Holy cow. I've obviously been a little slow because I just realized a few days ago that tomorrow is the end of a decade. That's insane.

What's MORE insane is this picture. This was me 10 years ago on New Year's Eve. I was 16. Holy cow. I can't even believe how different I am from the girl in that picture. In a way the last 10 years seem to have gone by in a FLASH. In other ways it seems like it has truly taken forever.

I'd like to say that I am more comfortable with myself these days than I was back then. Then again, sometimes I think I was more comfortable back then than I am now.

It really seems like just yesterday. And forever ago.

My life, in the last 10 years, has had A LOT of ups and A LOT of downs. I could sit here all day and list all of them.

Instead, I vow to have as much fun as I possibly can, try not to grow up, learn to love even more, make zillions of amazing memories and 10 years from now I hope I can look back and think, "wow, it was a CRAZY ride but it was FUN."

Happy New Year's Eve to all of you! Have fun and be safe.

See ya in 2010!

In January Dustin and I went on our honeymoon. It was our first real trip together and it was SO much fun. We went on a Carnival cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel and we had SO much fun. I honestly wish we could have both just stayed there - between the good food, the pools on the boat, the entertainment and the ports we had such an amazing honeymoon and it was SO NICE to just be able to spend a whole week alone with my husband. Not to mention the fact that we went when it was FREEZING here in Wisconsin so we had a nice time laughing at everyone that was back home all cold while we were sitting around sipping fruity drinks and enjoying the sun. Needless to say, neither of us wanted to leave when it came to the end of the trip.

February brought Valentine's Day. Dustin isn't a huge celebrator of the holiday and I used to love it but have kind of lost that love over the years. I've never had a really FANTASTIC Valentine's Day. However, this year was kind of amazing. First off, Dustin bought me FLOWERS (among other things). He never buys me flowers. In fact, the only other time he has was when he proposed. It it was pretty monumental. Needless to say I was a pretty happy girl. We had dinner than night with some of our favorite couples at Buca's, which was AMAZING and so much fun. I have to say that Valentine's Day is really best spent with LOTS of people that you love. This Valentine's Day definitely went down in the record books as one of my favorites.

In March we celebrated my sister in law Taryn's 21st birthday. Oh my gosh. So much fun. First of all, I have to say that I am darn lucky that I ended up with a sister in law like Taryn. I hear all these stories about people not liking their in laws and it always made me worry that the same thing would happen to me. Fortunately it didn't. So for Taryn's 21st I wanted her to have fun. We went out to dinner with a bunch of Taryn's friends at Pier 500 in Hudson and then afterwards went to downtown River Falls for more drinks. It was almost weird having Taryn down at the bars with us but it was SO nice not having to leave her behind anymore. Then again, Taryn being 21 makes me feel VERY old. Yikes!

April brought Monte into our lives. And it's funny because we weren't even planning on getting a puppy. I remember telling people that we were not getting a dog until we own our own place. And truly we were going to stick to that. We were planning on going to the movies the day we got Monte. And we were early. So we decided to go to the pet store in town to look at the puppies. And that's where we saw this little toy poodle who was ON SALE. What?? How on earth do puppies go on sale? Oh was a little too old and not selling. And we asked to hold him. He was so sweet and cute and cuddly. And that was it. Rather than see a movie that day we went home with our new puppy, who we eventually named Montego (after Montego Bay, Jamaica). Monte is seriously the best decision we have ever made. Would not take it back for a second.

May was one of those months where nothing huge happened but it was also a good month. We went up to my parents' for Mother's Day weekend which was super nice and relaxing. Ryan, my brother, was up with his girlfriend Sara too. We spent the entire day Saturday just hanging out and spending time together. We all went to the movies together and to dinner. And Mother's Day we had brunch out at Famous Dave's. It was fantastic and every time we're up in Hayward I wonder how I could ever have hated that town! We even managed to go out on the pontoon that Sunday before we left. It was freezing, hence the sweater that Monte's wearing, but fun. That's my mom and Monte hanging out enjoying the water!

In June Dustin turned 26 and my brother turned 24. Yikes, that makes me feel old! We celebrated Dustin's birthday by going out to a Twins game and then going downtown for drinks. The Twins game was so much fun and I love that it's something that Dustin and I enjoy doing together. The bars were... interesting. That was the night that some random girls were trying to hook up with much older guys. Yuck. ANYWAY! June also brought the first time that Dustin went out of town for work. He was gone for two nights and it was a little weird. Dustin and I don't tend to spend a lot of time away from each other because we LIKE hanging out with each other. But it ended up okay and, in the end, I kind of liked having a little time to myself. Well, a little time to myself with the pets, of course.

July brought proposals, weddings and house hunting. In July I found out that my good friend, Tim, proposed to his girlfriend LeAnne. FINALLY. Tim is one of those people that you just can't help but like. He's an all around good guy and when we first met we had all these conversations about dating and hating it. Needless to say, things have changed a little bit since then and I'm so happy for both Tim and LeAnne. They're an awesome couple. We also went to a wedding in July, my cousin Jason married Maggie. So much fun to go to family weddings because, well, I come from an amazing family. AND Dustin and I made the decision to start looking at houses. We looked at a ton of townhomes and even found a few that we really liked, including one that I hope one day we'll go for. It was a really interesting experience and, in the end, we decided to put off buying a house for maybe a year. However, it was good to see what's out there and hopefully we'll have our own place soon. Especially if it's like the townhome I was with the AMAZING master bedroom. Eep!

August brought ANOTHER wedding as well as a fairly monumental birthday for a friend of mine. First was the birthday. My ex, Rich, turned 30. It was a little bizarre at first, the idea of driving out of the cities to help celebrate his big birthday. At the same time, despite our bad breakup Rich and I have been there for each other and in the end I consider him a really good guy. So D and I went and although it was a little dramatic, it was still fun. Also in August was the wedding of two of our good friends, Morgan and David. They've been together longer than we have and it was awesome to be attending their wedding. Dustin was a groomsman, which was a little weird for me but I ended up making new friends, including Lindsay, who is amazing, and it was a really fun event! This is a pic of Morgan, the bride, with her sister and another friend of ours, Steph.

And yes, September brought another wedding, along with our 1 year wedding anniversary AND my 26th birthday. September is always a packed month. First and foremost was my 26th birthday, which was spent with good friends. Can't ask for anything more than that! Then there was the wedding of Dustin's cousin, Shawn, and Julia. We lived with Shawn for 2 years and it was just awesome to see him and Julia so happy. The wedding was TONS of fun. Finally came our one year wedding anniversary. How does time fly so fast? We went up to Duluth, MN and spent time at the aquarium, the beach and going to some of our favorite restaurants. It was so relaxing and a perfect way for us to celebrate one year of marriage.

October was one of those months in which not much happened but a lot of little things happened. We went up to my parents' for the weekend and had one of those fantastic CHILL weekends that I love having up in Hayward. I got a really weird phone call at work that reminded me that giving your name out to every random stranger may not be the world's best idea and that some people take their beliefs way too far. I also found out that it's going to get harder and harder to be friends with people at work and that I really need to work hard to separate work from personal life if I want to move up in the company. AND we dealt with the first time that Monte was pretty sick which was kind of scary. It's never fun to see a pet in pain, especially when they can't tell you exactly what's wrong.

In November I participated in NaNoWriMo 2009. This year was my second year participating and I came up with a plan that really, really helped me. I basically tried to write 1667 words every day, doubling that on my days off. I took a few days off throughout the month but near the end of the month I won, my second year in a row. It's such a great feeling and NaNo reminds me how much I love writing and how one day I'd love to somehow find a profession doing the thing that I love. Also in November was a very low key, chill Thanksgiving with my inlaws and a really crazy Black Friday that made me realize that I NEVER want to work Black Friday again. And finally in November, I got bangs! Not a huge thing but I LOVE them! I don't think I'll ever have long bangs again.

And we are finally to December. This month has been so good. Okay, and a smidge bad. We won't mention that flat tire or the mean customer. In December I reached my 200th entry with this blog which is HUGE! I have the habit of getting bored easily and I want to say that this is the longest I've stuck at a blog address. It's home. I also helped my good friend, Ash, celebrate her 23rd birthday and made some pretty great and totally doable new year resolutions. Finally, Dustin and I went to Illinois for Christmas, Dustin's first Christmas with my side of the family. Hopefully we didn't scare him TOO much! It was amazing to finally have him there and to spend such an important holiday with some of my most favorite people. Although all the dogs were kind of crazy it was a fantastic Christmas.

All in all 2009 has been a pretty fantastic year. I'm lucky to be surrounded by friends and family that I love and who love me. I'm so lucky to have Dustin, who is such a fantastic husband as well as my best friend. And I truly cannot wait to see what 2010 has in store for us.

Happy new year everyone!

Well hi there!

I hope this post finds everyone well. And I hope everyone had a good Christmas!

My Christmas was low key but really good. On Wednesday we drove from River Falls to Grayslake, IL. Usually that drive takes us around 5.5 hours. On Wednesday it took 8. All was fine until about the time we were around 2 hours away and then we got sleet and rain and snow all mixed together. Not fun.

On Christmas Eve we all just kind of hung out until afternoon. My brother, Ryan, made it around 2ish. And around 3:30 we started Christmas stuff. For as long as I can remember we've opened presents on Christmas Eve. It's hard to break that tradition. My family Christmas includes me, Dustin, my folks and brother, my grandma, Aunt Robyn, Uncle Bill, Aunt Gayle and my Aunt Gayle's boyfriend. We munched on food and had drinks and then PRESENTS.

I think my favorite present that I GAVE was Dustin's; I bought him a black peacoat and black leather gloves. SO sexy! And the favorite gift that I got was what I'm on right now, my brand new Gateway netbook! Yay!

We finished Christmas Eve by watching a DVD that my Aunt Robyn made a few Christmases back - it's a kind of slideshow of pictures from all the Christmases we've had through the years. It's bittersweet to watch and see my grandpa, who died a few years ago. It's hard not having him around, especially on Christmas. He's one of those people that never had a bad thing to say and always had a smile for you. I really miss him. But the DVD was fun to watch and we looped it about 3 times.

Christmas day was spent lounging around, watching Christmas movies and having an early dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. YUM YUM YUM! It was fun to just hang out with everyone and just be together.

All in all it was fun and I can't believe how fast it all went by! I feel like I was looking forward to Christmas for forever and now it's done. Not fair.

Now it's time to look forward to New Year's Eve! Yay!

More soon. And Merry Christmas!

Thanks for your comments yesterday. I'm feeling tons better about everything today - and with only one work day left for me before we head to Illinois for Christmas I'm MAJORLY in the spirit! SO without further ado, a Christmas survey.

The 12 Questions of Christmas
What’s the best gift you have ever received? How about the worst?
Best: The first year that Dustin and I were dating he made me this mix CD of songs that made me think of me. I listened to that CD a zillion times, little tears in my eyes, thinking I could not have found a better guy. Even now, whenever I listen to that CD, I think back on those beginning months and remember how ooey gooey we were and remind myself that even during the hard times he was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Worst: Hm. I honestly can't think of one. I always think that the intent behind the gift is more important than the gift itself, which is probably why I can't think of a bad gift.

What is your favorite Christmas movie moment?
I love the movie Love Actually even though it's a different kind of Christmas movie. I love when the guy, who is in love with the Portuguese woman, goes to find her. And EVERYONE in the village is walking behind him to see what happens. And he gets to the restaurant where she works and in broken Portuguese tells her he loves her and wants to marry her. It's insanely romantic and sweet and brings tears to my eyes.

When do you open gifts?
If we're with my family for Christmas we do presents on Christmas Eve. If we're with Dustin's it's Christmas day.

Do you believe in Santa? If not, who convinced you that he’s not real?
I mean, come on. Who doesn't want to believe in this jolly guy who goes all over the world delivering presents to children? It's an amazing idea. However, I found out about the whole Santa thing around 10, which I know is late but I always had a good imagination! I remember in 3rd grade some of the boys saying that Santa wasn't real and me saying, "There is no way my parents would buy me all those presents, he has to be real!" Hmm. Found out later that yes there is, my parents were always amazing and spoiled my brother and me on Christmas. However, at age 10 I couldn't sleep and saw my dad bringing a BIG gift downstairs. The next day I found that gift under the tree and it was from Santa. Kind of wrecked it after that...

What is your happiest Christmas memory?
I don't really have one in particular. I just like thinking back to all the Christmases that I've had with my family, my grandpa still alive and us seriously spending ALL NIGHT opening gifts. These days our Christmas Eve's have gotten shorter but it's still amazing to be surrounded by family and seeing the looks on their faces when they open their gifts.

Describe an ornament that has special significance to you.
Last year Dustin and I bought a newlywed ornament, a marshmallow bride and groom on top of chocolate and a graham cracker. I absolutely love it and it will always make me think of our first Christmas as husband and wife.

What famous person would you most like to encounter under the mistletoe?
Yikes, I have so many celeb crushes! I wouldn't mind finding Taylor Lautner under the mistletoe. Except he is WAY too young for me!

When it comes to decorations, are you a Griswald or a Grinch?
We've only started collected Christmas decor but on the inside I am definitely more of a Griswald than a Grinch.

What is your favorite Christmas song?
I know it's cheesey and lame but I love the song All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. These days I can't stand her but that song just totally gets me in the holiday spirit and it's got a good beat.

Have you had any traumatic Christmas-related experiences?
I honestly don't think so. Last year Dustin and I almost weren't able to make it to my parents for our belated Christmas because it was freezing rain. I remember thinking, "I can't miss Christmas with my parents, that would be awful." We made it okay but I know I would have been really, really upset if we hadn't.

What would be an appropriate gag gift for most of your friends?
Anything from Caribou. I mean, the discount is nice and all but they idea that they know that I got their gift with my discount just kind of makes me cringe.

Would you rather be a partridge in a pear tree or a lord a-leaping and why?
Oh the lord-a-leaping. Hi, it'd be way more fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all! Dustin and I will be heading to Illinois tomorrow around 2 or 3 and will be gone till Saturday. Hope everyone has lots of good times with family, eats lots of food and stays safe!

Ugh. Why is it that the holidays sometimes brings out the worst in people?

First off, don't even try to go to a store right now. Dustin and I went to Bath and Body Works and Target on Saturday and I was SO claustrophobic. And it doesn't help that no one can be bothered to say "excuse me." Nope, they just push their way through to whatever they're trying to get at. It's awful. I hate being in crowded stores, people invading my personal bubble and all that jazz. Thank goodness I have all my Christmas shopping FINALLY done - although I just thought of two things I need to get at Target. Hopefully I can hold off until AFTER Christmas, I do not want to deal with that madhouse again!

Then there's customers when I'm at work. We were majorly busy last night. The first hour I was there I was getting stuff counted, stocked, etc. However, I jumped on bar around 4 and had a hard time moving away from there from about 4 to 6. Crazy. And people are CRANKY. I say "have a good night!" and they practically glare at me.

I also had a customer that ended up completely ruining my night. Supposedly I gave her bad customer service. If it's who I think it is... well, I'm not sure what I could have done different. She got her drinks in a timely manner but came back a few minutes later for more chocolate in her drink. I was in the middle of juggling 4 drinks and it's all I can do to remember which is which. I asked her to please hold on for one second and I guess that ticked her off. A few hours later she calls the store to ask for our store number (um... okay...), my boss's name and to tell me she's complaining to my boss AND to corporate. She told me that, oh, at least 5 times. I took down HER info and told her that Danielle would call her tomorrow. So... let me restate. I know she's upset, which I apologized for (at this point I knew she was complaining about me, which made it all the more awkward). I know she wants to call Danielle AND corporate to complain (because she's told me this 5 times). I know her name and number so that Danielle can call her. At this point I have all the info and we're getting customers at the counter. I try to explain that I have all the info and I need to go. This makes her even MORE mad. She starts going off about how we have poor management skills and if it's so busy maybe we need more people working. "Ma'am," I say, "I totally agree with you!" The problem, as I explained to her, is that the economy is not good right now and that we can't just put a zillion people on the floor. She turned around and told me I was rude and she would be telling Danielle THAT too. And then she hung up on me. Awesome. Just great. Seriously I spent the rest of the night as well as this morning worrying about what this woman is going to say about me. And the best part is that she's mad because she had to wait but in turn her phone call made OTHER customers have to wait. So she's not really mad because of the lack of service, she's mad because I didn't bow down and kiss HER feet. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Seriously. It is 4 days till Christmas and people just SUCK. What is wrong with everyone???

On a GOOD note (I didn't want this entire post to be negative) Caribou gave every single employee sweatshirts for Christmas. What??? And they're NICE sweatshirts. Crazy. And not to wear AT work, just for whenever. Because they wanted to be nice and thank us for all the hard work this year. Um, can you say AWESOME? AND I was secret shopped on my shift on Friday. At first I was REALLY nervous - we're just getting secret shoppers back so I'm the first to be shopped. But we got a 97%!!! The only thing wrong was that the gingerbread they got was stale - which I couldn't have helped anyway. So yay to that. At least SOMEONE likes me. Take that Evil Grinch Lady.

Anyway. Speaking of work, I need to finish getting ready. I pray that woman doesn't call in while I'm there. She's probably give me another lecture on, I don't know, how to answer the phone or something ridiculous.

More soon.

EDIT: So I'm now done with work for the day. I was terrified to answer the phone all day in fear that the crazy lady would call. She did call around 4. Turns out it WASN'T the person I thought it was but rather a regular (who claimed she'd never been to Caribou before). And she's one of our crazy regulars. Basically she ordered a northern lite latte, which is made skim and sugar free. I made the drink and put it up and she asked for whip. I explained that the NL lattes don't generally get whip (duh, they're supposed to be fat and sugar free) but that I'd give her the whip anyway. As I was putting whip on it shot down into the drink, causing a little of the milk to spill on me. The woman immediately freaked out, thinking I'd burned myself, even though it honestly didn't burn me at all. As this was all happening, drinks were popping up on my screen. She would not stop apologizing and I was trying to get her her drink so I could move on. And she's mad that I hurried her along. WTF. How many times do you need to apologize when you didn't even do anything? And to get mad about THAT? Get a life. ANYWAY. Danielle thought it was funny, when to bat for me with our DM so it seems all is good. I just hope crazy lady goes to Starbucks from now on. They can have her.

Okay. Seriously. I'm making some 2010 Resolutions. And I'm going to stick to them. I swear it.

I am not going to do the same ol' "gotta lose some weight" resolutions. Only because I say that EVERY.SINGLE.YEAR. and it never happens.

So here are some resolutions that I plan on following. I hope. Maybe.

• Stop swearing. I honestly feel dumb because I swear so much. I don't know when I started swearing so much but it makes me cringe. I already told myself no swearing on this blog and I think I do a pretty good job. Now I just have to stop letting those bad words come out of my mouth!
• Make new friends. As I've mentioned before, I've lost quite a few friends in the past few years for various reasons. I miss having close friends, especially girl friends. So I'm going to try to meet new people and maybe start some new relationships.
• Learn to knit. Technically, I know how to knit. But I want to learn to do something other than a never ending scarf. I want to get into it and really learn how to make other things!
• Take more pictures. I envy people that are picture taking fanatics. I want to take pictures wherever I go. So this year will be the year of pictures.

I think that's it for now. But I think those are four really good resolutions. And I really, really want to stick to them. We shall see.

Sunday was the Christmas movies marathon. I was so tired. BUT. Dustin found my FAVORITE cookies at the grocery store! They're Keebler's Jingle cookies and I love them. My mom used to get them all the time around Christmas when I was little and they are SO good. Over the last few years, though, I've had a hard time finding them. Dustin went to get a frozen pizza to go with our movies and found them. Love. So now I have my beloved cookies. Oh. And I'm not sharing. If you want some go get your own box. I love my cookies far too much to share. I know. Anyway, so we watched Christmas movies and then I was lame and retired to the bedroom at, like, 5 PM. Which was totally fine for me because I had to go to sleep EARLY. Yikes.

Why was I asleep early? Well my boss, Danielle, had to go to a funeral yesterday and couldn't work. So I ended up going from an 11 to 5:30 shift to an 8 to 5:30 shift. Yikes. And that was drama in itself. We were short staffed because it snowed and our DM (district manager) decided we didn't need one of our people. And then it got crazy busy. I did the deposit and the bank (that's Wells Fargo, I hate them) decided not to see my money order so I had $1 bills flying all over the parking lot. It was busy all day and I made so many $2 mochas I wanted to cry. And I was just cranky in general. Yikes.

ANYWAY! I now have two whole days off which is AWESOME. Because I took some of Danielle's hours yesterday she took my open for tomorrow. Yay to that! I need need NEED to finish my Christmas shopping. One of the gifts I ordered online still has not showed up (ordered it on November 25th) so I don't know about that. I've been dealing with this woman who works for the company and she's not easy to work with. I'll be writing a bad review of them soon. I also STILL do not know what to get my grandma. She's so hard to shop for. Any ideas. And I've got one more small thing left for Dustin.

So that's that! I honestly think I'm just going to be VERY lazy today, sit around reading and watching TV and cuddling with this guy:


More soon!!

Wow. The last few days have been totally nuts!

First off... I'm pretty sure Wednesday morning traumatized me. It started snowing here around noon on Tuesday and just kept going. I was super excited about it until I realized that "hey, I open tomorrow which means I'll be driving in this in the dark at 4:30 on Wednesday morning." Yikes. Dustin offered to drive me (I know, right? What a sweetie for offering to get up two hours earlier than he needs to) but I didn't want to be stranded at work ALL DAY. So when it was time for me to go I told him to just keep his cell phone on just in case.

It was slow going. My tires do not like the snow and my car was just being a pain. I hate being one of those people that can't drive in the snow but it seriously scares me. BUT I made it okay. Work was MAJORLY slow. All the in the area were closed and you could tell that people weren't coming in unless they absolutely had to. When it was time for me to leave at 11 I drove the whole way saying, "Please God let me get home okay." Yikes.

Yesterday I had a FANTASTIC day at work. I worked with Adam, one of our newer employees who I just love. We were having a pretty hysterical day and the tips showed - it was like we were putting on a show for the customers! I went home with a huge smile on my face and feeling totally hyper.

TODAY I need to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my boss Danielle. I have to say, I'm pretty darn lucky to have her as a boss (and no, I am not sucking up, she couldn't give me a raise even if she wanted to, lol). I've had some pretty awesome bosses and some pretty horrible bosses and she's right up that at the top of the awesome list. She also made today slightly insane which, of course, made me hyper and go home with a big smile today.

ANYWAY! I am off to have dinner with Dustin who is FINALLY home (only 45 minutes late - damn work).

More soon!

So THIS is my 200th entry.

Well. Not really. Technically it is my 205th post. However, 5 of those posts are part of my header section. So I'm not counting those.

I thought that I would honor this, my 200th post, with 200 things about me. I started this about a week ago when I knew I was coming upon my 200th post and it's taken awhile to think up 200 things about me. Maybe all of this isn't totally interesting. But it's all 100% me.

1. My middle name is Julia
2. I chose the name for this blog, After 'I Do' because I wanted it to be more than a wedding blog, I wanted to talk about what happens AFTER the wedding.
3. Which, frankly, I think is much more important.
4. I was born in Illinois.
5. Right after my 10th birthday my family and I moved to Woodbury, MN.
6. It took me a very long time to call Woodbury home. But now I still think of it as my hometown.
7. Despite the fact that I haven't live in Woodbury since I was 20.
8. I went to part of elementary school, all of junior high and all of high school in Woodbury.
9. After graduation I moved to Winona, MN for my freshman year of college.
10. I didn't like it. I was homesick and hated dorm living.
11. So my second year of college I moved home and went to Century Community College.
12. After that year I moved to River Falls, WI and attending the U of W.
13. That's where I met Dustin. More on him later.
14. BEFORE Dustin I was in love twice and dated quite a bit.
15. I'm still friends with a few of my exes. In fact, I hang out with one of them a bit, as does Dustin.
16. I used to be the girl with some really close girlfriends.
17. We knew each other through junior high, high school, college and beyond.
18. And then one day we stopped being friends.
19. It hurt. A lot.
20. Now I'm the girl that has a few close friends and I finally learning to trust again.
21. I love animals.
22. That's why we have two cats and a dog.
23. The cats are Metro and Molly and the dog is Monte.
24. Monte is a toy poodle.
25. He's crazy. And adorable.
26. I've lived in 3 different houses, 1 dorm room and 6 different apartments.
27. And now Dustin and I are hoping to buy our first home in the next year.
28. That makes me feel very grown up.
29. And a little scared.
30. I've been on two cruises and LOVE them.
    
31. I definitely plan on going on more.
32. And my favorite country thus far is Jamaica.
33. I have had 6 different jobs.
34. They are JCPenney's (Mens Department and Catalog), receptionist at an insurance agency, barista in Borders Bookstore Cafe, team member at The Gap, hostess and then server at Perkins, barista at Caribou Coffee.
35. The worst job was definitely The Gap. I lasted all of a month there.
36. The best was probably Borders despite how horrible the management was.
37. I had a lot of fun there.
38. I've been with Caribou, my most recent job, for over 4 years.
39. I have naturally dark hair.
40. However, I've dyed it so often that I can't really remember what my natural color looks like.
41. My hair color has ranged from dark blond to black to red to pink to purple to blue.
42. I went through a wanna-be punk phase when I was 20.
43. Hence the strange hair colors.
44. My eyes are green.
45. They change colors sometimes.
46. I am 5'2.
47. When I was 19 I had a breast reduction.
48. I'd do it all over again too.
49. I would love to learn how to cook.
50. I fear that because I'm a picky eater than means I will never be a good cook.
    
51. I love Hayward, WI.
52. And Duluth, MN.
53. And Washington DC.
54. My favorite bands/singers these days are Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Muse, Linkin Park and Counting Crows.
55. The best concert I ever went to was John Mayer and Counting Crows.
56. I'd describe myself as an introverted extrovert who is a total homebody, a democrat (with republican tendancies), a dreamer (but one foot is on the ground) and someone who is very loyal to those I love. Mess with someone I care about and watch out.
57. I love my family. When I was younger it didn't always feel that way but now I am so grateful that they are my family and I wouldn't trade them for anything.
58. When I was a teenager I was one of those teenagers that stomped around, pouted, though that "nobody understood me" and more than once said I hated my family, my life, etc.
59. As a teenager I was a tad dramatic.
60. Actually, I'm still a tad dramatic now.
61. I love autumn.
62. September is my favorite month.
63. Not just because my birthday is in September.
64. Or because I got married in September.
65. But those are definitely part of it.
66. I love big funky jewelry.
67. And vintage looking clothes.
68. And winter coats.
69. I feel the best when I'm all dressed up.
70. Which is probably why I have multiple formal dresses hiding away at my parents' hour.
71. I loved my wedding.
72. But if I could do it all over again I would do it COMPLETELY different.
73. Because I am never satisfied.
74. I want to go to France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, back to Jamaica, Greece, and so many other places.
75. I'd also love to go to Seattle, Boston, New York City, Vegas (but only because I'm curious), New Orleans, back to Virginia, back to D.C. and so many other places in the U.S.
76. I'd love nothing more than to sit in a coffeeshop all day typing up a novel on my computer.
77. And I wish every day that someday I will write a novel that will get published.
78. Although I hate long car rides I'd love to drive across the country. Just to say I did.
79. I have 3 tattoos.
80. My first tattoo is a butterfly with vines around it in the shape of a heart. It's on the small of my back.
81. My second tattoo are the words "Be Who You Are" with a star under them. That's on the front of my right ankle. The words are part of my favorite Dr. Seuss quote.
82. In case you DON'T know which quote, it's "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
83. My third tattoo is my wedding date on the inside of my left wrist.
84. Dustin, one day, will get the same thing only bigger.
85. At one point I had 7 holes in my ears.
86. Which is funny because I didn't get my ears pierced for the first time until I was 11.
87. The 3rd holes that I get in my earlobes I got at my senior all night party in high school.
88. That really should not have seemed like a good idea.
89. I now have only 3 holes that are open - the first two I ever got and my cartiledge.
90. I'm not at all into sports. Except for my Minnesota Twins.
91. I love them.
92. Especially Joe Mauer.
93. I love to go to concerts. I never seem to have the money to go but the few I've been to I've loved.
94. I saw *N SYNC in concert four times.
95. Yes, I was a teeny bopper.
96. And to this day I will totally jam to *N SYNC in my car.
97. I used to have a crush on J.C. Chasez.
98. But now I'm all about Justin Timberlake.
99. I hate to shop but love to spend money.
100. I get really claustrophobic if a store is too full of people and have been known to leave even if there's something I really want to buy.
101. Pretty much my favorite thing ever is to have my favorite people over at my place, just sitting around hanging out.
102. I love candles.
103. I love candles so much that in high school I had them ALL OVER my bedroom.
104. Which is why there was a burn mark on the carpeting.
105. Actually, I think there may have been two.
106. I love Facebook.
107. Sometimes, though, I feel like Facebook is nothing but drama.
108. I will re-read a favorite book multiple times if I love it.
109. Some great re-reads include Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon, the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown and The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.
110. I am a self proclaimed readaholic and have been my entire life.
111. When I was younger I went from series to series.
112. It started with The Babysitters Club. Then it moved on to Goosebumps. Then Fear Street. And then pretty much every Christopher Pike book.
113. Some day I want to have bookcases of all the books I've read.
114. I can't wait to have kids so I can read Harry Potter to them.
115. Speaking of kids, we want two.
116. Preferably a boy and then a girl.
117. Then again, we'd be happy with whatever we get.
118. We have a name picked out for a girl.
119. Esme Sophia.
120. We're still working on the boy's name although his middle name will be Wade.
121. Because Dustin's dad's name is Wade and Dustin's middle name is Wade.
122. From the time I was a little kid I used to get migraines.
123. I would get them quite often.
     
124. The older I got the less I got them but when I did get them they were HORRIBLE.
125. My mom once had to take me to the hospital because it was so bad.
126. I wouldn't wish migraines on my worst enemy.
127. When I was younger I loved to come up with "clubs" for my friends.
128. My best was probably The Earth Club.
129. I don't really remember much of what we did in The Earth Club aside from going around our neighborhood and in the woods to pick up trash.
130. But come on now, if we all pitched in a little this world would look pretty awesome, right? I used to think so.
131. I also had a club called The Fairy Club.
     
132. The Fairy Club basically involved my friends and me playing a game called Fairies at lunch.
133. As I got older, I kept my vivid imagination.
     
134. Hence the reason that when I was home alone as a teenager I swore that Hannibal Lecter lived in my basement.
135. Speaking of staying home alone as a teenager, I used to cause myself a mess of trouble.
136. And because of this, at my wedding my matron of honor totally threw me under the bus.
137. There was a night that my parents were gone and I had some friends over, which I wasn't supposed to (sorry Mom and Dad).
138. One thing led to another and I ended up shutting off the power to the large freezer that my parents had in our basement, thus defrosting and ruining everything in it.
139. I claimed I had no idea what happened.
140. I totally did know. Oops.
     
141. Remember how I mentioned I used to love reading the Fear Street books? It's because of those books that I think I have a fear of dying.
142. I was maybe 14 when I was reading one of those books and of course someone in the book died. It was then that I realized that someday I would die.
143. Although I know that A LOT of people have a fear of dying I will sometimes, at odd moments, be struck with the fact that one day I won't be here anymore. And that, as Chandler Bing from Friends would say, "scares the bejesus out of me."
144. I am a HUGE procrastinator.
145. Try as I might to get things done early, I always end up doing SOMETHING at the last minute.
146. At the same time, I feel that I do some of my best work under pressure.
147. In school I find that I could spend lots of time on a paper and get a worse grade than on a paper that I was up doing the night before till all hours of the night.
148. Scratch that. I would never stay up till all hours of the night to do a paper. I value my sleep way too much.
149. I talk way too much sometimes.
150. And way too loud.
151. I'm that person that has no idea how loud I am so sometimes I embarrass myself with my loud voice.
152. I pretend I don't care about that.
153. But usually I do.
154. I've been told that I have a unique laugh.
155. In high school some people knew me simply because of my laugh.
156. I used to want to be a "famous singer" when I "grew up."
157. Until I realizes I can't really sing.
158. From there I went on to want to become a journalist, a psychologist, something having to do with marketing and a social studies teacher.
159. I still am not entirely sure what I want to be when I "grow up."
160. In all honestly if I could be ANYTHING I'd be a published author.
161. When I was younger I decided that if I did become a published author I wanted to be published under a different name.
162. I have no idea why. Because nowadays I'd totally be published under my own name.
163. Because wouldn't that be cool to be in a bookstore and see YOUR books with YOUR name on them?
164. I am very sarcastic.
165. To the point where sometimes I wonder if people realize I'm kidding.
166. At the same time, if you push me too far with your jokes I will get mad.
167. I have a horrible temper. I'm quick to get angry and quick to blow up.
168. But in about ten minutes I cool off.
169. I'm also quick to forgive.
170. But sometimes I wait just a smidge too long.
171. I have never broken a bone.
172. I've never had the chicken pox.
173. I'm left handed.
174. But I use scissors with my right hand.
175. I believe in ghosts.
176. And aliens.
177. And God.
178. But I don't go to church.
179. Because I've always felt that I don't need to go to a building or believe in one certain religion to prove my faith in God.
180. I hate snow. A lot.
181. I hate snow because it's cold and wet and it's hard to drive in.
182. I only thought of saying that because it snowed like crazy yesterday and today.
183. The only reason I like snow is because it looks pretty when it's Christmas.
184. I've kept journals almost all my life.
185. I still have every journal I've ever written in.
186. They're stored in a box somewhere.
187. I like to take them out every now and again and try to remember the girl I used to be.
188. Sometimes it feels as if someone completely different wrote them.
189. When Dustin and I first met we texted all the time.
190. I actually got into trouble because of all the texts I sent (at the time texts were not free on my phone plan).
191. I was so comfortable TEXTING Dustin but I was SO nervous with him in person.
192. That changed really fast. And then we became good friends.
193. I always said I wanted to fall in love with someone that I was friends with first.
194. And I did.
195. Dustin is my best friend.
     
196. We have SO much fun together it's ridiculous.
197. We sometimes have our own language.
198. And we have no problem being silly or immature around each other.
199. It's what I love best about our relationship.
200. Oh. Number 200. I like carrots.

In this book, Robert is called the the U.S. Capitol Building to deliver an evening lecture. However, when he arrives he finds that he has been set up and is given a bizarre invitation that is riddled with symbols that are supposed to lead him on a journey to discover one single, inconceivable truth.

I have to say that I was majorly excited for this book. I read The DaVinci Code first and LOVED the book. I seriously could not get to the end fast enough. Then I read Angels and Demons. I didn't like it so much the first time around but the second time I found that I loved it nearly as much as The DaVinci Code.

As for The Lost Symbol, I have to wonder if maybe I need to read it again. Yes, it had all the amazing things that the other books had. However, I felt almost as though I was rereading the entire scenario only this time is was set in Washington D.C. instead of Rome or Paris. While I love all the crazy conspiracy concerning religion and science I also felt like Robert Langdon was going through the same ol' motions as usual.

However, again, I have to wonder if maybe I'm comparing the book a little too much to the previous two Robert Langdon novels. I will say that it was a good, fun read and I would recommend it. Just don't be like me and measure it up to the previous novels!

Okay so remind me not to get a flat tire on a night that I need to go to sleep early.

The only good thing about Thursday night was finding out that my spare tire is actually a full tire and not a donut. So at least I don't have to worry about buying a new tire until AFTER the holidays.

However, I managed to get pretty upset Thursday night because of some other things. I was able to get to sleep okay (I had to be to work at 6:30AM Friday morning) but I woke up around midnight and could not for the life of me get to sleep.

Work somehow managed to be okay and Danielle let me leave a little early (once again, THANKS DANIELLE). I pretty much spent all day yesterday lazing around in bed. I never actually took a nap. I think I had so much coffee at work that I couldn't calm down enough. Oh well. I definitely slept better LAST night that is for sure!

So... I guess I found out today that I sound like a little kid on the phone? So confusing. Some number called me today, didn't leave a message and then had a text sent to me telling me to call the number back. So I did. And I got a voicemail. I left a message explaining who I was. Well the woman calls me back and when I answered she asked if my mom was there. I honestly paused for a second. Then I said, "Um, I don't live with my mother." Then she must have realized she called the wrong number, apologized and hung up. But it doesn't get me over the fact that now I'm worried about how I sound on the phone! Weird. Just weird.

Anyway, I'm off to get ready for work and hopefully we're going to see New Moon again tomorrow. I know, I know.

More soon!

You know what sucks?

Today I had a good day at work. For the most we were slow. We had three people on till nearly one which meant I got lots of work done on bakery (which I'm in charge of) and got cooler mix made (which is sometimes a pain in the butt to do). It just felt like a good day AND I was off at 4 which is always kind of nice.

So I'm driving home, listening to good music and thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner. And I swear to God, less than a damn mile from my damn apartment I get a flat tire. And I know it's not the end of the world and I know it could be worse (like the time a blew a tire on a busy highway ON THE BRIDGE in the middle of decently bad traffic) but it's just not what I need. Not when I'm trying to buy Christmas presents. Not when we really don't need to be out a car. Nope. I don't need it. Why does this happen? And why on a day that SHOULD have been a great day? WHY? It's just so FRUSTRATING. And this kind of stuff ALWAYS seems to happen. Just when life is seeming pretty good something always needs to happen to wipe the smile right off my face.

Ugh. This post is so bitchy and it's making me grossed out. I just need to vent. I just need someone to say, "There there Krysten, it WILL be okay and it COULD be worse." I need a damn hug.

Seriously.