Looking back on 2008

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Got my driver's license, bought a car, graduated college, and rode the sky glider at the state fair (three or four times, the number is a little hazy).

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No I did NOT keep my new years resolutions from last year, and I will make more for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Hmmm actually no, but a few close friends got pregnant :)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?
Utah, if you count it as a separate country. Seriously you should need a passport to visit there (no offense, but it is quite a different culture).

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A full time job with benefits.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 23. Word. Best day ever. I met Brian :)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating college (finally) with two Bachelor of Science Degrees.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I slid my car down a hill sideways in the icy storm.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Uh tonsilitis I think 9 times total, maybe only 8.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My PT Cruiser, woot!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Steve's. He finally took the plunge and married the lovely Lindsey Lou. We all know how hard it was for him. Yay Steve!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My own...honestly...bleah.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Student loan and car payments.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going to the Kalahari with Brian!

16. What song will always remind you of 2003?
2003? Do they mean 2008? Either way, I'll give a song for both.

2003-"Accidentally in Love" Counting Crows.
2008-"I Will Show You Love" Kendall Payne

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?

WAY Happier. I'm graduated, dating the best guy EVER, and living in Wisconsin. I don't say that to bash Utah, utah is a grand place, I just missed my family a lot.

ii. thinner or fatter?

Thinner by 10 pounds.

iii. richer or poorer?

Poorer...sad...I graduated college and I"m poorer than I was to begin with.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Hung out with my friends in Cedar before I left.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating crap food.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
I spent the morning at my house opening presents, the afternoon and evening at Brian's house racing cars with his nephew and reading about dinosaurs (and subsequently learning I can't pronounce their names), and then the night at my parent's house with Brian.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I sure did :)

23. How many one-night stands?
One, but it was just a one night make-out.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Gossip Girl

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Yeah I do, but not hate, just intense dislike.

26. What was the best book you read?
Breaking Dawn...sad that that was the best book. I need to read more.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Kendall Payne, seriously, love that girl's music. Or Katie Armiger.

28. What did you want and get?
A Wii.

29. What did you want and not get?
a full-time job with benefits.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Juno or Enchanted.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I spent it at my parent's house, then watched the flood in downtown Waukesha, and then went to Bill's

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A Full-time job with benefits.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
GAP. All my clothes are now from there...sad.

34. What kept you sane?
Brian!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
the girl who plays Blair on Gossip Girl. Only because I want to be able to dress like she does on the show ha ha and I want to look like her...seriously.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Prop 8 (way after it was over...sorry for those who were affected by my ignorance on the issue)

37. Who did you miss?
My Utahns

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Brian!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
That in the end, it will surprise you who your true friends are. And I have great friends. And a great boyfriend too.

Best Christmas EVER!

So I guess it's time for my obligatory Christmas post :) Or maybe I'm just bored which is why I'm doing said post, but either way enjoy. I'll try to include pictures for you too.

My Christmas started out kind of sad because Christmas Eve was cancelled. You see, Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole entire year. It's like the only time that my whole family on my moms side gets together, but for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, it was nixed. I was bummed the whole day to the point of actually crying a bit, but it turned out ok. Santa brought us an early present, which was a Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire DVD game. It's actually way fun to play, but still I'm sad that we didn't have Christmas Eve. What worries me most is that my Grandpa has been really sick and I'm petrified that this could have been his last Christmas Eve...but I'm praying in hopes thats not going to be the case.

Now I will say that Christmas Day was the best Christmas Day ever. My parents, brother, and I opened all our presents to eachother in the morning. I got some way cool stuff from "Santa", including a ring from Tiffany's that I've wanted for basically forever. It looks like this (I got the picture from the Tiffany's website):



I'm in love with it, but we think I'm allergic to it (just like I'm allergic to the ring Brian gave me ha ha) so it might be returned. I also got Season 3 of Greys Anatomy on DVD, a SUU Alumni license plate holder for my car, a Wii case, an itunes gift card, a CD, a CD holder for my car, earrings, and a Marc Jacob's Daisy perfume gift set (it came with perfume, loition, and 2 travel perfumes).

Then later that day I went to Brian's house to have dinner with his mom's side of the family. It was way fun, although I did spend most of the time racing cars with Brian's 5 year old nephew...but thats just fine by me. His family is much larger than mine, so it really can be overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

After dinner at Brian's parents we went to my house and exchanged our presents with eachother. He got me a digital photo frame, a Scrabble page a day 2009 calendar, and the Willow Tree I've wanted for forever. Its the Bright Star one for those of you who have worked it at Bulloch Drug and have them all memorized ;)

It was the best Christmas I think I've ever had, and Brian and I even took a picture by the Christmas tree. My mom wanted to include the tree (apparently Brian is so tall he hides our tree) so this is what she got:


We're pretty cute if I do say so myself :)

Grown-up Christmas List

If I could have anything for Christmas that don't necessarily cost money I'd want the following things:

-A real grown up job with benefits

-Brian's law business to pick up (side note: that means he's busier and has less Stacey time, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice).

-My own apartment/condo

-The ability to go to Utah whenever I wanted

-Diet coke to taste like regular coke

-Weight: 140, height:5'6"

-my student loans miraculously to disappear (with Brian's law school loans)

-the scary statues surrounding the altar at our church (st. rita's? Crap I obviously haven't gone to mass at Three Holy Women in far too long) to not be so scary in my eyes, and/or to not think Jesus is a leprachaun every time we go to St. Luke's courtesy of the rainbow behind Jesus in the stained glass window. Basically, I want to be more reverent ha ha.
and

-A pleo dinosaur

I don't think that's too much to ask for. K thanks Santa!

Reason Number 258 I miss Utah...

Apparently it's Utah week at the mall in Wisconsin for me. First there was the awesome fry sauce discovery. Then today I was walking through the mall happy with my cute new outfit I got from the Gap as my "I lost 8 pounds" present...wait...I have to share my cute new outfit.

This is the shirt:



And these are the pants



And then I got a strand of grey pearls from Boston Store to go with it. The best part is, with my discount for being such a fantastic employee, I got the outfit for $56.00. Not bad for pants a sweater and some pearls.

Anyway, the reason I'm missing Utah for the 258th time is, I saw someone wearing a Dixie State Rebels hoodie. Now i've seen U of U and a billion BYU hoodies on people, but never someone from SUU or Dixie State. It made me all sorts of Southern Utah home-sick, and I can't wait to go back to visit and actually have some girlfriends to hang out with.

Now don't get me wrong, I still lay claim to be dating the greatest guy ever. For example, a week or so ago I was on my way home and we had a conversation something like this:

Me: "dang I need to run some errands today to get some stuff for my mom's christmas present"
Him: "where are you going?"
Me: "JoAnn fabrics, blah blah blah something about more places to go I'm sure involving the mall"
Him: "I'll go with you if you want"

Yes, that's right, he VOLUNTEERED WILLINGLY to go to the crafts store and the mall with me, and stood in the bajillion person long line to get fabric cut. Thats true love right there. And he even gave his opinion beyond the typical guy answer of "I don't care". Just another example of how great Brian is.

Anyway, sometimes a girl just needs a girl to talk to, shop with, and to have a girl night complete with a cheesey romance movie with. I regret being so stuck up and stupid in high school and early college, because honestly I don't have any friends in Waukesha who are girls. Plus I don't do the whole bar thing so I have no clue what I'd do with any girl friends here even if I did. I definitely am in need of some Cami/Lindsey/Judy (with little James ha ha cause he's the cutest 1 and a half year old I know)/Schmemily time. Hopefully it'll only be a few more months til I can have some girl time!! I know I've talked about all that before, but I just felt the need to vent about it again, so there you go.

Reason number 257 I miss Utah...

So a week or so ago, my friend Brynlee told me that I needed to check out her facebook pictures for a surprise. I indeed had a GREAT surprise created by her, Jens, and Sydney. They spelled out my name one day with their bodies and it made me so happy I just had to share (I hope the 3 of them don't mind)...








I love these guys! And it makes me miss them oh so much, and I'm excited to visit sometime this summer. I'm totally putting these pictures side by side in a long frame in my room it makes me that happy.

In other happy news, I found fry sauce today at a restaurant in Wisconsin (actually at the food court in the mall I work at) and now my life is complete. I think Brian was a little weirded out by how excited I was with my dipping sauce for my chicken strips. Ah well.

I've done 46 out of 100 things

100 things stolen from Ashley :)

Copy this and bold the things you have done: (I also changed mine to a different color! The Red answers are the things I've done!)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (a friend needed studio hours, and asked me to pose)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own?

Aprons and a Snowman!

I've been meaning to blog about this for a week or so, but due to life being crazy for a variety of reasons, I have been behind.

First off, I finished my apron for the Sassy Apron Swap this time around and I liked how mine turned out. My mom ended up helping me a ton again (thanks mom!) but it also was the most complicated apron I've done thusfar. My partner wanted a vintage apron, and this is what I came up with (the picture really doesn't do it justice for the record). Oh and the fabric had gold as the trim for everything so that's why I chose gold rick-rack to add some pizazz. I hope my partner likes it!






My mom's partner just wanted something Christmas related so she had free reign to do whatever. Seeing that my mom is the applique queen she came up with the cutest apron again. I love her stuff!



So then I got my package for the swap from Shawnee and I got the cutest gingerbread apron (my picture definitely doesn't do this justice) with many gingerbread goodies like gingerbread stickers and a stamp, yummy lotion I've been using non-stop, scissors that are a gingerbread man (so cute!) and the gingerbread baby friend's book. Most of you know why i LOVE gingerbread men, so this was like so awesome I cried. Here is a picture of my way super cute apron I got (I couldn't get a self portrait to work ha ha so my door is modeling it).



I can't wait to wear this while baking Christmas cookies! Thanks again for the awesome package...I love it and sorry I didn't get to thank you sooner!

So then last Sunday we got a ton of snow, and it was the wet stuff that is perfect snowman snow. I decided to text Brian telling him I wanted to build a snowman, not thinking he would really come over, but he did! And we built a giant snowman taller than me. His name is Marshall and he is still just as tall as he was the day we rolled him up. We had to be creative for face things, so his nose was a small orange, and his eyes and mouth were buttons. Here is our family picture ha ha:



Then to top it off Brian helped me shovel my driveway and sidewalk so my dad wouldn't have to snowplow. What a great guy :)

Thanksgiving!

I was so excited for thanksgiving this year because it was my first thanksgiving at home in Wisconsin in 5 years. Even though it wasn't our usual thanksgiving (everyone coming to our house) because my grandpa is in the hospital and a variety of other things, it was still great.

First we went and visited my grandma at her house, and to my surprise my aunt, uncle, and 6 year old cousin were there. It was funny because I guess like 30 seconds before we walked in the door my cousin was sad because no one was coming to the party. What timing! We played Lego Batman on the Wii and it was so fun, I want that game but according to my cousin I can't have it because I'm not 10 :)

Then we went and visited my grandpa at the hospital, which is sad because hospitals are always sad, but it was still good to see him. I have the best memories of my grandparents and the holidays and I really hope that he'll be out of the hospital for Christmas. Christmas Eve is definitely my favorite day of the year.

The only kind of weird part of my Thanksgiving was having to go have a talk with Brian ha ha. We got in an argument the night before and needed to sort some things out since he was coming to my house for dinner and I didn't want it to be awkward. Our talk was good and we sorted things out and all is well with us.

It was way fun to have Brian come to dinner at my parents, and my brother Brian and his girlfriend Liz were also there. It was neat to have it be the 6 of us considering that someday that might really be my family since I'm convinced Brian and Liz will get married, and it wouldn't surprise me if me and Brian get married, so it was a fun little preview. My moms cooking was delicious as always, and I was happy to be home again for thanksgiving to experience it.

I have lots that I'm thankful for, and I'm glad for how great my life is :)

Fitness Update (round like 10?)

So I've posted about ten times how I'm going to start losing weight and being healthy blah blahblahblahblahblahaha. It never happens...I don't know why I'm such a slacker I just am. Part of it was mostly my work schedule not coinciding properly with the gym hours, etc. Now my schedule is suddenly VERY open to letting me go to the gym so I can't use that excuse to go. Nor can I use my deadly cold, bitar (well for a while anyway), or any other excuse as to why the gym is missing me so. I am going to get healthy and fit. Although to give myself a little credit Brian and I have been playing racquetball once a week, and I did get a new racquet that I'm dying to try out!

Can a blog entry in here go by without proclaiming the greatness that is Brian? I really don't think so, so here is another example of how great he is. So today I get online after work and Brian has this idea he tells me about. He decided that we should have some MAJOR motivation to kick our bums in gear, and as a result he booked us a trip to somewhere in February (between Valentine's Day and our 6 monthaversary) but he won't tell me to where. In order to go on the trip we both have to make significant improvements in ourselves, but instead to determine it by numbers he determined that I need to be comfortable enough with myself to wear a swimsuit without shorts over it (yikes! I hate my cottage cheese thighs) and he needs to be comfortable not wearing a t-shirt to the pool (and feel picture worthy in such a state). Before we'd set goals like "we can't do this unless we get into shape" but it never would happen and we'd do whatever was said anyways. This is more concrete, like it's reserved and such...yikes!

Now I LOVE surprises but I suck at being patient when I actually know a surprise is happening. I cannot know where we are going unless I have made improvements by January 1st. Thats right, at 12:01 am on January 1st, 2009 I can know where we are going. I don't care if it's to a hotel in Waukesha (because there is a super cool hotel in Waukesha ha ha that would be fun to go to), I just want to know! That being said, tomorrow the diet is on! I'm kicking my fat-ass into gear to do this. Besides I get knew clothes and a swimsuit as a result, not from Brian cause thats way more than I need from him, but from myself and I'm sure my mom will pitch in. Aren't I lucky though to have such a supportive guy in my life who does such great things? Oh and I'm definitely lucky to have supportive parents on top of that.

Oh and Happy 4 Monthaversary :)

Two day Mini Vacay!

Yesterday and today I was amazingly fortunate to be able to go on a mini-vacation with Brian. He had to visit a client roughly 4 hours away from here and as a result decided to stay the night over in Northern Wisconsin. Of course, I don't think he factored in that I'm the worst road-trip companion because I cannot stay awake in the car no matter how much sleep I got the night before nor how much caffeine I consume. As a result, on the way up, I slept over half of the way ha ha.

Eventually we made it and he met with his client and all that lawyer stuff that really does interest me. Then we drove an hour back south to a different town to stay the night at a Holiday Inn. It was way fun because we were like the only people there. In addition, I finally won at something sports related! We went down to the pool and since we were the only ones there we played basketball three times. I won 2 of the 3 games, thus making me the champion of the world. We also went in the hot tub but some people are chickens *cough*Brian*cough* and deemed it too warm.

Today when we drove back we took a scenic route and drove through all these little tiny Wisconsin towns. I realized that Utah and Wisconsin have many similarly named towns such as: Monroe, Richfield, Enterprise, etc... Of course I fell asleep again which was sad, but only for like a half hour this time ha ha. It was fun taking a mini-tour of Wisconsin, and I'm so grateful for Brian. I say that every time I blog ha ha but he really is great! Tomorrow is our 4-month-aversary and it seems like we've been together WAY longer than that (in a good way). I definitely can't picture myself with anyone else, nor would I want to be with anyone else. I love him bunches!

Car or Ice Skate?

So today when I left for work at 1 this afternoon it was snowing, just flurries as Brian would say. Well when my co-worker was a half hour late (5:30 instead of 5) due to traffic i was thinking that maybe it was snowing really hard. Well I got to my car and it wasn't snowing, it had snowed, but it had stopped. I was thinking maybe people were just not used to driving in snow, like myself. I was jamming out to the Christmas station when I heard that the road I usually take was down to 4 lanes instead of 6 and the alternate route was also backed up, so I decided to scrap that route all together and go by way of my mom's hospital which is a little out of the way but whatever. As soon as I got on that route I realized the problem. Ice...mass quantities...the whole road from side to side was just ice all over the general Milwaukee/Waukesha area.

I was doing ok, but the car in front of me was all over the place like an ice skate and it made me nervous so I kept my distance. Eventually he slid all the way off the side of the road, turned on his hazards, and then I passed because I figured he gave up. Apparently not, he pulled out behind me and it made me nervous. So there are these huge hills that I needed to go up and down and I was doing ok until I got to the one right in front of my moms hospital. My car started to slide (you see no one told me about putting it into first, and tapping the break) and eventually I slid all the way sideways down the hill praying I wouldn't roll my car. Eventually I stopped only to look over and see the other car sliding down the hill much in the same manner as I did until he slid into my car. It was so scary and it was like mass slow motion. The guy was nice and helped push my car (I couldn't get traction) around til I could drive it off onto a side road and he said he'd pull behind me to exchange info. JUST KIDDING he took off. Therefore screwing me over should anything have happened to my car (it wasn't that fast lets be honest but still it was scary). So far only one dent has appeared but since it's dark we'll see what appears in the daylight. My mom came and saved me (it took her an hour and a half to go what usually is a 20 minute drive for she was at a different hospital for the day) and we parked my car at her hospital (they salted the hill about 2 hours after I slid down it) and we drove home in her car. Needless to say it was very very scary and I very very much am dreading driving again.

The funny part was, after you crossed from Brookfield (where I slid) into Waukesha the roads were completely void of any traces of snow. The roads weren't even wet at all nor was there any snow to be found. Weird. On top of that, Brian is the greatest boyfriend as always. He wanted to come save me but couldn't due to road conditions. He really is my knight in a trusty white taurus!

Its my fault you can't watch your kid?

Ok so I know I don't personally have children and so maybe I don't have claim on what I'm about to vent on, but I'm venting anyway because well I can. So today at work it was INSANELY busy...we're talking like $30,000 in revenue for our one little store type busy (PS...recession what? If we're in a recession how can people have that much to spend on overpriced baby clothes?). Anyway, this lady is checking out with her piles of stuff and I was completely unaware she even had a child with her because she never asked for her kid nor looked around for her. I rang up her purchases (which yes takes a few minutes as we're all aware) and she went on her way.

Then she comes storming up to the counter saying her daughter had something in her mouth that made her mouth turn blue and it HAD to come from our store cause she would never let her kid eat candy like that. Ok lady this is a CLOTHING store, we don't sell candy, nor do you think someone would be stupid enough to put it at a kid level. So then she started blaming it on our toys because we do sell toys. Again...would a major retailer be dumb enough to put teeny tiny parts in a baby/toddler store at child level...no. We only sell huge stuffed animals and huge wooden cars and other various baby safe crap. Her daughter pointed out that she put it in her mouth by the kid table (we have a kid table for kids to play at) so who knows who left it there. She proceeded to rant about how we should watch what kids do at that table (mind you, its super far from the register) and whats left there, blah blah blah. Look lady, its not my job to baby sit your kid, now thats not to say if I see a kid about to do something potentially hazardous I'll just stay quiet. I've stopped kids from potentially killing themselves on a table or something before. Yes, if someone leaves something at the table and I see it I will clean it up, but when I literally do not leave a register for 3 hours straight because it's that busy, its not my top priority. My job title does not say "babysitter", nor does our store say "playground" it says "baby/toddler clothing store". Some kids belong on leashes I swear...and maybe I wouldn't be so mad if it was like a 1 year old, her kid was like 3 so shouldn't they know better whats food and whats not or at least to know to stay by said parent?

Moral of the story: don't treat sales associates like they're idiots, and please don't expect us to watch your kids while you shop. I know this may seem pointless but she really was causing a scene and it really was rude and uncalled for and it happens repeatedly. Besides, its my blog I can vent on whatever I want.

On a positive note, my boyfriend is still super fantastically great. We played racquetball this weekend (I lost 3 of the 4 games) and went bowling (I lost 2 of 2 games ha ha) and just spent quality time together. I love him lots and I don't know what I'd do without him.

Sneaky...

Can I just say I love being sneaky (in a good way, not in a bad deceiving type way). I'm totally up to something great, and I'm only saying this because a.) I wanted to blog but didn't really have anything to blog about, and b.) I want curiosity to be peaked. Maybe some of you know what I'm up to, but not all.

Lets just say the following things are involved:

-A muffin tin
-Stickers
-The number 24
-Paper
-Lots of other goodies.

I'll update you when it comes closer to the time to be updated ha ha. Yay for good secrets.

Mini Update from Yesterday

First of all, thanks to those who commented. I love you girls and I left you little facebook comments cause its easier than these blog comment things on random entries. Secondly, today is a much better day. This morning started out crappy, I woke up late, was running behind to work (I like to get to the mall 20 minutes early, for parking reasons mostly), and was crabby. However, on my way to work (already running behind mind you) I got stuck waiting for a train which only agitated me more. I turned on my radio to crank up some country music when "Here" by Rascal Flatts is on.

Now my feelings I described in my last entry were mostly stemmed due to some baggage from a previous relationship. Then the chorus from the song hit me (and I know I've posted these lyrics before, but bear with me ha ha) and it says:

And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

And it suddenly just cheered me up. Yes most of this song refers to Brian, but at the same time I wouldn't have gotten to know MANY of my friends had it not been for some awful things that happened to me. And I would relive my past to get to where I am today, to be able to live in this moment with all I have. Heck, parking was AWFUL at work and I was late and such but I wasn't cranky at all after that. I love little tiny things like a song on the radio that helps so much.

I also got to spend some quality time with Brian after I got off of work. We watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, ate stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut, and just cuddled. It was amazing per usual and he made me feel so great about myself again.

To top it off, it was SNOWING! Like real snow storm as I drove home which made me super happy (and scared, my first time driving in the snow and all ha ha). Life surely is great!

Icky Feelings...

So I have no clue why, but the past few days I've had that "icky feeling" in my stomach all the time. Like its almost a cross between jealousy and that "somethings wrong I just know it" feeling I'm sure we've all had at one point in time or another. I have a vague idea what is causing it, but that's not really the important thing I suppose since it's nothing I can change and the feelings will pass eventually. I just wish they will pass soon because I'm really quite ready to be done with feeling this way.

At the same time, I feel constantly lately like life is just passing me by. Like I have always lived my life dwelling on the past or hoping for the future, and never living in the moment. I wish I knew how to just enjoy the moment, and don't get me wrong I do enjoy the things that I do. I enjoy the time I spend with Brian more than anything, and the same with spending time with my family, but I always feel like I've missed out. I drive past college campuses and I feel like I missed out on "college life" by going to school in a small town, and getting fixated on things like relationships while missing out on the times I could have had with friends. At the same time I have amazing memories of things I did with my friends, whether it was pedicures in my living room in rubbermade bins (thanks Emily!), silly things like the Night of the Rock (thanks Judy!), midnight wal-mart trips (thanks Cami!), or one of the million random things Lindsey would do with me (thanks Linds!), but I still feel like I didn't take advantage of my time in college. I can't go back and I can't change anything, but I still long to.

I guess time will make me learn to live my life in the present, and I have been doing better at it, especially when I hang out with Brian. Its the typical cheesey "I want this moment to last forever "that occurs, like when we're just watching TV and cuddling and I want time to stand still so that moment will last. Plus I'm still in awe how well he treats me, and how amazing he is, so that makes me step back and look at things too. I love him bunches! I still need to work on appreciating what I have now though because I don't want to look back on my entire life regretting not living it to the fullest. I think getting a real job would help, but that too will come in time.

OK so thats repetitve and random and rambling and probably incoherent, but hey it's my blog. In happy news...Brian and I have been working out and getting healthy together. We both joined the YMCA and worked out together on Tuesday morning, and then wednesday night Brian taught me how to play Racquetball. It was SO fun, and I want to play like every day! Then again he took it easy on me so once I keep getting creamed after my initial grace learning period is over I might not feel the same way.

Quizlet, and a ring

In honor of the movie coming out at Thanksgiving, I took this quiz:


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I'm excited to go see this my mom! I won't even have to subject Brian to this one since my Mom wants to see it just as bad as I do.

Today I got a present, I like presents! However, this present was extra special to me. My amazingly wonderful boyfriend bought me the prettiest ring...and no its not an engagement ring, its a promise ring of sorts. Since we agreed not to have sex before marriage he gave me a little reminder of that, and I love it. Ok I admit I picked it out, but I do tend to be rather picky. Its a heart that says love and it has filligree (sp?) swirls around it and then on the inside of the band it says Love is a Treasure. I tried to take a picture but it didn't really focus well, but you can get the general idea.




I definitely love it, and think its cute, just like Brian! I hope he doesn't mind I posted about this, but it means a lot to me so :-P

Vacay 2008!

I just had the most amazing 4 day vacation to the Wisconsin Dells with my loverly boyfriend Brian. He had a conference for lawyers in Wisconsin who own solo or small firms, and I got invited to come with. I decided to make this an easier to read post, that I'll post it day by day :) full of our adventures. Fair warning, it might get a little lovey-dovey sappy. Oh and for the record all pictures for this post were taken off of flickr.

Wednesday:
Brian's conference technically didn't start until Thursday, but we decided to go up Wednesday so he could enjoy one day/night without lawyerly stuff to do. We didn't stay at the Kalahari for financial reasons (its ridiculously expensive), but we stayed at Ho-Chunk which is a hotel/casino/bingo hall.



Upon arrival and checking in, we decided to go play Bingo since its one of our little things we like to do, and it was half-price. Lets just say...Potowatomie is so much cooler and smoke-free. It was sad to see all the people who were 80 and chain smoking and on oxygen and coughing crap up. We didn't win either, but it was still fun. We didn't win at the slot machines either...boo.

So Brian loves Pizza Hut and we decided with a half hour left before they'd close, we would go there to get dinner. I was so sure that there was a pizza hut right across from the hotel and so we tried for FOREVER to find the address online. It turns out it was just a billboard, oops! It was funny though at the same time.

Also this night I told Brian that I loved him for the first time. Sappy, I know, but it made me all sorts of happy :D

Thursday:
We got to the Kalahari and walked around for a while, and I made a spa appointment. Let me just tell you I had the BEST time at the spa. The girl who did my feet was way nice and we talked the whole time without it being awkward. She did an extra good job, and made my leg massage, exfoliation, etc last a half hour longer than it should have. It was great!! Plus you get to keep the polish bottle (full sized), and all the nice spa files and buffers they use on your feet.

That night Brian took me to a surprise dinner at the creepiest looking restaurant. It was rated really well for food quality, and the food really was great. I had BBQ chicken and potatoes, we shared some beef tips, and Brian had fettucine alfredo, all of which were SO tasty. Take a look for yourself at the outside and decided your feelings on going there if you were to drive past:



That night we also played in the waterpark some. We stuck to the wave pool, lazy river, and hot tub (my fav! it had waterfalls running down into the hot tub). That night we also got a late night snack and the yummiest margaritas at this little lounge in the lobby.



I had a banana margarita, he had a strawberry one, and if you drank them both at the same time it was extra yummy.

Friday:
I didn't really do anything during the day. Brian and I had lunch at the same place we had a late night snack, and then I relaxed. We finally made it to Pizza Hut (a real one, not a billboard) for dinner, and got carrot cake late at night from the Kalahari Bakery for a snack. We also re-visited the waterpark, and I convinced Brian to go on one of the big waterslides. He's not a huge fan so i was really lucky he did that for me twice! Next time I'll get him to go on the water rollercoaster. Here are some pictures from inside the lobby that we took too:








Saturday:
Today we had to leave :( and it was sad to go. So we prolonged our trip by taking the above pictures of the lobby, and going mini-golfing at a pirate themed golf course. It had 5 different courses, so we did two despite the very windy conditions, and I lost at both. It was a blast though because the second game was really close, and here are some pictures we took of that too.

This is what happens if you suck at Mini-golf:



And this is what you'll look like if you lose:



But you look super hot if you win:



And sometimes while golfing at Pirates Cove you'll come across a scary pirate!



And despite this state not having mountains, even golf courses look pretty in fall in Wisconsin



All in all it was an AMAZING trip that I think made me adore Brian even more. Oh and before you all go on thinking scandelousness was had, Brian and I agreed ages ago not to have sexual relations before marriage so don't worry it was a PG type weekend :) I'm the luckiest girl to have such an amazing boyfriend who will take me on trips like this.

Go Pack Go!

So I was lucky enough to be able to figure out my work schedule and actually go to the Green Bay Packers game yesterday. It was a blast, like seriously one of the most fun things I've ever done. I was grateful that it wasn't that cold at all (it was in the 50's, maybe upper 40's) and that the rain held out until the drive home. Oh and of course I was SO happy that they kicked the Colts' bums by a lot. There were a ton of Colts fans there, suckers, it was nice to rub it in when the game was done. We were in row 54 but they were perfect seats because a.) its really not that far up and b.) you could see EVERYTHING. Here is a picture I took with my phone from our seats:



Oh and on Saturday it was Sweetest Day and I got a lovely card from my sweetie. It has the nicest message in it and I am absolutely aware of the fact I have the greatest guy EVER for a boyfriend. We also went to dinner at Uno's and it was way yummy. Then, for the first time in our 3 months of dating, we watched a movie. Like legit watched a whole movie doing nothing else ha ha. It was kind of weird cause when I've dated people in the past thats all we've done. We watched the Shawshank Redemption, which I hadn't seen, and its a GREAT movie. I highly recommend it, unless you're Mormon, then I suggest the edited version ha ha.

Less than 2 days until Brian's and my trip to the Kalahari Resort. I am so freaking excited that I can't stand it. Until I think about the fact I need to pack tomorrow and my excitement drops some. I even was told I don't have to work early Wednesday morning anymore so that brings up the excitement level again ha ha. Its going to be so fun, and I'm hoping Brian brings his camera so we can take lots of pictures for me to post!

Blah Day and a way cool mosiac tag.

If you just want to do the way fun mosiac tag I have, scroll down past my rambling ha ha

So today I have been very blah, for no real reason. I just woke up blah, felt blah during and after getting ready, and maintained my blah status. Maybe it's because I really had nothing to do, maybe its because lately I've been hard on myself, or maybe it's the weather. Actually, no it can't be the weather because I LOVE the cold and fall. My mom took me to dinner when she got home at this fun new restaurant that Brian and I went to a few weeks ago called Stir Crazy. That helped a little, plus we bummed around a little afterwards trying to find something for Sweetest Day on Saturday for our Sweeties ha ha. That sounds so cheesy even I wanted to gag a little. However, we couldn't really find anything so that was blah. Speaking of sweeties, my sweetie, aka Brian, is amazing and reminds me of how much he likes me even when I'm not in the most talkative of moods. And that did make me a little less blah too.

I did have a real reason to be blah starting at like 10 tonight when I got my schedule for next week. I got off for my Kalahari trip which is awesome, but I needed Sunday off to go to my first Green Bay Packers football game and I got scheduled to work. Boo. I only hope it can be fixed, I mean they've been cutting hours like crazy so I really hope so. It really just added to my blahness because if I can't get off thats going to be mad disappointed because I've been looking forward to that trip since like May.

I found this on some random blog but I really liked it so I decided to do it. First, you answer these twelve questions. My answers are in parentheses.

01. What is your first name? (Stacey)
02. What is your favorite food? (Caramel Apples)
03. What college did you attend? (Southern Utah University)
04. What is your favorite color? (Pink)
05. Who is your celebrity crush? (Patrick Demsey)
06. Favorite drink? (Cherry Coke)
07. Dream vacation? (Africa)
08. Favorite dessert? (French Silk Pie)
09. What do you want to be when you grow up? (part of an amazing loving couple)
10. What do you love most in life? (Family)
11. One word to describe you (quirky)
12. What is your favorite season? (Winter)

Then you build a mosaic by typing your answers one by one into Flickr's search function. You choose one photo for each of your answers, and you can only use images that appear on the first page of search results.

Here is mine:

Homemade decorations and the meeting of the parents...

Growing up we always had the BEST decorations, especially when it came to Christmas. My favorite decoration is our Advent wreath. It was handmade by my mom when her and my dad were first married, and its a felt wreath with a bag that holds 25 pieces like a snowman, angel, santa head, and a baby Jesus. Every day my brother and I took turns putting on the pieces knowing that we couldn't put Santa on until the 24th, and baby Jesus on until the 25th. I still remember fighting over the pieces and who's turn it was ha ha.

Well today my mom and I were shopping at Joann Fabrics when I came across a felt advent calendar kit for 50% off, plus we had an additional coupon for another 50% off. I decided to get it because I hope when I have a family of my own they will enjoy something like this as much as I did. I know I'm nowhere near close to having a husband or kids, but I thought why not start making stuff while I still can. The only thing I wish this calendar had was a baby Jesus to hang on the 25th, but I'm thinking I might be able to be creative sometime and make one on my own. My favorite ornament is the penguin ha ha, and I love the sequins that is has to give it that Christmas sparkle. I know its going to take me forever to hand stitch everything (heck it took me 2 hours to embroider the numbers 1, 2 and 3 ha ha) but I don't mind. Oh and I love that all the pieces can fit in santa's sack on the bottom. Here is a picture that I found of my kit when its completed:



In addition to my fabulous new project, last night my parents took Brian and I out to dinner. It was the first time Brian met my parents, minus the 2 times my mom was in the car and he was also outside. I had a great time at the Chancery, and my parents think Brian is delightful and amazing. It was odd because my parents are very much supportive of our decisions (as long as they're legal ha ha) even if they think we're making a huge mistake. For example, they gave permission for Steve to propose to me even though they hated Steve and my mom knew that he wasn't "the one" and I didn't know the latter until yesterday after dinner. However, in this case she told me that she thinks Brian and I are excellent together and that even my dad thought we were cute together...precious.

I'm glad that they really do like him a lot. Even if they didn't it wouldn't really change much, but I could tell they didn't really like Steve way back when. They never really got to know Devon, which would be my next most serious relationship, for my mom only met him once when I was moving, but I think it would have ended up being another Steve situation (not because they wouldn't like him cause he's great and my mom did like him, just that he wasn't "the one"). Gosh I'm a lucky girl to be with an amazing boy whom my parents adore, yay for Brian!

Breaking the law!

Tonight I broke the law...sort of. You see Brian and I had this great night planned out where we were going to get pizza, eat it at my house, and play games. All was going according to plan, we had our pizza and we were almost to my house when I realized I didn't have my keys because I hadn't driven to work (my mom dropped me off and Brian picked me up because yes once again my car is broken). Ergo, tonight I broke into my house.

It was quite entertaining actually and I couldn't stop laughing. I have broken into my house before but it has been a while. First I popped off the screen to my brother's room's window, but then I realized the window itself was shut and locked. I contemplated doing my room but a.) the window is higher off the ground, b.) theres a giant flower box in the way full of flowers, and c.) there's nothing under my window to catch my fall (my brother's bed is right below the window). Brian then realized the kitchen window was open so we popped off that screen, I took off the curtains so they wouldn't be damaged in my crawling, and I crawled through. I was nervous I wouldn't fit but I did :)

Needless to say it was extremely entertaining to me, and definitely a good start to our night. I ended up losing at Wii tennis and Wii baseball so I'm protesting Wii sports.

Here

Today was rather interesting, for it had both good points and bad.

The bad really came before the good because lets face it living with your parents isn't always easy. Now I love my parents and I have been blessed with exceptionally great ones, but that doesn't mean that it's always peachy. I think the hardest adjustment for me is feeling like I'm a little kid again, like I know its all done in good intention, but I want to feel like I'm a grown-up despite living in my parents house. And its little things that send me over the edge, like telling me what bank I should go to, and what I should or shouldn't wear, and most of the time I let them go but sometimes it just bugs me.

As a result, I ran away for 4 hours today to the mall. I decided the mall is my safe haven because the mall and I can never fight with each other ha ha so its where I will go if I ever need somewhere to go. Brian ended up coming to find me at the bookstore, and we went to dinner at Charcoal Grill. The best part of the day was standing in the parking lot when we were done, cuddling cause it was freezing cold out, and talking about silly and serious things. I even made up an amazing song about Brian using cereal names...though it definitely wasn't as good as Billy and the Mysterio's cereal song (sorry I can't remember the real name). Our parking lot time was just amazing, and it will definitely be one of my favorite memories of Brian and I thus far.

While driving home I was listening to the Still Feels Good CD by Rascal Flatts and the song "Here" came on, and it's the subject of my post because this song is the song that always pops into my head when I think about Brian. So for kicks I thought I'd post the lyrics.

There's a place I've been lookin' for
That took me in and out of buildings
Behind windows, walls and doors
And I thought I found it
Couple times, even settled down
And I'd hang around just long enough
To find my way back out
I know now the place that I was trying to
reach
Was you, right here in front of me

CHORUS
And I wouldn't change a thing
I'd walk right back through the rain
Back to every broken heart
On the day that it was breakin'
And I'd relive all the years
And be thankful for the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here

It's amazing what I let my heart go through
To get me where it got me
In this moment here with you
And it passed me by
God knows how many times
I was so caught up in holding
What I never thought I'd find
I know now, there's a million roads
I had to take
To get me in your arms that way

Repeat Chorus

In a love I never thought I'd get to get to
-here
And if that's the road
God made me take to be with you

Repeat Chorus

And I'd retrieve all the years
And be thankful for all the tears
I've cried with every stumbled step
That led to you and got me here, right here
Oh, baby-Ooo
Oh, got me here

Ok you can all stop gagging now, I'll end the sappiness but I just had to share my great night :)

I want to be a detective!

Today at work I got to play spy and it was fun. Ok it wasn't really that fun, I was highly afraid I was going to get poked in the eye with an acrylic nail, but I survived. See these 2 ladies came in with GINORMOUS purses, which were empty...it was very shifty looking. So then my manager said to keep an eye on this one lady so i was following her around conveniently straightening stuff where she went. Well she kept taking things off of the hanger instead of carrying it around on the hanger, and she was getting REALLY annoyed with me. Then the other lady intercepted, asking for stuff that was on the kids side of the store (its really 2 stores in one, theres an opening inbetween them, but still you can tell its two separate stores) so me catching on to their shifty game sent her over to the kids side without walking her over (which is kind of against the rules...we're supposed to show them what they want). Well in the end, mostly due to my manager's skills the one lady I was originally following ended up shoving a pile of clothes into her arms saying she didn't want them...well duh its cause you couldn't steal them. The other lady left and just said she'd be coming back with her son to try them on, and conveniently she never came back.

Are people really that stupid and desperate? I mean come on its not like we're moronic and can't catch on to their shifty ways. To top it off about an hour later a girl i was working with found 5 security tags hidden in a pile of toddlers clothing. See now this is where I think Gap is retarded. Instead of using the plastic pin sensors like most places, they sew the sensors inside the clothing and you cut them off when you get it home. Well now we realized today that you really can just rip the sensors out pretty easily because thats just what they did. I hope I don't get into trouble for sharing that to all you future shoplifters, but obviously they've figured it out by now. Ugh people make me mad.

However I don't think I'd make a very good detective because after work i was walking to my car and walked right by Brian who was waiting by the entrance to the mall for me. In my defense I was more focused on the fact I just got a paycheck and my feet were killing me. I love surprises though so i was so happy to see him. He took me to Paciugo where I got yummy watermelon, grapefruit, and lime italian sorbet. I love treats and surprises, he's so great! I hadn't gotten to talk to him in a few days because I worked til Midnight on Monday, and til 1 am yesterday, so I was SUPER happy to see him. I'm a lucky girl!

Gummi Bears are more than just a food...

Tonight after work (speaking of work, the mall is freaking CRAZY on weekends, ugh) I got to go on a hot date with the ever awesome Brian. I'll be honest, we hit a rough patch this week largely due to me being over-reactive and having an issue or two, but somehow he forgave me and still likes me. Go Brian! Anyway, so we went to dinner at Champps and afterwards decided to rent a movie and possibly play games. We rented the movie 21 (which is great!), went to Pick 'n' Save next door and got gummi bears, and on the way back to Brian's house we decided to play cards. Is gummi bears spelled gummy bears or gummi bears? I just think gummy looks weird when referring to the bear species. According to Wikipedia it is gummi bear, although sometimes spelled gummy bear, and since Wikipedia is essentially doctrine, we're going with gummi. Oh and also on the wikipedia article it says they have a kosher gummi bear vending machine at the Jewish Museum in Berlin...who knew? Anyway...carrying on...

This is where I learned a very valuable lesson...gummi bears can be used in gambling. You see I had the desire to play poker (Oh don't worry I lost horribly...) but thats only fun if you can bet. Not having money nor poker chips makes one resourceful, and I thought it ended up being pretty fun. Seeing that we were watching 21 we switched over to playing blackjack with an imaginary dealer, and I actually came out ahead! I started with 12 gummi bears and ended up with about 18 or so since Brian started to eat mine so I can't give an official report. He had less than 12 gummi bears so in the end, I win! The only downside to playing with edible money is that you do in fact eat it so you could technically just eat your opponents stash. Oh and Brian may or may not have a welt appear on his forehead due to a gummi bear accidentally being flung at him ha ha.

Taggity Taggers

Favorite person (outside of family)? I would have to say Cami, she's amazing and I don't know what I'd do without her as my friend. And she puts up with me through my ups and downs and our friendship :)

Favorite food? Surprisingly, my favorite food is any fruit that is not a peach, apricot, plum, papaya, or mango

Quirks about you? I have ADD, there are many quirks.

Any regrets in life? Not really, I mean I learned from everything thats happened.

Favorite Charity/Cause? Make-a-Wish

Favorite Blog recently? I love the Cake Wrecks blog listed on my favorite blog list.

Something you can’t get enough of? Coke (the soda, not the hard drug)

Worst job you’ve ever had? Flower Crew at SUU for like a week. I got fired for driving a mule into a pole.

What job would you pay NOT to have? a Porta Potty cleaner.

If you could be a fly on the wall, where? Hmmm...probably in the white house, it would be fun

Guilty Pleasure? Cookies from Mrs. Fields

Got any confessions? Yeah but I'll keep them secret.

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on YOURSELF, how would you spend it? I would buy things from Anthropology

Favorite thing about your house? My bed is soooooo comfy.

Least favorite thing about your house? Theres only one bathroom.

One thing you are bad at? Losing weight

One thing you’re good at? nothing, hence why I work at the Gap.

If you could change something about your circumstances, what? I would have a real job with a real paycheck and real benefits.

Who would you like to meet someday? Living or dead? I would say I would like to meet Jon and Kate and the 8! I love that show and I think that it would be interesting to hang out with their family and see how the dynamic is. That sounds creepy I think, but I mean it in a nice way ha ha.

What makes you feel sexy? Nothing

Who is your real life hero? My mommy!

What is the hardest part of your job? Trying not to jump over the railing to my death during my breaks since its embarassing to work there.

When are you most relaxed? When I'm curled up in bed with a good book, and its slightly cold in the room so I can have a blankie :)

What stresses you out? Budgeting/money/finances.

What can you not live without? Caffeine

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Well, I agree ha ha why else would someone want to talk about themself.

Why do you blog? out of boredom.

7 Weird Things

Natalie tagged Cedar people to do this, so here I go

7 things that you may NOT know about me

1) I hate water. I don't like to drink plain water because it makes me nauseous. It stems from when I went through some hard times and would drink like 150-200 ounces of water a day and I was always sick largely due to that probably (I weighed about 115 pounds at the time so thats quite a bit of water, and I wasn't heavily exercising to have a need for that much water, or any amount near it for that matterl). As a result, drinking plain water makes me sick. However, sometimes I CRAVE it, like I have to have it. These times are rare and few and far between, and I don't get sick during these times.

2) I HATE when people chew on ice. It sends me into shivers, goosebumps, and subsequent mini convulsions ha ha.

3) I hate silverware. I hate the sound of it scraping against plates and bowls and what not. I would much rather eat with plastic utensils all the time. Subsequently, I can eat with it in restaurants and such because thats life, but under no circumstances can I eat yogurt or cake with a real piece of silverware. It has to be plasticware or I wont eat the item at hand at all.

4) I am obsessed with cake decorating and cakes, but I have never actually decorated a cake beyond slapping some frosting from a can with some icing writing. One of my dreams is to take a cake decorating class.

5) I love all things dinosaur related ha ha. My dream is to have a pleo dinosaur of my very own. the sad thing is, it's an obsession that started randomly. I had just broken up with Steve and luckily I have a great friend named Judy who invited me to do things with her and we were going to a bonfire for some specific reason that I didn't know. Anyway, there was something in the road and I think it was Judy who asked "what is it?" and I answered "A dinosaur!" and it just kind of went from there. Silly, I know.

6) I was a model for Molly the American Girl Doll when i was little. I looked just like her with the same hair color, eye color, and I wore glasses. I still have my pair of red and white striped pajamas like hers, my mom saved them for when I have a little girl someday :) Thanks to my mom!

7) I want to open my own dress shop someday and be a dress designer but I lack the confidence and resources to do so.

The End

I TAG: Brian specifically, and anyone else who wants to :)

Today I could have died...

Ok so maybe my subject line is a little dramatic, but I was severely traumatized today. So I was driving to work today taking the same route I usually do every day. I was a little weirded out about driving simply because when i was driving home the night before some random creepy pick up truck behind me kept flashing his brights but i couldn't figure out why. Anyway, so my mom had graciously filled up my gas tank this morning for me, and I was sitting happy with a full tank of gas.

So I'm driving on Les Paul highway (yeah...our highway is named after the inventor of the electric guitar cause he was born in Waukesha) in the turn lane to turn onto a different road when all of a sudden theres this huge BOOM! And I see smoke/dust, and my car jumps and I couldn't control it at all and I slammed into the curb. All I can say is thank goodness I was in the right most lane and I didn't hit another car. I blew out my right front tire! It completely burst right above the rim part. I managed to drive it into the parking lot of a nearby abandoned grocery store, however theproblem of me being late to work (I'm OCD about being on time to work) had now arisen since I was a good amount of miles from work with no one more than 10 minutes closer to me to come save me.

NEVER FEAR dear readers!!!! My Knight arrived courtesy of a trusty white Taurus (his version of a trusty white steed). Yes the wonderful Brian came and rescued me and took me to work while my mom (who had also come by this point) waited for the AAA people to come tow my car. Needless to say not only did he come rescue me but he also got me to work on time (no joke, I clocked in right at 1:00, my scheduled time). AMAZING I tell you!

My car now has two new front tires thanks to my parents' generosity. However, I am now paranoid to drive again...

Oh and we didn't win at Bingo yesterday either, but we did have a good time :)

More Wisconsin Perks!

Tonight I got to sit in the FM 106.1 suite for the Carrie Underwood concert. It was amazing!

FM 106, for the record, is our local country radio station that also happened to win the CMA award for best large radio station in the country last year. So needless to say, the DJ's pretty much rock. The opening act for Carrie Underwood was Little Big Town, which is sort of one of my favorite bands. I have been wanting to go to their concert since New Years when they played at the local casino, but I was consequently sick (surprise surprise). Their section was great! They're way awesome live, and because of them I want to rock the white-girl sporting a fro look. Admit it, I'd look hot.

Carrie Underwood was amazing live too. She didn't do my favorite song (Lessons Learned) but thats ok. She's really so beautiful in person too, and it made me want to become a blonde. There were these really obnoxiously drunk girls in front of us a few rows making things not as pleasant, but I guess when you're sitting in a cushey seat with free foods and drinks life isn't bad. To top it off, in the suite they had a TV which the guys insisted was turned on the Brewers game so I got to see the game as well. What else could a girl need? After the concert I have a new desire to pick up my guitar and practice more so I can be amazingly hot (once I lose my 50 pound goal of weight) with my guitar, short denim skirt, cowboy boots, hat, and plaid shirt. All proper attire for a country singer ha ha (I wish).

Tomorrow, is round two of trying to go play Bingo. It didn't pan out so well last time because it was SUPER crowded. So we're going earlier and dang it we're getting a good seat. I need to think of a new present to buy myself because I was gifted with a lovely coach purse this past week from my mom. Its not the one in the picture, but its the same color of brown and I adore it! Wait, I know...I need a black one because my winter coat is black and white herringbone. I think I'll wish for this one:



I love the bow, and this would look super cute with my winter coat, and I found the picture on coach.com for all those liability type things that could pop up some day.

Ashley Tisdale ruins perfectly good songs!

Haha my subject line comes from my first official day of work today. I never really thought about the music that they would play at the Baby Gap/Gap Kids, that is until today I realized oddly that every other song played there is by Miley Cyrus. Then I started to really pay attention, and I realized that indeed every other song is not only by Miley Cyrus, but the ones in between are remixes of good disney songs. Sure theres some 80's music thrown in the mix, and other random songs, but the girl who trained me said that every month they get a new Muzak CD but it always seems to be the same. Then while putting away toddler girls' clothing I heard Ashley Tisdale ruining a perfectly good song from Enchanted, the "Thats How You Know" song or whatever its called. I love that song in its original form, but thats just ridiculous to have it remade already. I'm protesting Disney remaking its own songs with its teen artists from here on out.

I liked work today though, and everyone is super nice. The girl who trained me was way cool and I'm glad she wasn't obnoxious like a lot of people can be. I'm not dreading this job as much as I was before, but I still need to find more income somewhere.

In other news, since its past midnight it is officially Brian's and my two-month-a-versary! I'll have to admit it seems a lot longer than only 2 months (in a good way), and I'm looking forward to many more month-a-versaries. That also means its only one month exactly until our little trip to the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. I even officially got off of work for it (which I was sort of worried about), so long as I promise to work the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas I can get it off. Brian asked me if it was worth it, and I would have to say...um...YES! Since most of you are Utah type people I decided to post some pictures of the Kalahari I found courtesy of their website. Maybe its a little early cause it's a month away, but I'm so freaking excited to get out of the Milwaukee area that I'm doing it now.

This is what the outside looks like:



And they have an indoor water park, as well as an outdoor water park. However, I'm guessing since its the end of October when we're going, the outdoor one will be out of commission. So here is the indoor one:




And this is where I'm going one of the days that Brian is in his meetings and such, except I'm getting the head to toe exfoliation treatment and not so much a mani or pedi:



PS Does it bother anyone else that not only does the guy in this picture have that stupid soul patch on his face, but that he's getting a pedicure? I'm all for metros and guys who are manly enough to get pedis, but a.) metros don't have soul patches and b.) thats one heck of a girly pedicure...note the flowers and fruits floating in the foot bucket thing. I just want to hand him a Mach 5 razor and a sports illustrated and/or repossess his man card. Not only that, but its obviously a couples pedicure and I would never submit Brian to that...would anyone else make their significant other do that?

and lastly, this is some of the cool decor they have around the lobby. I want to curl up in my pj's with some hot chocolate and chill with this elephant ha ha. Too bad the other guests probably would look at me like I'm psycho.



Its weird to think that had Brian and I live in Utah we would be getting the "so when are you getting married?" " when are you getting engaged?" type questions. Let me just say I'm so glad we're not in Utah ha ha, despite how great he is I am no where near in a place to even think about getting married any time soon, let alone engaged. But I am glad that he treats me so well and that someday I hope you all get to meet him :)

Employee Discount

I realized a huge perk of my job is going to be the discount. In fact, I've decided after I get the perfect full-time job once Milwaukee's economy picks up, I'm going to keep my part-time job purely for the discount. I get 50% anything regular priced at Gap, Gap Kids, Baby Gap or Banana Republic, 10% off if its already on sale, 30% off at the Gap and Banana Outlets, and 25% off at Old Navy. In addition, they have tons of bonus stuff every month that you can randomly get on sale, and a variety of other perks. It seriously is worth it to work there just for the discount. So, being that I like to shop, my mom took me shopping today to get 6 things at Gap since its almost the end of the month. Here are the cute things I got (oh and I stole all the pictures from gap.com for the record).



I LOVE this sweater, and because I love it so much I also got it in this color:



Then I got this cute blouse but in the same blue and brown as the sweater above:



and then this sweater to go over it, but its brown not grey:



and then I also got a pair of jeans, and a plum tank top to wear under the first sweater. And all of it came to only $150.00 which is way cheap for the Gap! I was happy, and so grateful my mom bought it for me.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of my cute new clothes. Tomorrow night Brian and I are going to play Bingo at the Potowatomi Casino in Milwaukee again since we have a $25.00 gift certificate from last time. Its buddy night too, so if you win, a buddy gets $500.00 too! I decided if I win I'm saving part of my money and then splurging on this divine purse which is $248.00, but I do have a 20% off coupon at Boston Store where they're sold (and I stole this picture from coach.com):



I want this purse badly, so keep your fingers crossed for me!