That’s right…it’s been one year today since I started dating JN. We’re doing really, really well. Today he had his son, so we went to the park for a few hours. There were a couple other kids there, so JN played with all of them. He’s a bit of a big kid himself, which is, of course, one of the reasons I love him so much.

This week at work was great. I had a woman come in three times and I worked with her each time. The last time she came in and finally made the purchases she’d been planning, which she had brought her husband to see. He was sarcastic and I was snapping right back. It was hilarious! The best part was after everything was done, she told me I made the whole experience really fun! That is the best thing a customer can say to you, because that’s the goal. I was so proud of myself.

On a less happy note, I had to go to Planned Parenthood to try to get birthcontrol for a little cheaper. I’d never been there due to my destest of abortions, even though this particular clinic does not perform them. Since I am no longer in school and do not yet have health insurance, I was forced to find a cheaper way to obtain my birth control pills. I figure my taxes pay for it, I might as well take advantage. The good news is that since I don’t make much money, I qualified for free birth control for a year. I can renew it after a year, but it will be nice to be covered for a while. My birthcontrol without insurance was around $70/month. So needless to say, I am relieved.

During my visit to the clinic, they weighed me. I just about died. My boyfriend does not have a scale here, so I had no idea how bad it had gotten. I’ve gained about 10 pounds in a matter of weeks. Now, I’m not overweight. But it is a problem when my clothes from last year no longer fit me. I don’t have any spring/summer capris to wear being that I can’t get my butt into them. So I have stopped eating candy everyday as well as snack chips and I started drinking a sugar/calorie/caffeine free drink. I’m also getting out more now that it’s nice and I must say, I’m pretty proud of myself. The candy thing was the hardest. I always had candy on me and I’d eat pizza on my breaks at work, which is why I have started bringing healthier meals. I tell you this diet stuff sucks, but if I can get back into my old capris, I will be one happy woman.

It sounds ridiculous, but if you’ve checked the weather for the Midwestern portion of the United States lately, you’d see that we recently received even more snow this past weekend! I actually had to wipe snow off my car to get to work! How messed up is that? It’s really messed up, that’s how much.

So I figure if people are double posting on my site, I should probably write something, huh? Give you something new to read. I guess even though I’m done with school, it seems impossible to find time to write. I sometimes miss it. I keep up with life on facebook and myspace because I never have to do much but pop in and approve things. So here is my effort to write something. That is, by far, the longest I’ve ever not written. So here’s the recent scoop on my life:

I am currently practically living with my boyfriend, although none of my stuff has moved. It is not official and the only things I keep here are essentials. I run home very now and then to freshen up on clothing and shoes, but other than that I hardly see my parents, which is super weird. I took it upon myself while my man was off on a vacation to decorate his apartment. It looks fabulous and we love it. I still have a lot to do, but for now it’s looking great. I am still working at Pier 1 and there is an upcoming opening for Assistant Manager that will happen in May, and I’ll be the main person applying, so I’m pretty excited. It’s more money and more responsibilities, which is what I am looking forward to.

Other than that I don’t have much to say. I broke my tooth a few months ago and ended up getting a medicated filling a bit too late. Even though the whole idea was to save my nerve, the tooth as of late has been hurting every day, which means I’ll need a root canal. That’s going to run me about $700 - that’s more than I make part time in a month. I’m looking for another job to pay for this stuff, so the search is on.

That’s it. I’m alive. All is well. I’m now going to write reminders in my schedule to blog more. I’m doing it right now.

Let Me Tell You How It’s Gonna Go
You And Me, Gonna Need A Little Privacy
I Don’t Wanna Do The Dance, No Do-Si-Do
I Need A One Woman Man 7 Days A Week

My new favorite song that I am addicted to: Jennifer Lopez - Do It Well. I know it’s been almost 2 months since I’ve written. Did you think I was dead? I would have. LOL I can’t believe that much time has gone by. And here I thought I’d have all the time in the world to write with football season and all. Turns out I was way wrong.

My life has been flying by, as I said. Christmas seems to be coming up so fast. It doesn’t help that I work in retail and we started getting Christmas things in October. But at least we’ve got some awesome things at Pier 1 Imports. I never thought that Pier 1 carried so much for the holidays, but they have some of the neatest ornaments and the coolest decorations I’ve ever seen. Everything is so unique and well designed. Speaking of work, I got Associate of the Quarter!! It’s so great to know that I’m appreciated for what I do. I know how to do my job and do it well and that’s something I’m very proud of, so I was super thrilled to learn that my managers think the same! I got a $50 gift certificate and a couple of gift-y items. I bought my lamp and 3 ornaments with my certificate. I’ve been wanting this lamp since we got it in and it looks amazing with my frog and candles on my dresser. I’ve got a picture here so you can see what it looks like. The placemats, frog, candles, candle holder, and lamp were all purchased over a period of time at Pier 1. Since I started working there I’ve decided that my room needs to coordinate. My blue walls do not match anything that is relevant to this decade, so until it gets repainted, I’m stuck with ugly blue for a backdrop. Oh well.

As for my love life…it still sizzles. JN and I are going on 7 months now and while we practically live together, we haven’t managed to go insane. I always want to spend my time with him! He’s just that addicting! It’s got me thinking, though. When I look back and remember all the people I’ve known and the relationships they have been in or are still in, it makes me so glad I’ve found my guy. I always believed in finding that perfect person who will be everything you’d ever want, but I also was afraid that it might be easier to just settle for what I had. I’m so glad I didn’t. There are so many women out there who are settling for guys that don’t treat them the way they should and don’t know what they’re really worth, thinking that he’ll change or grow up eventually (You are so wrong!). I’m telling you, hold out. Hold out for that dream guy as long as you can and don’t settle for anything less. You’ll be happy that you did and you won’t have wasted 2 years with some prick who never deserved you anyway. Not that I would know…

Anyway, I’m working on a holiday layout that should be up soon. I am really going to try to update more often because I can literally see the spider webs forming around poor Cameran up there. I did add two pictures of my and my man in the current pictures section of my Brit page, so you are more than welcome to check them out! If I don’t write, I hope those of you who celebrate it have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

As it turns out, not only is having a lot of time to yourself a good reason to blog, but now another reason has presented itself: football season. So, as the boys watch their game, I slip into the bedroom and sit here wondering what the hell I’m going to write about. I guess I’ll just start with recent news and go from there.

First off, I was offered an Assistant Manager position at work. There is one drawback: the position isn’t available here, but at another store where I plan to transfer to this Spring for school. Apparently the manager at the other store is in need of assistant managers and my current manager told me she would train/prepare me for the position, but it would not take effect until I transferred. Normally I would be ecstatic about this, but the other manager, I am told, is much like one of my current assistant managers. And there are days when that woman will not leave me alone. Whether it’s me not moving fast enough, or me not doing something quite up to her standards, I’m always hearing about it. For example, when there’s only 2 of us and she takes a break, I can only help one customer at a time. One way to increase conversion of walk-ins to customers is conversation on the sales floor. So, it’s really difficult for one person to strike up a conversation with everyone that walks in when she is the only one on the floor available to ring sales, answer questions, greet people, and finish any projects given to her. Therefore, I get a little annoyed when she tells me conversion has dropped (by a small amount, I might add) and the first thing she asks me is, “What happened while I was on break?” But not in a simply curious tone of voice, it sounded more like, “What weren’t you doing with the customers that caused conversion to drop?” as if I was slacking and wasn’t doing my fair share.

The other problem is UPT (units per transaction), which is also increased by customer conversation and generally working with people to make sure they’re getting everything they need. This particular manager will spend a significant amount of time with one person, skyrocket her UPT, and then move on to spending a lot of time with another customer. So she does few transactions with high UPTs, while the rest of us have to ring all of the other transactions. So while I’m doing 3 times as many transactions, my UPT is 3 times lower than hers. And she wonders why the rest of us can’t get our UPT up. Good Lord. It’s exhausting. So knowing that my manager-to-be is a lot like my current assistant manager, really scares me. I’m not sure I want to work for that. In all fairness though, my AM does give me compliments at times also, just not as often as the overly-done-constructive-criticism. But looking on the bright side, most managers don’t work at the same times.

That’s basically all the news I have at the moment. JN and I are going “ring-looking” Wednesday…just because. . But now that the football game is over (I think), I’m going to spend a little time with him before another school week begins. Have a good week everyone, in case I don’t write. This writing-on-football-Suunday’s thing may actually become quite routine.

Once again, I sit here apologizing for not writing for so long. It’s been so easy to get swept away by my leading man that I’ve completely ditched my online habits. I’m hardly ever here, if at all, and it doesn’t bother me. I’ve never been this happy in my life and it’s just something I never want to be away from. However, like today, I find myself alone with time to kill, and writing is all I feel like doing.

JN is the most amazing man I have ever met and I have no idea what I did to deserve such a great guy, but I’m so glad I’ve got him. I cannot begin to explain how it feels to really find someone so perfect for you. Of course, we’re not perfect. We’ll argue on occasion about stupid things, but after 4 fantastic months, I’ve never been more in love. It’s not easy to find someone who will willingly sit down and watch episode after episode of the Sex & the City seasons with you. Someone who will 2-step with you even though you don’t know what you’re doing and stumbling all over yourself (and him). He’s the guy who will call when he says he will, be there at the time he promised, and never miss one single thing you do for him, no matter how small it may be. The one who will look in your eyes and tell you with certainty that he loves you more than anything and you make him happier than ever….I’m sorry….doggy bag, anyone? I don’t mean to make you sick. I’m just trying to elaborate on how great it is. He is the dating urban myth: everything you could ever want, and so much more. He’s it. He’s the one. And he’s all mine.

Anyway, I have to get ready for life. Things to do and what-not. Thanks for reading. Sorry if you’re sick now.