'Twas the Morning Before Christmas

'Twas the morning before Christmas and all through the house
every creature was stirring, except for the mouse
And by mouse I do mean my sister so dear
With her boyfriend, I'm so happy they both are here!

The stockings are scattered on our wooden floor
The presents are stacked almost to the door
My hairdryer roaring as I get ready to go
Off to work with my co-workers and my boss named Brian Joe

I know I'll be looking out the window all day
Anxious to be home and with my family to play
As they're all waiting for me, snug in my home
All that's left is for Santa to come!

With Mama and Papa and Laurel and Scott
Don't forget the dog, Puck, he's here with the lot!
When Christmas day comes, we'll all settle 'round
our sparkling tree, with gifts by the pound.

I've never seen a tree quite so stacked
With so many presents, where were they all packed?
The best part of Christmas, however
Is the part I remember forever
The bright happy looks on everyone's faces when
They open the gifts I so lovingly bought them!
Because Christmas is about giving, it's the most important part
But it's also about living, and having love in your heart.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. I hope you have a very merry Christmas. I know I will!

Love,
kc

"I should have been a rapper" and other things people say

It was our second trip north to Bellevue, Washington when a hip hop song came up on my iPod's playlist. Tiny little Melisa sat next to me in the passenger seat, while Taylor sat in the backseat. Melisa and I started doing the wiggle that can only be defined as dancing while strapped securely in our seats of the truck.

Taylor Swift said, "I should have been a rapper."

Wait...what?

Hilarity ensued. It was to be the first of many "darnedest things" that he would say during that trip to training, and even now that we've returned, he still says them.

Taylor, a.k.a. "Taylor Swift" or "Swifty," is one of my fellow new co-workers. At 25, he still has a baby face that at first glance pegs him at 18, second glance will give him 22. Then he deadpans something along the lines of, "I like to hold cool things in my hand because they make me look cool" and age goes out the window as you're doubled over gasping for breath with laughter and instead of a number, he's just plain ol' "Awesome."

You're never quite sure if he's serious.

You're never quite sure if he's kidding either.

Both of which make it so darned funny.

Running in Snow is Hard

I have a moment! Literally, I have about 10 minutes before I have to gather my things and run off to work. This whole work thing is exhausting. Yesterday I was "done" at about noon. I just could not summon the energy. The day crawled. It wasn't as if it wasn't busy. It was. Not swamped like usual, but a decidedly steady stream of customers.

I realized why I was so energy-less later, when I managed to jam my sandwich down my throat in approximately 2.5 seconds. Apparently as I burn somewhere between 1800 and 2200 calories a day simply by doing my job (nevermind if I manage to hit the snowpack before work with a grueling run), three cups of coffee doesn't equal "breakfast." At my old job, I could get caught up in choosing my clothes or doing my hair, or merely enjoying my coffee and forget breakfast and be fine. At this job, it appears that that is not an option. This girl needs food!


You'd think it'd be obvious to someone who loves to cook — and eat — as much as I do. It just wasn't something I had to worry about at my previous — and extremely sedentary — job. At Verizon, I get fussy at about 2 p.m. if I didn't manage to squeeze in at least a ten minute break to snag a snack earlier on. The headache from lack of food hits at exactly 3 p.m. (this was tested last Friday when we were swamped and hopping from customer to customer with hardly space to breathe trying to make up for the hour plus wait time).

It's glorious. Odd that it's glorious? Not. I gained something like 5 pounds during the three weeks I was sitting bored at training and I feel as if I've dropped them all merely from running around at work (I don't know for sure as I refuse to own a scale). My kicks are tired, my legs feel great even though I've only managed one run since I've been back. It's a job and exercise all in one!

Just another reason to love my job.

Before I leave you, I want to tell you about a fashion thing that I discovered as I haven't talked about that sort of thing in a while.

I've always wanted to wear those giant bling-y rings and have never felt like there was a suitable way for me to wear them. My fingers are rather delicate and my penchant for big jewelry lately makes that extra touch a little too much. Except I discovered this new shampoo that makes my hair shiny and stay lush and smooth all day long if I wear it down, so I've been wearing my hair down more lately and combined with a drapy-necked sweater, there's not really room for big necklaces and my earrings are mere glimpses.

Enter big ol' ring. Hooray!

I'm sure y'all care, but I'm excited. And that's what matters right?

Also, in the spirit of the season, I'm currently rocking red and green nails — upon which one customer commented yesterday, "Hey! Her nails are Christmas tree colored!" and my co-worker, Josh, glanced at them and grinned saying, "Yeah. And I'm jealous."

Jokes ensued the rest of the day about Josh needing a manicure. I think it was funnier if you were there.

As soon as I can, I will tell you about one of my co-workers whom we have dubbed "Taylor Swift" or "Swifty" when he says certain hilarious things. (His name is Taylor, so it followed).

Ciao,
kc

SUNDAY: 2.5 miles in 6 inches of fresh snow...it's like running in sand!

Letter to everyone...about nothing

Dear you all,

I love my job. I just thought I'd throw that out there. Even though I was in the store until 8:15 p.m. last night assisting with one last sale (to a very lovely woman who was super excited about her Droid but was so not tech-savvy...though perhaps, after last night's thorough tutorials, she has a fighting chance), so even though I was in the store and hour and fifteen minutes past closing and drove through a snowstorm at a crawl to make it home and just after 9 p.m. to a starving (and whining about it) boyfriend, I love my job. I didn't mind being there that late.

It made me sad because it meant my boyfriend time was halved, but I know that there will be plenty of nights where I'll get home on time like I did on Monday night and we'll curl up on the couch with our dinner and watch Dexter, or whatever TV show we're watching at that time. And he'll rub my legs and I'll give him a head rub and we'll smile tiredly at each other and just enjoy the time spent together before we go to bed and start all over again.

By the way, he's been a champion boyfriend. Monday morning, I got coffee and he cut up apples and celery for my lunch. Monday night, dinner was on the table (a very fancy from-the-box-mac-n-cheese with broccoli, which is a fan favorite around here). Yesterday morning, he full on made my lunch with a turkey sandwich, chips, apples and celery. Dinner was a little sketchier, but it was still 85% made by the time I got home (homemade pesto from the freezer on tortellini with salad, I'm telling you, that pesto business is a good call). Oh and the driveway was neatly shoveled yesterday morning before I had to leave.

He wins all the points. I have got to be the luckiest girl in the world!

Anyways, I promise I'll do a more thorough update this weekend when I have more time, but I'll try to continue to get little blips in here and there like this. Just to keep y'all in the loop you know.

Oh, and exercise has kind of fallen by the wayside. I was going to run this morning, but running's a bit more of a challenge when there's 6 to 8 inches of fresh snow. A challenge I'm not willing to conquer. My running coach is getting me an off-season training schedule, so hopefully that will motivate me, and now that I'm back home I'll be able to hit the mountain on my off days (I'm so excited!). Anyhow, breakfast is calling...

Ciao,
kc

Back from the rabbit hole

Just so y'all know:

1. I'm home.

2. I'm alive (ish). I'm still countering a very persistent cold, but with me, so what else is new?

3. I'm going to my first "real" day on the job. I've worked at the store before already, but as my boss said, we weren't fully trained so he couldn't really have us doing anything of value. He said it in a much more smart-ass way, as his penchant, but the long in short of it was that.

4. I'm excited...I don't know what to wear!

5. I'm wishing I'd slept in longer.

6. I'm not sure why I got up at 6:30. I'm not running today as I'm trying to get better first, and I feel like I'm competing with boyfriend for morning space. His involves music. Mine does not. It's frustrating.

7. Boyfriend's starting work today. He didn't sleep last night. He might be excited/nervous. He looks adorable in his uniform.

8. I think in the future I shall lie abed until he leaves so as to avoid morning differences. At least he made me coffee.

9. It's a good thing we like each other, a lot.

10. That's all, I just wanted to update really quickly. I'm back now, so expect more to come soon!

Ciao,
kc