What a couple of days...

Here is the rundown from the last day or two..

Monday: Work at RockHarbor from 10-1:30, drive to Anthropologie and work there from 2-midnight
Tuesday: Wake up at 6:30, leave at 7:30, and work at Anthropologie from 8:30-11:30 am, drive to RH, and work there from 12-7.

Needless to say I am exhausted.
The blogs should be more interesting in the next couple days.

Until then, you can be left with an image of me sleeping. Sweet, sweet sleep...

Kris Kros

So he has been cut for an update. Kris has unfortunately been crossed off the dating list for me. I am up for friendship, and he never had much of a chance considering he isn't Christian. However, unfortunately we had a conversation last week. I realized it was silly of me to think of possibly anything more even if..forgive me...it was missionary dating..which I don't really believe in. There is just such a difference between a man seeking the Lord and one who is not.

Why?

You know when you do something and then about a minute later wonder why in the world you did such a thing? I had one of these moments last night on my break from Anthropologie.

I had made my way over to the patio outside Restoration Hardware to eat my turkey sandwich and banana dinner. About half way through the banana a boy walks by, turns and looks at me, then motions to Restoration Hardware and asks if I liked working there. I casually explained I worked at Anthropologie and then what Anthropologie was since he seemed to think it was a shoe store. This eventually progressed into him sitting across from me at the table I was sitting at and us having a conversation. Now, the conversation part I don't mind. What happened after the conversation ended is what I do mind.

Kris works at PacSun and was on his break too. After we finished talking and he informed me he had to go back to work, he asked for my number. I hesitated. He handed me his phone. I hesitated. And he said you don't have to. I hesitated...and then for some reason my fingers started to punch in my phone number into his phone - the same phone I have, but black.

I wasn't quite sure why I was putting my phone number into his phone. Yes, he was cute and the same age, but I don't know him. My internal self was having a debate with itself. I'd be mean not to give him my phone number. But he could be a serial killer. Does he seem like a serial killer?

So I did what any girl would do...called a girl friend and asked what I should do should he call? We decided to hope he didn't.

And then he did. Well..he didn't call. He text me. And so the game begins.

Hopefully, I will be a bit smarter throughout the rest of my conversations with him. At this point, I have avoided making plans and my schedule is full.

Connection

"You mean, Steve Churm!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah. That's my Dad."

Making small talk before service started at church this past Sunday turned out to be more interesting than usual. Erin and I met Carly, whom we work with at Anthropologie, for the 9 am service at RockHarbor. Little did I know but Carly's dad is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of OC Metro magazine. A magazine I had actually been interested in interning with, but never pursued enough to actually get an internship there.

After asking me if I had any internships in journalism, this tidbit of information had been revealed from Carly that her Dad was Steve... Before she finished I had overlapped her sentence with the exlamated statement of her father's name, Steve Churm - a man I had emailed back and forth with month's before. Carly then told me if I ever needed an internship or anything to let her know and she would give her Dad my name. Talk about a good connection to have.

This is a small world we live in.

Women

We all have differences - different tastes, styles, values, opinions. However, there is just something innate in all of us that make us women and differentiate the way we act. No matter how different we are, we are similar whether we like it or not. Watching and observing women of all shapes, sizes, races, cultures, religions enter Anthropologie has been to say the least, fun! I love greeting people as they enter the store, but more than that realizing how much I am alike to each of these women.

There are the women who are having a bad day and don't respond well to my greeting, or the ones preoccupied with some object they spot the minute the walk in, or the ones who smile and ask me how I am back. There were two women that came in the store today and made me laugh.

The friends walked in and glided through the front section and turned around and were about to exit quickly when one women makes an ahh noise and stops to look at something, then looks at her friend and says "Oh, right" And the other says with a smile in a determined voice, "We have an agenda to keep." And there they went. That agenda from the way she said it meant one of them had some important event or date to go to and needed the perfect accessory or dress to wear with it. That is a woman's agenda if I ever heard one.

But how this reminds of how all women are. We keep eachother accountable to our agendas, yet we always get caught along the way by the ahh moments. Some could see this as a distraction, however, I see it as a blessing. We are not so determined to not allow ourselves to miss some of these moments. There are times when we do, however, for the most part I feel as though women are aware of the ahh moments in life and that is something I love about women - our appreciation for beauty.

Yay - There's no other word for it!

Last night I made my first purchase as an employee at Anthropologie. The difference between a regular customer and employee you ask? A 40% discount! We just got in this really cute coat. I saw it when I was working in the fitting room on Monday and fell in love with it. I continued to think of it the next two days until I went into work on Wednesday and I purchased it on my break. It is really cute and will be great for going out on a chilly summer's night or perfect to wear with pretty feminine gloves in another country..say London or Paris?



Here it is in all it's glory. It's black and has such a cute cut at the bottom. There are pockets on the sides too! Photo courtesy of my Dad. :)

Retail Respect

Let's just say standing for 8 hours in cute shoes is not a painless job. I will admit it is a fun one though.

Last Friday, I trained at Anthropologie, not without another communication error though. It makes me laugh how Erin told me two days after my interview I was hired, yet it took me approximately 8 phone calls to be told I was hired and to figure out training with a manager. I arrived 10 minutes early to Anthropologie...this is an accomplishment since I am being known for being 5 minutes late to everything, it's something I'm working on to say the least. When I knocked on the manager's door, the first words were "Your early!" This was like the sound of a fiddle player plucking joyous strings in my heart. I rarely ever hear that phrase. The second thing she said to me was, "Did Halle call and tell you you are working a full shift today?" Oh the laughter in my mind repeats. "No. She didn't. I thought I was just training from 2 to 4." Kris gave a sigh of frustration and a look at the ceiling. Then she said, "Ok. Well, if you can't, that's ok, but if you can, that'd be great." I thought for a moment. Sit at home and possibly watch a movie or make $9.75 an hour working. I looked at Kris and said with enthusiasm, "I can work!"

So I worked a full 8 hour shift. Kris scheduled my break the same hour as Erin's which was great so we could catch up a bit and I could eat with someone I know. This was relaxing since it is a bit nervewracking working in retail when you never have before. Overall, I loved it though! My feet were hurting and so was my lower back from the extended period of standing I haven't done since working at Timeless Treasures, a scrapbooking store, in high school, but the talking to customers and meeting the other girls that work there was great. Everyone is extremely nice. The girl that gave me a detailed tour of the store, Melise, is from Turkey. And Heather and Carly both go to Rock Harbor too. Allegra is quiet, but sweet, and the list goes on.

I'm excited to continue to meet the girls who work there, and learn more about the store.

And for my feet to get used to the standing thing...

Timeless

There are many things that remind me of home. Such as the green drive surrounded by mountains to my house, or waking up on a Saturday morning to jazz music and the clanking of pots and pans as my Dad makes french toast downstairs, or the ever so contemporary barcelona chairs that I always see in fancy stores, yet are also the staple furniture of our living room. The latter years of my high school years were mostly spent at Cristina's house or with Cristina, my best friend. And therefore, there is a great deal of home wrapped up in her.

Tonight I was blessed enough to get a feel of that home again. Cristina and her husband, Brian, of two years as of June 3, moved to Northern California a little over a year ago. ( briancristinawood.blogspot.com ) Luckily, the distance has not deterred our friendship. Cristinas, also known as love bug, pumpkin, or simply Cristina is a true confidante and lifetime friend. Those are rare to find. And to my surprise, I found out earlier in the week she would be visiting Southern California this weekend. She flew in this morning, and this evening I was able to go over to her family's house and spend a couple hours with her. There is nothing like seeing a close friend in person after communicating through e-mail and over the phone for months. It's simply different. It is that feeling of home, comfort, and warmth.

So put simply, tonight it was nice to have a taste of home more than I'm used to. Because I may be at home when I am not living at school, but when you have the opportunity of seeing an old friend or spending time in a place with a person you have spent time with so many times before, there is that feeling of being truly home that cannot be found elsewhere... it's timeless.


Cristina and I at the tide pools. This was taken in late January courtesy of Brian. :) It's not the clearest photo, but I decided I should start posting more photos on here, so this is the start.