The 6th was my birthday. Yay! That meant dinner out financed by my lovely friends and lunch out gifted to my by some wonderful coworkers.

The rundown:

May 6: Spent no money, but had a Mexican lunch and a tapas dinner, and then some pizza and wine after we realized how expensive the tapas dinner was (and that we were still hungry). Hoorah for birthdays. 26, so far, is feeling good.

May 7: $13 on lunch

Admittedly, that was an expensive lunch, and it brings up a question: The lunch was kind of business-y in nature (I’m a reporter, and it was with sources). I haven’t had too many such lunches (I’m still pretty new to the area and the job and just haven’t developed those types of relationships yet), so I’m not sure if it’s something I should ask to expense.

When I was hired, my boss said he hoped I’d have lunch and/or drinks with sources a couple of times a week. The financing of these outings has not been discussed.

I’m thinking I should find out if my work would pay me back for future work-related outings. But how should I ask? And what if they say no? Can they expect me to go out for work-related meals/drinks and also expect me to pay for them?

(Even with the pricier-than-I-tend-to-spend lunch, the two-day total still came to $13. Not bad at all. This weekend will be a major test of willpower, though, as I am going back to Chicago, where I just moved from, and that city (and my habits there) are expensive. Wish me luck.)