OMG!!!

That's what I'm thinking right now... due to the DRASTIC haircut I got today!

I have been thinking about donating my hair to Locks of Love for a while now and I finally decided to do it! But it is SHORT!!! The amount you have to donate is 10 inches, but I'd say that the total I actually cut off was at least a foot! The new cut is very fun, but it's going to take some SERIOUS getting used to!

Lindsay, the girl who cut it at a place called Hair Solutions here in Park City, was really nice and she did a great job, but she straightened it and that's not something I would do with this cut, so I think I'll like it more when I do it myself. That's usually the case for me anyway. Luckily my hair grows really fast so if this really does feel too short after a week or so, at least I know it won't be long before I've got some length back. And bottom line- it's for a good cause! It's the season of giving, right?

Here are some pics of the new 'do...

The view from the back.

The view from the front.

Perfect headband hair. Hats are a different story :(

Fare...(sob)...well...(sob, sob).

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

Just wait five minutes.

They say of New England weather: If you don't like it, just wait five minutes. I'm learning that Park City is the same! It has been snowing lately, that famous powder that I've heard so much about! A true winter wonderland!

When I looked out my window late this morning it was not snowing, but by the time I was out of the shower, it was. I had some errands to run but decided to wait it out and get some stuff done around the apartment. I realized the other day that they don't clean up the roads very well in PC so I figured I'd go out once the snow had stopped and the plows had started. After a couple of hours it was still snowing, but pretty lightly, so I went out. After driving for a couple of minutes it was a white out!!! I kid you not, you could barely see a thing, and on top of that, just as I suspected, the roads were completely covered in slush!

I was in the store for maybe 10 minutes getting what I needed. By the time I came out, it was like a COMPLETELY different day! The sun was shining and while the roads were still messy, the plows were out and you could see perfectly! I couldn't believe it! Only the mountains still had some fog (or clouds or whatever it is) around them, but that's actually really beautiful. The weather can change in an instant here, it's so crazy!

I've always found Park City to be a visually pleasing spot, but I've only recently realized the beauty of Park City at night. The mountains look like ice cream sundaes, the way that the trails and the trees wind down the sides- that's really the only way I can describe it, which might not make sense but if you saw it, you'd understand. You can also see all of the lights in the houses spotting the hills, which is a unique and pretty sight as well! Since it's the holiday season there are Christmas lights and decorations all around which only adds to the scenery.


I took this picture from my driveway this afternoon. I love the blue color that everything has. It's hard to see but the fog/cloud I was talking about is right behind the trees, but you can tell there's a clear, beautiful sky. I'm not sure the photo does it justice, but everything looked lovely after the snow!


It's less than 10 days until Christmas! Is everyone ready??? Some of the presents I mailed out might be late, but forgive me please, this is the first year that I've had to send out a GREAT majority of my gifts. This required more preparation and supplies than I expected! I hope that no one is too stressed out with holiday shopping and planning! Remember to take some time to relax with your loved ones! Make cookies, build a snowman, create snow angels, go sledding, go skiing. Have some hot chocolate or eggnog- spiked if you need it! Watch your favorite Christmas film, or watch a holiday movie you've never seen before. And don't forget to listen to some Christmas music!

If you need some ideas for Christmas movies here are a few that I like...

Scrooged. Obviously.
The Family Stone.
Love Actually.
Elf.

Hmmm... I thought I liked more Christmas themed films. Guess not. That's a sad list. What's your favorite Christmas movie? Besides A Christmas Story, because I'm sure most of you are thinking that! It's a good movie, but enough already!!

My quote is from The Family Stone, it goes along with this post quite nicely, I think.

Meredith: So what was that dream?
Ben: Which?
M: You told me you had a dream about me but you didn't finish. You didn't say what I was doing.
B: You were shoveling snow.
M: I... what?
B: You were just a little girl in a flannel nightgown and you were shoveling snow from the walk in front of our house. And I was the snow and everywhere it landed, everything it covered. And you scooped me up. You scooped me up with a big red shovel.




P.S. In case anyone didn't believe me about Belami's love affair with wrapping paper, here he is attacking the roll. It's a love/hate relationship.

Disclaimer:

I would like to apologize in advance to anyone receiving a Christmas gift from me for the amount of cat hair that will come along with it. Belami is a wretched wrapping partner!

You know how wrapping paper kind of attracts hair? Well a cat who enjoys laying all over the wrapping paper (while you're trying to wrap a present) really doesn't help matters.

On the subject of Christmas gifts, I just about ripped my hair out at the mall yesterday! It was SO CROWDED! I drove into Salt Lake to do my shopping and I couldn't get out of there quick enough. Oh and here's a thought: a baby stroller the size of a hummer shouldn't even be manufactured, never mind allowed in a mall!

I'm sure you're all thinking "Hasn't Heather worked in a mall for the past 9 years? Shouldn't she be immune to this by now?" I was thinking the same thing, but you know what it probably was? Because of my schedule, I hardly ever have weekends off so if I have to go to the mall it's usually on a weekday when things are a little less hectic.... lesson learned. I won't make that mistake twice.

So I was looking for quotes about shopping on the Internet to end this with, and this one popped up because it just has the word 'shopping' in it. I thought it was really funny and it got me thinking that I do the same thing in my letters... why??? Enjoy, even though it has nothing to do with the entry!

Friends write me letters. They run out of room on the front of the letter. They write 'over' on the bottom of the letter. Like I'm that much of a moron. Like I need that there. Because if it wasn't there, I'd get to the bottom of the page: 'And so Kathy and I went shopping and we-' That's the craziest thing! I don't know why she would just end it that way.
Ellen DeGeneres

Shopping, names, books...

Good Saturday to you all! I would say good morning but I know it's not morning for everyone...

How is the Holiday shopping coming along? I have been doing a little at a time for about a week now but this weekend it's time to get serious! This is the first time that I will have to mail all of my Christmas gifts! I'm NOT a last minute shopper by any means but I like to linger a bit. I'll see something that I think someone will like but I have a hard time committing right away so I continue shopping and maybe I find something better, maybe not. It's the same way with me and channels- radio or TV. I'm a flipper, I always think there's something more interesting to watch or listen to. And magazines too! I flip through the whole thing first before committing to an article. Hmmmm.... I wonder if there's some deeper meaning here?

Speaking of articles I found another interesting one, this time it was about names. I LOVE names and think that they should mean something. Belami means "my beautiful friend" and that's exactly what he is! Anyway the article said that recently people have been giving their babies more common names- I think celebs are still the exception- Bronx Mowgli. Although I think that name is cute!

So many people come into J. Crew with babies and we always ask what they are named. Most of them have peculiar names but I was just saying to someone (can't remember who- Mom?) that I have noticed babies names being a little less unusual than before. We had a little Daniel one day and I think there was even an Elizabeth! There were three little girls playing together one day and one of them was named Sophie which I don't think is terribly unusual. The other two were Esme (Cullen?) and Senora- which do nothing to support this theory. Then recently we had a woman come in with a little boy named Jaden, who said that if she had known how popular that name would be she would have thought twice about it. I've heard a lot of parents say that. How important is it to give your child an unusual name? I like less common names. Nothing like Pilot Inspektor, but like Jaden's mom, I would be totally bummed if I gave my child a name I thought wasn't popular and then everyone, including Britney Spears, named their own baby the same thing!

I like my name- do you like yours? Has there ever been one name you really wished was your own? When I was little I wanted my name to be Alexandra. Seriously. I thought it was such a beautiful name and I liked Alex as a nickname. I love it when girls have masculine sounding names, but I hate it when guys have feminine sounding names. I don't know, maybe I'm in the minority here, finding this intriguing.

I need reading suggestions! I am in the middle of Eclipse, the third of the Twilight series, and then I'll read the fourth but I've got nothing lined up after that. Luckily Stephen King just put his list in Entertainment Weekly and I've had luck with his recommendations, but what would all of YOU suggest? And by the way if anyone is looking for a quick read, and I do mean QUICK, pick up the Twilight series, once you start them you are truly enraptured!! I know that I asked earlier what people love so much about this story and I'm still not sure, but for me I think it's the suspense, the mystery. I love a book where I truly do not know how it will end! I'm glad I have some time off right now because I literally read every night until I can't keep my eyes open! And now that I'm more than halfway through the saga I can say without a doubt that I'm on Team Edward! Which would you rather date- a werewolf or a vampire? Tough choice.

Good children's literature appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
Anonymous

I hang out with celebrities... kind of.

Two words...

Hilary Duff.

Is that famous enough for you? I just got back from my first night out on the town and I saw three famous people!

I went out with Stacie and her roommates to a couple of the bars on Main Street and as we were walking into one bar I spotted Chris Masterson talking to another guy at the door. Mom, in case his name doesn't ring any bells, this is the actor who played Francis on Malcolm In The Middle. So we walk down the stairs and of course (as always it seems) I'm the only one who recognized the guy, so I was explaining who he was and as I'm doing this, his brother, Danny Masterson walked by. For those of you who don't know, this is the guy who played Hyde on That 70's Show.

As I'm digesting the fact that I'm at a bar with famous people Stacie's roomies decide that they don't like the bar and leave. So we're walking back up the stairs and the doorman stops me and he's like "Why are you guys leaving so soon? We've got the celebrities here, Danny Masterson, Hilary Duff." I'm like "What?!? Where is she??" So he pointed her out to me over in the corner playing darts. So I talked to him for a couple of minutes, but then I realized I should probably find my friends! So I had to leave without saying hello or playing darts with any of the celebrities!!!

Damn!

The day after.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Belami and I had a low-key, relaxing holiday!

I'm sure you are all excited to hear what my first Midnight Madness experience was like. I went into work at 10:30 pm and we were scheduled to open at midnight. When I was unlocking the door, 2 groups of people asked me if we were open yet! I told them that all the stores opened at Midnight and one girl corrected me, saying "Actually some of the stores are already open." Well Excuuuse me!

While we were getting ready to open SO many people came over and pulled on the door so we opened around 11:30 pm, to get things rolling. Then it just got crazy! There were a million people in the store VERY QUICKLY- it was weird. You literally couldn't walk!! At one point I went in the back to look for a size and when I came back out I could hear Stacie calling me from the register but I just couldn't get there!! No one would get out of my way! About 15 or 20 minutes after opening the doors a line began at the register and wrapped around the ENTIRE store- I'm not even kidding, no exaggeration here! It was like that for the next 2 hours straight! One of our employees, Mark, was helping people in the men's department but he came over and said he would help us bag up people's purchases because he couldn't even walk around men's due to the line that had formed.

Even though it was so busy things actually went incredibly smoothly. The customers were great and fun and they were all asking us how long we had to work and wishing us luck for the long night ahead! And I was actually wishing my customers luck as they continued with their shopping! I think the shoppers were prepared for chaos so they were pleasantly surprised at how efficient we were! Everyone is incredibly impressed with how amazing our deals are right now and it sounds like the rest of the outlets were running some great sales too. After the rush you should have seen the state the store was in- it looked like a hurricane had come through! We all just had to laugh and then start straightening! Everyone did such a great job getting things back in order and after a couple of hours the place looked decent again.

I was full of energy and having a lot of fun but then it slowed down quite a bit from about 2am to 5am so by that time we were all getting a little tired and antsy. By 8:30 am I was SO ready to go home, I was tired, my feet and back hurt- the last hour was the worst! I got home around 9:45am and immediately got into bed! I slept until about 2:30 pm and when I woke up I was really hungry because all I had eaten the whole night was a small bag of Doritos and half of a cinnamon muffin! My appetite was all messed up because of the weird hours, I think.

One funny thing that happened last night involved our music. We have a soundtrack that we listen to during business hours but then there is a selection of songs called Hot Traxx that we listen to before and after hours which plays top 40 hits. We all like it a lot better than the J. Crew soundtrack but obviously we can't listen to it while we are open. Well last night because of the time of night the stereo wouldn't switch to the J. Crew station from Hot Traxx so all night we cranked the fun tunes! I actually think it was better for the employees and shoppers since they all needed something upbeat to keep spirits high and keep everyone awake!

Midnight Madness was quite an adventure and I'm glad that I got to participate. I can't say that I will ever want to shop this event but I guess I understand the appeal of all the good deals. Other than that I don't know why people do it- for the excitement maybe? But long lines, packed stores, horrible traffic... not my cup of tea.

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.
Bo Derek

I can think of a few hundred people who would probably agree with Bo on that one....

Thanksgiving isn't really a vegetarian's holiday anyway...

I will be spending Thanksgiving with some old friends this year.

I'm sure you're wondering who....

Steve Martin and John Candy. Oh and Kevin Bacon will be stopping by. Just because I can't be with my family doesn't mean I shouldn't continue on with tradition! So Belami and I will be watching Planes, Trains And Automobiles together!

I guess it's a good thing I don't have any big plans because I am now working the overnight shift for Midnight Madness! I honestly think it's sad that people choose to shop instead of spend time with their loved ones and relax around the holidays. Maybe this is because I've worked retail for the last 9 years so relaxing and spending extra time with my friends and family during this time of year hasn't been an option since before I was 16! Anyway, I am excited to work this shift because I think it will be a lot of fun and it should be super busy so time will go by quickly. If you work in retail you should probably experience Midnight Madness at least once! And just think of the exciting blog entry you'll get to read on Friday as you enjoy the first of many cold turkey sandwiches you'll eat over the next couple of weeks.

I'm really very much okay with that fact that I won't be home for the holidays. If I had the choice would I go home? Absolutely! But I get to see everyone in a couple of months so that will do! I will miss you all this Thursday and I'll miss Grammy's sweet potatoes for sure. Even though I'll be missing out there are certainly things I am thankful for:

Belami Gravy! Of course, my little Thanksgiving baby! I'm so thankful that I have a great job with a great company that believed in me enough to move me out here! And for the Internet which has allowed me to keep in touch with my friends and family so easily while I'm out here! What are YOU thankful for this year?

Before eating, always take a little time to thank the food.
Arapaho proverb

Don't forget to thank your turkey for being so delicious!

Belami's Birthday Blog!!

Happy birthday, Belami!! I can't believe that my little baby is one year old! They sure do grow up fast, don't they? He looks a little annoyed with me in this pic, huh? Probably because I woke him up... or because I'm making him wear the new bow tie I got him for his birthday.

I think this is the longest I have ever gone without writing a blog. I'm sorry! After I took that PTO I worked for 7 days straight and then when I finally did have a day off I had a million boring things to do. But yesterday I had an enjoyable day off!

I was finally able to participate in the therapeutic riding program at the NAC and it was a lot of fun! There was a group of 12 kids from SLC with visual impairments of varying degrees. The kids were great and I think that they really enjoyed themselves! I'm helping with a lesson again on Monday. Even though I'm not able to commit to the same time every week I'll always help out when I can and that seems to be working out great for everyone! The only problem yesterday was that I had to use a Western saddle and I had no idea what I was doing!! There are way more straps and buckles and pieces to a Western saddle so I think that will take some getting used to. They also use English saddles, but I just happened to get stuck with the Western both times. The volunteer coordinator, Abby, had to help me, but luckily she was really nice about it!

Last night Stacie and I went to see Twilight. My goodness that movie is quite an event! When the lights went down in the theater all these people screamed (literally screamed) with delight! It was hilarious! We bought our tickets on Thursday and the teenage boy working there said the movie was so good and he never likes movies like that, he hasn't read the book, yada, yada, yada.... but he'd see it again. It was THAT good in his opinion. I liked it, it was exactly what I expected- but I wasn't expecting to love it. It was pretty cheesy and what's with all the dramatic music? I will say this: I was unsure about the casting of Edward, but by the end of the movie I was smitten just like everyone else! I think every single Friday night showing was sold out, the theater was an absolute madhouse! What is it about this movie/ story/ book that's got everyone in such a frenzy?

In other film news I found a very interesting article in Entertainment Weekly about a blogger who was urging filmmakers to skip the Sundance Film Festival since members of the Mormon church donated a ton of money in support of California's ban on gay marriage. The Sundance Institute isn't worried, however, since they have always celebrated and supported diversity in the movies. I certainly hope the film festival doesn't get boycotted or canceled! That would be awful!

I bought my plane tickets home this morning! I'm psyched to be back in NH in less than 2 months. I want to see as many people as I can so it's bound to be a busy week!

And here's a funny story that I realize not all of my blog-readers will understand, but most will get a kick out of. I went out to dinner at a place called The Old Spaghetti Factory and they serve spumoni ice cream! It's vanilla, cherry and pistachio, I think. I wonder if Joey makes it?

I'll try not to go so long without a blog next time!

You can't own a cat. The best you can do is be partners.
-Sir Harry Swanson

California Love.

As many of you already know I spent this past weekend in California. It was a short trip but a lot of fun!

I would like to advise anyone traveling for the next 7 months to avoid the Las Vegas airport since they are doing construction and only operating on one runway. The result of this is basically that any flight going into or out of that airport is delayed by about an hour. Now I always think it's really dumb for people to get all bent out of shape when something goes wrong at an airport (remember my story where I realized that being nice truly does get you what you want sometime?) but I feel like this is really poor planning and deceptive. People are scheduling flights and making plans but you don't find out until you get there that you will DEFINITELY be delayed. It seems like they should let people know beforehand or schedule less flights or something... oh well, I guess I don't really know much about how an airport works.

The point of that little rant is that since my flights to and from CA both went through Las Vegas, I was delayed going there and coming home. It was only about an hour though, so no big deal. I arrived in Sacramento which is somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour from Vacaville, where Katie and Jeff live. We went out with some of their friends Friday night in downtown Vacaville where Katie and I sang karaoke to the Wham! classic Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. It was awesome! It was really fun to hang out with Katie and Jeff and meet some of their friends. The night was a blast!

The next morning Katie and I drove to San Francisco to spend the day with Steve and Colin. It was really easy to get there and I am so jealous that they all live so close to each other!! Once we got there everyone was hungry so we decided to walk and get some lunch but by that time it was really raining. We wanted to sit outside so we found a table that was under the biggest umbrella ever and that did us just fine! My avocado salad was delicious, as was the macaroni and cheese that we got to share! Afterwards we walked to get ice cream which was also delicious! And we didn't even feel bad about it because we had a light lunch and had walked pretty far to the ice cream place and then back to Steve and Colin's house. Since it was yucky outside we just hung out and talked for the rest of the afternoon before meeting up with Jeff and a friend of his for sushi. The dinner was good and we had a lot of fun. We decided to go out to a bar before heading back to Vacaville. We made the day last as long as we could to make up for all the time that we don't get to spend together.... awwww.

On Sunday Katie and I went out to lunch and then shopping for a bit before she showed me the house that her and Jeff just bought and will be moving into this week! By the time we had finished there it was time for me to go to the airport, so sadly my fun Cali weekend had come to an end.

It was SO GREAT to see Katie, Jeff, Steve and Colin! I miss those guys! It's nice to be close enough to spend just a weekend with them and the warm weather was a nice break from all this snow and cold! The cool thing about this trip is that it was 10 years ago that Katie and I first ventured to California together to spend time with Steve!

I'll leave you with my quote for the day.

Q: What do you get when you combine Van Gogh and Beethoven?

A: Phantom Earlobes

Some guy gave us this little riddle while we were eating lunch on Saturday. We don't know exactly what it means... do you??

Winter wonderland!

I just wanted to show everyone what type of weather I'm dealing with today! It's a winter wonderland! I guess I should get used to this, because I have a feeling this is how it'll be for the next 5 or 6 months! The mountains do look beautiful with the snow covering them, I'll try to get out one of these days when I don't have to work and take some photos of that.

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.

from Snow-flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Reel scary....

Happy Halloween!

Okay so for most of you it's probably the day after Halloween as you read this so in that case.... Happy November!

In honor of the creepy holiday I was discussing scary movies with one of my coworkers, Anna. I asked what the scariest movie she had ever seen was and she said The Exorcist. This came as no surprise to me because for one particular age group this film was absolutely terrifying, like nothing people had ever seen before. I can't think of another film which has had quite that effect on people, can you?

The scariest movie I have ever seen is The Ring. I had nightmares after watching that, seriously, it just really got into my head. EW.com listed their top 20 picks for the scariest movies of all time and Carrie was on the list. The very last scene of that film was mentioned which I had COMPLETELY forgotten about!That made me jump like nothing else I have ever seen! Just in case anyone reading this hasn't seen that movie (doubtful?) I won't reveal the surprise, it's a doozie! What's the scariest movie YOU'VE ever seen?

While browsing the Internet this evening I found another interesting article. This one was about tattoos and how many areas and companies are beginning to ask employees to cover up their ink. Some employers are taking tats into consideration when hiring as well. Big surprise here: Bountiful, UT made a decision this summer that new employees must cover up tattoos. Chill out, Utah!

I do not consider tattoos offensive. I think that they can be depending on what they say or depict, but a tattoo is a work of art, a form of self-expression. Tattoos tell stories. Just today a girl at work asked about the tattoo on my foot which led to a whole discussion on studying abroad. You can learn about people through tattoos. In this day and age people are encouraged to look beyond appearances and judge a person based on what is on the inside, but rules like these force judgements to be made on nothing else but the look of an individual. I found my quote for the day in the article...

We don't allow discrimination based on skin color, yet we came up with a policy that discriminated against people with color on their skin.
-Steve Tufts, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City

Zack and Miri Make a Porno? Not in Salt Lake City!

I really should be going to sleep right now but I found an interesting article on Yahoo and I wanted to blog about it!

Movie theaters in Salt Lake City will not be showing the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Interesting as well is that these same movie theaters will be playing Saw V. The theater's spokesperson said that because of the graphic sex and nudity, Zack and Miri will not be shown, but had no comment as to why the violent and gory Saw V hasn't been banned. Let me just steer away from the main subject for a second and ask: will the Saw series EVER end?

The problem with the movie seems to be the title, according to the article, since the films Knocked Up, The 40-year-old Virgin and Sexdrive have all been shown at the same theaters. Okay, veering off again... has anyone seen Sexdrive? It looks funny, just wondering. Billboards, newspapers and TV stations in the area have refused to advertise the film because "porno" appears in the title. I'm surprised that the title Sexdrive didn't cause a problem. When Jared, Kathleen and I were watching the trailer for that film and Mom walked in she thought we were watching a porno!

I was also shocked to read that these same theaters refused to screen Brokeback Mountain because of the subject matter! The article did state that the owner of the cinemas has since said he regrets that ban. Good. What a close-minded son of a gun!

I've summed up the information pretty well, but cut and paste the address below if you'd like to read the article in its entirety.

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/zackandmiri_blog.html

The question is not what a man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, and value, and appreciate.
-John Ruskin

Clear your calendar!

I will be making an appearance in the New Hampshire area from January 11-17! We finally had a meeting to discuss time off at work and that's the week I got! I was also given November 7-10 off so I'm going to California in less than 2 weeks to visit with Katie, Steve and Colin! Woohoo! I can't wait!!! I will take a ton of pictures and I'm sure I'll have a lot to blog about when I return!

I didn't mean to worry everyone with my last blog, but I do appreciate that people are worried! Truth is, I'm doing fine, I feel so much better! You must have all been hugging each other yesterday because I had a really good day! Thanks! I actually meant for that entry to be somewhat inspiring and all together honest. I'm not sure if I accomplished the former.....

I write today as I cool off after my DWTS Latin Cardio Dance session! The gym here in PC is really expensive and I found this DVD on Amazon for only $11.99 and I just received it in the mail today! It's really hard to get the steps that they are doing (could just be me) but I definitely feel like I got a workout! It was fun and I got to look at Maks (shwing!) so I think it was worth the money. I'm sure the more I do it, the steps will become easier. I think this was the first time I have ever worked out in heels. What a deal- you get a workout and break in shoes at the same time!

I have some great furniture news! A woman I work with is part of a three-family yard sale happening this weekend and she's letting me come over the day before to get first pick of everything! And she said that there will be a dresser for sale! I hope it's not super-expensive because I really need one!

I have decided to add a little something extra to my blog entries. Since I love and collect quotes I will include one each time that I write and try to connect it to something I've written about. Too cheesy? Oh well, here goes....

If you hear a different drummer- dreamer, take a chance... the road you choose to travel means the difference in the dance.
-D. Morgan

See the connection?

Truth.

I feel as though I have not been completely honest on my blog. I vowed when I started this that I wouldn't write about 2 things.

1. Anything negative or confidential at work.

2. Anything that made another person look bad or stupid. This is meant to be a fun, entertaining and overall positive account of my life. I didn't start this blog to bad mouth anyone, and let's face it- they might eventually see it. Yikes.

By not writing about these 2 things a majority of you don't know that I'm actually having a very difficult time with one of my coworkers to the point where I've thought about leaving the store. I hate to do this to you, but I'll stop there. That's not what this entry is about. This entry is about dealing with a situation like that while you are all by yourself a million miles away from everyone and everything familiar. Truth be told, dealing with it is extremely difficult.

I am so completely happy that I took this big leap and moved to Park City. It has made me feel very good about myself. We all have these amazing moments every now and then where we fully realize our strengths and life just couldn't be better. We are, after all, our own worst critics, so when we're pleased with ourselves, it's a phenomenal feeling. But then there are moments where it is apparent just how human we are through the surfacing of fears, weaknesses and vulnerabilities we never even knew about.

I predict that I will be back on the east coast in a year. I have been thinking that for a little while now and I've just been too afraid to say it because I worry that people will think I'm weak and unadventurous. But you know what? I, like many people, have spent far too much time worrying about what others think of me. Recently I have allowed someone to make me doubt myself and my abilities- and no one should let that happen.

I learned a lot over the past few days. We must have faith in ourselves to get through the bad times, but having a support team close by certainly doesn't hurt and it's not something to be ashamed of needing. Sometimes all we need is a hug and I haven't been hugged in a long time. So do me a favor everyone, will you, please? Give someone a hug today and think of me. Just like I could sense when someone was talking smack about me behind my back at work this past week, I think I will sense that someone somewhere is giving a hug in my honor.

What did make me feel better at the end of a rough day? Belami. He's the best and he loves me no matter what. I feel the same way about him.

Remember, if people talk behind your back, it only means you are two steps ahead."
-Fannie Flagg

Damn!

I accidentally got the photos mixed up. The explanation of what I said is the first is actually what you're seeing in the second, and what I said you're seeing in the second is actually the first.

Sorry!!

Let me explain.

Okay ladies here is an explanation of the photos. The first picture I took while standing in front of the garage looking across the street. There is a line of trees in front of a field where some cows live, in front of, what else? Mountains... this is Park City, after all.

The second photo is from the same spot, just looking over to the left which gives you a nice view of my landlords' front yard and beyond. If you drive down that road it takes to you to some ski resorts and somewhere down there are the Sundance offices. The road also takes you towards Main Street, it's about 5 minutes away.

When you're looking at the house in the third picture you can see a door right next to the garage door- that brings you to my apartment. There is also a back door into the apartment. The house is built into a hill so even though you go down a set of stairs to get in from the front, the back door takes you right into the apartment from the ground.

Hope that clears things up!

Live from Park City, it's Saturday night! And I'm sitting at home writing my blog....

Possible good news: Stacie and I were thinking that we could split the cost of a package of tickets for Sundance! She got assigned a later time slot to buy than I did so we're going to research the options and decide if it's definitely something that we want to do! I'll let everyone know how it turns out!

I know how much you all enjoy photos so I figured I would post some pics of the outside of my apartment and there's also a photo of our kitty roommates, Pixel (torti... calico? I can never tell the difference!) and Sweet Pea (black and white) to get a better idea of my surroundings!

In other feline news Belami has started eating big boy food! He will be a year old in less than a month so I bought some adult cat food to mix in with his kitten food. So far he seems to like it more- but I'm not sure if I'm just thinking that. He loves the toy that woman gave me for free with the bench so the other photo is of him enjoying his little tunnel!

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend!

:(

I'm so bummed.

Today was the day that I could buy tickets to Sundance and I thought the purchase time was 10am, but it was actually 9am- Mom, maybe I really do have a time problem... By the time I was ready to go, the one package that applies to me that I can afford was all sold out!!! I think that there are other ways to get tickets later on so I hope that will work. This sucks, I was so excited.

I hope everyone else's day started out better than mine! Before my dream of going to a major film festival was crushed I had to plunge my toilet. It's been quite a morning.

Time for work.

Where have I been all your life... er... week?

Well hello again!

It's been too long since my last post. The delay is due to my computer being.... infected. Ewww, that's what the "Park City Computer Guy" called it when he fixed it for me. It's all better now- thank goodness! I felt so disconnected from the world without this little guy for a few days!

I have been working so much, make that TOO much lately. We are just doing so much more volume than anticipated so our original staffing needs have been upped! Luckily our fourth manager starts next week and we hired 7 new part time associates this week. That will make things easier and more enjoyable for everyone at work! Especially Kathleen, Stacie and me, who have been working way more than we should. Other than that work is going great!

I've obtained more furniture since my last post! Last Saturday I went out to the yard sales again before work and got a bookshelf and cute kitchen table for $25 each! We bought 4 chairs to match for $5 each. They need to be reupholstered so that could be a fun little project for me when I have some free time. I haven't taken pictures of the stuff yet but I will soon and put them up when I do!

Today after work I attended an orientation for the therapeutic riding program at the National Ability Center here in Park City. I really hope I can work it out with my schedule- should be able to with the new employees- but in retail it's tough to have a specific time off every week.

I love having a blog but since it is so public there are stories I wish I could tell everyone that I'm not comfortable posting if they make someone else look silly or even stupid! There's stuff going on that most of you don't even know about since the way you keep up with my adventures is by reading this! Email or call anytime to get the scoop! I'm like a TV show... you have to go online to get behind-the-scenes footage!

I have a confession to make: almost every time I get a phone call or email from someone I secretly hope they're going to say that they are coming to visit! So can someone just grant my one wish and buy a damn plane ticket already!? I may not have furniture but I did find an air mattress in the laundry room (I guess it's more of a laundry closet) the other day!

Wayne Pacelle's blog had some great news today that Ebay will no longer allow ivory buying or selling on their site! Read all about it to your right! And since I told everyone reading this to vote YES on Prop 2 in CA, I wanted to also encourage any Californians to vote NO on Prop 8!!!

Boring blog, but I wanted everyone to know what's up with me lately! I'll post pictures soon, promise!!

Bad movies.

You know how I usually recommend movies TO SEE? Well today I am going to recommend 2 movies TO NOT SEE.

I finally watched my Netflix this weekend and what a bummer! First of all, I had Iron Man up at the top of my queue and it was in stock but I hadn't changed my billing address to match my mailing address so I by the time I had that figured out it must have no longer been available. Instead I received Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The Feast of Love.

I wasn't expecting Walk Hard to be anything spectacular but I figured I'd get a chuckle out of it. Jenna Fischer is one of the stars and I like her a lot, plus there were a TON of cameos. This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen! I have a rule to not turn movies off but boy this was pushing it. I guess you could say I kind of broke that rule when I started doing other things (some of them in the other room) while the movie was still playing. Honestly, do not waste your time with this- not that any of you were going to, but still.

The Feast of Love also tempted me with a great cast- Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear.... a cute Brittany spaniel. But this was a major letdown as well! I couldn't hear or understand anything the actors were saying and somebody really needed to turn on a light! I think one of the themes of the movie was to have most of it take place in poorly-lit spaces. It must have been a metaphor or something.

Sometimes I get into these film ruts where I watch a bunch of bad movies in a row. So can someone please recommend a decent movie to me?!? I'm so out of the loop without my Entertainment Weekly! I can't wait until I start getting that in the mail again!

Luckily I'm reading that good book. I was reading it while I had my snow tires put on today and hoping no one would look over my shoulder and think I was a creep with a book about a murderer who preys on young Italian couples having sex in parked cars!

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

Okay, so it's not frightful exactly, but it is SNOWING!!! It snowed hard all morning yesterday and then the sun came out and everything melted. I guess we'll see what happens this afternoon.... Oh yeah and my computer says it's 25 degrees outside! This is early for snow and mid-20s temps. even for Park City!

Yesterday I got up early and braved the weather to go yard sale shopping. I found 3 in the local paper so I went to all of them, and I saw a sign for a fourth while I was driving around so I stopped there as well. What I was really hoping to find was a dresser or a bookcase (or both!!) and I found neither. I know you're probably thinking "Didn't she buy a dresser the other day?" Yes, I did, but it's just a baby dresser as you can see from the photo so I still have to open a suitcase every time I need a shirt or pair of pants, and that's not fun. I did get my closet and suitcases all organized at least, but this is only a temporary solution. I spent all day getting my room in better shape yesterday so that I feel like I actually live here. I still have some more cleaning to do but I made a lot of progress!

I did find 3 things yesterday for a total of $15!! I bought the pretty flowered mirror for $5 at the first yard sale, nothing at the second and the bench with my TV on it for $8 at the third. I would have bought an actual TV stand at the fourth but while I was looking for a person to find out how much it was some loud-mouthed biotch asked and got it for $5. I was so mad I had to leave. I was mad about some other things too by the way and there wasn't really anything else good there.

I also went to that thrift shop I was told about. I actually went twice since when I went the first time they weren't open even though they should have been. I went back later and I was actually impressed with the furniture. The inside of the shop was awful! It was so cluttered and messy I could barely walk around. The furniture was outside which made it easier to look at, but it was still snowing pretty heavily so everything was covered. But there was a lot of decent stuff. The prices were really varied depending on what it was and what condition it was in. I found one coffee table that I liked but it was $60. I asked about a smaller, not as nice, white coffee table and the guy told me he'd sell it to me for $2!! How could I pass that up? It's not much to look at, but I'm on a budget here and it'll get the job done!! So the morning wasn't a total bust. I even got a little tunnel toy thing for Belami that the woman who sold me the bench gave me for free!

I was going to drive to IKEA and Urban Outfitters today for some more stuff for the apartment, but those are all the way in SLC and Draper, which is even further. With this snow I think I'll just lay low- go to the grocery store (I really need to do that!) and maybe watch one of the 2 Netflix I've had for a week now. I've been too busy and too into my book to watch any movies lately.

I'll definitely be too busy to watch any Netflix from January 15-25 since I'll be at Sundance!! I'm in the clear to buy tickets! It's a whole process and first you have to register for a time to buy and then you buy. My time to buy is October 23- see what I mean about it being a similar process to registering for college courses?

As I buy more stuff for the apartment I'll post more pics, but I have a feeling this is going to be a slow process. I snuck in a photo of Belami doing one of his model poses for everyone to enjoy too!

I live in pretty places.

I've had some blog requests so I decided to write a little something before I head off to work today.

Yesterday I experienced the joy of getting something done to my car without knowing anyone in the area. I had to spend the 2 1/2 hours it took to change my oil and fix something with my brakes sitting in the waiting room. Luckily I started a really good book yesterday called The Monster of Florence which is about Italy's own Jack The Ripper-type killer. Katie, I would recommend this book to you since you lived in Florence for a while. I bet you would recognize a lot of the places where the murders happened.

While I was waiting for my car I grabbed The Park Record (local newspaper) and found 3 yard sales happening this Saturday so I'm going to get up early and see if I can find myself some furniture! Yesterday I bought a small yellow dresser from a consignment shop here in town. It was $53, in a store where everything else was really expensive. When I told the woman who was working that I liked the dresser she asked if I had seen the similar red one in the back of the store, and when I said no she showed me a huge $800 dresser.... why she thought these 2 things were similar in look or price is beyond me but I quickly told her that was way out my price range so she showed me a much more reasonably priced dresser at just $300. WTF?!? I clearly wasn't getting through to this woman so I just told her that I have to furnish an entire apartment so I can't spend a lot on one piece. She told me to check out another consignment shop that I believe she said is connected with a church in the area, so I'll do that this weekend too. Plus, a woman at work will be giving me a few things for the apartment this weekend as well. By Monday we could be furnished! I'll just have to connect with Laura Lee and see what she wants to do because she said that she really hates wasting a Saturday morning with yard sales. I personally really like going to yard sales and I'm excited to do so, although the forecast calls for light snow. Anyway, I think we should go together so that we can decide who will buy what and she also has a much bigger car than I do.

I have another movie recommendation for everyone! If you haven't seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you need to! It's really funny and sweet! Beware of full frontal male nudity- it happens a few times! It's a pretty raunchy film all around, but I loved it!

There was a list on Yahoo.com yesterday of the prettiest towns in America. Park City and Portsmouth, NH were both on the list!! I'm certainly doing well in terms of living in beautiful places! There were a lot of other New England towns on the list and many more in other parts of the country. I thought it was cool that I have lived in 2 of them!

Time for work!

I wish I caught SNL last night!

Why, you ask?

Because maybe I would have recognized The Killers' drummer, Ronnie Vannucci, when he came into J. Crew today and bought a ton of stuff!!!

One of our other customers knew who he was and started asking him what it was like to play Saturday Night Live this weekend and what he was doing in Park City. Turns out he has a house here and apparently he didn't pack any clothes for the trip. So where did he decide to buy a new wardrobe? That's right, J. Crew! He was super friendly and nice and he even opened up a credit card with us!

Before today I wouldn't have known the drummer for The Killers if I'd tripped on him. I know this isn't quite the celebrity status you were all hoping I'd wait on here in Park City, but come on, that's a really famous band! He's no Carol Burnett, but I still thought it was cool.

*He's the one with his arms crossed in the photo- although he was sans handelbar mustache today. Looks a little like Jason Lee in that pic, huh?

Home, home on the (driving?) range.

Greetings from my new apartment! My new, empty apartment with the big hole in the window from the golf ball that came flying through it the day I moved in. Actually the ball must have bounced back out because we can't find it anywhere!

For those of you who may not know, my apartment is directly behind the driving range of the Park City golf course. My landlord told us that a window is broken a couple times a year. I would have thought it would be the higher windows because there are a bunch of trees and a fence right in front of our windows. There are also nets over most of the house, but this particular golfer must have been a really good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) shot. They have already made arrangements to have it fixed, but it hasn't happened yet. I hope they repair the window soon since we are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow tomorrow!

It has been an interesting past few days at work. Yesterday one of the lights in our stockroom caught on fire!!! One of our associates, Jared, was moving around boxes of hangers and one of them bumped the light and it began smoking, sparking and there was even a flame! I was eating my dinner and working on some stuff in the office when I heard Jared's worried voice.

"Uhhh.... Heather.... there's something wrong with one of the lights."

As soon as I got near it I could smell the burning and when I saw the sparks and fire I quickly turned off the lights and we called an electrician to come fix it. I am scared of our stock room when I am back there by myself and last night it was especially awful because with the lights off it is pitch black until you get to the office! I'm so glad we noticed the problem when we did, otherwise there would have been a real fire!

Then today we had our first celebrity shopper! Leslie Bibb, of Talledega Nights, Ironman, and for the Paul Walker fans- The Skulls, came into J. Crew today! She was quiet, nice and for the most part kept to herself. I talked to her a few times and helped her out- however, when asked who assisted her at the register she said no one did!!! I was, of course, the only person that knew who she was, but when the cashier, Matt, didn't recognize her zip code and asked where she was from she said L.A. and he could tell what her signature said. It was pretty cool, to me anyway, although the people I've told so far have been less than impressed. I'm sorry, when was the last time you told a famous person that you don't sell cashmere V-neck sweaters?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Just you all wait until Sundance, I'll have more celebrity sightings under my belt than you can shake a stick at! I may not have used that expression correctly.....

So, the posted pics are the only ones Ive taken of the new place so far. More to come soon, once we start getting some furniture in here. I didn't take a photo of my bedroom only because it is covered in all of my stuff right now since I haven't had time to organize anything.

I guess I jumped the gun on thanking everyone for participating in my CD... way to make me feel loved out here ALL BY MYSELF! Colin, I appreciate your prompt response, and good song choice. For anyone who would like to redeem themselves and actually play along, I'll extend the deadline to next weekend. It can be your favorite song of all time, or your favorite song of the moment. Katie, to answer your question I prefer upbeat to slow, but anything will do! Between everyone ignoring me about this and the fact that I am scheduled to close practically EVERY FLIPPIN' DAY so I miss DWTS each week and the damn player won't work on my computer even after I sent abc.com a desperate plea for help- I could use a little cheering up!

New address!

I move into the new place tomorrow so here is my address:

1980 Three Kings Dr.
Park City, UT 84060

I just have to find out if there will be a unit or apartment number since it is at a family's house- I'll ask about that tomorrow when I see Suzettte or Laura Lee to make sure.

Okay that's all. Sorry this is such a short blog, I have to do some more packing before I go to work. I do have a favor to ask everyone, however....

As many of you know I love to make mix CD's (Tricia, yours is DONE! I'll mail it tomorrow) and since I'm up here in the mountains the radio stations don't come in very well so I've been making mixes for myself. I had an idea for a mix with the favorite songs of all of YOU!! So can everyone tell me their favorite song- or if you can't pick an absolute favorite, just tell me one that you REALLY LOVE. If you don't know how to leave a comment you can send it to me via email hjparisi@yahoo.com please. Once everyone has given me their choices, I'll make a list for you all to see everyone's favorite! So think about it and get it to me by the weekend. I also figure this will be a nice little reminder of everyone far away from me, because every time I hear the songs, I'll think of you!

THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!!

Spoiler alert!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE OFFICE SEASON PREMIERE!!!

More on that later.....

Well folks, today I received my key to the new apartment! True to form, by the time I drove the 5 minutes it takes me to get back to my current apartment, I forgot that I had this new key and accidentally tried to unlock the door with it since it looks just like the key I use for this place, freaking out when it didn't work. Nice one, Heath. I brought over a few things that Belami likes to sleep on so that Laura Lee's kitties can smell him before we move in on Tuesday. I let Laura Lee have the bigger room because I seriously don't care, they are both nice with big closets (YES!!) and their own bathrooms. So other than the futon that is in my room I'll have to buy all new furniture. Any tips on furniture purchasing? There's an IKEA nearby, which I'll have to hit up, and I have a gift card to Pottery Barn, so I should be able to get a few things without spending TOO much money. As soon as I move in I'll take and post photos and figure out exactly how the mail works so you can all send me cards, goodies or whatever you like.... hint, hint :)

Back to the title of my blog: How excited are we that Jim proposed!?! At the same time I feel like things have been going a bit too smoothly for our lovebirds and wonder if something will happen to mess things up. That worries me! I thought the premiere of The Office was great and funny, love that show, glad to have it back!

Last night I went out for sushi on Main Street with Stacie and Kim at a place called The Flying Sumo. It was delicious and when Stacie was dropping me off we saw the funniest thing! It was about 9pm and my neighbors came out of their garage on a tandem bike! And there was a person holding onto the rider on the back! Nothing like a late night, 3-person-to-a-bike ride. Seriously, who does that???

Today was my first official day off where I had nothing to do with J. Crew. Or so I thought.... I guess Stacie called one of our employees and instead of calling the store or calling Stacie, he called me, claiming mine was the only number he had. Okaaaay? Why didn't he just call the number that showed on his phone? Anyway, we'll try again tomorrow, maybe I'll have a truly J.Crew-free day!

Don't forget to watch Wayne Pacelle on Ellen tomorrow where he'll talk about Prop 2. Click on his blog to the right to read all about it!

J. Crew & Park City: A Match Made in Cashmere Heaven.

Well opening day has come and gone and what success we had! I can't display exact numbers, but we were up 800% to our planned volume by the end of the day!! I was TUCKERED OUT by the time I went home, but it was a great opening! People in the area were psyched about J. Crew's official arrival to Park City. They are used to shopping retail so the promotions were quite appealing. The best seller today was our women's cashmere cardigans which are a great deal at the moment! Mom and Dad sent flowers to me and my wonderful staff for good luck on our first day, and clearly, it worked! Thanks from Team Park City :) Tomorrow will probably be just as busy, actually, I'm pretty sure that we are going to be slammin' for the first week at least- maybe more. I'll keep you all up to date on the happenings! Oh! And I asked Jackie about my earrings (as I noticed her 2 earrings per ear) and she said that she is not concerned with it as long as I look nice and put together. Which, by the way, I thought I did today! My opening outfit was a new tweed pencil skirt and a haberdashery shirt (button-up) with flats and a pretty beaded necklace- I was comfortable, which is super important, and I felt like I looked good too! I was glad that I decided not to wear a warmer outfit because we had a problem with the thermostats today. It was so hot in the store that we had to go buy ice and bottles of water to hand out to the customers!! We should have that fixed soon- thank goodness!!

Okay, so is anyone else a DWTS fanatic like me? Ever since I first started watching this show I have wondered why I like it so much and I think it is a combination of things:

1. It's LIVE! I love the fact that anything can happen, and it does! From injuries and swearing to wardrobe malfunctions and technical difficulties you just never know what to expect! Live television is exciting television!

2. Tom Bergeron is phenomenal! He does live TV so well because he's quick and not afraid to look silly. He always has a funny comment for everything and he gets right back into the swing of things if anything goes wrong.

3. Dancing is FUN TO WATCH!! Especially when one half of the dancing team doesn't really know what he or she is doing- it just makes things more interesting and entertaining. Those professionals are amazing. They not only dance, they choreograph the routines themselves! I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into the show each week.

4. The costumes! From the dancers to Samantha Harris, the wardrobe is beautiful and outrageous and I love it!

5. The suspense. Each week on elimination night I get all nervous about who is going home! I always hope it's not my favorite couple, but up until tonight I have never voted. I decided to be proactive this season and fight to keep the best dancers out on the floor!

6. For the most part it is actually a dance competition as opposed to a popularity contest, especially in the later weeks. Usually the best dancer wins, and if the rest of America is like me, the more we watch the show, the better dance critics we become. I can actually tell the different dances from one another just by watching them and pick out the talented couples.

I've learned one thing about this show: funny guys don't last. The first couple voted off was Jeffrey Ross and Edyta Sliwinksa, much like last season's early exit by Adam Carolla. Apparently comedians and dancing don't go together. It doesn't matter how good your partner is and how witty you are, if you can talk the talk, but not walk the walk, you're going home.

So here are my early favorites...

Brooke Burke seems to have the most natural talent so far. She seems very grateful for praise she receives from the judges and it looks like she's having fun and really trying. Derek is kind of annoying (especially after his pairing with Shannon Elizabeth last season) but he knows his stuff.

Toni Braxton also looks good out there in terms of natural ability. She also seems to be working hard and is very appreciative of the judges' comments. She has a good partner too- a former DWTS champ!

Misty May-Treanor and Maksim Chmerkovskiy aren't bad and I'm biased towards Maks since I've always had a little crush on him and think he was robbed of the trophy when he danced with Mel B.

Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer are like a little punk rock couple and I'm loving it! She's a new pro this season and she's got spunk and flexibility, plus Lance isn't bad either. This competition has been good to N'Sync in the past.

Oh my goodness, are you all bored to death? Maybe not, but I'm tired and tomorrow is sure to be another long day, but luckily it's the end to my 8 straight FULL days of work. It will be nice to have a couple of days off in a row to relax and get some stuff done.

Good night and have a happy hump day :)