New Years Resolution

I came across this list today on Yahoo Shine and I wanted to post it here so I can remember where I put it. I think I'm going to make my new years resolution this year to incorporate all 13 things into my life by the end of the year. I think overall it will make me into a better person :)

13 Things for Joyful Living

1. Honor your health. Make time every day to tend to your body, mind and spirit.

2. Start! Do it now.

3. Thoughts are things. Are you creating the life you want?

4. Speak your word. Mean it.

5. Love is the basis for everything. Love yourself best and first. Then sprinkle freely!

6. Show up! Be present.

7. We all have choices. Choose what is right for you while respecting others.

8. Have fun! Smile. Laugh. Play. Celebrate.

9. Give. Be generous. There is plenty for everyone.

10. Jump. Risk it. Action banishes fear.

11. Release what you don’t need or it will slow you down.

12. Be grateful. Give thanks.

13. Believe in good things. Have faith!

2010 wrap up!!

I don't know why I like to do these surveys so much, probably because I'm a little self-centered and like to remember the days when you e-mailed these surveys to everyone and their dog in your e-mail address book. Anyway, since I'm enjoying a lazy day off (it's 12:20 pm and I'm still in sweats, my hairs still undone and I have zero make-up on) I thought I'd wrap up 2010 in a survey.

2010 Survey!

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Got a full time job with benefits, and honestly thats it.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't think I kept any, although I vaguely remember making a resolution to get a full time job, so I guess I did keep one!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
A few of my friends did.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My Grandpa passed away in April. I still miss him every single day.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the good old USA

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Motivation and the will-power to stick to a diet/exercise plan.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 6th, it's the night I told Devon that I still loved him. I wanted him to tell me to forget about it so I could move on and live the life I was living. It kind of didn't work out that way for me, but I think it worked out for the better.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Probably various things at my new job, we've had a lot of great successes over the past few months.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I failed at handling certain situations in better ways.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
just your run of the mill strep throat/colds/ear infections/etc.

11. What was the best thing someone bought you?
Bob! Hands down, I love my Bob! (my abominable snowman from Build a Bear made to look like Devon ha ha)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My co-workers, the sales associates we have are awesome and always go the extra mile.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
customers! Seriously since when did people in retail get designated to be everyone's punching bag?

14. Where did most of your money go?
Student Loans

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My trip to Utah, Devon coming to visit, and my brother's wedding.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
probably Airplanes

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? way happier
b) fatter or skinner? fatter, but thats ok.
c) richer or poorer? Richer, just barely.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Saving money and working out.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
spending money and being lazy

20. How do you plan to spend Christmas?
I spent it at home with my parents, my brother and his wife, and most of my extended family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Yes

22. How many one night stands?
None.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Dexter, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Glee, and Modern Family

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not really.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Help. I really suggest that book to everyone, it's so good.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I can't really think of one actually, I did re-discover how much I like Train though.

27. What did you want and get?
I wanted to be sure of my future and where it's heading and to stop panicking about it, and I got all that.

28. What did you want and not get?
A million dollars, but the bank robbery didn't go so well ;)

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Toy Story 3, call me a nerd but I loved it

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I worked and then hung out with my parents and Brian

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Probably ending something when I knew I should have, instead of drawing it out and trying to make it work for months. If you're panicking constantly over something, it's probably your body's way of letting you know it's not right ha ha. I learned that lesson well.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Aeropostale. Not really my personal style, I'm more of the J Crew, Francesca's Collection, Anthro type, but when you work 50+ hours a week at a clothing store, their stuff tends to invade your closet. And when I only get 2 days a week to wear my personal style, I can't really justify buying more than like 3 or 4 outfits to rotate between on these days.

33. What kept you sane?
Cami!! That girl rocks.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one really

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably still the gay marriage issue.

36. Who do you miss?
my grandpa, Devon, and all my utah peoples.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
My co-workers!

38. What was the best thing you ate?
Hmmm I have not had any outstanding meals the past year I guess, although I did discover Buca de Beppos and I love their salads and food in general.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010?
Be patient, and trust your instinct. It's their for a reason even if you don't want to listen to it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"you made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine"

Wedding post to come...

Someday in the near future when I have free time I'll write a whole big post on my brother's wedding. For now I'll just post one of my favorite pictures from the night that pretty much sums up how fun it was:

Yes that's us dancing the macarena at the reception with the Klement's Racing Sausages from the Milwaukee Brewer's games. My sister in law works for the Brewers and the sausages came as a surprise. It was hilarious. I just love Devon's, my, Brian's, and Liz's faces. We were having a blast!! If you look hard enough and play "I Spy" you can also see my mom in this picture :)

Utah trip 2010 recap!!!!

Holy moly, I've been back from Utah for practically a whole week now and I still have yet to blog about it. Here it is, in all it's wonderment, the Utah trip recap (with lots of pics!):

Day 1, Tuesday

I finally got into St. George from Vegas at around 4:30. I was greeted by Devon and we drove up to Cedar! I love that drive, I don't know why but it's so my favorite drive. The very first thing we did when we got to Cedar was go straight to the music store to see my BFF/partner in crime Cami. I seriously think that she's my soul sister ha ha. I love that girl! Then we went to Bulloch Drug to get some chocolate covered cinnamon bears (2 pounds, there's still a few left, but not many. I share them with everyone, including the delivery guys at my work and the computer tech, no one appreciates them as much as I do). Finally it was time to meet up with some of my favorite Cedar people for dinner at the ever amazing Pizza Factory. We convinced the waitress to take our picture, and it was a little weird to see how grown up we all look. See for yourself:

That night Cami and I stayed up until like 3 watching our old HOPE Choir shows. It was so much fun seeing us all back in our younger/crazier/dramatic days. I kind of miss those days (kinda).


Day 2, Wednesday

On Wednesday Devon and I headed for Centralish Utah. It was so much fun to drive that stretch of road again, Utah is just so pretty. On the way it started to SNOW!!! I love snow!!! It hasn't snowed yet here in Wisconsin PERIOD. I was so excited that I took pictures of it out the window (I mean who cares that semis couldn't make it through the canyons by Cove Fort and what not, we made it just fine!)

Here I am excited about the snow:

Heres Devon not so excited about driving in the snow:



Our first stop was in Gunnison to say hi to Quinn (Devon's old boss whom I met when we dated the first time in 2005) and his brother Shelby (whom I never met the first time we dated because he was on his mission to Brazil), Shelby's wife Alice, and son Charlie. I was told it's very important to make a good impression upon Charlie because he won't change his mind about you. I did what any grown-up would do in this situation and bribed him with candy. It totally worked. I know, I'm going to be an awesome parent some day.

After visiting for a bit we went to Manti and had lunch with two of Devon's former co-workers. They were hilarious, I liked them a lot, and they told Devon to marry me because I'm normal. Sweet. I'm glad someone thinks I'm normal.

We then headed to Devon's mom's house in Oak City to hang out for the night with her as well as Shelby, Alice, and Charlie. I even got to go to the great metropolis of Delta! Oh how I missed Delta. I mean any place that's in the Guiness Book of World Records for the worlds largest bunny hop is definitely a place to go. That night we cooked dinner and hung out. I even learned how to properly build with Lincoln Logs, something I apparently was doing wrong all these years (yes, it's possible...). At night Charlie wanted to cuddle with me (the candy bribe totally worked, and I found his missing truck) and Devon and we got this cute little picture out of it:

Day 3, Thursday!

Thursday was so much fun. We headed north to Salt Lake for a day of doing random things and dinner with our friends. Our first stop was a celebratory lunch because Devon found out that morning that HE GOT INTO LAW SCHOOL!!! I'm so proud of him! (He's since gotten into 3 more and just has to select one to go to) Our next stop was to an outlet mall that Devon (note, not me but Devon) wanted to go to for some shopping. Along the way I passed a cupcake store that I always hear about on the NieNie blog, the Sweet Tooth Fairy. Devon gladly obliged my request/demand to stop there and we got super yummy vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. I was so excited I even took a picture of mine :)

We then went to Temple Square for a few hours to do all the fun visitor center type things to do. I was kind of sad because I've never seen the lights at Temple Square at christmas time and they were just starting to put them up. Maybe someday I can see them.

We still had quite a bit of time to kill before going to dinner so we decided to head to the Gateway Mall. We walked past Build a Bear and Devon had the idea we should build each other a bear (seriously do you all see why I love this man and why he's perfect for me?). He then took it a step further and said we should build one that looks like us. I present to you Bob (Devon's look a like) and Fluffernutter (my look a like):



Don't you just love Bob's University of Utah t-shirt and Fluffernutter's furry purse. Bob roars if you press his foot, and Fluffernutter goes "I love you" really kind of creepy if you press hers. It was so much fun to do.

We then headed to Olive Garden to meet up with a bunch of our friends for dinner. It's so fun that our group of friends all kind of married within each other so we all get along so great. It was kind of weird though because before our dinner conversation would consist of really random and stupid things, and that night we started talking about 401k plans, insurance, and babies. I'm still not ready for the grown-up things in life like that. Here's a cute group shot we took of all of us!



Then Cameron was teaching Devon how to move his hips latin-ballroomy like and I had to get a pic of that too!



After dinner we went and saw Life as We Know It, which was really cute. The weird thing was when you buy tickets at Thanksgiving Point you have to select your seats like at a real play or musical. It was kind of weird, but I guess in some way it's a good idea.

Day 4, Friday

This was my last day in Utah, it was kind of sad. We headed back to Cedar and spent the afternoon playing games and doing our usual things. We used to play Phase 10, Skip-bo, and Racko all the time. Well Devon hasn't played with them since I left and we found this card in the deck that I don't even remember making (and here's a cute pick of us too being all cuddly):

It's true! I am way cooler! Not much has changed.



That night I had a girl's night with Cami and we stayed in a hotel as a treat. We had dinner at Brad's Food Hut, and played at wal-mart. While there we ran into a lot of old friends which was fun. We also played this random crane game in the wal-mart arcade and won a lot of random stuff including fake mustaches. Here's us with our 'staches:



Day 5, Saturday
Sadly this was the day I left. Devon drove me to Vegas and we stopped at the outlet to get some Christmas presents for Devon's family. I was sad to leave, but I really enjoyed my trip and seeing everyone again.

So there you go, there's my trip recap :)

To-do

Here's a rundown of the things I have to get done in order to get to vacation:

Today: work 5-10

Friday: work 8-1 (no i'm not slacking on work hours, I've already worked 30 hours in 3 days, and I'm working 17 more in the next 3, yay for huge overtime check!). Then meeting with Tan about our adopt-a-family for Christmas for Aero, then Toy Story marathon.

Saturday: work 3-10

Sunday: First annual Aero 380 thanksgiving dinner! I'm making the turkey, the first time I'm ever making a turkey in my life. Hopefully we all survive to Monday to run our store.

Monday: pack, clean, work on my brother's wedding presents, etc.

Then vacation starts! Really I only need to make it through Saturday because Sunday and Monday are just fun days off anyway :)

These Boots are made for walkin...

So that's just what they're gonna do. Ok well, not really, I mean I will walk in them but not in the way the song means.

I worked 68 hours in 8 days at work, with no day off in those 8 days. My boss got married last weekend, which is great :) , it just meant I was basically left in charge of our store. We actually had a pretty good weekend so I decided I would get a treat.

You can bet when I got off of work yesterday and saw that the boots I've been DYING to have for months were on sale at piperlime.com I bought them. They were $190 originally, on sale for $150, I had $40 in gap card rewards certificates, a 15% off coupon on top of that, and there's always free shipping. I got my boots for $90 and because it was piperlime's birthday I also got a free $25.00 gift certificate. I guess then that means my boots came to $60 (kinda, I mean the gift certificate is for a future purchase but hey free money for me!).

Why am I blogging about boots? Because I'm too lazy to write a post about what's going on in my life, and I also made a goal to blog once a week. I made that goal exactly a week ago so this is the post that you get this week.

Oh and 13 more days until I get to go to Utah, see my amazing boyfriend, my super amazing best friend Camithala, and maybe with some bribing and the agreement to meet in like Provo I can see the super amazing Grant and Corry families (hint hint...Emily and Lindsey)

Oh and here's my super cute new boots:

100 truths

This is really kind of pointless, but I took a nap for 3 hours today after work so of course now I'm not tired, so here you go! I suggest you all do it if you're bored too!

WHAT WAS YOUR:
1. Last beverage: Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper
2. Last phone call: Devon telling me about some flight info he found for me.
3. Last text message: "Goodnight babe. Love you lots and lots" from Devon (mushy, I know)
4. Last song you listened to: the duet Rachel and Kurt sing at the end of this week's Glee
5. Last time you cried: Today. I was so tired and upset after work that I just cried myself to sleep.

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice: Yes, in fact 4 times. 4th times a charm I hear...
7. Been cheated on: not really
8. Kissed someone & regretted it: HA yes
9. Lost someone special: my grandpa passed away in April, I miss him lots.
10. Been depressed: Yes I have in the past
11. Been drunk and threw up: nope!

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLOURS:
12. Red
13. Tiffany Blue
14. Buttercream yellow

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU:
(2009)
15. Made a new friend: Yes lots of new friends at Aero
16. Fallen out of love: Yes actually, which is something I never really knew could happen, but it did. Consolation: I fell back in love with someone amazing and I love them 10 times more than I ever loved the person I fell out of love with. Weird how that happens, but I'm so happy :)
17. Laughed until you cried: Yes!
18. Met someone who changed you: yes I guess you could say that.
19. Found out who your true friends were: Yes and they're all amazing!
20. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes, but I talk about other people sometimes so I guess I deserve it.
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: Yes, 2 haha
22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life: On my blog friend list I know everyone, well at least one person of the couple if they so happen to be married.
23. How many kids do you want to have: 2 at the very most.
24. Do you have any pets: no but I wish!
25. Do you want to change your name: I would love to get rid of my last name because I hate spelling it out and having it mispronounced.
26. What did you do for your last birthday: I went to Texas Roadhouse with Brian and my parents, then hung out.
27. What time did you wake up today: 3:55 am, ew.
28. What were you doing at midnight last night: sleeping
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: Utah trip in like roughly 24ish days
30. Last time you saw your Mother: a little bit ago.
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: I would be living in the same place as Devon.
32. What are you listening to right now: the new Darius Rucker CD I just downloaded.
33. Have you ever talked to a person name Tom: Uh yeah a few...but honestly I have never met a Tom i've liked.
34. What's getting on your nerves right now: work!
35. Most visited webpage: probably facebook.
36. Whats your real name: Stacey Beth
37. Nicknames: Special K, Stace
38. Relationship Status: very happily taken
39. Zodiac sign: Gemini
40. Male or female?: Female
41. Elementary? : Prairie Elementary
42. Middle School?: Central Middle
43. High school/college?: Waukesha West
44. Hair colour: brown but I want to get highlights
45. tall or short: Short! But mighty!
46. Height: 5'3.75"
47. Do you have a crush on someone?: Heck yes!
48: What do you like about yourself?: Um...I like to be goofy.
49. Piercings: One hole in each ear.
50. Tattoos: none.
51. Righty or lefty: righty

FIRSTS:
52. First surgery: -Wisdom Teeth
53. First piercing: -Ears when I was in 2nd grade.
54. First best friend: Kyle
55. First sport you joined: T-ball
56. First vacation: Probably Minnesota.
58. First pair of trainers: ?

RIGHT NOW:
59. Eating: some pumpkin seeds
60. Drinking: - Diet cherry dr. pepper
61. I'm about to: read a book or try to sleep.
62. Listening to: Darius Rucker's new CD
63. Waiting for: November 9th!!

YOUR FUTURE:
64. Want kids?: yes, but no more than 2!
65. Get Married?: Yes please :)
66. Career: I'm not entirely sure. I actually love working retail so probably sticking with that.

WHICH IS BETTER:
67. Lips or eyes: eyes
68. Hugs or kisses: kisses
69. Shorter or taller: taller, but not by much
70. Older or Younger: definately older.
71. Romantic or spontaneous: a good combination of both
72. Nice stomach or nice arms: nice arms
73. Sensitive or loud: again a good combo of both.
74. Hook-up or relationship: relationship of course.
75. Trouble maker or hesitant: trouble maker

HAVE YOU EVER:
76. Kissed a stranger: not really.
77. Drank hard liquor: probably once or twice.
78. Lost glasses/contacts: haha yes all the time
80. Broken someone's heart: yes, it makes me think of the song that goes "I'm only gonna break break your break break your heart"
82. Been arrested: no
83. Turned someone down: yes.
84. Cried when someone died: yes.
85. Fallen for a friend?: eh kind of?

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself: sometimes
87. Miracles: most definitely
88. Love at first sight: no that would be lust
89. Heaven: yup sure do
90. Santa Claus: Yes!
91. Kiss on the first date: I guess so.
92. Angels: sure!

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
94. Had more than 1 girlfriend/boyfriend at a time: no
95. Did you sing today?: of course! I always sing in my car
96. Ever cheated on somebody?: Well, technically yes, but its a complicated story and no it's nothing I'm proud of.
97. If you could go back in time what will you do?: I would eat healthier from day 1
98. If you could pick a day from last year and re-live it, what would it be?: Hmmmm the day Devon and I went down the lakefront and spent the day talking and playing cards. It was perfect!
99. Are you afraid of falling in love?: yes a little.
100. Post this as 100 truths: okay

33!

Apparently when I have nothing to really write in my blog but I'm in the mood to blog I just post countdown updates.

In case you all cared as much as I do, only 33 more days until I get to be in Utah again! Who is up for a visitor??? ;)

Seriously, do you know how hard it is to have your boyfriend and best friends 1500 miles away? And I get a serious case of jealousy when I think of how they can see each other every day if they wanted and I don't get to see either unless an airplane or 26 hours of driving is involved. Jerks! J/k...but seriously it's not fair. Why is Utah so far away from everything anyway? I mean really it should be like, hmm, Nebraska, pretty much dead center of the country. I know Judy at least will agree with me on this on some level :)

33 days!

4 years later...

2006 (sorry for the quality, it's a pic of a pic):

2010:

I guess after 4 years not a lot changes. I guess we're older and a little more mature the 4th time around.

side note: I really miss those bling-bling glasses. I should totally get new lenses with my current prescription put in those again.

9

more days until I get a visitor from Utah!!!

16

more days!

17

more days...

Heres a rundown of my life...

-I spend my days folding and selling jeans due to back to school. I kind of like it.

-I hate the word jeggings, it sounds so stupid, but I sell lots of jeggings (try them, you'll love them, for reals ha ha, it's like wearing sweatpants all day...though I personally am not skinny enough to actually buy a pair. My co-workers swear by them).

-I'm single. And ok with this.

-I have the best co-workers ever.

-in the last week i've eaten at Olive Garden twice (never ending pasta bowls, need I say more?).

-I'm having a visitor from Utah in 25 days.

-I love visitors from Utah. Sadly, I've only ever had 2 (but they were Corrys, who doesn't love when a Corry comes to visit you. I heart you Lindsey and Steve!).

-I gave up Starbucks...serious withdrawals. Thank goodness for shaken passion tea lemonades (and I swear to God if it turns out these aren't "friendly" I'll cry).

-This is vague, I know, if you want details then you'll just have to chat with me sometime on FB or the phone.

Nonsense

I never post. Mostly because I have nothing new to say.

I have had some fantastic adventures lately, which maybe I'll get around to posting.

My brain has been mushy lately.

Let's just say it's hard to think one way about something for 3+ years, only to learn that nothing is as you thought it was.

I'm spent emotionally.

So once I'm emotionally un-spent I'll post something more productive than this nonsense.

My new favorite quote

I found this quote tonight and I love it!

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."
— Audrey Hepburn

I Guess I'm a Grown-up Now...

Well, I officially have my first real grown up job. We're talking full-time, benefits, paid vacation, the whole shebang. I'm now an Assistant Manager for Aeropostale at the mall closer to my house. I'm really really excited about this change, but I am so super sad to leave the Gap. I love the people I work for (for the most part), but I think this will be a good change, plus I'll get to see everyone often.

I'm really excited that I finally realized that retail is what I love to do, and that I want to make it my career. I would be miserable doing a desk job, and sure even retail get's stressful and crazy at times, but I'm actually really good at it too. Perhaps getting an MBA is in my future, but for now I'm going to enjoy my first real grown up job.

Totally a time killer...

It's been a while since I did a survey, and since I can't sleep (surprise, surprise) I thought I'd do this one. It actually has some fun questions to answer.

1) What is your current obsession?
Reading recipes and day dreaming about my future house someday.

2) Who was the last person you hugged?
My dad :)

3) What's your favorite dinner?
Chicken alfredo, garlic bread/breadsticks, with red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake factory for dessert. Yum!

4) What was the last movie you saw in theatres?
Up In the Air. It was a really good movie!

5) What was the last thing you bought (to wear)?
black leather flip-flops from the Gap, or a button up shirt from Aeropostale. I can't remember which store I was in first.

6) What are you listening to right now?
My television, but I honestly couldn't tell you what show is on. I'm not really paying attention to it.

7) What is your favorite weather?
When it's sunny and warm enough to wear a hoodie and flip flops (quite the combo I know).


8) Say something to the person who tagged you.
I stole this from some random blog, but I'm sure that person is just fantastic!

9) Tea or coffee?
Oh my! Dark cherry mochas (non-fat, no whip, no chocolate shavings, iced) seriously are what makes my world go round. Basically this was a fancy pants answer for coffee.


10) What did you want to become as a child?
I really wanted to be a medical research scientists, or a scientist that studied the hole in the o-zone over antarctica. Yeah I'm neither, but I really love that I realized that what I love most in life is working retail. Glamarous? no...but I love it!

11) If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
I would first go to New Berlin and pick up the boyfriend, then he and I would go to Brookfield for an hour (inside joke). But really I want to go to Hawaii super bad lately.

12) Who do you want to meet in person?
Oh I would love, love, love to meet Jen Lancaster because I think she'd be hilarious to talk to!

13) What is your most challenging goal right now?
Probably figuring out what my next career move is going to be (fingers and toes still crossed for my last interview to work out! I want that job so badly! I'm not jinxing it by talking about it in detail though!)

14) What is your weirdest obsession?
I'm totally obsessed with ants on a log lately (celery, peanut butter, chocolate chips or craisins), dinosaurs, and stalking craft blogs.

15) Why did you start your blog?
Boredom one night before I moved back to Wisconsin.

16) What is your blog about?
Just myself...and whatever little random things I feel the need to write about.

17) Which blogs are you obsessed with at the moment?
Peachycheap.com (not technically a blog at all, but still totally obsessed)
nieniedialogues.blogspot.com
postsecret.com
and pretty much any craft related blog out there.

18) What is your dream job (realistic or unrealistic)?
Something combining retail and charity work.

19) If you could change professions or careers, what would you try (realistically speaking)?
I would absolutely love to see what it would be like to be a broadway actress for a day.

20) Who is your favorite designer at the moment?
I don't really follow designers that much, but I LOVE Project Runway and Jay is my favorite this season!

21) What is your favorite brand of jeans?
I have yet to find a pair of jeans that I love...I mostly have Gap though due to my discount.

22) One thing you would snitch out of someone's closet, with no regrets?
If someone somewhere has the Bobbi Blu moccasins that I have and adore I would totally take them. I have worn mine to the point of nastiness.

23) What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)?
Again, I'm not much with designers but I totally would love to be outfitted head to toe in something from Anthropologie.

I tag everyone! Ha now you all have to do it!

Go Gap!

So way back in Sept. of 2008 I was looking for a part-time job to keep me occupied while looking for a real grown up job. I decided to stick with what I knew, which was retail, but I didn't want to just work for any company. I did some research and really wanted to work at the Gap because they are a company that encourages social responsibility. They fulfill this through donating proceeds to charity through their friends and family sale (5% of proceeds that weekend go to charity, they do it 3 times a year, and so far 9 million dollars has been donated to various charities since they started this program), encouraging stores to participate in charity events, matching the charitable donations of employees (if I were to personally donate 25 bucks to like the children's hospital they would match it), and helping improve the lives of the people who work in the factories over seas.

The 5-14 of March, Gap is doing a denim drive in every store. If you bring in old denim (of any brand) to the store you can get 30% off of your purchase of new denim! The cool thing is they're going to recycle the old denim and turn it into eco-friendly insulation for new houses! Isn't that the coolest idea? I love working for a company that is making strides to make the world a little bit better. I seriously love my job!

Our friends and family sale is the 18-21 of March and once again my charity of choice for the proceeds is Feeding America. Feeding America helps stock food bands and provide food the underprivelaged people across the US. If you want a coupon (even if you're a blog stalker who never comments on my blog or someone I don't know!) leave your e-mail in a comment (or e-mail me at staceyjuntunen at gmail . com). The coupon is good at Gap/Gap Kids/Baby Gap/Gap Maternity/Outlet, Banana Republic/Outlet, Old Navy, and piperlime.com It's a great way to score some great deals and help others at the same time!

Dear Mayfair Mall/Wisconsin/Utah

Free Pretzel day at Aunt Anne's

combined with a board breaking competition for the kiddos

combined with the fact it was a Saturday

equals one very not so happy Baby Gap employee.

Seriously this is about how I felt when 5 o'clock rolled around: (cept buried in baby and kid's clothes, and not so skinny)

Oh and our main register was broken and un-fixable til monday, but Mayfair Mall that's not your fault.

At least I got to go to PF Changs afterward and have dinner with Brian and his family :)

But seriously Mayfair you need to get your act together, or pay to have a mall cop patrolling my store 24/7 to catch all the freaking shady shoplifters we have to follow and baby-sit on days like today(which is totally against Gap policy but a girl can dream right).

Sincerely,
the leader on duty from 10-6 today
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Dear Wisconsin,

6-10 more inches of snow tomorrow eh? Ok let's make a deal, I'll be happy with that as long as you keep your flakes to yourself til 7:30 pm CST. Unless you're sending me these snowflakes:

These are the Utah commercial snowflakes...go to youtube and find the commercials if you don't know what I'm talking about. Then I'd be happy because I'm sure they magically could get me to Utah somehow so I could spend time with my bff's there and eat some fry sauce...and in-and-out, and shop at DownEast, and go to St. George where it's warm, and see a mountain or two, and see a polygamist (because Big Love makes me miss the polygs so much).

Love,

Your resident for 19 years

PS sorry I escaped for those 5 years and moved to Utah, but you'll forgive me by holding out your snow til 7:30 right? right? ok.

Snow Day!

Today we had a very snowy day here in Wisconsin. It has been snowing non stop and as of 10 p.m. we had 14" and it is expected to snow throughout the night. I had a most excellent snow day with Brian! He had two court hearings 3 hours apart at the courthouse that isn't too far from my house. His office is about 40 minutes away so it didn't really make sense for him to drive back and forth, especially in this weather. He came over for lunch and I made a really yummy spicy chicken macaroni dish (I love exercising my somewhat decent domestic skills for him).

The plan was he'd come back after his last hearing to come get me (I'm still petrified of driving in the snow from last years icy hill debacle) and take me to work since the mall I work at is like down the street from his office. Well we were driving to the mall when I got a call saying the mall was closing due to the snow and I didn't have to work! Yes! The mall NEVER closes early, I mean seriously every school and business known to man will be shut down but not the mall, so this was a great treat. We spent the rest of the day playing Super Mario Bros. Wii, went to Chili's for dinner, and then watched a few Criminal Minds episodes. It seriously was such a fun day, and it felt like we were playing hooky even though we really weren't. My one wish was that the snow wasn't the dry powdery kind because I really wanted to make a snowman, but alas it wasn't snowman building snow.

Advice from you parent types out there...

Ok so I've got a few friends here in Wisconsin who are going to be having babies. You'd think seeing that I work at baby gap I would have instant gift ideas but one of the people works with me (and really won't need clothes I bet) and the other isn't going to find out the gender of the baby, and with a 60 day return policy that makes buying clothes a little difficult (and how much yellow and green clothing does a baby need right?). I came across this idea of something that would be neat to make and I was wondering if as parents this would be something you'd actually want, or if it really isn't practical. It's a growth chart in a box, and you pull out the chart thing and then pin the tag where the height is and date it and what not. Please be honest and let me know!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11974319

and here are a few pictures from her etsy page too on it in case you don't want to go to the listing or it is gone.

ooey, gooey, and oh so good!

We're just going to ignore the fact I started weight watchers today for the sake of this post. We're also going to ignore my bad photography skills with my blackberry's camera.

We had a rockin' weekend at work. We seriously kicked major butt, and everyone who worked was in a GREAT mood. I decided as a treat to make some cupcakes. I'm pretty much obsessed with anything s'mores. Since we can't have bonfires in Wisconsin (at least the city I live in, oh and it's the middle of winter so that kind of puts a damper on it) I get my s'more fix through World Market's s'more hot chocolate and Caribou Coffee's Campfire Mocha (espresso, skim milk, dark, white or milk (or all 3!) chocolate, and marshmallows on top). I'm also pretty much obsessed with bakerella's website and recently she posted a recipe for s'mores cupcakes. I've been dyin gto make them so this was a perfect excuse to do so. The bottoms are graham cracker cupcake batter, a marshmallow then chocolate cake batter, and you sprinkle a bit of graham cracker topping (graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and butter) in between the layers and on top. Then you top it off with a marshmallow after they're done baking, drizzle with chocolate ganache and end up with a super ooey gooey treat. I'm hooked...and weight watchers thanks me for being a member for like 2 weeks longer now because of these!

Time keeps on ticking...

Saturday marked the 18-month-a-versary of Brian and I dating. I just wanted to take the time to say that I love this boy...a freaking lot.


Yeah, we're cute, and very pasty white.

Sickly

Those of you who know me well know that I never had a car in college. In fact, I didn't get my driver's license until I was 24. I hated driving and I had absolutely no desire to get my license and buy a car.

Then I got my car.

Then I got dependent on my car (seen below).




(uh, except picture a big white patch of scratches on the bottom of the front bumper from where I drove my car into a rock wall on my way to a job interview)

Then my car (aka Kipper) got sickly. It needs a new engine, it only is a 2007 with 40,000 miles.

Then I realized why people thought I was crazy in college for not wanting a car. I miss it so much! I miss the freedom and I miss the ability to actually do stuff. Though, Cedar City was a small town and you could walk pretty much anywhere. I wouldn't dare walk in most parts of Waukesha/Milwaukee ha ha.

Dear Kipper, please please please get well soon! It's been a great car! It's taken me all over Milwaukee and on a road trip to St. Louis! It also got to chauffeur around my first Utah visitors (yes Steve and Lindsey were brave enough to drive with me!), and I'm sure many more adventures will be had once it gets a new engine. I did just put new brakes on it too less than a month ago, so really it will be like a new car again. I will find out tomorrow if Chrysler is going to pay for part (or hopefully all) of the cost of my engine.

Now I just need to get that new car smell in it somehow :)

Why hello 2010...

I've been a really bad blogger lately, but it seems most people have been lately. I blame the hustle and bustle of the holidays and what not. I know I never finished blogging about my Utah/Vegas trip, and I still haven't gotten started on those projects that I talked about in my last post. I have, however, decided on my motto for the year. I actually found it today, and I decided to throw all of my resolutions (you know, lose weight, save money, etc...) out of the window and just focus on one quote for the new year. It is:


"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means you've decided to look beyond the imperfections." -anonymous


I am focusing on that for this year because I truly feel that if I focus on that quote everything else will fall into place. I do have to lose weight though because in December I will be sporting this dress (in navy blue, and the other color of the wedding is silver so we'll have silver accessories):

My brother proposed to his girlfriend in the early part of December. They are getting married December 4, 2010 and I get to be the maid of honor. My dad is the best man, which means I get to walk down the aisle with my daddy and it isn't even my own wedding. I am so beyond excited, but I am in no shape to be sporting this lovely strapless gown. You can bet that after the wedding I'm going to be making this into a tea length gown to wear for other occasions, so I want it to be the size that I want to be permanently.

But I'm not making a resolution to lose weight...