Denim controls my life....

Work.
This week, the next, and the one following that will be insane. But I'm welcoming the change! Sale is the worst! The store is messy, the customers are messy/rude, the standards just disappear, but now is the time of the season when I get to "take over" again... and start putting out the new collection as well as bringing the standards back to where they belong... So this week I'm putting out all the new denim. These pictures are of the denim wall... its one of the largest in the company, and it's a TASK to put together! The first picture is of the entire wall, the second is the first half that took me most of Thursday to re-set. I finished it up on Friday. I am doing the big floor-move on Sunday night, putting in windows, placing a new collection and basically moving the entire store around. SO getting the denim wall done early will save me and the team SO much time Sunday night. And yes, I work for a company that is made up of so many homosexuals that they schedule a major floor-move to be executed by every store on the biggest sports night of the year... hahaha! Good thing I don't care about football!

Next week I go to Vegas, where I will be learning about the new Spring Summer collection and what new standards I have to implement in my store. Then the following week I will then come back and have a visit from my boss (area visual manager) and his boss (area manager) so the store must look amazing. I also have to present everything I will have learned in Vegas to the staff with my area bosses... oh what fun!
BUT I am thankful for the work, and the ability to be creative in my job, and that I don't have to sit in front of a computer all day long.

things on my mind:
Family
My stomach issues (am I REALLY this stressed?)
Preforming the perfect balancing act of a good friend/sister/wife/employee....

Last week was horrible.
after the flu hit me I took it very easy all week. Usually when something sad like losing my cat happens, I keep myself busy so I don't stay in the sadness, last week I just couldn't be busy, that flu just kept me down. However, I bounced back faster than normal, and I do attribute that to my chiropractor. Airborne and liters of water every day helped too! :)
So with all the time to relax I was able to realize that I'm not happy. It's not that I didn't know, I was just able to really realize it. The other night Christy and I were watching TV and she invited me out somewhere, and I declined. She kept probing as to why and finally asked "what's up with you? aren't you happy?" I just burst into tears. I nodded no. Her response "Wow, you are good at hiding it!"
Sometimes, with the depression I deal with, masking your emotions is the only way to get through the day! After I was able to vent to her my stresses of working two jobs, still barely making ends meet, and various other little issues, I felt better. It's not that I don't have a good support system in my life, I do. It's that I am moving through this life so fast I don't realize I need to use it every once in a while!
So no, I'm not happy with where we live, or the fact that I work two jobs, but this is all just a means to an end, we are working toward moving forward. I am constantly reminding myself that this literally is only the interim. Deuce getting the airline job is just one more step closer.
I am happy with my husband, and the life we have built, I am happy the next step is so close. I am happy with the big picture, just unhappy with the small snapshots.
But on to better things!
Sunday was great! We both decided to take a day for us, so we had breakfast in bed, then we went rollerskating with some friends from the club. It was a blast. Deuce had never been to a roller rink before, and of course although it was his first time on roller skates (he only used roller blades growing up) he was awesome.
After rollerskating we went and had some lunch with our friends at a great little Chinese restaurant. Came home and relaxed.
This week at work will be CRAZY I am resetting the entire store on Sunday, so all week will be prep work for that. But I'm excited, it is about time for me to actually DO MY JOB! (I hate sale....)

sick day

Saturday night I felt a bit of a tickle in my throat, it hit me hard Monday morning... I was so achy and felt horrible! Plus working till 7pm didn't help me either. I came home feeling dizzy and terribly achy, watched the rest of There Will Be Blood with Christy (excellent film btw!!!) then went to bed. I didn't sleep really well, my cough kept me up. Woke up this morning, showered, arrived at Diesel 20 minutes late, only to have my boss tell me to go home and rest up. Awesome! So I turned right around, came home, and crashed on the couch, getting my last cuddles in with Sylvester before Deuce took her in to be put to sleep. It was hard today to say goodbye to Sylvester, but I know it was the best choice for her. She was in pain.

I missed the inauguration but watched the ridiculously long parade while I drifted in and out of sleep on the couch. Deuce came home later in the afternoon, and we went down to our chiropractor. He's great because he is holistic and doesn't believe in drugs at all. He doesn't usually do manual adjustments, he uses this strange gun that is a more gentle and an area specific way of adjusting things back to where they belong. He even did something crazy to my sinuses and forehead and I feel so much better!
Good news, Deuce got the job with Great Lakes! He starts his orientation on Monday. They only fly to little towns like Billings MT and Kansas City, but after 90 days we can fly Frontier and Southwest for free as well as other airlines for a discounted rate. What a HUGE blessing!!!
My first trip will be to Kansas City to see my dear friend Sara! I'm very excited.

crazy times

I'm taking it easy today. I'm still recovering from this week. Wednesday I worked at Diesel, then I did coat check, made a whopping $14, but luckily I've convinced the manager that they do not need me there Wednesdays. Then Thursday I had to work 1-9:30pm at Diesel, then went straight out to a dance club to see a favorite DJ of mine with my friend Anna and Deuce. We met up with some other friends, and Christy came by the club later that night as well. It was a blast. We hung out for a bit after the club closed down, and ended up hanging out with the DJ. It was a great time. Anna and the DJ hit it off, which was good for her. She's quite elated about the situation actually. Then Friday I had to work at Diesel in the morning, which was rough, because we didn't get home until at least 4:30am. I promptly came home from work, crashed for a few hours before getting up to go back to work coat check. Luckily I don't have to run around for that job! It ended up being a good night as well.
So today Deuce and I have been moving quite slow today.

Other news, Deuce had an interview with GreatLakes Air on Friday, he is 98% sure he got the job as a luggage carrier. Which is SUCH a relief. It's a bit of extra money, and we can switch to his health insurance so that I could get pregnant and not worry about my job! PLUS there are free flight benefits to be had! Very exciting news!!

Some sad news, we made an appt. to put my cat Sylvester down on Tuesday. She is 18 years old, and not doing well. I don't want her to be in any pain anymore, so Deuce will be taking her to the Dumb Friends League. I won't be going, I don't think I'll be able to handle that! She was really cute today with Deuce. She never cuddles with Deuce, so this was definitely a moment!

easy day

Today was quite relaxed at work. I moved a few things around, but nothing major since I'm going to be putting the 1st delivery of our spring summer collection on the floor Feb 1st. This time of year is always hard for my creativity to flourish. It's the end of sale, which is so boring to merchandise. "Bulk and pop!" is the term for the sale season. Meaning put as many units on the floor to make the sales pop! This time of year also means inventory, which means the store is a wreck for a week... I spent three hours organizing our denim back stock on Monday...
But my trip to VC always gives me a renewed passion for my job. I usually come back with new ideas, and enough fuel to last me for another 6 months.

I did see a video on my break about a family in Penn. that named their children: Adolf Hitler Campbel, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. The children were removed from their parents home today because of reports of abuse and neglect. I am in a state of shock over this. More thoughts to come later.

After work today I went over to the Chiropractor again for a quick adjustment. Now that my bones are being put back where they belong my muscles are sore! So Deuce bought us a massage chair which I'm using at the moment. A-MAZING!! It's a nice way to relax before I go in to do coat check at the club tonight. I'm hoping it is a more lucrative evening tonight, last Wednesday night I made about $14. But it's much colder this week and should snow by 10:30, so that should bring more coats my way. Luckily I like Wednesday's crowd, we have Goth night in the basement and a breakdancing upstairs. Goth night is my favorite! Very polite crowd, intelligent, they tip well and they are very interesting conversationalists. Not nearly as scary as most people think it is. Plus my coat check room is next to the 80's room. Not a bad night at all.

Well I should go get dressed for work! Thanks for reading....

Things on my mind today-
The Campbell family (Why so much hatred?)
All the things to do in our house.... (when will there be time!?)

the genesis

The thought of blogging hadn't crossed my mind until I received a note from Doris today asking if I had one. So I started think that it might be a good way to not only keep you all up to speed, but to help me capture this time in our life!
I've named this The Interim because Deuce and I both feel as though we are stuck. Stuck between where we were and where we want to be. The house we live in at the moment has been many things to us over the past 4 years, but right now it is a burden. We are almost finished with it and both looking forward to moving to Vermont to start a family and settle. Denver is just not what we want.

So it begins...
Didn't do much today. I worked at Diesel for a nice short 6 hour shift and Anna was working today as well. She has become such a dear friend in such a short time. We rarely get to work together, so today was a treat. I ran out of Diesel and sped over to my chiropractor, Dr. V. for a quick adjustment and some time on the massage bed. What a nice end to my work day! Ran home from there and vegged out for a bit, made some dinner, waited for Deuce to get home from snowboarding in Breckenridge all day with Travis. Expected them to go tinker with all the motorcycles in the garage for their weekly White Trash night, but the snowboarding took too much out of them, so they called it a night very early.

Work has been getting better. I have been getting along with management much more than in previous months. I think my competence is being acknowledged more and because of that I feel more respected, and I'm given more creative freedom. It's nice! I am flying to Vegas Feb 4-6 for training. I am very excited to get out of Denver for a few days. For those of you who don't know, every 6 months I am sent for a training session called Visual Camp. All the Visual Merchandisers from each Diesel store are sent to one place where we learn about the new collection, the inspirations, what they want us to implement in our stores, and then we get to do some hands on workshops in the local Diesel stores. Always accompanied by great hotels, great dinners, and much merriment! I have befriended a few of the other Visual Merchandisers in my area and it's always so fun to see them for a few days.

Well tomorrow should be similar to today, work-chiropractor-dinner.... but then I have to go to the club to do coat check.

Some issues on my mind lately:
How love changes (for better and for worse)
Friendships (why must I have such a hard time investing in them?!)
Children (am I ready? Are WE ready? What about money? Health insurance?)