Sunday, December 28, 2008

Best of 2008!

Dear Blog,
It's that time of the year again when everyone and their brother is coming out with their "Best of 2008" lists and I thought, why not jump on the bandwagon? I did it last year, might as well do it again. Plus, I have TONS of stuff I love this year. Despite the recession, which I am not participating in by the way, I managed to score myself some of these fancy items.

1. Plaid! Oh my, how I love plaid. I know you're all thinking "Alison moved to Seattle and now she's in love with plaid." Well, I've always loved the Grunge era, I think you all know that. Alas, that is not the reason I'm in love with plaid this year. (wo)Men's Wear was all the rage this year and when fashion from the runways trickles down to us normal folk, since we're not going to be wearing crazy pantaloons with top hats and gloves, we wear plaid! J Crew has some great options, in fact that's where I got my shirt. I wear it with everything, jeans, leggings, you name it. You can go anywhere with plaid.
Vest and beer receive an honorable mention but certainly not a best of.

2. lulu! Need I even say it? lululemon pants make you look great, and they feel great! Add to that their wicking, four way stretch and gusset (anti-camel toe) features, you can't go wrong!

3. Chanel Precision exfoliating face wash. Luckily I have good skin so I wash my face with cetaphil and usually buy Dove moisturizer, but sometimes I just buy whatever is on sale cause I'm cheap like that. But, I was noticing that even though I have clear skin it doesn't have that dewy, fresh look that all of my favorite celebs have. So, I went in search of some makeup that would give me a glow. I went to the Chanel counter because I was sure they would have something I could use and I found out it's not make up that gives you that look, it's exfoliator!! Who knew? Not me. So I bought some, it's a little pricey at $45 bucks a pop but it has given me excellent results. Plus, I bought it in February and I still have some now in December. You only use it about once or twice a week. I highly recommend the investment.

4. Favorite new music of the year is MGMT. Lately there have been few bands that I get really excited about listening to their albums but when I wake up in the morning I automatically put this cd on. It's so good. All of their songs are layered and usually have a build up of sorts which I like. It's something to look forward to! They sound very British but they're from Brooklyn. Weird. Anyway, check 'em out.

5. Favorite celeb of the year is most definitely Victoria Beckham.




I try to not use such banal terms as fierce, but Victoria Beckham is effing fierce. In the photo above she's just walking around the Meatpacking District in what look like about 5 1/2 inch heels and a fur stole. Who does that and makes it look normal? I'll tell you who, Victoria Beckham. And that is precisely why I love her. She makes the unreasonable look reasonable. Posh, can I be like you when I grow up? Minus the gross fake boobs, they make you look like a fem bot.

6. Handbag of the year is Louis Vuitton. You know, I really used to dislike Mr. Vuitton but all of a sudden his checkered print really started to grow on me and then it was all I could think about. It was like, I became obsessed with Louis Vuitton and anytime I saw someone with a bag I was very covetous. And you know what God says, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor. Plus, these bags will last forever and hell they've been around since the late 1800's or early 1900's, they're not going anywhere. So, I saved my money and bought me one. Why not right? You only live once. Now I don't have to mutter "bitch" underneath my breath everytime I see a woman with "my" handbag.

Last years favorite things are still some of my favorite things of this year. Christian Louboutin, Tory Burch and OPI still reign supreme in my household but it would be kind of silly to buy anymore because I wear workout clothes everyday. Hey, I'm not complaining it's quite comfy. Sometimes I do miss dressing up but I will again one day. I still love Amy Winehouse but I don't know how long she's going to be around. Crazy ho smokes crack for breakfast, ewwwww.

There you have it, my best of's for the year 2008! Can't wait to see what 2009 brings!

xoxo,
alison

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas from the Shurts family!



You didn't expect anything traditional did you?
Merry Christmas!
xoxo,
Alison

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I heard there would be rain but WTF?

Dear Blog,
So when Aaron and I decided to move out to Seattle everyone and their pup told us that it was going to rain and we were like duh. BUT, how come no one told us that it snowed a shit load out here?? And when I say shit load, I mean that we prolly have about 8 inches outside of my house and guess what folks? It's still coming down. I don't know when it's going to stop. It was supposed to stop today but nooooooooo, it's still snowing.

Now. I know this might surprise you, but I am not in love with snow. Why? Well. Snow inhibits me from doing the things I want to do, when I want to do them. For example, what if I want to go to the grocery store and buy some chips? Well, all of dang Seattle has already gone out and bought all of them. What the heck? And they took all of my favorite cheese dip too. Now what am I going to eat to clog my arteries?



Guess I'll just have to eat some healthy food because there was tons of that at the grocery store. Apparently when there is snow people just want to eat carbs.

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. A lot of things have happened.
We got a tree.



We went ice skating.



And then it started to snow and at first we were like yay! Snow. And then, it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing and people were freaking out and you know what I'm just tired of it. I just wish this snow would stop.

Anywhooooodle, Christmas is right around the corner and I'm excited! It's going to be a different kind of Christmas this year because it's just going to be me, Ron and little angel Bella. I don't know exactly what we are going to do so if you have any fun Christmas traditions you think the Shurts might enjoy, send 'em our way. 'Cause there's only so many times I can watch Christams Vacation. Cousin Eddie grosses me out.

xoxo,
Alison

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Oh Facebook

Dear Blog,
I think just about everyone I know is on Facebook these days, even my mom and I just got a friend request from Aaron's dad...which I haven't accepted yet because I have a certain reputation to uphold with the Shurts family. Geez. I mean, I know I'm going to have to 'friend' him but I feel like maybe some things on a facebook profile shouldn't be shared with in-laws. I can see Tony calling Aaron and asking what does "Alison has the spirit of a hustler and the swagga of a college kid" mean in her status update? And then Aaron will be all, "Well, Alison grew up in the 'hood and learned at a very young age the value of the hip hop genre. You had to speak hip hop to survive in Columbia, SC." And then Tony will wonder what kind of woman his upstanding son married? And then, it's all downhill from there. Now, one might say don't put hip hop lyrics in your status put something more vanilla like Michael Buble lyrics. And to that I scoff because I will not change who I am because of my friends on facebook. I am more T.I than Michael Buble and that is just the way it is people.

What's up with all of this facebook nonsense? Well, BellaFrench reader, Grace, shared with me this hilarious You Tube clip yesterday and I thought you all might find it funny as well. Because it is oh so true.




xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

From sunny and warm to cold and damp


Dear Blog,
What up peeps? Oh yeah, I keep forgetting I'm supposed to be talking like an adult these days.
Hello there people. As I write, I'm sitting here watching Elf with Aaron and looking around in amazement that my house is NOT decorated to the hilt, I mean I'm practically married to Clark Griswald and it has almost been a week since Thanksgiving. See, normally the day after Thanksgiving Aaron and I put on our Christmas sweaters, hop in the Jeep and then go cut down our tree somewhere in York, SC sweating all the while cause it's normally 80 around this time of year. This year for Thanksgiving we skipped the 4000 calorie meal and hopped on a plane to St. Thomas. It only took a red eye flight and 14 hours to get there, but when we got there we sure were glad we did. We were greeted by some locals who gave us shots of coconut rum, I'll take two please. I then knew it was going to be a good vacay vacation. We proceeded to head to the best bar in a parking lot in the entire universe, Duffy's Love Shack and drink 1.50 drinks for about three hours. It's such a small freaking world because our server at Duffy's Love Shack on St. Thomas is from South Carolina. Not only is he from South Carolina, but he is from Columbia and he went to Spring Valley. He was quite a bit younger than me and I didn't know who he was but I'm sure we know some of the same people because that is how Columbia is. It ain't that big folks.

Now, as much as I would love for you all to believe that Aaron and I are total jet setters and when we have a hankering to travel to St. Thomas we just go, but alas, we do not. Aaron's sister got married to her beau, Beau, of eight long years. It was quite a lovely wedding and they got hitched without a hitch. Man, I'm cracking myself up with all of these play on words tonight.

We had a great time in St. Thomas. It wasn't too hot, it was just right. I would love to regale with you tales of what we did but I can sum it up pretty quickly; eat, drink, sleep a lot, lay out on the beach, Aaron snorkeled, and I read a lot and listened to my ipod. Oh, and Aaron was in the wedding and he had to wear a linen shirt untucked with some khaki dress pants. Man, that was funny. You need to look at his pictures on his facebook profile. He is looking like straight up Miami Vice!

Only 22 days 'til Christmas!!
xoxo,
Alison

Monday, November 24, 2008

O.M.G

Dear Blog,
It started off with a simple "LOL" and then a "BRB" then grew to "OMG", and finally ending up with the oh so funny, "IDK my BFF Jill" which we all could relate to because we all abbreviate everything. I fully admit to using OMG about 25 times a day and writing it in emails and probably using it on the blog more than once or twice. My friends use it, my husband uses it, my parents use it and I believe my dog would use it if she were able to talk. Maybe she barks it out, who knows? What brings these deep thoughts to the forefront of the blog? It all stems from a deep conversation I had with two coworkers on Saturday while being the directors of first impressions in our store. And yes, the director of first impressions is a real station/duty in our store. So, anyway we were chatting about whether or not it's too feminine for guys to use "OMG" and the like and I said, I could see it being seen as feminine but so many guys use it I don't really think about it anymore. The one 'dude' we were talking to said he could forgive guys using OMG but what he couldn't get over was the overused ELLIPSIS and thought it was really feminine. You know the "...". The other female involved in the conversation and I were like, "Yeah! The dot, dot, dot gets TOTALLY overused!" But, I never really thought about the ellipsis being a feminine or masculine thing. So I decided to do a little test. Go back through my emails and take a random sample and see who overuses the ellipsis the most. Hands down it is the females. I wonder why? My coworker says it is because we can't complete a thought so we just connect all of our thoughts in hopes to get our point across and perhaps that is it. That conclusion makes me sad.

So let's take a stand for completing thoughts! And also taking our language back and not abbreviating everything! This is especially tough coming from someone who says "perf," "ferosh," and "totes."
I probably sound like a bumbling idiot...albeit a funny, bumbling idiot...and actually a cute, funny, bumbling idiot...which leads me to my next thought...the word "actually"...can we not use that in every other sentence....think about it...totes.


xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

How in the heck is Thanksgiving next week?

Dear Blog,
Seriously...how is Thanksgiving next week?!? It doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving time. Seattle is all decorated for Christmas and I'm like hopefully it will feel like Christmas soon because I'm not feeling it right now. I love the Christmas season, and uh, Aaron does too. Have you ever met him? He goes a little over the top, have I ever told you about the plastic snowflakes he put in our yard last year? Well, it was real niiiiiiiiiiiiice , if you know what I mean. The snowflakes will not be returning. Aaron agreed they were a little much. Whew.

This year will be a little different because we won't be eating turkey and the trimmings for Thanksgiving, we will be in multiple airports probably eating Chili's To Go en route to St. Thomas! So, Aaron's sister (my sis in law) is getting hitched and decided to have a destination wedding and I think the original intent was for it to be small but instead I think about 50 peeps are going to be there. Destination weddings are so interesting to me. Aren't all weddings a destination for some? It just seems like "destination weddings" make it even harder and more expensive to get there. Whatever. I'm going to St. Thomas for a long weekend and I am so freaking pumped about laying my behind on the beach and drinks with umbrellas in them. I'm going to come back to Seattle with a tan and it's going to be the bomb. Aaron is obvy in the wedding and he needs to get some brown, leather, flip flops. I think he's going to get Rainbows and he hasn't gotten them yet which is really unfortunate because they are not comfortable when you first buy them. In fact, I believe they may blister. It's also unfortunate that both of Aaron's big toenails have gotten ripped off due to being a street balla on the basketball courts. Eek!

Lastly, I think Seattle-ites are wimps. I mean, all I ever hear about is the weather and blah blah blah...and y'all it rains some but not all the time. I haven't worn my rain jacket for the past week and a half. And today it was about 50 some degrees and all I heard was, "Winter has arrived." HUH? This is winter? Damn. I only wore one layer over my ujjayi tank and there were some people out in with dang earmuffs on. People is crazy. Maybe Seattle-ites aren't wimps...they're just dramatic. I can't figure out which.

So in a nutshell, I'm eating Chili's for Thanksgiving in St. Thomas and people in Seattle are funny. The end.

xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Best week ever


Dear Blog,

So...last week was my birthday, you might have heard? Well, if you didn't that's cool too. I generally don't have high expectations for my birthday because I hate being let down and usually for birthdays you can't like create your own birthday party or birthday lunch or birthday whatev because you'll look like a loser so it seems like that particular day's happiness is dependent upon other people and sorry folks, but I don't have time to depend on you for my own happiness. I'm in charge of my happiness thank you very much.

So, Wednesday began like every other day. I'm working a closing shift and Aaron says he wants to take me to work because he has a surprise for me. Well hey, that totally works because that means I don't have to ride the bus* and I get a surprise!?! Helllllllll yeah. So, we get to work and it's pretty busy so I get down and dirty with some guests trying to get them to buy some luon and all of a sudden there's Aaron with no present. Uhhh....that wasn't part of the deal Ron. You were supposed to show up with a present, now get out the way so I can sell my luon. He gets out of the way. All of a sudden my assistant manager Ryan is shuffling me to the back room trying to get me to look at his emails...huh? Why do I have to look at YOUR emails? That's weird. Welll, since I'm nosy I enjoyed looking at his emails and I got really into it. All of a sudden I hear a commotion and I turn around and there's my mom standing in our office!!! Saaaaaaaayyyyyy whaaaaaaatttttt??? I screamed so loud and then she screamed and then we both were screaming and then crying and poor Assistant Manager Ryan was right in the middle of this huge commotion. He about hit the deck because of all of this screaming and crying. Of course all of my coworkers totally enjoyed seeing the screaming and crying because you know...usually I'm cool, calm and collected. That's right.

So, Aaron and Mom totally collaborated for months on end on how they could surprise me for my birthday and it really worked. I had no idea. It was one of the best birthdays ever and only would have been better if my Doo Da had been here too! (I'm trying to convince my dad that "Doo Da" is a good granddad name, so far he's not buying it but I'm going to keep trying!)
We went on a fabulous tour de chocolate, a tour of all of the chocolateries around Seattle, went shopping, went to Bainbridge Island and ate and ate and ate and laughed and laughed. Thanks Aaron, Mom and Dad for one of the best birthdays EVER! You successfully made me feel special and loved on the big 28. Now I'm expecting all of my birthdays to be the double bomb like this one was. So there.


*Even though I got a new car, I still ride the bus because driving and parking in Seattle is a.) a bitch and b.) really expensive. Now you are asking yourself why did we get a car? Well, the only car we had was a Jeep Wrangler and I believe I've spoken to how unbelievably comfortable those Jeep Wranglers are. Note sarcasm. Plus, I'm too old to learn how to drive a stick so Aaron was driving my behind everywhere and that was severely hindering my shopping habit.
xoxo,
alison

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Making History in November


Dear Blog,

I think we all knew that November would be a historical month when two of Aaron's dearest friends from the days of yore (college days), Paul and Kate, got engaged. Even though I haven't known these crazy kids from the days of yore I do consider them my friends too. I felt like I needed to clarify. Anyway you see, Paul and Kate have been dating for seven years. Paul proposed to her several times and Kate was all WHATEVER, but Paul kept the faith and finally on November 1, on Paul's seventh time proposing Kate finally said yes because she started to feel sorry for the young lad. So, let's all say a hip hop hooraaaaaaaay hoooooo to Paul and Kate and pour one out for our homies. Here is a funny pic of the couple scarfing down burgers at a random 5 Guys Burgers we found on the Lower East Side. Man, those burgers were good but we were definitely feeling them about an hour later. Yikes.

On to another positive note, I bought a new car!!! Since I now work in retail I take Sundays and Mondays off because I have to work one weekend day. While this works out quite nicely for getting errands run in no crowds, I get confused when I go back to work on Tuesday and I think it's Monday and people look at me like I'm crazy. Well, that's not unusual. Aaron gets Mondays off too so we can have a semi weekend together. So yesterday we decide to go car shopping cause that's how we do. We decide we want a car and BAM!! We find one and BAM we get some dope financing and BAM I'm driving home in a car. What kind of vehicle did we purchase? A silver BMW X3, hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. It drives like a dream and it's so nice to have a car again and not have to rely on Aaron to drive me places. I'm not one for having to rely on people. The end.

So, there's no way I can't NOT bring this up. (I totally am owning that double negative.) Now that Aaron and I have cable again I've been catching up on all of my favorite Bravo TV shows. I think all I need to say is the title of the following show. The Real Housewives of Atlanta. What the HELL was Bravo thinking? That show is turrble y'all. Now, I fully admit to loving the previous "Real Housewives of..." but this show is a disgrace. First of all, who smokes in their house??? That is disgusting and so 1976. Yuck. Second of all, these people don't know how to talk. Take an English class at your local community college for crying out loud. I don't care if you're rich, you need to know that the word "texts" does not have a second E in it and is not pronounced "textES" Say whhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaat??? What is the lesson learned? Just say no to the Real Housewives in Atlanta and pray they don't make another season. I don't like Atlanta that much, but I feel bad for Atlantan's because this show is makin' y'all look baaaaaaaaaddddddd.




And because I never like to end on a negative note, Obama just won!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not the most patriotic person out there but I am so proud of my country for making history tonight!

xoxo,
Alison

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

We're Open Baby!!!


Dear Blog,
I thought maybe blogging was a thing of the past since my blog friends, dport7 and jCristg had taken a hiatus from blogging that maybe I didn't need to blog either...but it turns out that blogging is in fact still the "cool" thing to do and since these two are my blogging idols, I will return to blogging as well.

Alright, so all of the above was a bunch of shit I just made up but wanted to call them out for not blogging on a regular basis. The fact of the matter is, the store is open baby!!!! Man, I can't believe I've been in Seattle for 4 months already!! Time flies when you work all of the time, try to navigate a new city and buy a house. I don't even know if my old friends from NC would recognize me, I've truly let myself go. I haven't gotten a pedicure or a manicure in the four months I've been here, I don't even paint my nails anymore and let's not even talk about my eyebrows. Yikes!! I think someone needs to stage a Bahama-vention because I just don't know how long I can go on like this. I have a reputation to maintain. Although, all these granola types wouldn't even know the difference.

But, at least I can say that all of this self carelessness has not occurred in vain. The past 4 months I have been scouring Seattle high and low looking for the perfect people to help me open my store. I found them all and trained them and can honestly say I have the best team in Seattle. We have a blast together and they make me laugh and I think I make them laugh, or they're just laughing at me and I don't know the difference.

Back to the opening, we had a great weekend. Our store is absolutely beautiful and we did a great amount of business our opening weekend. I was thrilled and have to admit to tears of joy when the doors opened on Friday morning. It was like seeing the fruits of your labor right before your very eyes. I can honestly say I've never put so much effort and hard work into a job before because I never really cared and I can say with full force that I love my job and I can see myself here for a while. (Let's hope my bosses are thinking the same thing!) I stay up at night thinking of ideas to get our business up, or how we can get out in the community and it doesn't bother me at all. I actually enjoy it.



As for the house, well we are fully moved into the den, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The office and guest bedroom still need to be unpacked and we'll get to those soon. We went to Home Depot for about an hour on Sunday (wooo hooo) to pick out some paint colors and get the supplies to paint some of the rooms. We're going to paint the den, kitchen and our bedroom ourselves y'all! Can't wait!! I'm totally being sarcastic, I can think of a million other way I would rather spend my free time rather than painting....like get a manicure and pedicure...but I will be happy when our house isn't one boring shade of vanilla.

That's all for now folks!
xoxo,
Alison

Sunday, October 12, 2008

It's a done deal folks




Dear Blog,
In these trying economic times, it is possible to buy a home! Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but me being in the mortgage business did help the process if I do say so myself. The whole mortgage process was seamless, even in the face of a crumbling financial system. I think we got in our house at exactly the right time because we locked in our interest rate at 5.625% ! And it's a fixed rate! I'm in love with that rate, it's amazing how much a difference an interest rate can make in a payment. Man, I just re-read this post and it is like so boring.

Anyway, on Friday we signed all of the closing docs and I thought there would be a couple of papers to sign but no, there were like a million. I snapped some pics of the two of us in the escrow woman's office, who was kind of weird by the way, but whatevs she was nice. That whole process was rather tedious. There's so many papers in there that I didn't read, one could have said something about them taking away our house if they didn't like the way we decorated it and I wouldn't have known. I was a signing machine. Aaron on the other hand was inspecting every document thoroughly, thus making our visit with the weird closing lady longer. I guess it's the professor in him. But, now thinking about it, I'm glad someone read the documents. I'm also glad it wasn't me because seriously, booooooring.





Aaron just posted the lovely video I made of the house on his blog, urban cowboy So you can check that there if you so choose.

In other news, my store opens in two weeks!!! I saw it the other day and boy is it bright! They let yours truly pick out the paint colors and I'll let you decide for yourself if you like them or not. I'll be in there this Friday to start unpacking the shipments. I'll snap some pics. I'm also going back to the Vancoov this Tuesday-Thursday for a managers conference and am excited because I get to see all my peeps from Groove Camp back in July/Aug.
If you're paying attention to the chronology of said events you will notice that I have gotten myself out of moving into our new house! God is on my side!

xoxo,
Alison

Sunday, October 5, 2008

House, here we come!


Dear Blog,
Well I've been hiding from the subject long enough in fear that if I talked about our big news too soon, it might not come to fruition. My husband however, has not felt that fear and has been shouting from the mountaintops that we are currently in the throes of buying our first home together. I believe he has been updating facebook on every single status since we started this crazy house hunting journey. His status for the past month has been, "Aaron is house hunting!!" "Aaron found a house!" "That house sucked!" "Aaron is house hunting again!" "Aaron put an offer down on a house!" "They didn't accept, house hunting again!" And on and on and on, he makes me laugh. So, I told him when we actually found a house and were about to close then I would be the one to announce the official news since he's been teasing all of y'all for the past month.

So....drumroll....we're about to close on our first home on October 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's really exciting. I've never felt like I had to buy a house before a certain age and I never really minded renting in the past, it was always so convenient. But when we came out to Seattle, I felt like if I had to rent again I would DIE. I couldn't imagine moving out of our temporary apartment into another rented apt or house and then having to move...again. We both felt like with the economy the way it was, and us having enough money for a down payment that now was the time to get into a house. So, major props to Aaron who literally scoured all of Seattle for the perfect house. On all of his days off he and Bella were in the car looking for the Shurts' first home. There were a couple that we put offers on and they didn't work out, but never discouraged he continued the search and then one day he came home and said..."I've found our house." So when I went and looked at it, I knew this was going to be the place for us. It's about 1300 square feet on the outskirts of Seattle in a nice, suburby area. In this move to Seattle, Aaron and I have found out that we love the suburbs. We like nice quiet neighborhoods where there are families and kids...we are not city dwellers. We don't like festivals going on outside of our bedroom door and beercans strewn around the streets where we walk Bella. So...we are moving to the burbs and we couldn't be more excited about it!

So, wish us luck in the moving process and I will post pics when we get all of our furniture inside of it!
Yay!

xoxo,
Al

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

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ohhhhh Seattle

Dear Blog,

I stand corrected. Seattle is NOT the rainiest city in America. After my dad read my last post he promptly busted out the almanac and looked up the rainiest city in America. Seattle wasn't in the top 20. I believe the rainiest city is somewhere in Alabama, I think it's Mobile. While I was talking to my dad I had to explain it's not the same kind of gully washers that we would experience in Charlotte and Columbia, but more like a spitting rain that lasts for about half an hour and only seems to happen when I hop on the Vespa to come home.

I felt the need to clarify to all you readers that Seattle really is beautiful and the days when the sun is shining and there is a view of the water, the views are breathtaking. So, for this next post I decided I would list out all of the things I like and dislike about my new home.

LIKES
1. The views! It's so beautiful sometimes that I can't believe I live here. I do like the weather. The mornings are brisk and I need a jacket to walk Bella and the afternoons usually dont get out of the 70's, sometimes 60's.

2. lululemon! I love my job. I think that has made a huge difference in the move out here. I have a lot to do and I genuinely like all of the people that I work with.

3. Activities. Aaron and I have been leading a much more active lifestyle since coming out here. I've been doing bootcamps and Aaron has been rocking the volleyball tourneys! I'll include some pictures later.

4. Possibilities. I know that one sounds dumb, but I honestly feel like I can do anything after packing up all belongings and trekking across the country. I know no one thought we would actually move but we set our mind to it and we did it! I think that means we can do anything :)

DISLIKES

1. Our stupid pot head, chain cigarette smoking, dumbass, next door neighbor. Whenever we open our window to let the air in, we have to hear his dumbass talking about all the stupid things that potheads talk about. And also smell all of the fumes that he puts off. Sick.

2. Hippies. There are a lot of weirdos out here that think it's a good idea to be vegan. Whatevs.

3. Being so far away from my peeps. I didn't think it would be as big of a deal to 3000 miles away from my friends as it is. I have to literally plan times to call my family and friends. Three hours time difference is definitely harder than I thought it would be. I'm also missing out on my best friends babies growing up :( At least they have blogs that I can follow.

Even though I've never claimed to be a huge fan of the South, there are things that I miss about it. I can't exactly articulate it but I'm sure all you Southerners know what I'm talking about. There's just a different way of living down there that no other part of the country can replicate.

Anywhoodle, here are some pics of a bootcamp that I did last week! Please laugh as I find it hysterical.








xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, August 21, 2008

All I wanna do is a vroom, vroom, vroom and a zoom zoom!

Dear Blog,

So, I'm wondering if people just equate me and Vespas. Because I received this in the mail yesterday.




It was from my sweet Momma who said it reminded her of me and all of my new adventures! I realize I should have used the flash when taking the picture but I was too lazy to take another one and then upload it again, so sorry kids. It's funny that she sent me this yesterday because this is the first week that I've been brave enough to take ole Birdie out on the Seattle roads. Now, if you'll remember, I am directionally challenged. Like, I don't even know if that describes it. The only way I can get from place is to place is sheer memorization. So, my first day of riding the Vespa to work I made Aaron drive in front of me so I could memorize how to get to work. Even though he had been driving me everyday prior to this adventure by myself, I wasn't confident in my abilities to get there and on top of that, I have OCD regarding being to places on time so I couldn't handle the thought of being lost and being late to work. Whoa. Man overboard. So, I get to work and it's all good. I clip my helmet on Vespa and go in to work my 8 hours. I have mild anxiety about getting back home by myself but little did I know that would be the least of my worries. When I get off work I go outside and come to find that my helmet is not full of water because at some point in the day it rained and my helmet acted as a rain gauge. Which leads to me to...

Lessons in Vespa riding #1: Do not leave helmet clipped on Vespa outside in the rainiest city in America. DUH.

I did the only thing I could think of to do. I turned it upside down, poured the rain water out and stuck it on my head. Wet. I didn't even really think about getting lost on the way home because I was thinking of the rain trickling out of my helmet and onto my neck and back on my commute home.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise!

xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Made my day


Dear Blog,

A friend of mine sent me this link as it is the cover of the latest skirt! magazine and said it reminded her of me. It totally made me smile and reminded me that I have the best friends even if they are 3,000 miles away.
Thanks Nini!

I'm working on putting her website up here but I forgot how to add links and I'm pressed for time right now! It will be up later!

xoxo,
alison

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Teach me!!!

Dear Blog,

I've often said that I should teach a class on how to interview. It's a skill. There are things to do and things not to do, things to say and things not to say. Whenever I'm applying to jobs I know as soon as I get the interview that I'm golden, I've just got it down. Don't know why but I can market myself like a champ. Now, what I canNOT do is shine in a group environment. This is where I need the teaching. I'm sure we've all been there. You have to go to a corporate dinner and the president of the company is there, or some bigwig that everyone is trying to impress and so you're on your best behavior right? Well, for me, I'm always on my best behavior but I'm really not going above and beyond to impress the big wig because I'm not going to be fake and sometimes that is a skill I wish I had. You have no idea. I can't be that person that hangs on to their every word or laughs at their jokes. I'm sure that sometimes I've come across as a bored, self righteous beeotch but really in my brain I'm dissecting the persons behavior who is engaging the big wig and wondering if that is a learned skill and if so, can I learn? Because surely that person will be remembered and I will be remembered as the girl who was clearly more interested in her sushi order that contrived conversation. Thoughts?

Anywhoodle, Aaron and Bella came to visit me in Vancouver for my last weekend here. This is my 4th week in Vancouver!! Crazy how time goes by. We had a grand time, ate a lot of food, did a lot of walking, went to some parks, had fun with my crazy roomie Christie. Oh, we took Bella to the Pacific Ocean!! We took some great pics.





Anyway, wish all of you were here!

xoxo,
Alison

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Groove Camp



Dear Blog,

I hated camp when I was a kid. No lie. One time at Girl Scout camp I awoke my dad from a deep slumber and convinced him that I had hypothermia and he needed to pick me up from camp, right now. And he did! Thanks Dad!! I never had to go back to Girl Scout Camp, yesssssssssss. So, I totally feel like I'm at camp right now back in Vancouver. There is a total of six of us here and they have us paired up in threes, all with roomies. It's kind of terrifying being around new people and all of the old insecurities that used to haunt me back in the day and I thought I had gotten over come rushing back; "Will they like me?," "Will they think I'm fat?," "Will they think I'm funny?" "Will they think I'm smart?" And there's an added layer of comparisons here because we're all yogis, and lead active and healthy lifestyles and so some people are afraid to admit they eat meat and are afraid their yoga practice is not as up to par as others. But, that's why it's called a practice, duh. Yesterday I was asked if I was a vegetarian and when I said no I was met with a truly disappointed, "Oh." Crazy huh? I love hot dogs too much to give up meat!!
Anyway, so I'm here for another week and a half and then I'm done with camp! Yay. I'll be a Groove camp graduate. My roomie is from Cleveland, OH and she's pretty funny and nice. She drew me very detailed instructions to a yoga studio because my "sense of direction scares her." I would say it scares pretty much everyone. It's awful. Take a look at the map though, I had to take a picture because I thought it was hilare. She way dumbed it down for me.


Anyway, Aaron is going to attempt to bring Bella across the border this weekend for some fam time in Canada.
That's all for now folks!

xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Life in the PNW

Dear Blog,

You know how each company has different acronyms for phrases they use all the time? I'm slowing getting used to the lulu lingo and PNW is thrown a lot. I'm very lucky to be opening a store in the Pacific NorthWest because lulu is growing like ca-razy up here and everyone snatches it up like hot coldcakes. Speaking of coldcakes, today it was so cold here. It didn't even get out of the 60's!!! I wear a jacket everyday and I usually take it off at some point but today I was all kindsa bundled up in my jacket and regretting my sandals choice.

I'm slowly learning that everyone who lives up here (disclaimer: that I've come in contact with, clearly I have not met everyone here) LOVES it up here with a passion. I mean a hot, fierce passion. So hot and fierce that the PNW wants to secede from the Union (whoops, that was South Carolina!!!) alright so the PNW wants to secede from the United States and form their own country; Cascadia. That's right, Cascadia. And just for clarification, I'm talking Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. I could have dual citizenship, y'all!! I will keep you posted on the success of this new country in my coming posts. BUT, in the meantime, read all about it HERE I'm already practicing my pledge of allegiance to my new country!!

I head back to the Vancoov (Vancouver) on Sunday for my last round of the Groove and I guess I'm not dreading it but I'll be glad when my one week here, two weeks there routine is over. Somedays I feel a little misplaced out here, lots o' crazy hippies!, but everyday I'm getting more and more used to it. It's been a great experience so far!!

Here are some pics from the weekend my mom was here!
Dang blogger isn't loading pics, it'll have to wait.






















xoxo,
Alison

Friday, July 18, 2008

Vancooooooooouuuuuuver

Dear Blog,

I love the internet. There, I said it. I can sit and be on the internet for hours and hours and hours looking at everything from facebook to craigs list to gofugyourself to all of my peeps blogs to on and on. The internet has especially been helpful in this endeavor across the country that has now taken me into another country. Alas, as soon as I got into Canada my trusty iBook ceased to work. Panic, panic, panic. I mean, pure panic ensued. I had to interrupt Aaron's dinner with friends because I was having a LARGE panic attack about my laptop...is that normal? How am I going to stay in touch with my peeps, how am I going to check facebook, how am I going to blog?!? Well, when you stop doing those things you become somewhat detached from them. Although, I managed to wrangle myself a loaner lululemon laptop. Say that 5x fast. Anywhoodle, I will have to get said iBook fixed but needless to say not having a laptop is not the end of the world.

As I'm sure you all cared so much about my laptop dilemmas, I will move onto other topics. I APOLOGIZE for being so completely out of touch. My schedule with this move has been absolutely crazy. I will break it down for you.
July 7-13th in Seattle training at University Village Store
July 14th-19th in Vancouver to beging my Groove Training (yes, that is what they call it)
July 19th-20th in Seattle to help Mom and Ron unload the Penske
July 20th-25th in Vancoov to continue the Groove
July 25th-August 3rd in Seattle training at U. Village store
August 3-August 15th in Vancoov for last of the Groove.

Now, with all of that going back and forth you can imagine why I have not been in better contact. Hopefully next week I will get my laptop fixed and will be able to holla at my peeps but until then I'm stuck. I can't use my phatty iPhone because I'm in Canada and that's all international and crap.

So, onto this Groove training. There are about 6 of us here and they have us in these swank apartments in downtown Vancouver...and we all have roomates. At first I was like, WTF?!? A roomate? But now, I love my little roomie. She's 25 from San Diego and a fun girl. We've bonded and it almost feels like college again. She drank my milk and I had to apologize for leaving little piles of stuff everywhere. It's been interesting to say the least.

In other news, Mom and Ron safely made it here!! I'm so proud of BOTH of them for driving across the country in a 22 foot Penske truck, with the Jeep on the back and a Bella in the middle. That's crazy!! There weren't any setbacks and I was waiting at the apartment when they pulled up. They were soooooooooo happy to be there and I was too. We spent all Saturday unloading the truck and getting stuff semi-organized in the apt and then had a fun day on Sunday. We took Mom downtown to the market and the waterfront and I think she promptly fell in love with it :) I'm trying to convince her and Dad to move to the Northwest to nanny my children when/if I decided to have them :)

All in all, I have to say I'm liking this change in the pace of life. I've become a lot more independent throughout this process and that is something that was definitely needed.

I've taken some great pics but posting them will have to wait until I get my computer fixed!!

xoxo,
al

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Techin' out

Dear Blog,

I most definitely do NOT consider myself a nerd, I mean seriously. I do not think I could even pretend to be a nerd. But, this week I've enjoyed two very nerdy things. First off, I had a surprise in the mail on Thursday! The front desk called me and said I had a package! As I made my way to the lobby I was like hmmm...what could it be? Lo and behold, Aaron bought me an iSight for my laptop! Although, due to some technical difficulties Aaron and I were unable to talk. BUT, we were able to hook it up so that Leigh and I could video chat!!! Yay I was so excited to see my bff:). So, if anyone has a MacBook with iSight then please holler at your girl because that is my new Fave.

Next on the list of geekiness is the new iPhone! Oh wait you didn't hear? Yes, the newiphone has arrived. I imagined that I could just breeze into the apple store and get myself hooked up. I had no idea that peeps would me spending the night outside of the store!!! That is insane and kind of dorky...sorry to all dorks out there. So anyway, the following day the lines were looking smaller and so I braved the line. Lucky for me, I only had to wait an hour! It was so simple! Only an hour and I was in tekky heaven! Seriously everyone needs to get one because they are awesome! I think I'm in love! I'm actually blogging on it right now.

Right now I'm in vancouver and I think I like it, not sure yet. I will fill you in as the week progresses.

Xoxo,
Al

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Where are you from?


Dear Blog,

Well, here I am. Sitting in my hotel room in Seattle watching E! on television as I blog. I'm pretty exhausted right now but I just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I'm here safe and sound. I'm not gonna lie folks, Monday was seriously hard. Knowing that I was traversing the country with a one way ticket out there was damn right scary. I kept thinking about now...how am I getting back to the airport to go home? OHHHHH, that's right. I'm not. I'm like, out here. For good. I had a couple panic attack moments and tears were shed as I was sitting in the airport alone but then I was like, THIS SUCKS. I am not going to be that girl who can't move more than 100 miles from her home. I'm out here now and I'm gonna rock it. So, as soon as I made that my mindset I've been rocking it.

I LOVE my job. I love the people I work with and they love me and we're just in love. No really, everyone that meets me gives me a huge hug, knows my bio and then we skip off into the Seattle sunset. Alright, well not that last part but the other two parts are true. Right now, working is the best part of my day because I spend the rest of the day alone. And we know how much I loooooooooove that.

BTW, the sun has been out and the temp hasn't gotten out of the 70's, it's been beautiful. How's the weather been in NC/SC?
heehee

xoxo,
Alison

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Fun for all ages!



Slip 'n Slide for the under 21 crowd.




Drink 'n Dive for the over 21 crowd.


Either way, everyone had a blast!

xoxo,
Alison

Monday, June 30, 2008

The picture that started it all


Dear Blog,
(I'm having trouble loading the pic, patience please.)
That particular jpeg has decidedly changed my future for the time being. Before I get to that riveting story, let me give you all a littttttle more insight as to why Aaron and I are moving. Aaron and I have always felt like maybe we aren't southern living folks and that perhaps we should move to the West Coast. For some reason, Seattle has always stuck out to us. We have been there a handful of times and it's so beautiful and just has a vibe that we think we can get used to. So, when it became an option for Aaron to possibly transfer out there with his job we were like, DUH, we are so there. Oh, what say you? It rains there? Well, I guess it's a good thing I bought my phatty bo batty trench coat back in March. Heeeeeeeeeey! I knew that two hours of hmmmmiiing would definitely come in handy.

So, why has that jpeg changed my future the time being? Well, the Lord has blessed me with a mind that knows what it wants. About a month ago I was given the task to find an image of an article of clothing that we sell in our boutique at the studio and do a little write up about it for a local magazine. Well, we sell a lot of The Groove Pant by lululemon in our studio so I was perusing their website looking for a high res image. While I was on their website I took a look-see at their Job section to see if there was any potential there. Lo, and behold there on the glowing LCD monitor was the write up of my future job. Store Manager. So, lululemon is opening a new store in downtown Seattle and they are looking for a store manager. I spruced up my resume and wrote a kick ass cover letter that I had Mom, Dad and Ron proof read over and over and over and then I sent it off to internet-land. Now, I hate applying online because it's like...ummm who checks that stuff? Well, I think someone checks it because about a week later I got an email from an employee about doing a telephone interview. Wooohooo, I was so excited. After a grueling telephone interview and a long week of waiting, I found out they wanted to fly me out there for a face to face. So, in two days I flew to and from Seattle and had a two hour interview. Well, obvy, I knocked their socks off and I landed the job!! I am so excited and think this is going to be a great fit for me.

Now, the kicker. I have to be out there on July 8th. That's about 2 weeks earlier than I anticipated. It totally threw me for a loop. Being the Type A worry wart that I am I was FREAKING OUT about Aaron driving out there with all of our stuff by himself. I made it my mission to find him a replacement. I racked my brain trying to think of someone who had a schedule flexible enough to drive across the country for a week. Only one person came to mind. My mom. I ran this by Aaron and he was all, "Heck yeah! Moo and Ron's big adventure!" I asked my mom if they would miss her at Starbucks for a week and she thought they could manage and she has enlisted to ride with Ron for 5 days across the country. Now this, I wish I could see. Aaron, Mom and Bella riding in Penske rental truck.

This will be very well documented.

xoxo,
al

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

What a long strange trip it's been, and this is just the beginning.

Dear Blog,

Hello? Are you still there? Do I have any readers left? Man, it's been a crazy June. Let's see in the past month, I thought I might be pregnant and totally freaked out about how that is not in my plan right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of me holding a baby?? I need more practice! After getting used to the fact that I could possibly be pregnant I then decided that I was gonna rock pregnancy like no other and be like Gwen Stefani up in the hizzzz-ouse and started to name my imaginary baby. Then my period came and I celebrated that I wasn't pregnant by getting kinda drunk. (Sorry Mom and Dad I know you don't like your little girl drinking so just erase that from your memory bank.) Anyway, back to June. So we have continued our whirl wind month by doing a lot of traveling. Aaron was in Seattle at the beginning of the month and has documented his eating his way through the city on his site, check it. Then we were off to New York to hang out with my parents and our bff's Spurgeon, Gilleon and Kate. Of course New York is always fun and it was way fun this time because my parents were there! Dad, Aaron and Spurge were great sports while Mom, Kate and myself managed to do a little shopping and visit some tourist attractions. After we got back from New York, Spurge and Gils decided they missed us way too much and came down and spent a couple days with us. We had a super FUN drink n' dive party in their honor. That's right, we pulled out the slip 'n slide from last year and invited over a dozen or so of our besties and had fun rollin' down the slide. I even did it!!! Somewhere out there I know there are pics but I'll have to track them down before adding them to the site.
As soon as we kicked those two out we were off to Cincinatti for a family wedding! Can you imagine Alison, Aaron and Bella in a Toyota Corolla from 10 hours???? It was not a pretty site. We had to rent a car because we sold mine, YES!!!!!!, and we ain't trying to ride up there in a Jeep. In my mind Jeeps are about as comfortable as a dang horse and buggy. I'm just sayin'. Cincinatti was grand. As soon as we got back from Cincy, I was jet setting off to Seattle for an overnight trip. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired and am glad to be home for a little while. My mom has asked me was I ever going to blog again and lately my brain has been so filled with details of real life that I haven't made room for creativity. I know I have let you down blog world. I'm scared to look at my statcounter because I don't want to see how few people are checking my blog.

Hopefully something exciting will happen soon, like I'll wreck my Vespa again or something and that will drive my membership back up!!

That's all for tonight ho's and bro's.
xoxo,
Al

Thursday, June 12, 2008

I got friends in looooooow places


Dear Blog,
I can't believe I just used a phrase from a country song in my blog title, I abhor country music--it's terrible, but I couldn't think of another phrase about friends. I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. What it means to be a friend, having a lot of friends, having a BEST friend, having no friends. I think I have a lot of quality friends and then some not so quality friends that I keep around because they are just fun to be around and then I get my feelings hurt when they act selfishly. I think the reason I've been thinking so much about my friends is because in about a month Aaron and I are taking a big adventure. Much like Oprah and Gayle's big adventure, we are heading cross country. Unlike Oprah and Gayle's big adventure we're not just taking a trip we're moving to God's country (heehee) Seattle, WA.

Let the shock sink in. Yep, ole' Ronny boy and I are moving to Seeeeeeeee-attle. We've always thought that the West was a place we would like to live and if you'll remember Seattle is where Aaron professed his undying love for me, shouted from the top of Mount Ranier that he wanted marry me and yeah, basically that's where we got engaged. Plus, there is tons of coffee there. That is a huge reason in and of itself. Screw the folks who recount the negatives of coffee. Coffee is a gift from God. A little ground up bean with some hot water never tasted soooooooo good.

Anyway, one of my main worries is that I won't find friends out there like I have here. And that my friends here are going to forget about me and find another funny, fabulous, fashionista to be their friend. Humph. I'm already getting jealous of my old friends friendship with this new awesome yet made up friend. I'm totally going to be so mean when I come back to visit and I meet this new friend. I hate her already.

After having re-read this post, I'm surprised I have any friends at all.

xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, June 5, 2008

My dowry

Dear Blog,

My dad often asks me, in the presence of Aaron, what did I bring to our marriage? I don't cook, I clean alright, I'm like take 'em or leave 'em on the subject of kids and I have no discernible talents other than dressing myself up all nice and pretty like. I tell him that I offered MYSELF to this marriage and, DUH!, that is more than enough. Hey, Aaron knew what he got when he was marrying me so don't feel sorry for him.

I have a feeling that at some point in our marriage I'm gonna pop out some lil' Alison and Aaron's. I already know who the favorite parent is gonna be and uh...it's not me.

So my bff 4 life just had a baby! That's right, Faris just had herself a little chillin'. She had a cute little baby girl named Eliza Faris Connor. She shore is tiny and cute. Yesterday I was in quite the baby loving mood and I kept trying to hold little Eliza and she wasn't happy with her Auntie Mate and together we look like this;



I'm looking all like, what the heck am I doing with this baby? And Eliza is just throwing up everywhere. Together we are not an army of one. But give the baby to Aaron and look what happens;



Together, they are an army of one. Aaron is like, "Man! I love me some babies! I'm good at everything! Everyone loves me! I'm Aaron!" and Eliza is all "ganalsfgu;abna sfd gooooooooooooooooooooahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Sigh. Eliza really is a cute little nugget of baby munchkin love and we had so much fun getting to know her!!
Lucky for you readers, we took some video of potential #1 Dad and his practice child. I apologize in advance for my laughing in the background.




xoxo,
#56930762 Momma
(alison)

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Officially an expert



Dear Blog,
You read right! I am officially considering myself an expert on marriage now that I've been married for a year and a few days. This past Monday, May 26, was my and Aaron's first anniversary! What a lovely day it was. We celebrated the big anniversary/Memorial Day weekend by going to Savannah, Ga. We stayed at the purty Westin Harbor Resort and enjoyed ourselves way too much. Aaron kept referring to it as our honeymoon so I tweaked the name a little bit and started calling it the "mini-moon." We had so much fun during our mini moon that we vowed we would take one every year no matter how busy our lives became.

At the risk of sounding absolutely cheese-a-licious, I never imagined that being married would be this easy and fun. This past year with Aaron has been one of the best of my measley 27 years on this planet. He is my best friend, biggest fan, constant companion and knows all of the quirky, OCD, expensive habits I have and still loves the heck out of me anyway. We've taken some great trips, had a lot of laughs and learned that communication really is key; "Aaron, I promise, I really DO need that pair of shoes. I'm only telling you now that I'm going to buy them so you can have some time to get used to that idea."

I can only hope that the rest of our years will be as easy as this one was.



P.S. The cake was freezer burnt. Booooooo.

xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, May 22, 2008

A little of this and a little of that


Dear Blog,

I'm always on a diet and that means that Aaron is always on a diet too! Isn't that so fair? Well, thanks to my Internet BFF, us being on a diet has been so much easier. Like a good Internet BFF she told me about a recipe of the day from Cooking Light. All you have to do is sign up on Cooking Light's website for their recipe of the day and like *magic* a new healthy recipe appears in your inbox everyday. I've been cooking at least one of these recipes every week and generally trying to eat healthier for about the past month or so. Tonight we decided to have Elk burgers. Yes. Elk burgers. 90% Lean Meat. Virtually fat free. With organic baked potatoes and organic corn. I know. WTF? Have we completely lost it? Yep. Cause that burger was DISGUSTING. After one bite I thoughtfully looked at Aaron and said, "I don't think I like this burger." He took another bite and said, "Yeah, this is pretty gross." We then decided to screw the diet and go to McDonald's!! I mean, who can go wrong with 100% beef? Not me. Definitely not Aaron.

Two quarter pounders, two fries and one large DIET Coke later, we were much happier people. Even with the addition of about 2,000 calories.

xoxo,
Alison

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Damn hippies


Dear Blog,

It's no secret that I work at the BEST yoga studio in Charlotte. For reals, I went to another one this past week and was seriously UN-impressed. I won't mention the name of it but just recognize that Yoga One is the best. You can check out their website here, Yoga One . You can also check out my phatty profile, it's a little embarrassing but you already know all about me anyway so what to the ev, Here

There's nothing better than some shameless self promotion, right? One of the things I love about the studio is the different types of people that work there. In my previous jobs I have not encountered that much diversity but at Yoga One everyone is so different and it is quite fun. So, that being said, all of this diversity has introduced me to a couple different things, some good and some bad, that I never would have known had I not worked at Yoga One.

Hippie Butter Seriously people, this stuff is good. Put it on a banana and wham, you've got yourself a nutritious little snack and it keeps you full because it's got twice the amount of fiber as peanut butter. Can we say a healthy digestive tract? Holla.

Jesus Bread Now, if you use the Hippie Butter on the Jesus bread, then you are really feeling good because that's two organic things that you are eating, at the same time! Now pat yourself on the back and call it a day.

All Hippie Butter and Jesus Bread aside, I think one of the most important lessons I have learned from working at the yoga studio is that every day is what I make it. I can either let myself be in a bad mood and reactive and be stank with everyone I come in contact with or I can choose to be in a good mood and let things roll off my back. I know that sounds all crazy and hippie like, but just think about it, then try it, and then thank me. You're welcome in advance.

xoxo (or Namaste for all you enlightened ones)
Alison

Monday, May 12, 2008

Seacrest...OUT

Hey ho's and bro's,

The Shurts' need your help! Aaron has entered a design contest for Doc Marten. Remember Doc Marten's? Yours truly had a pair in the 7th grade, you know that's right! I was going through my discovering myself phase, I probably looked like such a dork. Anyway, the winning designer will have their design printed on boots and sold in stores. Obvy, we want Aaron to win so his notoriety can grow and spread throughout the U.S!! The designs are below. Click on the image and vote "Love it"! If you vote "Hate it" then I will personally find you and kick you with my good leg.

Design #1



Design #2




Design #3




And the answer to your question is yes, I am obviously the model for Design #3.

Please Rock the Vote!!!

xoxo,
Alison

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Upd8

Dear Blog,

Man, it's been a busy week. Sorry for the neglect but I'm back. The quote unquote lineage holder of our studio is making his first trip to the SouthEast this weekend to hold an All Day Immersion* and you're looking at the event manager. It's been a little overwhelming but the way I see it is the event is going to happen so let's just get it done right beotches. It's been a little challenging hobbling around on my gimp leg but I'm not letting a gimp leg hold me back. I think all the years of walking around in uncomfortable shoes has prepared me for this Vespa wreck. Everything happens for a reason. I keep singing to myself "It's hard out here for a gimp, trying to make that money for the rent." But, not that many people get the reference so my suggestion is to watch the movie Hustle and Flow and then come back and read this blog.

Now, I bet you didn't know that I am a total hypochondriac. Poor, poor Aaron for having to listen to all of the musings of what can go wrong with my leg. Here are a couple, in chronological order of course.

1. The night I came home from the hospital I was convinced I was bleeding internally and was going to die in the middle of the night. I asked Aaron how would I know if I was bleeding internally and he said if my pee had blood in it. So what did I do? Drank a lot of water throughout the night and made myself go pee pee about 27 times to check and make sure there was no blood in the urine. There wasn't.

2. On about the 3rd day of recovery my foot got really swollen and I was convinced it was infected. I made Aaron look at it like 35 times during the day to see if it was okay. I looked up gangrene on the internets and thought I was going to have to get my whole leg cut off from the knee down. I was imagining all of the cute shoes I could no longer wear because those prosthetic legs only fit in like New Balance or something.

3. Now that I know my leg isn't infected there isn't much to worry about, but I've managed to come up with a few. Everytime I stand up and the blood rushes back into my leg and it HURTS SO BAD because of exposed nerve endings or something like that and I am constantly saying "F*CK MAN" (I say it just like my friend Paul and he's where I learned it from so blame him for my profanity usage.) So, after I get over that crazy hurting sensation I think that my leg is going to have that phantom hurting for the rest of my life and I'm going to be known as Aunt Gimpy forever. Aaron and Leigh have repeatedly told me there is no way that can happen.

We'll see.

I have been fortunate enough to never have been really hurt in my life until now. I think we all know why. I'm annoying.

*An All Day Immersion is one day chock full of hot yoga in a hot gymnasium with about 200 sweaty yogis. If you're not doing anything on Saturday, come on down!

xoxox,
Alison

Friday, May 2, 2008

Let's be honest


Dear Blog,

As the title suggests, let's be honest here. Didn't we all think that at one point or another I would wreck the Vespa? I mean, if it was going to happen, wouldn't it be better to do it sooner rather than later? I think so. Alright, so if you put your context clues together then you will concur that I indeed wrecked the Vespa yesterday. The following is a true recount of what had happened.I go to the grocery store to get some chicken for dinner. I'm riding home and a guy in an Acura I believe, cuts me off. So, I overcompensate by swerving and braking extremely hard. Well, wouldn't you know that I just flipped right over and skid a few feet? After I come to a stop I just sit in the middle of the road like hmmm...did that just happen? I then check to make sure that my sunglasses and new top are still in tact. They are. Some nice gentleman comes to my aide and helps me over to the side of the road. As luck would have it a fireman was right behind me and saw everything that happened and came over and started asking all of the appropriate questions. This is all I would say;


"What I need you to do is call my husband. I need you to call my husband. Call Aaron. Can someone call my husband? Please someone call Aaron."

Finally, someone called Aaron. He came a runnin'. Literally. About 10 minutes later I see Aaron sprinting to the wreck site.
"Hey honey, I wrecked the Vespa."
"I see that, are you alright?"
"I think so."

At first I refuse medical treatment cause I hate hospitals, etc. But, then I couldn't walk on my leg so they load me up in the ambulance and away we go. The medic with me was super cool and she helped me calm down. Once we got to the emergency room she had to leave me and I started crying. She just told me to breathe like I do in yoga and I would be alright. She was right! Aaron had to deal with the cops and then he came to be by my side at the hospital.

Alright, so the emergency room is ghett-o. I was not a fan. My room was all gross and had like cheeto's on the floor. Uh-uh. Someone better get that up. So, props to my boy Chris Restrepo for being a doc. Holla. Anyway, back to me. The doctor was like trying to send me home without triple checking that my knee was okay. So we got in a little fight. I was all "LISTEN HERE DOC. My knee hurts. The only reason I even CAME here is because I was seriously worried that my knee was messed up. I am not exaggerating. I want you to check and then double check and then TRIPLE CHECK that my knee is okay."

So, we did three x-rays. And guess who was right? That damn doctor. Ain't nothing wrong with my knee. It just hurts cause I don't know...I got in a wreck?!?

We stayed in the hospital until about 10:30 and then I came home and had to get in the tub to clean out my wounds. I think that was the most pain I've ever experienced. That was the first time I really cried. I just sat in the tub and cried and cried.

Then I ate a pb&j and went to sleeeeeep.

So, it's all good. I'm a little banged up but I'm going to heal. Will I ride the Vespa again? Prolly.

The end.
xoxo
Alison

Friday, April 25, 2008

Alison and Pete make for good convo

Dear Blog,

Aaron and I talk on iChat a lot. Since we're both on the computer all day it is very condusive to have little quick chats and that way I don't feel like I haven't seen him all day. Pete is our handyman at work and I must say, I love me some Pete. He brightens my day like every day. Here is a pic of me and Pete.



I always have a story about Pete everyday and today I regaled it to Aaron over ichat. The end turns out to be rather humorous.

alison:so this is funny
i'm riding home on my scooter
and i'm at the stop light of 4th and kings
and i just hear this person honking and honking
and i look over
and it's pete!
big smile

aaron:haha

Alison:no teeth
arm just a wavin

Aaron:hahaha

Alison: and it warmed my heart

Aaron:yeah

Alison:yeah

Alison: cause he looooooooves me

Aaron:thats a good story
true
he does

Alison: althought
today
he told me i was going to die like johnny cochran did
with a brain aneurysm

Aaron: y?

Alison: because i'm always on the phone

Aaron: you are?

Alison:people always callin
so i gotta talk

Aaron:true
well i hope thats not the case

Alison: me too

Aaron: we are gonna die when we are 115

Alison:ok
sounds good

Aaron: and we will be on the smuckers commercial together

Alison:hahahahahahahahaha
lol

Aaron: ill be hunched over and you will have white hair with big ole glasses

hahaha
hahahahahaha
hahahahahahaha

Alison: hopefully i'll have my eyes fixed by then
true

xoxo,
Alison

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Gimme, gimme More, gimme more, gimme, gimme More

Dear Blog,

So, I've been tagged by Crist to do this THING, where I tell you 6 things about me or something. And I'm like, don't I already tell you people enough? I think I get pretty nitty gritty on this here blog, my trials, tribulations, wants and needs. But, NO, you want more, more, more. And to that, I say, fine. I will give you more.
Here are the rules;
Six Quirky Things About Me

Rules:
* Link to the person that tagged you.
* Post the rules on your blog.
* Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
* Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

I think I'm going to have to not follow the last two rules because I don't know 6 bloggers that would do this, so, sorry person who made up the rules but this part of the Family Tree stops with me.

1. When I was little I wanted to be a donut maker. Seriously, that's what I would call it too. I wanted to be that person who got up at 3 a.m to make donuts at Dunkin' Donuts for all of the early risers who found sugar to be their breakfast of choice. I thought their was nothing more perfect than a donut. I still think that. I had high ambitions as a 4 year old. Makin' the parents proud. And I was the over achiever in the family.

2. When I'm working out and listening to the iPizzle, I mostly listen to some hip hop and urban beats. Not only do I listen to some booty shakin' music, I choreograph Fly Girl dances in my head to go to the song. Of course, I am always the star fly girl. I even think about what I would wear in the hip hop videos. I imagine myself to be the flyest white girl in all the videos. Pretty soon I have all of the hottest stars asking me to be in their video.

3. Sometimes I can be so cheap!! Clothing and accessories aside, I won't buy anything unless Aaron and I absolutely have to have it. "Aaron, are you sure you need to eat this week? Now, brushing our teeth...is that a necessity? Cause...we're out of toothpaste." I'll use all of the lotion out of little hotel mini bottles before I go buy some more. That's where I save money so I can buy more important things.

4. I'm not a very sympathetic person. I wasn't born with that gene. I mean, I'll be sympathetic if it is something worth being sympathetic to; not being able to get pregnant, getting fired from a job; natural disasters; but you're talking to the wrong girl if you complain about dumb things. Case in point; I used to have a co-worker who could find the negative in any given situation and then would turn it around like the universe is totally against her and WOE, WOE IS SHE. Well, all that starts to get so old and people tune you out. Besides, I firmly believe we are in charge of our own happiness. If you're waiting on it from someone else, well you'll be waiting a long time. Check it.

5. I cry at everything. Give me a commercial with some sad dogs who aren't being adopted and I'll cry like a baby. Give me a 20/20 special with Babwa Walters and show like two people being reunited and I'll just crrrrryyyyyyyy and crrrrryyyyyyyy. Aaron thinks I'm cah-razy and all I can say is, I get it from my Momma. She be that way too.

6. Now, this is kind of weird. But, I make friends very easily with all men over 50. I have like 4 friends from my past jobs who are all over 50 and who will still call me regularly to chew the fat. Now, I know some of y'all think that's creepy but it's totally just a friendship. All of them know Aaron and I know their wives and we're just friends. So, if you know any 50+ men who are nice and looking for a friend who will make them laugh just send 'em on my way.

Now, are you all satisfied?

xoxo,
Alison