I Love My Dog, I Love My Dog, I Love My Dog...

That's what I keep telling myself. I love my dog, I love my dog, I love my dog. I figure if I keep repeating it to myself over and over the thoughts will replace my anger/disappointment in my little dog. You see, so far in our relationship (we've been together for just about 4 months now) we haven't had too many rough times. I mean, come one! Look at that face!

Yeah, she's peed on the carpet. Yeah, she's even pooped. That's dirty, but forgivable. She's just a little pup. I've even put up with her nipping and biting as we're teaching her what's right and wrong. We've even learned some pretty sweet tricks together. She's tested me, and I've passed with flying colors. But then today happened.

Lyla was in our room with the doggy gate up. I left her in there so she could eat her dinner. She was whining for a while because she wanted to come out, but I ignored it. "She can stay in there while I make dinner", I thought to myself. About 20 minutes later, I realized she was being quiet. Too quiet. I went into my room and saw what she did.

Yeah. That's what she did. She chewed up my favorite pair of heels and my computer cord. I can't really get that angry at her because it was my fault. I left them where she can get to them. But grrr.... I'm sad. My shoes only cost $7.50 at Target. I'm pretty sure it was a fluke, because I looked for them online and they're $24.95. WHAT?! So yeah. Dang it. And my computer cord, that's just super annoying to find and buy again. So please, let's have a moment of silence for these irreplaceable items that are now as good as dead to me. 

Target Acquired

Yep. I got another job. And it's Target. I'm super excited about it. I love love LOVE Target. I could live and die there. It's my happy place. I was trained last week, and Monday was my first day working by myself. I was in charge of maintaining the men's, shoes, and lingerie section. And the shoes and lingerie are so stinkin messy. Holy guacamole. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I would try and arrange the bras nicely (which is hard-they don't hang very nicely), and then some lady would walk behind and mess them up. I was about ready to bring out my boxing gloves. haha. And who shops for bras at 9:30 at night?! I just made up a story in my head about how she's going to a very important event in the morning and needs the perfect bra. The story I made up probably saved her a beating from a fed up employee...... okay.. that sounded violent.

Actually I make up a lot of stories when situations come up in life. Like if someone cuts me off when I'm driving, I always say the wife must be in labor or something really life threatening must be happening. Or if someone is rude and they're my server at a restaurant, I think their dog must have died or something. Making up stories helps me excuse them. Kinda weird. haha.

So I now work at a small and a large retail store. It's interesting comparing the two.

Large Retail Stores

• They depend on you being friendly and available to the customers. 
• You're assigned a certain area to keep clean and stocked. 
• You wear their uniform. (red shirt and khakis for Target). 
• You blend in with your fellow employees. It's not very personal. 
• Every customer that walks in is welcomed and left to do their own thing unless they ask for help.

Small Retail Stores

• They depend on you to be engaging and convince the customer to make a purchase. 
• You need to be an expert in all areas of the store.
• You can pretty much wear anything as long as it looks nice and matches the style of the clothes in the store. 
• You stand out as an employee because there are only a couple of you working at one time. 
• Every customer is welcomed and then questioned and then watched and then questioned again and then bothered to the point that they feel uncomfortable. 

Okay, so it's not really that bad. But I feel like at the smaller retail store I have to bother customers and try and persuade them to buy things outrageous. The customer comes in looking for a t-shirt and I have to make sure I try and throw in a pair of pants and a layering piece. 

I definitely appreciate the jobs I have. They're very different and both have pros and cons. I've found out that I'm more of a large retail store kind of person. I like blending in and leaving customers alone if they don't need help. 

Sometimes I think about how I have a degree and I'm working a lowly job. Oh well. It's bringing home some bacon. I probably won't get a teaching job this fall, but I'll probably try for next year. But what I have now is working for us and it's a job. So we're blessed. 

We Do It At Nite

No no no! It's not what you think. Ya know how Travis and I have been running a lot? Well we decided to run a local 5k (3.10685596 miles). We've been running 3 miles like butter, so we thought it was a fun idea. My sister Savannah decided to join us. Let me tell you a story about this girl.

She's a volleyball player. And a pretty good one too! She is a lover of exercising and workin her abs. So every once and a while she wants to join us when we run. The other day we were headed out to run 4 miles. And that's a lot for me. She asked if she could come and of course we say yes. I warned her that 4 miles is harder than 3, which was a lot for her. She said she'd like to try. She said she'd turn around early if she felt she needed to.

So we get going and she's chuggin along. She talked the whole time. The WHOLE TIME! Four miles of hearing Savannah's high school stories. (Which I don't mind, it was just insane she was handling it so well.) I was huffin and puffin and she was talkin away like nobody's business. So I learned not to doubt that girl. She can do anything.

Anyways, we did a 5k last Friday. It was called the Glow Run and the proceeds went to the American Cancer Society. Good cause right? When you registered, you got a glowstick bracelet and necklace. And we also bought some from the dollar store. The race was at night, so it was pretty cool. We were pretty decked out. The t-shirts said 'Glow Run 5k- We Do It At Nite'. I thought it was cute, but some people didn't. So you decide. And I don't know why they spelled night like that. It kinda annoys me, but whatever. haha.

 The person that planned the event said she expected only 100 to 150 people. There ended up being over 450. So they were super unprepared, but it's okay. The race started at 9:00 pm. So it was getting dark. In cross-country, when I was in middle school and high school, I hated races. They made me so nervous. But when I'm racing, I get in this "zone". All I wanna do is pass everyone around me. So when this race started, we started at a pretty good pace. We were passing people, but people were passing us too. At the halfway point, Travis took off. Savannah and I kept going strong and nobody passed us after the halfway. We passed a ton of people. We were seriously cruising and I was surprised. Travis ended up finishing at 24:04. And I finished at 25:33, and Savannah at 26:23. This summer I've been running 3 miles at 28-30 minutes. So I was pretty proud of Travis, Savannah, and me.

BEFORE

AFTER

Does Travis look any different? Nope. He doesn't sweat from his chest up, so he always looks so gorgeous next to my oompa loompa faced self. haha.