Saturday, June 25, 2011

Hostess/Trainer

So here's the dealio...
    As I said before, I work at a very nice restaurant in town as the hostess. It has taken a while to learn everything I should know about the job, but I think I am finally getting it...knock on wood. Last night I was tested to see if I really knew everything - a new hostess was hired, and it was my job to train her. I wasn't sure how training usually goes, so I just had her follow me around all night as I did my normal jobs. She works as a hostess at another restaurant, so she was a quick study, and even helped me with some walk-ins last night!
    In other news, my foot is slowly getting better - I can now walk without the boot without it hurting!! However, I have to keep the boot on days when I have physical therapy, my ankle is quite painful after each visit. But the swelling has gone down dramatically around the fracture, and hopefully it will be officially healed within a couple weeks! I truly hope it is, this boot has gone from annoying to frustrating.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Confessions of a Cripple

So here's the dealio...
    Earlier this summer, while running around a reservoir in town, I tripped in a sand pit and sprained my ankle. It has taken a while to heal, but I can officially say (thankfully/finally) that my sprained ankle is now completely healed!!! However, I am not out the injury woods just yet. When the swelling of my ankle had dissipated, and the pain was no more, I noticed the middle outside/bottom of my foot was quite swollen, and painful to walk on. I hadn't noticed it before because I assumed the swelling and the pain were from my ankle. After talking to my physical therapist and doing some research online, it was concluded that I have have a fracture on my 5th metatarsal bone in my right foot. This is a tad more serious than a sprain since it is a bone injury, and it could take longer to heal; the therapist said between 2 and 8 more weeks in the boot depending on how fast it heals. Unfortunately, this puts me out of my exercise routine for the rest of the summer. Because of this, I am now going to focus all my time and energy on a new eating plan, 90% fruits and vegetables, 10% other. I am working on the details as we speak, but that is the gist of this new eating plan. I will keep you updated, but wish me luck!!
    In other news, yesterday I was able to go to lunch with Mom, Ashley, and Gramie. We went to lunch at Olive Garden, where I ran into a couple of old friends from high school! It was wonderful to see them after such a long time! It felt a little odd to see them as well though - all I had of these friends were the memories of when we were in high school together, it was weird seeing them all grown up and adult-like because I don't feel like I'm an adult at all even though we're the same age.
    After Olive Garden, we stopped at Steinmart so Gramie could look around at a couple things. She bought me a beautiful purple dress as a birthday present! I just love it! I actually wore it today for church :D I also bought a new ring!! It is a gorgeous, massive, cubic zirconia citrine and diamond ring. It is just beautiful!! A tad ostentatious, but that's kind of my style when it comes to rings. It sparkles so beautifully in the sunlight - I can't talk to anybody without getting distracted haha.
    Finally, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! I truly have the best father in the world and am so happy/proud/blessed/lucky to have him!! I hope you had a wonderful day Dad!! Love you so much!!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What's My Age Again??

So here's the dealio...
I work as a hostess in a nice restaurant in town. The food is quite expensive, but once you taste it, you understand it is well worth the price. The chef's are geniuses! Anyways, I get there early so I can help set up and clean up my station before the customers start arriving. Yesterday, I was helping some of the waiters wipe down the chairs in the dining room. One of the waiters mentioned he had just returned from a beach trip to Wilmington. Another waiter asked, "Isn't there a school down there?"
I chimed in at this point, "Yea, UNCW is down there. I just graduated from there actually." At that moment, all the waiters stopped what they were doing and looked at many with very confused looks on their faces. "You just graduated from where?"
"UNCW, I just moved back here in May."
Their faces went from confusion to complete shock. "How old are you?"
"23" I said timidly, their shock filled eyes bearing down on me.
"You're 23?! I thought you were 16!"
It was now my turn to be shocked, "16?! You all thought I was 16??"
One of the waiters turned to me and laughed, "Well I thought you were 15 actually, but yea, we all thought you were still in high school at least."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing! People have always assumed I was younger than my actual age, but it's never been more than 3 or 4 years. I have never gotten 7 years younger before. I can't quite decide if this is a compliment to my obviously young looks, or if I should be upset that my actions pass me off a 16 year old. I suppose I could start acting older? How does one do that exactly?? Perhaps I should start spouting off poetry, or scientific theories to show I actually deserve this college degree. Or perhaps I should bring up politics every day, show them I am interested in what is going on in America's political world. Up till now, I have pretty much kept to myself. I say hello, we exchange pleasantries, and then I keep going with my work. Perhaps they saw this as being shy, which is a trait of younger people, when in reality I have no desire to make friends since I am leaving in 6 weeks. I am not sure what it was that passed me off as a 16 year old, but I'm sure it wasn't just my looks. My actions and behaviors had to have had something to do with it.
I feel like the Blink 182 song, "What's my age again?" How are you supposed to act at 23?? There should be some sort of rule book of what is allowed and what isn't; you are too young to act like an actual adult, and too old to act like a young adult. 23 is in the middle of age limbo, you are there until you figure out how to act like an adult. The only problem is no one actually knows you are in age limbo, they automatically assume what age you are based on your looks and their first impression of you and just go with it. I am not a child, but I am definitely not a full fledged adult either. I think I'm just going to start handing out my resume to everyone I meet and say "See, I have done quite a lot of impressive things in my life, including getting my college degree, so there!" Yea, I think that'll work...
Ok, I'm ready to go to Utah now....is it August yet???

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Decorating Ideas!!!! Responses needed...

So here's the dealio...



Hannah may possibly have to live in on campus housing this fall, which means I am possibly short one roommate. But this may not be a bad thing. For one thing, roommates are really easy to find in Utah, you just have to pick the right one to live with (which is especially hard for me because I'm not one for insanely, deep down clean apartments). Another option would be for me to live by myself. I hadn't thought of this before because I just assumed I would need help paying $800 rent for a 2 bedroom apartment. But....a 1 bedroom apartment in only about $300, and I could decorate it all myself!!! I mean how awesome is that??? I have been looking up different decorating ideas, trying to get an idea of what I would want to do if I was going to live on my own. Let me know which ones you like!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

I'm Moving!!!!

So here's the dealio...
I moved home after I graduated from college. I got a job fairly quickly, and am now working on studying for the GRE. I love being home, I mean, I have the best family in the world! But, at the same time, we live in small town. Everybody knows everybody, you can't do anything without the whole town finding out, nothing exciting ever happens, and about 60% of my high school graduating class is still here...ugh. For all these reasons and more, I have been trying to find a way to move since I moved back. I would move back to my college town, but I feel like I would never grow if I moved back there. It is a wonderful place that I love dearly, and I will visit as much as I can for the rest of my life, but I can't live there. Not just yet. I need a place where I can grow as a person, a place that has cheap apartments, a place where I actually have a chance at finding a job that will pay enough so I can live in a cheap apartment without starving, and a place where I can find a roommate who isn't crazy.
I started my search in Washington DC. I visited there when I was a junior in high school for a choir competition, and have wanted to live there ever since. It is beautiful, a big city, and looks like a really fun place to live! I started looking around for apartment prices, but couldn't find one under $1000 a month. Ok, so I would just have to get a roommate who would be cool living in a studio, I'm sure there is someone out there who would be up for that right?? Maybe not...ok time to look for jobs to pay for my $1000 a month studio apartment in case the roommate thing doesn't work out. Most of the jobs I applied for responded with an email that read something like, "Thank you for your interest in our company. After reviewing your qualifications, we have decided we need a candidate with a bit more experience. Blah, blah, blah." Others just didn't bother responding at all. I looked at NYC next, but it was the same, except the apartments were way more expensive.
After accepting the possibility of living at home for another year or so, I got a letter from a friend of mine serving a mission. She said was coming back in June, and was planning on attending BYU-Provo in the fall. She hadn't figured out where she was going to live yet, but she was very excited for classes to start. After reading her letter, I had a light bulb moment, *hallelujah playing in the background* - I could move to Utah! Utah had never been on my radar of places to move, and I don't even know why, I love it there! I visited my grandparents who live there every year, and always had fun. And with my friend moving out there, I wouldn't have to find and live with a roommate I didn't know! I don't have a job yet, but I'm pretty sure  I could get one fairly easily with my family living out there. It won't be amazing, but it'll pay the bills, and there's always an adventure to be had in a new job. And the apartments are fairly cheap so pretty much any job would do! All of the sudden everything fell into place. So now, I can officially say that in August, I AM MOVING TO UTAH!!! I'm just a tad excited :D