Well, it's been a few weeks now since my run in with DC, but I figure better late than never. I had a busy week just after I got back, and now that it's slowed a bit, I figure I can catch up on what's missing here.
La - la- lalalalaaaaaaaaaaa DC!!!!!!!!!!
I flew to DC late Wednesday night. Rachel was asleep when I got there, which meant having to fall asleep 3 hours sooner than my body wanted while being super excited to see how big she is. Finally, and I do mean finally, I fell asleep. Michelle came in and woke me up the next morning as soon as Rachel was awake, as requested. Rachel was super anxious about this crazy haired girl asleep in what was normally her room, but after staring at me with her mouth hanging open slightly, she seemed to accept that I was not as terrifying as initially anticipated. We did a lot of hanging around the house, which was fine by me since I was enjoying a good 2 - 3 naps a day, jet lag d
oesn't agree with me. Rachel seemed to tolerate me, but she didn't really like me until later in the visit. We went to the park with Michelle's friend Julie and her kids, we went shopping a few times, I got new nail polish. Friday I helped Michelle babysit JT and Mikey. They were quite cute, only I don't know how people have three kids!! Insanity! I just helped, and for like 4 hours, all day everyday?? Whoa, not ready for that! On Saturday Michelle and I kissed the fam goodbye, meaning Matt and Rachel, and Michelle really was the only one kissing, and jumped on the Metro. We went into DC to see the monuments. We went to the National Gallery of Art, which I loved. And true as Michelle says, we ended up spending more time in the gift shop 
than we did in the actual museum. I saw what I wanted, and bought what I wanted, so all in all I felt it was a successful jaunt through the art filled hallways. We then walked down the mall or whatever they call it. We stopped briefly in the natural museum and saw some big diamond something or other. All I know what it was huge, blue, and like a million people were trying to get a picture of it. 
Really? Just print one off the internet folks!! Plus flash with glass inbetween you and whatever it is your trying to capture on memory card doesn't end so well. So, we high tailed it outta there and continued our lengthy journey through DC. We plowed past the Washington Monument, stopping briefly for a few snaps here and there. We zoomed past the WWII monument, which confused me anyways. Took a brief pit stop on a bench by a quant little pond, where an entire roll of film was used on all the geese running amok. Then stopped for a few breaths on the edge of the Vietnam memorial. Then FINALLY we got to the Lincoln Monument. We walked up a bajillion stairs and I snapped my polaroid picture of the monument which I had declared as my favorite. After a brief nap on the lawn, we hit the metro and headed back home. We went to Michelle's trunk er Treak party with the ward. Rachel was princess Leah. By Sunday she loved me, and had no problem play
ing with me or letting me hold her. Tuesday morning came all too soon, and it was a teary farewell at the airport. I got on the plain, glared at the angry French woman next to me, and ended up right back where I started in good ol Seattle Tueday afternoon! Whew! DC! I would not mind going back one day! But only if Chelle's still there, it wasn't THAT cool.
I had just a few days to set up my house for my Halloween party. I also sewed my friend Topher's costume. All my friends came over the Tuesday night before Halloween. We had an amazing dance party, played dirty twister (me trying to take down everyone with me while I was on my way down), and bobbed for apples. All in all it was just an excuse to eat a lot of chips and dip and dress up in our sweet costumes an extra night. It was really fun. We stayed up way too late, and I regretted that one the next day, but fortunately it was my day off, so I slept in. Woo!
Well, now that I'm home, and parties are over, and my apartment is actually coming together nicely, I have time to be bored. Guitar Hero has come back out of it's box, I've painted a few pictures, done laundry, and gotten pretty close to doing dishes. Let's hope I have a good week! Productive at least, my goal: do the dishes!! Til next friday, adios!
HELLO FROM DC! Well, technically Fairfax. I haven't been into DC yet, but tomorrow that's the plan! Things are fun here. It's nice to just get away from work and roomies, no offense, and sit around with the fam. Rachel is the cutest! And she only had to stare at me for a good half hour with a worried look on her face before she got over it and started playing with me. She's such a happy little thing, well except for a few temper tantrums a day. We went to Costco yesterday and the park and Maggie Moos. This is my kind of vacation folks! I have a lot of cute pictures already, but I didn't bring my transfer cable for my digi, so it'll have to wait until next week's post. Well, gotta run! Have a good week, ya'll.
Hey, hi, and hello! Hold on, I need to put on different music. Brief break, use this time to grab a snack, use the bathroom, or get in any conversations you feel necessary with a neighbor. Death Cab, Plans. Good album. So, an awesome friends and best pen-pal at this moment in my life suggested I write up a 3 year plan, so I know what I need to work on to help accomplish my goals. I thought it'd be just this super easy thing I'd throw together and be done with. I sat down this morning and came up with a few goals I felt I needed to have accomplished by the time it turns to 2012. Which is a ways away, but not too far, just three years. So I threw out a few things I know that I want to for sure see. I felt I would share these with all of you, so you can see what I want for my life, and why I'm doing some of the things I'm doing, or why you should all super nag me until I get enrolled in school for January. Away we go!! Jen Tayla, and her 3 year plan of wonderment and joyousness: a tale of epic proportion. - I will be off the sales floor at Market Street Shoes, completely. I will become a buyer, assistant, or manager, or a combination of the three.
- I will be a full time student at an art school.
- I will show my work at art shows at least twice a year.
- I will be engaged or married.
- I will have bought a new car. ;)
- I will be physically fit, and in good shape.
There you have it. Not a lot of goals, but good ones. Trust me, the car goal will come into play in just a minute. Plus I had to throw in some random goal I felt like accomplishing too. And I really really really really really really want a Mazda 3 wagon, in gun metal gray. My time will come. Ok. So in order to accomplish these goals, I need to work on the foundations for them now. A lot of these things are things I don't really like to do all that much, and most of them push me further than I like to admit. So, here are things I will start working on now: I will start community college in January. I will talk with my boss about my ambition and goals of advancing in the company. I will begin a portfolio of my photography. I will budget, spend money on things I need, not want, and save up for expenses I know to be in my near future. I will organize an art area in my apartment. I will research art schools and decide where will be best suited for me. I will begin to eat healthy, and continue practicing yoga (for now), and this is the toughie, the one you all know I struggle with, the one I dread, and fear, and panic over. I, Jen Taylor, am going to work on going on dates. EEEEEK! I know I know. I'm just so shy, it's really hard for me. But I can totally do it. I can totally do all of this. SO I WILL! Thanks my favorite pen-pal, appreciate it!
This week I felt a rainbow of a blog would make everyone's day just a little bit brighter. And a picture of some boots which I am currently pining over. I'm saving that money. Hopefully I can buy them someday. Dag nab shoes! They get me every time. I think I should become a clothing designer so I can just make all my own clothes and then I
can have shoe designer friends who would just give me shoes for free. Good plan, no? I thought it was. At least, I know I want to take a sewing class. I've been having a lot of fun sewing my friend, Topher, his Halloween costume. He's going to be a caveman. Sewing with fur is proving to be quite difficult, plus it sheds, a lot. Hopefully I'll finish in time, and even more hopefully it'll look awesome. Otherwise he'll kill me.
This week I shall embark on an epic adventure. I'm going to DC to visit Michelle, Matt, and Rachel Ratto. Best durn Ratto's I know. That's fur certain. I've never been in DC before, well the airport once on our way to England, but that's it. Wish me luck! Super scary!!! I hate flying alone. I'll post while I'm there, but stay tuned for some awesome pictures and stories two posts from now. I'll miss you all while I'm across the country. Although, I don't live by any of you now, so it won't seem too much different. Love you! Fingers crossed I'll fly safe.
PS. Meagan, I still can't see your blog. It's killing me.
Now, as many of you know I lead pretty much the same day over and over. Work, sleep, work, sleep, church. Repeat. So this is usually what my day consists of... however this day was a particularly eventful day. My roomie, Autumn, and I finally got sick and tired of there being diseases in our bathroom, so we went and bought every bathroom cleaner known to man, and we cleaned that sucker. So minus the bathroom pics, and that's really a typical day for me. And away we go!!
Every morning, well Tuesday - Friday, I wake up and roll outta bed to call Michelle. I'm usually still half asleep, but fortunately her number is on speed dial. All I gotta do is push a button, scroll, push the button once again. We chat for a little while. I grab a box of cereal, thanks to Meagan the cereal of the week is Apple Jacks. And munch on some breakfast while catching up with her.
I do my hair, makeup, and find me an outfit to wear. This usually takes an hour and a half. That's a good day. A lot of times I struggle with figuring out what to wear! It's rough. Once I'm done throwing everything together, I find a couple rings and a necklace to match. Somehow I'm big on necklaces now a days. Always matching, always on.
Today's pair of shoes are one of my newest and the most expensive shoes I've bought to date. For me they were, well let's just say almost triple what I normally pay for my shoes. You can do some math and figure out a ball park. These are Thinks. Made in Italy in a small family run factory. They're very sacred shoes. They live in their box when they're not on my feet. I've sprayed them almost 5 times with water resistant spray, and I think I've only actually worn them 3 times.
Driving to work is always fun. Traffic is unavoidable in Seattle. I try to figure out the most back and side street routs I can. The one that I take to work involves winding down a very steep hill on a very narrow street. Only one car can go through at a time. You learn how to take turns when driving in Seattle. It has an awesome view of things to the West though. While driving down I can see the little town of Ballard, where I work, and also some water and a sweet mountain range. Autumn and I call it Mount Fuji, since we don't really know what range it is, and it's west of us.
This is my store! From the inside, obviously. This is from behind the cash register, so this is what I'm looking at all day. Women's shoes on the left, men's to the right, and kid's out of the picture back even further to the left. The door down to the stock room in just off to the right. It's a small store, but I love it. It gets pretty packed some times. No where for customer's to sit!! We do some good business. Just today, I sold $2000 of shoes. Just me! Whew, busy day!
I get take out almost every day while working. Usually from this Teriyaki place called Anne's. I swear I'm keeping them in business. Usually it's phad thai, but today's choice was tofu yellow curry. I write letters and eat down in our little break room. I'll also read, sleep, or chat on the phone in my half hour of peace.
Back to work! We're all assigned areas to keep in order in the stock room. A bulk of my area is the stair case leading to the stock room. All these boxes are women's shoes. They're styles we don't carry any longer that need to be set out on the sale rack. It's in order by size, largest at the top of the stairs, smallest at the bottom. A lot of times we experience an avalance. The boxes right now are stacked 12-13 boxes a stair. There are a lot of signes I've posted leading all the way down about treading lightly, cleaning up your avalanches, and keeping the proper sizes together. I reorganize the stairs probably once every other week, it takes anywhere from 1 - 3 hours. Super fun. Especially when they collapse on me. It happens, what're ya gonna do??
When work's over I go home and change into some PJs or a comfortable outfit. I'm usually in dresses and heels, so after 8 hours of running up and down stairs I'm pretty beat. Autumn and Charlie just got a cat a little while back. Her name is Molly. She loves my apartment, there are all sorts of paper bags, shoe boxes, and clothes for her to play with. She'll come running in when I get home from work, and we romp around together for the rest of the evening. Sometimes she'll get tuckered out and sit on my chest while I write letters and get things done on the computer. When Autumn comes home from work Molly will venture back over to their apartment for the evening.
This is our toilet before we cleaned it. The last time it was cleaned was probably 4 months ago. Mind you I haven't been living here for those 4 months. But we decided it was well past time to do some cleaning up. When you're scared to use your own bathroom, things are getting bad.
This is the shower before we cleaned it. There's hair from where Charlie refuses to throw it in the trash when he cleans out the drain, and mildew/mold growing up the side because it's a bathroom where there really shouldn't be one. And don't even get me started on the fact that you can't stand up in the shower. Super annoying.
This is Autumn and myself just before we tackled the beast. We found some gloves, put on some Muse, and after hosing the whole thing down with bleach we dove in. I didn't think we would make it out alive, to be quite honest. There were moments when I thought it would be my last breath. But I conqured the toilet and the sink, sick sick sick. Autumn bested the shower. We then did our best to mop the floor. We threw out the sponges and gloves, high fived, and well... victory was ours!
Post clean. Amazing!!
Post clean. Superb.
And at the end of the day, it's just little old me in this apartment of mine. Curled up in some quilts, trying to get warm and comfy for the night ahead of me. Gotsta wake up early yo! Need to do it all over again tomorrow, well minus the cleaning of the bathroom. We don't have to do that for another 4 months!! Just kidding. Good night all. Love you.
What to say about this week. What to say... hmm hmm hmm. Lemme get in the zone. IN THE BLOGGING ZONE! There's a spider on the wall, it's distracting, but he seems pretty far away from me so I don't think I'll kill the little guy. It's your lucky day little guy, because I am a lean mean spider killing machine. Ok, nope... creepy, now there are three spiders crawling across the wall. I hate spiders!! Death death death! OK! Whew. Lemme see.
Work: Work's well. Work's work. Highs and Lows this week at work, let's do that, shall we? Ok, hmm... a high. We got a lot of new shoes this week, and a lot of boots. Which means we have to fit them into our already crowded stock room. This week I finally snapped, our stock room was out of control. Shoes on the ground, shoes with no homes, ridiculous! So, I called my boss, told her I was staying late, told all the people working on the floor not to bother me, and I rearranged. Now all the sandals are in the back and out of the way until they're all boxed up for next year, and all the boots are together at the bottom of the stairs, quite easily accessible since they're what we sell the most in the fall. All other shoes are with brands accordingly. I felt quite accomplished. Things seem to be a little smoother in the land of Market Street Shoes. It was hard, and a pain in the fanny to boot! But it was totally worth it. The low for this week, hmm hmm, well we all seem to be bickering more and more at work. I think we spend a little too much time together. It's not bad, just a lot of gossiping, and a lot of complaining. The low for this week was having to hear everyone complain about the smallest things that really didn't matter, and then realizing that I myself have been known to complain about just that as well. So, I found something for me to work on... Complain when only REALLY REALLY necessary.
Church: This week's a good week for our Church category. Is Church always capitalized? I think it should be, so we're going with that. I sat next to a group of girls on Sunday, and they invited me over to one of their houses to watch Project Runway on Wednesday. So Wednesday rolled around and over I went. There were about 15 girls there. There are a few I think I could really be friends with! Finally LDS friends!! Sanity sanity!! I'm planning on going again this week. I love me some Project Runway. And I love me some LDS friends. It's a win win folks! And randomly one of the kids whom JT and I went to EFY with was in my ward on Sunday. It was really weird. I didn't recognize him at first, but then it dawned on me. Crazy!! He bolted with his girl friends right after Sacrament, so I didn't get a chance to say hey. And let's be honest here, I'm kinda too shy to just go say hey anyways. :) What're ya gonna do.
Yoga: I'm loving my yoga class. It's pretty intense. I sweat though two t-shirts on Thursdays class, which I've never done. I've never really sweat through one t-shirt, let alone two! This next Thursday is our last class, but I think we all decided we're signing up again for next month. It's really good, and I feel a lot better about myself too... plus call me crazy, it's been known to happen, but I actually think I stand up a little straighter. Woot woot! Yay for yoga! Yay for power yoga in 88 degrees with Nazi instructors from NY. These are the things that make me happy. :P
Ok, well, I'm listening to the Scriptures while I write this, so I'm thinking I'm not paying all that much attention to the Scriptures, which kind of defeats the purpose of listening... so I'll bow out here. Text me, email me, facebook me, call me. I miss all of you. A lot. And if you think you're not included in that, you're wrong! I love hearing from EVERYONE. So TEXT, CALL, EMAIL, serious people. I would love it. TTFN pardners.
Happy half b-day to me, happy half b-day to me!, happy half b-day Jen Taylaaaaaaaaaaa, HAPPY HALF B-DAY TO ME! I celebrated my day with a cupcake, mmm, red velvet. Dark dark chocolate with cream cheese frosting. Loved it. And the guys at the cupcake boutique all laughed when I said it was for my half b-day. They even gave it to me for free. I love my little work neighborhood, Ballard is awesome. Aside from work, nothing's new. I haven't even been out to take pictures in the past few months, let alone get any developed. I'm sure I'll get back into it soon enough. Always think positively, that's not my motto, but probably should be.
This week's accomplishments:
-Killed a huge spider, almost cried but kept my cool
-Cleaned my room and did ALL my laundry for the first time in pretty much forever
-Slept, a lot
-Sweat off like 10 lbs at my power yoga class
-Quit biting my nails. For reals this time. I was cured, long story, but for sure I'm now cured. (been 10 days clean)
well I guess you all can get the picture... not a lot's going on! What're ya gonna do. Ya know? It's like I do the same thing day in and out... and this just doesn't make for exciting blogging. So, don't blame me for your boredom and loss of interest in tuning in each week... blame my shoe selling job! I mean, I can only talk so much about selling boots to women in size 12 who never thought they could buy beautiful shoes, or screaming and jumping and flayling about in joy when the heels I've been waiting for for almost 3 months finally came to work, or maybe getting to shove grubby 4 year old stinky feet into shoes (don't get me wrong, love the 4 year olds, just not the stinky feet). It's just your average good ol' fashion retail job. And then I come home and sleep! My roommates are driving me up the wall, it's a constant battle as to whether it's more normal to go to bed at 11 o'clock and expect quite after around 12 or to stay up til 4 and not believe that neighbors can hear when you play the guitar. No guitar past midnight people. Comprimise. So I scold and they scoff, and now we're just getting on each others nerves! Insanity! I'm living with insanity! But, it's what you do when you're 21. You do what you can, and you smile, and you know it'll make you so much more greatful for future living situations. I'm just sad because we all were good friends for awhile, and now it seems that due to my nagging, I'm not to close to all of them anymore. Ah well, what are you going to do!?!?
Things I found myself greatful for this week:
-my car
-my mother's quiet apartment, ok and her too :)
-my shoe collection
-customers who seem to help me out with my life more than I with their shoes
-cell phones
-kind aquantances
-post office
-sisters getting home from brazil
-yoga instructors from NY
-laughing
Have a good week everyone. TTFN! Peace.
Firstly, my car has been saved. It was just a dead battery, so in the end it wasn't so bad of a situation. I even got it towed for free!! So things ended up working out splendidly. As for my chest pain, the doctor diagnosed me with having tendinitis in my chest, basically, meaning my muscles were inflamed, causing chest pain. I took medication for it and it seems to be a lot better, although I have the feeling it will be coming and going for awhile. Work's still a little stressful, but it's going well. Which I think clears up all the stress causing issues of last week, and starts us with a clean slate for this week!! WOot.
Football--
My uncle Ross called me last week wanting to know if I could go to a BYU vs. UW football game with them this past Saturday. I did some pleading and rearranging at work, and I got the day off! I met Covey, John, and Ross all at the tailgate before the game. Ra ra ra. We then watched a really fun, and really close, football game! I forgot that my medicine for my chest made me sensitive to sun, so I'm still suffering from a really bad sunburn on my chest and face, but other than that it was an awesome day. We cheered, we clapped, we "ra ra ra" 'd, we rolled our eyes at the man sitting next to me who knew everything there is to know about football and could've played way 
better had he just been on that field, and we checked out the hot BYU players through the binoculars (ok maybe that one was just me). It was a really awesome time, and I'm super glad I got to see Ross and the boys.
I moved back to my apartment this week after house sitting for 29 days straight. My roomie next door, Brenton, moved out and Autumn moved out of my living room and into his old room, a real bedroom of her own. It's been quiet around here since she went, but fortunately she's a mere 10 feet away. Now I can sleep a little bit quieter, and have things a little bit more of a Jen way around the apartment. I'll start moving thi
ngs around next week, I'm still just half unpacked. After living out of bags for 6 months it's weird actually putting my clothes away in the dresser and closet. At the end of September I will be done with house sitting and moved completely back into my own little space. Although, they do already have me booked to watch the house for the holidays this year... but other than that, I will be living in ONE house and ONE house only! I'm turning half of my living room into art space. I'll put in a few tables with all my supplies all laid out and organized. Then I'm putting up shelving for all my shoes, and I'm going to start hanging my photos along one of the long walls in the living room. By early next year I hope to have a one of a kind, Jen original, apartment on my hands! A little haven all my own. It'll be fantastic.
Good things are comin up for me! I can tell, I have a lot of plans and a lot of ambition, so now all I need's a little bit of energy (nothin my b12 vitamin can't cure) and a lot a bit of inspiration, and well... let's see what kind of a life Jen Tayla can whip out!! :) TTFN kids, Love you!
ps. pic 1: Me being bored.
pic 2: Covey and John pre game.
pic 3: Hut Hut HIIIIIKE.
pic 4: Paco being cute on the bed while I packed to go home.
pic 5: Kerouac being super cute ... and super crazy.
oesn't agree with me. Rachel seemed to tolerate me, but she didn't really like me until later in the visit. We went to the park with Michelle's friend Julie and her kids, we went shopping a few times, I got new nail polish. Friday I helped Michelle babysit JT and Mikey. They were quite cute, only I don't know how people have three kids!! Insanity! I just helped, and for like 4 hours, all day everyday?? Whoa, not ready for that! On Saturday Michelle and I kissed the fam goodbye, meaning Matt and Rachel, and Michelle really was the only one kissing, and jumped on the Metro. We went into DC to see the monuments. We went to the National Gallery of Art, which I loved. And true as Michelle says, we ended up spending more time in the gift shop 
than we did in the actual museum. I saw what I wanted, and bought what I wanted, so all in all I felt it was a successful jaunt through the art filled hallways. We then walked down the mall or whatever they call it. We stopped briefly in the natural museum and saw some big diamond something or other. All I know what it was huge, blue, and like a million people were trying to get a picture of it. 
Really? Just print one off the internet folks!! Plus flash with glass inbetween you and whatever it is your trying to capture on memory card doesn't end so well. So, we high tailed it outta there and continued our lengthy journey through DC. We plowed past the Washington Monument, stopping briefly for a few snaps here and there. We zoomed past the WWII monument, which confused me anyways. Took a brief pit stop on a bench by a quant little pond, where an entire roll of film was used on all the geese running amok. Then stopped for a few breaths on the edge of the Vietnam memorial. Then FINALLY we got to the Lincoln Monument. We walked up a bajillion stairs and I snapped my polaroid picture of the monument which I had declared as my favorite. After a brief nap on the lawn, we hit the metro and headed back home. We went to Michelle's trunk er Treak party with the ward. Rachel was princess Leah. By Sunday she loved me, and had no problem play
ing with me or letting me hold her. Tuesday morning came all too soon, and it was a teary farewell at the airport. I got on the plain, glared at the angry French woman next to me, and ended up right back where I started in good ol Seattle Tueday afternoon! Whew! DC! I would not mind going back one day! But only if Chelle's still there, it wasn't THAT cool.
Well, now that I'm home, and parties are over, and my apartment is actually coming together nicely, I have time to be bored. Guitar Hero has come back out of it's box, I've painted a few pictures, done laundry, and gotten pretty close to doing dishes. Let's hope I have a good week! Productive at least, my goal: do the dishes!! Til next friday, adios!
