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