Monday, September 22, 2008

Seattle-ites is crazy


Dear Blog,
People continuously crack me up. Like, everyone ALWAYS has a comment about everything. For example, for the past year or so when Aaron and I would tell our friends that we were moving to Seattle after asking why and not really getting the "because we want to" answer we gave every time they would immediately say "You know it rains a lot there." If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to both of us, I'd at least have a couple bucks by now. Enough to buy an Icee and maybe one for Aaron too! Alright, so fast forward to July when both of us are out here and we start getting to know people and we tell them we just moved here from North Carolina and after they ask us why and not really getting our answer of "because we wanted to" the first thing they say is "Well...get ready for the rain."

A couple of Icee's later, I'm talking to a woman I'm interviewing for our store and she just moved back here from California and she's warning me about the rain and the winter. And you know, at this point I'm just tired of people warning me like every single day about this damn rain. So, in a moment of boldness and stankness I look at her and say "If it's that terrible, why did you move back here from balmy California?" I was expecting something like her parents live here, California's too expensive, her boo is here...some sort of factor that forced her to move back to rainy Seattle against her will. I was not expecting the following answer;

"Because I missed our rainy winter."

WHAT?!? You missed it? And you're sitting here rubbing elbows with every other Seattle-ite here in Starbucks about these awful, rainy winters and you came back because you missed it?

Seattle-ites is crazy.

xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

100th POST!!



Dear Blog,

It's like every time I make a concerted effort to blog more often, I let myself down. But, I have a reason for it! At least I have good excuses right? I'm working! A lot! Like, all the time! And, the more confusing part of it, I actually don't mind. Those of you who know me well know that I like my free time...but I like to be getting paid for my free time. For the past 3 1/2 years I've managed to wrangle myself a job with flexible schedules so I can get home to watch Ellen in the afternoon or take an early afternoon walk with Leigh and Miles. Those days are no longer. But, I really, really, REALLY don't mind. So, this is what it's like to like your job? Mind blowing.

Anywhoodles, let me catch you up on the past two weeks of my life. To escape the hustle and bustle of Seattle life Aaron and I went camping in the Cascades! (I think that's the mountain range...I'm not sure though. Geography was never my strong suit) And I know some of you are all, "Alison, you like camping? That's so....unlike you." Well, let me clear that little myth up. I love camping! You see, somewhere along the line someone told me that I had flair for style and that is when my passion for fashion arose and I decided that everyday I needed to look good. And let's be honest, it's fun looking good. And let's be honest again, it takes a lot of time and effort to look good. Reputations are tough man. So when I go camping I'm basically bumming in my sweatpants and 10 year old Patagonia jacket alllllll weekend long and it feels soooo gooood. Plus, since I have on elastic pants that means I can eat all the s'mores and hot dogs I want. A win for everyone involved as far as I'm concerned. So, Aaron and I just sat around the campfire all weekend and talked and talked and ate and ate and it was great.

So camping was fun. The end. This past weekend I experienced something that I can't even explain. Landmark. All of the managers and assistant managers have to go so I experience it this past weekend. It's a three day long conference of sorts starting early in the morning and ending at 10 pm!!!! It goes all day long and basically we talk for three days how our pasts do NOT shape our futures and every moment is what we make of it. Okay, I get it. But three days??? Dang Gina. That's a long time. So here's an example of what I learned at Landmark:
At my previous, previous job I had a one on one with my sales manager every Monday and it sucked so bad because my manager made me feel like shit. I came to dread these meetings and Mondays in general. Fast forward to present day. I have a one on one with my manager every Tuesday. I still have a dread for these meetings because my old one on ones used to suck so bad. This is where Landmark comes in. Just because my old meetings used to suck doesn't meet my new meetings will suck. The end.

Or it could be my present day manager isn't retarded. Now, that I think of it, that has to be it. My old sales manager used to have poop for brains.

The end.
P.S. My flip flop got too close to the fire and it died. I buried it by the campsite. May it rest in peace.

P.P.S Dylan is Kelly's baby daddy on the new 90210!!!!



xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Chhh-Chhh


Dear Blog,

I know that everyone knows the opening bars to the theme song of the history making Beverly Hills 90210 and the "chhh-chhh" at the end. That was always my favorite part, especially when Steve and Brandon did the fist bump to show the world that they were tight bros man. Let's talk about how that was my most favorite show ever. I think I was about 10 when the show first aired and I didn't stop watching until I was a freshman at Furman and they were airing the season finale. For my own enjoyment I'm going to share my favorite memory of growing up 90210. I refer to it as 90210-gate. Here's the scene.

It's 1994 and I'm 13 years old. My parents are in a Bible study with about 5 of their couple friends who all have children under the age of 5. At the tender of age of 13 I was everyone's babysitter of choice and I got paid "big" bucks to babysit all of the children of my parents God fearing friends. One problem-o, Bible study night was on Wednesday!!! The same night as 90210!! What's a girl to do? I thought I had it all figured out. We'll start out the evening with kids playing and watching Barney and then as soon as 8:00 hits, the channel is changing to Fox for some Brenda and Brandon time. Well, that plan worked out very well for about the first month and then one of the parents had to GO AND RUIN MY PERFECTLY THOUGHT OUT PLAN AND WALK IN ON A SCENE WHERE DYLAN AND KELLY ARE GETTING IT ON. That was the end of 90210 during the Bible study babysitting night. Not only was this woman adamant that I not watch 90210 while babysitting kids, but she lectured me and my parents about ME watching 90210. She even managed to squeak out a tear or two; "Your DAUGHTER is watching this trash on tv, do you know what she's being exposed to?" It was from that moment on that I began to dislike everyone whose name is Mitzi. I mean, what kind of name is Mitzi?? Whatevs. My parents trusted my judgement that I wasn't going to go out and hook up with random surfers driving Porche's while I was 13 years old. Duh. And look at where I am now? IN YOUR FACE MITZI!

I'm still a little bitter about 90210-gate. Anywhoodle, all of this leads up to the fact that tonight they are premiering 90210 2.0. It's like 90210 The New Class. I'm watching it right now and it's not bad. They've incorporated some of the old characters back into the show like Brenda and Kelly and we'll see who else will come back. I'm sure if the show gains popularity they'll all come back because let's be honest...what else are they doing? They can't all be on Dancing with the Stars.

P.S. I was TOTALLY going to marry Dylan when I was 13.




xoxo,
Alison