Ready to go!

Those pictures from yesterday are bug pins! Aren't they ridiculous? They look like a Preschool art project! I thought they were funny that's why I posted them, so I'm glad you guys got a kick out of them!

Today was our last day before the GRAND OPENING!!! It was a fun day because when we finished our training, we got down to business, the business of shopping! Everyone had a great time trying all of the different items and doing fashion shows for each other. I spent $200 which I'm still in shock over... the last time I did that was when I first started working at J. Crew. We decided that this is a similar situation since it's a new place, new store. I think Kathleen and Stacie just said that to make me feel better about spending the money! I got some great pieces that I can build many outfits around so I guess it was money well-spent considering my line of work. There I go again trying to make myself feel okay about spending the money!

Enough about that! When Stacie and I were going over dress code we got to the point where it says that employees should have no more than one earring in each ear and she said that I might have to take my second and third earrings out! This really surprised me because when I was first hired at J. Crew I asked if my earrings were alright and was told that they were, so this has never been an issue until today. We asked Kim for advice and she said that if it were her store she would make me take them out because it is a written rule and we shouldn't make exceptions. I agree with her that exceptions can get you into trouble, but as much as I love J. Crew and enjoy working for the company, I think this is a STUPID policy! Even so, that isn't my problem, my issue isn't taking out my earrings- I really don't care because I can always re-peirce them if I want to. The thing that bothers me is that I have always, always, always promised myself that I would never have a job that made me change something about myself. At this point I have enough invested in this position that if I am required to take out my earrings, I will. The funny thing about all of this is that recently I was thinking that I might take those earrings out anyway, just for a change, but decided no to. I just would rather do it on my terms than J. Crew's. I'll let everyone know the outcome of this as soon as we get an answer on "The Earring Crisis." And who knows- if the decision is left up to me, maybe I'll decide to take them out anyway. If there's a good time for change (no matter how small that change is) I'd say that it's right after you move across the country!

Tomorrow is the big day and I can't wait! Our regional manager, Jackie, will be there and I have only ever spoken to her on the phone so I'm excited to finally meet her! The store looks great, everyone has a new "opening day outfit" picked out, and all spirits seem high among the associates! I think that's the perfect formula for a successful grand opening! I'm so proud of the hard work we all put into this project! Wish you were all here to see the new store and what I've been doing with all of my time lately.

xoxo

Just one day left before the GRAND OPENING!

It is so amazing how wonderful the store looks at this point! It is basically DONE with only a few minor details to tackle tomorrow. The majority of the day will be spent training our part-timers on how to do everything else besides fold and hang!

Today was kind of a weird day because Kathleen only worked a half day due to some scheduling issues last week and Stacie was off. I felt like I was being pulled in a lot of different directions throughout the day and one of the NSO team members snapped at me. When I asked if he could help me for a second he said, simply, "NO!" He wasn't kidding or anything either- it caught me a little off guard but I know he's just stressed out so I let it go without getting upset. Oh yeah and when a cleaning crew was mopping the floor I VERY nearly fell on my ass in the backroom. Luckily I caught myself before actually touching down and avoided getting soaked on the wet floor. The whole cleaning crew situation was pretty annoying. We were done for the day so we sent everyone home but the NSO team and I couldn't leave until the cleaning was done, plus, we couldn't walk anywhere since the floors had to dry. We basically all stood in the middle of the store where they all talked about stuff I know nothing about and I twiddled my thumbs. I was so glad when Stacie called to see how the day went and I actually had something to do!

I watched the Emmys tonight and what was up with all the hosts? They should have just hired Tom Bergeron to do the whole thing himself- he rocks! And is Jeff Probst (or however you spell his name) just too cool to wear a tie? Even Heidi Klum wore one! The Emmys are so dumb because the same, like, 3 shows win EVERY award for 8 years in a row! Tomorrow night is the season premiere of Dancing With The Stars!! I can't wait and I guess it's a good thing I don't have any friends here because I have a date with the TV for the next 4 nights between DWTS and The Office. That's sad....

Stay classy, bloggers!

Almost done now!

When we called it a day this afternoon the NSO team said that this is the furthest ahead they've ever been in all of the store openings they've done! I guess that's a good sign, eh? We must be doing something right! No thanks to me..... I worked on the floor for the first time today and they had me put together a wall of women's socks. There are some little feet that you display the socks on that I have seen before but never actually used. So a few hours after I was done with the wall someone noticed that I had used 2 man feet and 1 woman foot- oops! The funny part is that while I was setting the display I was thinking that it just didn't look right, but I didn't know what I was doing!! Everyone thought it was pretty funny and it provided us all with a good chuckle.

Tomorrow we start training the part-time employees on register and we'll do some fit sessions so everyone can help the customers shop for the best fits. I think that the associates are all very excited about that part of the day!

MADE of Honor, which I misspelled last night, was SO DUMB! I still haven't figured out who has similar taste to mine in movies, but I'll be careful who I take advice from around here going forward! When I rented that movie last night the guy at Blockbuster told me that I had a late fee for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Now even though I would eventually like to watch that movie, I haven't ever rented it! I questioned this so the nice cashier took off the late fee and I asked Jared and my mom if either of them had rented the movie since we are all on the same account. When they both said they hadn't I was a little concerned so I went back today and they said that the movie was rented from the Blockbuster here in PC! We decided to make it so that anyone who goes to this Blockbuster here has to show an ID to rent a movie. I really wonder what is going on though! Isn't that weird?! Once I move into the new place I will go back to Netflix so I won't really have to worry about it, but I'm glad we figured it out now so that if someone really was somehow renting movies on our account, they won't be able to anymore.

That's all for today- nothing exciting. I was supposed to have the day off tomorrow but I switched with Stacie because her family is in town so now I don't have a day off until Thursday. But I also have Friday off so I'll be able to start getting ready to move on the 30th. I can't wait for Belami to have friends- he must sleep all day while I'm working because when I get home he is WOUND UP! Today he ripped the curtain rod right off the wall and I had to crawl around looking for the screw that held it in place! That was fun. He is such a brat sometimes, but really I can't blame him because this is not the ideal situation for a kitten. Right now he's sleeping like a little angel, which is what I should be doing. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Night!

The halfway point.

3 days down, 3 more to go.... we are halfway done! In terms of workload we are actually MORE than halfway done. Instead of just sending some people home early today we actually had to call some temporary people who were scheduled the next couple of days and cancel their shifts completely! The NSO team decided that since things are moving along so quickly, having to to train and direct new people who haven't worked at all would actually make things go a lot slower. Our core group (the people who are either staying on as part-time after the opening and the temps who had the most availability) are really doing fantastic!

Each time I come out of the stockroom I spot another piece of clothing that I love! I think I am extra excited since it's been so long since I've been in an outlet. Stacie and I decided that we're going to buy new outfits, or at least one new thing to wear, for our grand opening. I don't own any current J. Crew clothes since we are the ONLY factory store in Utah, so it will be fun to have something new for the big day!

I spent most of my day in the office again. Kim audited the files of all of our part-timers and we had filled out some sheets incorrectly so we had to do them all over again. There were a couple of other things we had to do or fix in the employee files and lots of other operational details to go over. I'm so glad that Kim is here to help so that we get everything perfect in the beginning. I'm so thankful for the NSO team in general! They are making sure that we start off on the right foot. Hopefully all of the associates remember their hard work and we can keep the store in this beautiful shape forever!

I would like to welcome Amy to the blogger club! Look what you started, Katie! Bella is flippin' ADORABLE! That photo of her at the beach, looking right at the camera, is too cute for words! It should be a greeting card! And now that everyone has seen Park City, let's see what Pensacola looks like!

It has been a long day and I'm pooped! I rented Maid of Honor tonight- some people at work said it was cute.... we'll see. Night!

Recap: Day 2.

Today was much like yesterday at work. I spent a lot of time with Kim working in the office on scheduling things. In the morning we went to the bank, the locksmith and ran some other errands. We're getting there! Everything is still progressing ahead of schedule due to our large staff. We once again sent everyone home early, and all of us managers left right on time. Having enough people to get everything done really lowers the stress level of the opening. In fact the whole process has been stress-free! The fact that we have that new store opening team who has so much experience and information has really helped.

And, Carol, just to clarify- I wanted to put some pictures with these work blogs since they are a little boring so I have been getting them off of the jcrew.com. We definitely DO NOT sell $140 flats in the outlets!

Recap: Day 1.

I really should be getting to bed in a few but I wanted to let you all know that our first day in the store went really well! The new store opening team was great and full of knowledge! We had so many people scheduled that we actually finished up early. Looks like we're off to a successful start. There was minor drama today- some of it was dealt with and put behind us but some of it will affect decisions we were going to make in terms of promotions. You just never can tell what some people will be like in a work environment, can you?

I spent the better part of 8 hours entering our staff into the computer! Between the part-timers and temps we must have over 40 people whose names, addresses, emergency contact, job assignments etc. had to be put into the system. When I was done with that I had to adjust everyone's punch in/out times since the time clock isn't set up yet. It was a lot of work, but great experience. The person from the NSO team who is in charge of HR/operations, Kim, is really funny and nice and she is the person I will be working with the most this week. She knows SO MUCH! She's been with J. Crew for 14 years! I like the way she does everything because it is very neat and organized. I think we'll work really well together!

I'm so glad everything went as well as it did today and I'm excited to do it all again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day.... I can't believe I'm back in a store again, it's great!

Just call me Sarah!

Last night I was watching John and Kate Plus 8: The Gosselins Go Skiing. Did I spell their name right? I don't know... anyway. So where did they go skiing? Where else but the home of the greatest snow on earth, Park City, Utah! It was cool to see places I drive by every day on TV. Speaking of skiing in PC, I think I will be the city's ONLY resident without a ski pass. I can't justify spending the money on something I'm not sure I'll use all that much. I'm just going to pay for the day and rent the equipment when I go. What I will spend money on and use, however, are tickets to Sundance! They have great deals for Utah residents. It's a slightly complicated process to even purchase the tickets, strongly resembling what it's like to register for classes in college. I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get the tickets, but I'm sure going to try!

So anyone who knows me would probably say that I frequently wear my hair pulled back in a barrette with a side part, it's messy.... you guys all know what I'm talking about, right? Well today a guy told me that I look like Sarah Palin with my hair like that! I can understand when people say I resemble America Ferrera, or Katie Holmes (pre-Tom Cruise), or even that Mexican girl at Best Buy that Jared thought was me... but Sarah Palin??? Oh yeah, me, Palin and Tina Fey- we're practically triplets! Please note I was NOT wearing glasses. Did everyone see Tina Fey do her Palin impression? She was dead-on. Amy Poehler was very funny in the role of Hillary Clinton. The whole skit is a riot and worth checking out on the web if you missed it. By far the best part of the SNL premiere. I guess you don't really have to be able to read cue cards to be an Olympian. Fine with me. When you break over 30 world records and have a smokin' bod such as Michael Phelps does (right, ladies?) is it really fair to be good at anything else?

I finally finished Chelsea Handler's book Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea. Overall I was entertained but I don't like her attitude towards little people. She is incredibly offensive regarding them, but the worst part is that she refuses to admit it. She seems to think the things she says are entirely appropriate and that's what bothers me. I've moved onto Marley and Me to hold me over until the next book for my new book group is returned to the library. I just wanted an easy read and so far this fits the bill, but I was crying by the second page... great.

Have I completely screwed myself by being inconsistent with this blog? No one even commented on my last entry. I'm trying, I really am! Maybe some funny/interesting stuff will happen at work that I can write about. Tomorrow is our first day in the building! We had a conference call yesterday with the new store opening team and I found out that I'll be doing a lot of office stuff since I'm in charge of HR at the store. I think I'll be able to learn a great deal. I'm going to be working 10 hour days until next Monday and I feel so bad for little Belami! He will be all alone for so long!!! I'll just have to leave a lot of toys out for him to play with and hope he doesn't lose them all under the stove, which is where most of them end up. Along with my lip gloss, cell phone, pens and anything else he knocks on the floor to play with, the little troublemaker.

Per audience requests I've included a few photos of what it looks like outside my current apartment and around the neighborhood. I took these when I went on a walk one afternoon- beautiful as you can see. The bird is a magpie- you see them all over Park City! Dad, that picture is especially for you! I really need to be better at putting pics on my blog- sorry about that! By the way, I still haven't found the right glue for the tea kettle, but I did throw that broken glass away. I'll just write Paola a note about it when I leave. I move into my new apartment on September 30- yay! I'm excited but I know I'll miss my fancy sinks :(

Time for bed- I have a long day tomorrow. Good night and happy dreaming!