A sneak peek!

So my mom, step-dad, step-brother, and his friend, Eric moved some of my stuff into the apartment today. It was just easier since we had the moving van. My dad is helping me move stuff tomorrow, but he has a bad back, so I wanted to have him move as little heavy stuff as possible. So here is a little sneak peek at our apartment. I'll take more tomorrow and upload another blog when I am at my dad's.

On a hilarious note, I have to sleep on the floor tonight. I wanted to have a slumber party in my sister's room since she has her mattress in there, but she said no. Ha!

Our moving van loaded up with some of my stuff

Our couch and book shelf. We'll have lamps and end tables too :)

Grown up things!

As I sit here typing this, I should be packing/cleaning. I've been doing that for the last hour or so, so I think I deserve a break.

Why am I cleaning/packing? Well, my family is moving. I can't remember how much I have said in this blog, but that's really all you need to know. I won't go into details about why and such, but yeah. We're moving.

I'm moving on my own. Well, not really. A friend from high school and I are rooming together which I think we will be a helluva good time. I can't express how glad I am to move in. I need to get out of this house. The last month or so has been stressful. Moving sucks and it's making my step-dad crabbier than usual. I am actually not liking him all that much right now. Add to the fact that my mom treats me like a teenager and well, move out day cannot come soon enough.

That's all I got for now. I need to get back to packing/cleaning. It's not fun people.

The State of Hockey

Normally when I refer to the State of Hockey, I am talking about none other than the great state of Minnesota. Right now, it's not a literal state; it's a state of being. The last few months, the hockey world has been in a state of sadness and shock.


It started with the sudden death of Derek Boogaard in May. The eventual cause of death was accidental due to a combination of pills and alcohol. I was completely shaken up by this. I didn't know Boogey personally, but I was a fan of his. When he went to the NY Rangers, I was upset. He wasn't an impact player in terms of scoring, but he made a difference on the team. He stood up for his teammates and got the crowd excited when things weren't looking so hot. Even if you had NO idea what was going on in the game, you got excited when you saw #24 on the ice. To this day, it still makes me cry when I think about it.


Just a few weeks ago, Rick Rypein, another prominent NHL player was found dead in his home from an apparent suicide.


On the 31st, Nashville Predators team member, Wade Belak, died. He was also found dead in his home. No cause of death has been released that I know of.


And just today, another tragedy hit the hockey world. A plane crashed in Russia, killing the 40+ people aboard. Those on board were players for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv, a KHL team. They were traveling to their first game. There were several former NHL and AHL players aboard the plane, including former Wild player Pavol Demitra.


Hockey season needs to start now. The hockey world has been riddled with bad news this summer. It's time something good happened. There's nothing like that first hockey game of the season, for a player or a fan. For a player, it's stepping on the ice and hearing the roar of the crowd. For fans, it is seeing their favorite game and players back in action. It's the back and forth, fast paced action that has us all enthralled for 60+ minutes, breathing only for a short time in between periods (just enough time to refill the beer).


We shouldn't forget about the events from the last 4 months. I am sure there will be moments of silence at the first games of the year and memorials set up at various venues, as there should be. Hockey fans need a reason to be excited about their sport again. The start of the season is just the thing that will do that.

Changes are brewing!

This morning at our morning rally, Elizabeth came up to me and said we should sit down and talk later. "Uh oh" was my first thought. Why "uh-oh"? My mind automatically goes to I did something wrong or I said something I wasn't supposed to. Turns out, it wasn't anything bad at all. Phew. 

I found out that as a specialist, I am not eligible for taking an SSA position. Well, shit was my initial thought. Elizabeth coupled that with telling me that she had some opportunities in other areas. My choices are FT in intimate apparel, FT in juniors, and a possible FT in another area (I can't say what area that is because she isn't 100% sure that that spot is going to become available). She asked me if any of the areas interested me. Based solely on the team, I said intimate apparel. Sure it would take some time to get used to fitting women for bras and I will probably see more than I want to, but if they don't care, I don't care. I know most of the ladies up there and they are fantastic. I don't think I could handle juniors. The people up there are just, blah. Not my kind of people, I guess. I dunno if I could handle the other area that she mentioned either. Again, because of the people. Elizabeth talked to our store manager and they agreed that intimate apparel would be a good fit for me.

I would HATE to leave kids, but in all reality, it would be the best option for me if I want to do SSA. Being an SSA would open the doors to so many other opportunities, so career wise, it would make the most sense. 

I have no idea what will happen, but I will probably know more in the next week or so. 

I love nights like these

Today I worked 5.5 hours. That's an incredibly short day for me. I welcomed it with open arms, especially since I have tomorrow off. I needed a break. It's so crazy at work right now that I barely have time to think. I barely moved from the wrap stand the entire shift. It's fantastic for business, not so great for other things that I have to get done.

I haven't had time to do a task sheet for the last week. Between being acting manager for Elizabeth while she was gone and still needing to be on the selling floor, life was pretty hectic. Not to mention it's one of the busiest times of year for us. I loved it though. It was so much fun, albeit, a little weird at times. My peers gave me crap for it, but it was all in good humor. I think. Elizabeth is back, so I will probably have more time. Maybe.

I talked to Elizabeth yesterday about how the week went. Overall, it went well. I needed to time manage better, but that was pretty much all we came up with. She also talked to be about holiday SSA. There is only one full time position and Elizabeth said she is fighting for me to get it. Whether or not I will, only time will tell, but I really hope I do. I don't know who else is in the running for full time, but it's good to know I have a good person fighting for me. I was SSA during our One Day Sale last weekend and apparently the other managers had nothing but good things to say. Phew. I was worried. I don't know why, but I was. Typical of me, I suppose.

I seriously love the team that we have at my store. There are some things that I don't agree with, but I think you'll get that with any job you have. I love that I have the support of the whole team in moving up in the company. It makes me feel good about the work I am doing.

My night is quiet. I am sitting here thinking of possibilities, while also looking at jobs in the company. In other states, even! WHAT?! It's fun to think of where I could end up. Recently I have been looking at the store in DC. Why? Because I love DC. Not now though. I have MSNBC on and Hurricane Irene does not look like fun. But, I love storms, so it could be fun.

Oh Back to school! Back to school!

If you weren't sure if back to school time was here, all you would have to do is take a look at the kid's and junior's departments at my store. Holy cow, we got shopped hard. It's awesome for business, not so awesome for clean up.

On Saturday, I stayed late at work to help organize and clean up the 16 racks of clothes that the junior's department had to put away. I also came in early Sunday to help put some of it away. 22 total hours between the two days. Hello, paycheck. Between me and one other person working early Sunday, we got 4 racks put away before store open. Awesomesauce.

Not so awesome, how the kid's department is looking today. We closed Saturday with 3 racks, highly unusual for my department. It really did not help that one of the associates went home early because he got sick, so we were short staffed. Saturday was the official kick off for back to school and having only one person in what is easily one of the busiest areas of the store is not a good thing.  There were constantly people in the store on Sunday. It wasn't overwhelmingly busy, but it is hard to get stuff put away when you are trying to help a customer and you can't leave the register for more than 3 minutes. When we did get stuff put away, we just filled it back up. Last night, we closed with 5 racks. I nearly died. I am thankful to have the next 2 days off, though I may go in Tuesday to help. I have to be there for a meeting anyway, so I may just stay if we have hours to give away.

This weekend, despite the mess, was fun. On Saturday I was SSA, so I got to help manage recovery and assign people tasks. I got a radio and everything. It was pretty kick ass, not gonna lie. It was only a glimpse of the craziness that ensues with being a manager and I loved it. I was talking to one of the HR people after I was done and I was telling her that I had fun and really liked it.

Who knows what is in store for me in the next couple weeks, months, years, but I am excited to see where it will all go.

My life as a manager (sort of)

So Elizabeth has been on vacation this week and she will be until sometime next week. Her vacation will consist of finalizing wedding plans. I can't imagine trying to plan a wedding long distance (she isn't from here and they are getting married in her hometown. In Louisiana). Anyway, in her absence, I have been in charge of the kid's department and the dresses/petites department. It's been fun so far. I haven't had to do a ton. I'm not in charge of looking at numbers and sales and that sort of thing, but I have gotten to do some managerial things. Last week and this week, I got to go over the associates' scorecards with them. It was kind of awkward, especially in the dresses/petites area. They have given me crap, but I think it's all in good fun. I've been in a funky mood this week, so I'm probably just reading the situation wrong.

On Saturday, I get to be SSA. I am so pumped. I get to help with organizing recovery and making sure things run smoothly. I'm fairly certain I get a radio too, which I am most excited about. Is that weird? Haha! But seriously, it will be a good introduction into the holiday season and it says a lot that they want me to do it, so I am excited about things to come.

I've also applied to a couple different apartment complexes. I haven't heard anything yet, but I am trying to keep my head up.