Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Official Level 3 Teller
Today is the long awaited day that Sherlock Holmes comes out, so as soon as I get off (at 10..gag...) I'm picking Riley up, we're heading to the store, and buying it. Super stoked. I loooooved that movie.
For anyone who wants to know, I made banana nut muffins last night and they are delish. I even brought a bunch of them to work today to share with my cute coworkers. How nice of me, right? I really have nothing too exciting to blog about, because my time has been spent at two jobs the last few days.
The weekend was fun though! We went to my parents house for dinner, and to Riley's parents house for the Amazing Race. The cowboys came SOOOO close to being eliminated! They were the last team to arrive at the check in, but they were spared from being sent home. Phew. They've gotta clean up their act.
OH! I almost forgot!!! We are now the proud owners of 3 chicks!! Riley has been bothering his dad for the last few months to get chickens. They have plenty of room in their backyard for them to be, and Riley just thought it would be a fantastic idea. So on Saturday they went and bought 10 total, week-old chicks. They're darling! I held one the other day, and when I put him back in the crate with his buddies, he was so relaxed he fell right asleep. I've got pictures of them, too.
Over the last couple days I've received multiple phone calls from various insurance companies of those involved in my wreck on Friday. The driver of the white Ford van is taking responsibility for the crash, and his agent got in contact with me today. It's going to be a huge long process because he (and his insurance company) are in California. So his adjuster has to set up a time for someone to come out and take a look at my car to see what exactly needs to be replaced. In the meantime my bumper is being held on by some duct tape....classy, right? That's probably what I hate most about this accident. I got off super lucky with minor damage to my car, and no injuries...but now I have to drive around a dumpy looking car! I mean I know it wasn't too much to look at in the first place, but at least all the pieces were securely attached. Ugh, now I'm one of those people I'm always looking down upon on the roads....great. Haha.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Accident!
Typical.
The second incident was backing out of the garage, again. I just have bad luck with them, alright?? I told Riley to let me know if I was coming too close to the side of the garage. He shirked his duty and told me MUCH too late that I was going to hit the sideview mirror on the side of the garage. So, it chipped off a few pieces, but was easily fixed with some super glue and a black sharpie.
This was an actual accident though! And I have to report the details because it's pretty much the only noteworthy event that has happened to us in the last few days.
{also, I'm sure people are sick of hearing this story from me, but when you work as much as we have been the last few weeks, I get excited to talk about anything remotely eventuful.}
So I'm headed down to Sandy to attend my final day of teller training for the week. (It resumes again on Monday, but the week was finally coming to a close). I change lanes into the far right "exit only" lane about a 1/2 mile north of the 90000 S exit. There was a red light ahead at the exit so traffic was pretty backed up. I slowed to a stop and waited for the cars in front of me to go move forward. If I was moving at all, it was only idling at this point. A Lexus SUV came to a stop behind me, and a few seconds went by. All the sudden, a Jeep Wrangler hit into the back of the Lexus, and in turn pushed her into me! Yikes!! I stopped my car, and tried to get into the shoulder. However, with all the construction going on in those parts there was pretty much zero shoulder room. Not even an emergency lane. I was right up against the barrier dividing the highway and the construction workers. The two cars that had collided were behind me, and both on their cell phones. I'm sure they were calling the police, so I called Riley to tell him what had happened. To let him know I was ok, but that I needed a number for the training facility so I could tell them I'd be late. He ended up calling them for me, which was nice, because I had other phone calls to make.
At this point, I still assumed it was just the 3 cars involved.
Because I've really never been in an actual accident before, I had no idea what information from the other drivers I needed to get. So I called my mom, my parents house, and my dad before someone finally picked up.
There was no way I was getting out of the car, because if I opened my door I'd be stepping right into oncoming traffic. So I waited for the police to show up, and even then I just rolled down my windows to speak with them. The officer ended up telling me that there were actually 5 cars involved in the accident. Apparently there were two cars behind the Jeep!
I filled out an incident report sheet, complete with a requested drawing on the back. I specifically noted all 5 lanes of traffic, which one of the officers ended up making fun of me for when I handed it to him.
They gave me a driver exchange sheet that included the name, address, and telephone number of each driver and of their insurances. Luckily everyone involved has insurance, so hopefully that'll end up being a positive thing.
3 out of the 5 cars involved ended up being totaled and hauled off on tow trucks. I had no idea the extent of the damage until I saw them take the cars away. The Lexus' back half is destroyed, and the Wrangler had significant mechanical damage. It was a Camry that ended up getting squished between the Wrangler and a Ford van, so it took the brunt of the force. The front end was totaled by the Jeep's trailer hitch, and the back half destroyed by the van. I'm really surprised that the driver was able to walk away with no injuries, because his car is sure messed up.
All in all it was an incredibly traumatic experience! I have to wait till Monday to get an official copy of the accident report. That will specify just who was at fault for the accident, and who's insurance will HOPEFULLY cover my costs.
My bumper will have to be replaced along with the right tail light. The alignment feels like it may have gotten shifted a little, but nothing too major. So stay tuned for what I find out about that!
On a good note we had a fun evening with some friends last night. We went out for ice cream at SubZero with Jared, Sammie, Mitch, Amanda, and their friends Zack and Emmy. You can't go wrong with SubZero..or so I thought. Sammie and Jared had the bright idea of ordering raspberry ice cream with gum as a mix-in. Who knew that gum would freeze and become hard in ice cream? They ended up spitting out all the pieces onto a napkin on our table.
"What are you??! Five years-old?!" -Riley
"I'm sorry I didn't order a mature enough ice cream mix-in for you!" -Sam
We finished off the night at our condo just talking about our plans for the summer. We've decided upon multiple nights of camping, bonfires, fishing, and riding fourwheelers.
Warmer weather, here we come!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Job Training and such
I better kick it into gear and get ready for another long day. Working both jobs again tonight, so we'll see if I make it!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Good 'ole Fashioned GIRLS NIGHT!!
Best highlight of the whole evening was Linsey choking on/spitting her Dr. Pepper all over the table.
Context of this highlight?
["Libby. I still remember your pet turtle!"]
{"ROCKY?!!?"}
*DP goes a flyin'*
Not that funny? We know. It really wasn't. Until Linsey lost her soda all over the table. Then it was hilarious.
We also got to talking about being married. Libby and I are the only two that have tied the knot, so everybody was asking random questions about it. We each told our engagement stories, talked about our honeymoon and our day, the works. Even though it's just been over a year since Lib's been married, it seems as though the details have gone a bit foggy? She couldn't seem to remember A-How she met her husband, B-How he proposed, or C-Where they went on their honeymoon! HA! Brittany got a good laugh out of all this.
We chatted for a good hour after we got seated, and then we all went back up to Riley and I's condo to continue the evening.
Also, for anyone that's wondering, I look like ---
1-Hermione (which is cool. I've gotten this comparison a whole lot of times before. Plus she's pretty, so that's fine by me)
but....
2-a puppy
and 3- a Panda?!?! What the heck???
I had every intention of making "BTS Cake", but ended up being lazy, so we just made a Funfetti cake instead. Easy, and it has sprinkles. How can you beat that?
We sat and talked about how creepy we are stalking people on Facebook/blogs/etc etc. SO happy to know I'm not the only one who does that. What we're doing with our lives, how we all need to hang out more often, how we enjoy spring breaks, our relationships (even nonexistant ones!), and all the other things that come along with girls nights. I'm not near my laptop at the moment, but when I get home I'll post some pictures. Hopefully we ended up with at least ONE good one of all 8 of us!
(Funny sidenote. Riley and Jordan sat and played Modern Warfare in the living room while we all sat on the kitchen floor and chatted. I don't think they were really into the whole "girl talk" thing.)
Stay tuned for pictures!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wedding Pictures
Yeah, not really. But our photographer featured some of our engagements on his site. So, as a way of promoting how cute WE are... and also how amazing the PHOTOGRAPHER was...check out his site.
www.robertwoodphoto.com
Our pictures are under the Gallery Section. Then click on "He Loves Me", and our pictures are numbers 4, 6, and 7. Woo hoo!!!
New Job!!
My interview was yesterday and it went really smoothly, as far as interviews are concerned. I always get kinda nervous. I feel like I've gotta wear the right thing, too, because they'll be judging that along with everything else! I wasn't looking forward to the cliches of interviewing either.
Here's some examples of questions I'm usually asked. On the bottom is what was running through my head...But I promise I didn't actually say any of this! (no matter how much I wanted to)
Interviewer- "So. Why should I consider you for this position?"
Me: (Because I applied. And I'm here. And I'd like this job. I need this job.)
And this one has been asked quite a bit, as of late.
Interviewer- "There are lots of people looking for jobs right now. In fact, we've interviewed over 30 (or some other outrageous number) other applicants. Why should I give you a second job over someone that doesn't have a job at all?"
Me:(Maybe there's a reason they don't have a job at all... Maybe they're an ex-con? How should I know? But more importantly, I'm a struggling, married, college student, with zero spending money, duh!)
Interviewer- "Give me the bottom line. Why should I choose you over another candidate?"
Me: (*Ahem* Have you SEEN, me?! I mean seriously...) ((can you tell I struggle with self-esteem issue? HA!))
This interview went really well though. And I obviously made a good impression, because they offered me the position! Yay!!!! The best part about this, is after 90 days I'll be eligible for benefits, even though I'll only be working there 30 hours a week. Now I won't have to be nervous anytime I drive my car for fear I'll get in an accident or something...not having insurance has been really risky for us.
Hopefully with my second job we'll be able to send Riley back to school in the fall and he can quit FedEx. I think he enjoys it (Heaven knows why! I'd probably last about ten minutes and then drop dead. Or accidentally send myself up a conveyor belt, whichever happened first), but he's also exhausted at the end of the day. He deserves to be able to come home and relax once in awhile!
I promise I'll get around to an entertaining post some day. But in the meantime, I just wanted to let everyone know about my recent success. I'm going to celebrate and make a chocolate cake! (I mean, a health conscious granola bar..err...something)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!
I went to Starbuck's with my good friend Tara this morning. We sat for about an hour and a half, enjoying eachother's company as well as doing some people watching. I think coffee shops and cafe's are the best for that. This very large woman came in with a Chihuahua wrapped up in her arms, clinging on for dear life. The poor thing had probably been dropped several times. The girl was trying to pull off the sweat pants with Uggs over the top look, and it just wasn't working for her.
Also, I say if you're larger in stature, get a bigger dog. That way it doesn't make you look bigger than you actually are? I dunno..I should probably keep my mouth shut. That could be my reality in 10 years?........
Besides checking this lady out, we chatted about our lives and how everyone is doing crazy things. Going to school, getting married (honestly. Who DOES that?), traveling the world, starting photography businesses, etc. It was fun to catch up with her since I don't see her often enough. We used to ditch at least one class together every day in high school ;)
I went to lunch with my mother this afternoon at a cute little mom and pop restaurant called Granny Annie's. It's the classic place where we all ditched class to go during high school. Till they put out a sign saying that everyone had to purchase at least $3 worth of food when they visited. So much for just going and all sharing a scone, eh? Fun suckers.
After, I went with her to pick up my little brother from school. As the bell rang, a huge array of green outfits came fluttering out. They're OBVIOUSLY not as mature as I happen to be, because I'm sure half of them did it out of pure anxiety at the thought of being pinched. It seems to be just another way that doting mothers protect their children. "Honey! Come back! Your shirt isn't a dark enough shade of green and I'm afraid the other children will pick on you!"
Not gonna lie, I'm probably going to be just like that when I have kids. Why give other children a free shot at your kid?
Maybe I'll be festive tonight and make some corned beef or something for dinner? Ugh, that would entail another stop at the store. We'll see if I work up the courage to do it.
In the meantime, want to know how I've spent the MAJORITY of my holiday? Editing my paper for Philosophy class tonight. Here's to "Searle's Chinese Room Thought Experiment". It's an interesting enough topic, but I'm all about the five paragraph essays from high school.
College is hard....
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Happy Tuesday Everyone!
The weather was so warm that I had to bust on the AC! In Utah! In March! It probably has a little bit to do with the fact that my car is black. And has black leather seats. Sun magnet. But whatever the reasons, it made for a happy Alyssa on her way to work.
When I got there, I had prepped myself for the days events. I love my job for many reasons, but the biggest is because every day is different. I see many of the same people on certain days of the week, but their stories are always changing.
We see ALL sorts of people. The ones who are super shy about their reasons for coming in (like, they refuse to tell me. Even when I tell them I don't need to know the specifics, but just a broad spectrum in order to set them up with a counselor. They refuse.) But also the ones who are willing to spill the beans about EVERY little detail. For instance, "My husband cheated on me with my sister. My sister is now pregnant. My mother is counseling my husband to leave me, and be with my sister. Me own kids are on drugs. I have addiction issues. I was abused as a child. We're currently living on welfare. I can't find my keys....etc.....etc...etc"
So needless to say, we get some crazies! But there are also some of the coolest people ever. Like this cute older lady (when I say older, she's probably in her 50's) that I see almost weekly. Her husband is in the service, and has been serving overseas for the past 6 months. She stood in front of my desk and told me all about how excited she was that her "sweetheart" was coming home in a few days, and she would be seeing him for the first time in a LONG time. I hope that I'm still that in love with Riley when I'm older. I'm talking the whole schmeal. Hand holding, pet name calling, and forehead kisses.
After work I headed home and saw Riley for a few minutes. This last week he has been in training at America First and has had really long work days. He'll be at work at 8, come home at 5. Hurry and change out of his shirt and tie, and put on some grunge clothes. Leave for FedEx ASAP, and be home by 9:30. I've gotta admire him for going out and being incredibly busy like that. But on a high note, he aced his tellers test! 95%! Phew. We studied for a little last night. Good to know it paid off.
I took off to the dreaded grocery store after he left. I hate going food shopping. I feel like everybody around me is watching everything I put in my cart. Like the organic food freak that watched me put in a bottle of Diet Coke and some Poptarts in my cart. Yeah, I eat junk food sometimes. I feel like it evens out the fact that the only other things I have in my cart is spinach, two cartons of strawberries, a pineapple, and skim milk. So stick that in your juice box and suck it.
Maybe it's because I've been listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack relentlessly in my car for the last few days, but I'm pretty sure a few tracks were made specifically for me. This week, I feel like "Does Your Mother Know" would be an appropriate theme song. I realize I'm not that old myself, but lately I've been hit on by the youngest looking guys! The ones who haven't realized that a ring on my left hand means I'm MARRIED. Sometimes I just randomly want to break out into that song when they approach me!!
Anyways, I got a lot accomplished today. At least it FEELS like it.
Those days are always the best. I got groceries (including cereal that Riley actually likes. Sometimes I purposefully buy things he doesn't care for, just being bitter about him not coming with me ;) I finished ALL our dishes. Put away some laundry, vaccuumed, and tried to coerce my mother and Aunt (Yes. YOU!) into going to see a movie with me tomorrow. We'll see how that goes... I swear if I get another raincheck..well..I'll just go by myself. That'll show 'em, right?
Well, Benny is currently fast asleep on the bottom of our bed. Riley is patiently waiting for me to finish with this post so we can watch The Office. So I guess "there's my sign" to wrap things up.
'Night!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Weekend at Home!
Friday night we went and saw Shutter Island with Jared and Sammie. GREAT movie. We all really enjoyed it. It's an intense thriller with a bunch of twists. Let's just say it's nothing like the previews would want you to believe.
Most memorable quote: "Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?"
Saturday I worked till about 3, and came home to Jordan and Riley playing XBox at our house. They played for a good 2.5 hours and I took a nap. Alyssa came to pick up Jordan after she got off work, and we all ended up going to dinner. That was an adventure in itself. We first wanted to go to The Pie up by the U but it was jam packed. It was snowing pretty hard so we didn't want to wait outside for a seat. We ended up driving around looking for random restaurants for about an hour. Finally our hungry stomachs took over and we stopped at Applebee's at the Gateway.
After dinner we went up to Mitch and Amanda's house and played games. We played Farkle and Battle of the Sexes. I'm writing this down HERE just so no one forgets that the boys lost Battle of the Sexes to the girls, and they owe us ice cream. This way there's no confusion as to who's picking up the tab next time we all hang out ;)
Sunday night we went and had dinner at my parents house. Carter and Riley played a few games of "HORSE" outside and had a fun time till it got too cold to stay out. Then Riley and I headed over to his parents house to watch the Amazing Race. The married couple, Joe and Heidi, got eliminated due to a U-Turn from the cop team. We're still just happy Jet and Cord (the cowboy favorites) are still in the race!
(Benny and Cooper hanging out at my parents house. These guys are just the best of buds)
Right now the 11 o'clock news is playing in the background, Riley is on his way to work, I'm updating the blog, and Benny is intently watching the ground management workers trimming the trees behind our condo. It's a nice day so we'll probably end up heading for a walk here in a bit...
I can't wait for the spring and then eventually summer. We have a few projects around the house that will come with the change of the season, and our cars could definitely use some attention cleaning wise. But in the meantime, I'm just enjoying the birds singing outside (at least the ones that haven't been uprooted by the tree trimmers...)
Hope everybody is having a great spring day!!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
And this is what my life has come to
Monday, March 8, 2010
New Calling!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
My Life is (anything BUT) Average!
To have such AMAZING friends.
As each year goes by, we all get more spread apart.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.
- Albert Camus -
We all take different paths in life but no matter where we go,
we take a little of each other everywhere.
- Tim McGraw -
"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
"Though our communication wanes at times of absence, I'm aware of a strength that emanates in the background."
"I count myself in nothing else so happy. As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends."
-Tehyi Hsieh
"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends."
- Walt Whitman
"Friendship without self interest is one of the rare and beautiful things in life."
- James Francis Byrnes
"Do not save your loving speechesFor your friends till they are dead;Do not write them on their tombstones,Speak them rather now instead.
"Friendship is the golden ribbon that ties the world together."
Thursday, March 4, 2010
New Job!!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Weekend/Monday!
Sunday we took Benny on a 3 mile walk on the fire break road up behind Riley's parents house. He LOVED it, but got super muddy and wet. So he had to have a bath when we got home. He's always such a good sport with baths. Doesn't try to jump out or anything, just sits and takes it. He looks pretty pathetic and small when he's wet though, so I can't help but feel bad for the poor little guy. We went to my parents house for dinner and pie, then hit up Riley's parents house for cake! It was Neil's birthday on Thursday so they had to celebrate. We also watched this weeks episode of The Amazing Race. Seriously...I love that show almost as much as The Office. Everybody LOVES the cowboy team. They're so cute, courteous, and funny! They work so well as a team, so we're hoping that they win it!
Monday was a HUGE cleaning day. We did ALL our dishes and laundry. We vaccuumed, cleaned our windows (inside AND out), hung up clothes, cleaned the bathroom, even Clorox'd the tub and tile! Go us!!
This picture is Benny watching Riley wash the windows.
We had Jared and Sammie over for dinner. I made a homemade lasagna and chocolate cake from scratch! It's a really yummy recipe for the cake, the icing has sour cream in it so it's a nice combination between that and the sweet of the chocolate. Jared had a quiz to take, so we went over to the clubhouse where we get free wi-fi. Our internet connection in our condo is spotty and I didn't want it cutting out on him.
Wednesday night my family has tickets to go see the BYU vs. Utah basketball game! I'm hoping that I'll be able to get in to take my quiz for class real quick and bust outta there to see the game! Looking forward to that!