writer Daniel Wagner in a Monday tweet.

Phonetic overboard

In a town where the mexican restaurant menu has a phonetic pronunciation guide. Taquitos-Tah-key-toes, Quesadilla-Kay-sah-dee-yah
- WaPo personal finance writer Nancy Trejos in a Monday tweet.

Not even writing headline for this…

“I just saw a Chuck introduce himself to a Todd. That was really weird.”
- NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Luke Russert in a Monday tweet.

D.C. writer gets favorite granddaughter status

“Emergency trip to DC to pick up Grandpa and Great Aunt Dee at Beck rally almost done. This is why I’m their favorite grandchild.”
-FishbowlDC Contributor Ashley Estill in a weekend tweet during Glenn Beck rally.

Reporter apologizes for self-promoting

“Be a fan on facebook! (sorry, some self-promotion.)”
- Newsweek‘s Howard Fineman on Twitter. Find his Facebook page here.

Nancy Trejos has weaknesses. Fine wine. Bulgari shampoo. World travel. As a personal finance writer for WaPo, all these weaknesses didn’t always add up and left her with a double life – her day job writing about people in debt and living a lifestyle well beyond her means. “I had been in denial about my financial problems, but I couldn’t do that anymore because the recession was hitting and I was on the phone with people who were hitting bankruptcy and couldn’t pay their car loans,” she said. “I just think people would rather talk about sex than money.” So she wrote a book. Her first. It’s called Hot (Broke) Messes: How to Have Your Latte and Drink it Too. I recently spoke with Trejos about what it felt like to write such a personally exposing book. Here’s what she had to say.

1. How did you come up with the title? A friend of mine helped me come up with it. She’s a writer and she and I are around the same age. We were running around D.C. together and we were dealing with our issues. One night she turned to me and said, ‘Oh we’re just hot messes.’ Hot Messes was the title I proposed. Then it became a collaboration and they wanted to change the title and add a subtitle. Finance can be such a scary thing. I didn’t want this to be a scary personal finance book. There’s a lot of prescriptive advice, but I tell it through my story, which at times is sad, but at other times, funny. I wanted this to be a fun title with a fun cover.

2. In your book you go into almost excruciating detail about your spending. How is your spending these days and how’s the debt situation? I’m a lot better now. I used to be such an impulsive spender and an emotional spender. I’d go through a breakup and go out and buy new outfits because I’d want to look better and feel better. I’d take an impulsive trip whenever something bad was happening because I just wanted to go away. I think and I have a budget. I have been able to pay off my credit cards. I still have my car loan, my student loans. I’m so much better than I was. When you’re fixing your finances it takes a long time. I’m still a work in progress. I still have to be very careful with how I spend my money. I still have to reign in that impulsive attitude. Now I think before I spend.

Read Trejos’ remaining three answers after the jump…

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Quote of the Day

Time editor professes sympathy for Newsweek

“I don’t take any pleasure in what’s happening to them.”
–Time‘s Richard Stengel when pressed to comment on the sale of Newsweek on Thursday morning’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.

Grammar lessons

“Start getting rid of adverbs, my colleague just told me.”
–WaPo‘s Nancy Trejos in a Wednesday tweet.

Quote of the Day

“Relaxed after soaking for an hour in thermal waters. twas great, except for the 60-something guy who hit on me in the bathhouse.”–WaPo reporter Nancy Trejos tweeted Wednesday from Hot Springs, Ark.

The below fish is an Achilles Tang. It is said to be difficult to keep, and swims continuously at a very high speed. If kept in a tank too small, the fish gets nervous … and soon dies. In the best of times, the fish enjoys a wide variety of foods such as blanched romaine lettuce or zucchini.

WaPo travel reporter Nancy Trejos!

She celebrated with a cocktail birthday party recently hosted by Elham and Erik Lipton. Partiers included: Marko Cimbaljevich, Jade Nester, Lucile Maladain, Zach Goldfarb, Kendra Marr, Matthew Cooper, Jay Newton-Small, Lizzie O’Leary, Neil Irwinn, Christina Sevilla, Binya Appelbaum, Amanda Rivkin, Tim Burger and Josh Meyer.

A variety pack of writers, producers, novelists and inventors ventured from the unseasonably cool night and into the hotter-than-a-Ginuwine-video steaminess to get their prescriptions filled last night.

“Lovesick”, Alex Wellen‘s new novel, was the reason. Quigley’s Pharmacy was the venue. Love Potion #9 flowed freely. And custom-crafted pill bottles (full of M&M’s) provided sweet remedy.

Attendees included Alex & Kris Wellen, Wolf Blitzer, Edie Emery, Jake Perry, Nancy Trejos, Mark Preston, Jay Newton-Small, Shirley Hung, Christina Sevilla, Lee Brenner, Marc Adelman, Annie Gowen, Rebecca Sinderbrand, Juleanna Glover, Courtney Kube, Mark Paustenbach, Sena Fitzmaurice and Andy Mirsky.

Noticeably absent: Huey Lewis & The News. (#lovesick & @alexwellen)

This post was written by a FBDC guest blogger Kenny Day. Pics also by Day.

More photos after the jump…

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WaPo launched a new economy and business section front online today. It also features a new blog “Small Change” by Ylan Mui and Nancy Trejos that will focus on “helping people survive the economic downturn.”

WaPo Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli: “In today’s economic climate, with so many critical decisions being made in Washington, The Post is an essential read. This new section will let readers in this city and around the world not only get the latest news but tap into the policy discussions, the analysis, and the insight that set the Post apart.”

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

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From the Washington Post’s internal announcement, obtained by FishbowlDC:

We are pleased to announce that Nancy Trejos will replace Nell Henderson as our personal finance reporter. Nancy joined the Financial staff in February to cover real estate, after an impressive two month rotation in Iraq. During her seven months as a real estate reporter, she has written A1 stories about condo buyers whose projects are unexpectedly cancelled, glitzy condo parties to attract customers and “upside down” home sellers (who owe more on their homes than they can sell them for). Her memorable stories from Iraq include the difficulties of giving birth in Iraq, the return of “enjoyment marriages,” and the plight of women there.

With her aggressive reporting, lively writing, creativity, energy and interest in consumer issues and pop culture (she lists chick lit and celebrity trivia as hobbies), Nancy has already had a huge impact on our coverage. We are delighted that she wants to expand her base to write about a wide range of personal finance issues. She will write for Sunday Business, the daily Business section and A1.

Nancy was born and raised in Queens, where she lived with her Colombian father, her Ecuadorian mother and two older siblings. She moved to Washington in 1994 to study at Georgetown University and in 1998 took a Post summer internship in the Southern Maryland bureau. She worked briefly for the Los Angeles Times but then returned to the Post’s Southern Maryland bureau to cover three school districts. She later covered schools in Prince George’s and was a general assignment reporter in Montgomery County.

From the Post:

We’re delighted to announce that Nancy Trejos will be joining the Real Estate section as a reporter. Nancy is finishing a rotation in Baghdad that has been marked by a number of fascinating human interest features as well as by strong daily news stories. She started at The Post in 1998 as an intern. She then spent a year at the Los Angeles Times before returning here to work for Metro in the Southern Maryland, Prince George’s and Montgomery bureaus. Most recently she has been a general assignment reporter concentrating on the northern part of Montgomery County, where the broad range of stories she wrote included a number about housing affordability. She will be starting in her new position soon, after she has had time to rest up from Iraq.