The Great Minnesota Get Together

Here in Minnesota, the Minnesota State Fair is a pretty huge deal. The past few years, Derick and I have been attending the fair in search of yummy fair food, and to take in the sights and some of the shows that the fair has to offer.

This year, as a part of work, Gander Mountain was sponsoring an area of the Fair again this year. As employees, we could sign up for shifts to work the Gander area! my immediate team of three all signed up to work the Fair together this week and it was a lot of fun.

After my four-hour shift at the booth, a friend from college stopped by the booth and wanted to walk the fair with me, eat and catch up! It has been a few years since we have seen each other and it was a blast! My feet sure were tired by the end of the day, but it was a day well-spent!

On the "food consumed list," I had:

• a Pronto-Pup (like a corndog, but way, way better)
  
• Fudge Puppy (basically a waffle covered with chocolate, whipped cream and sprinkles.mmm)
  
• Cheese Curds
  
• and brought Kettle Corn home for Derick and I to share
  

What a great shot to end on the other night!

-LD

Business Or Pleasure

As some of you may know, I was able to go and participate in one of our new store openings happening for Gander Mountain last week! I was Valdosta, Georgia-bound on Monday afternoon (8/20/12) though Friday 8/24/12 - the store's "soft opening" date!

WOW - what an experience!

I had opened a Christopher & Banks outlet store before, but this was a huge change. I really love store openings. Granted, they are a TON of work, and you are dog-tired by the end of the day and the end of the week, but the rewards are SO worth it.

The store had an AWESOME team - I mean stellar. From the neighboring store help that was brought in to assist the new store associates, the new associates, and the Store management team were all amazing and I was so glad to have been able to meet them, get to know them, laugh with them, work alongside them and spend time with them while I was there for my one-week stint.

I wanted to share some of the photos with you of my experience. From the hotel room - one of the nicest ones I have been put-up in for work-related travel to date, to the day we opened the doors of our first store in the state of Georgia!

Enjoy some of my photographic moments!

The true meaning of work and play!

I found this helpful and humorous- the front two pillows were banded with "soft" or "firm" tags on them.

Since when did they stock Bath and Body Works supplies in the hotel bathrooms?! NICE!

  

GROSS! One of the biggest bugs I saw while down in GA - my boss pointed this guy out to me on our classy morning gas-station run.

The spoils of mine from said classy gas station run - this was the second to last day of the adventure - keep me awake juice!!

Message board - message from the store manager to all the helpers and staff at the store - aww.

The Gander sign out front by the road - the logo needs to be tilted back into place, but the graphic display board is working now! (don't ask, I am a little bitter that I was activated tech support for the better part of two days to get this thing functioning.)

In my true southern stereotype, I had to get a photo of the tree with Spanish Moss on it - I do declare, it was a sight to behold!

As I was merchandising the magazine rack up front, I saw this cover and it made me burst out laughing. It still makes me laugh. lol loony dog!

Now, where did all that apparel go? I swear there was some here a minute ago, but I can't see any apparel on the floor, do you?!

My mad magazine merchandisng skillz, yo.

This was at a place we ate on the last night before opening. Though I did not get a steak there, everyone else who had it said it was really good!

On the opening morning of the soft opening 8.24.12. A Gander Mountain is born and released into the world!

It's The Greatest Place I Know

It was that time of year again - Camp Needlepoint time!

I went to camp again this year as a staff training assistant, aka Camp Mom again this year. While I do enjoy going and giving back every year at the same camp that gave so much to me, I think I am getting a little too old for a lot of the shenanigans that happen there more and more in the past couple of years. So, this might be my last year at camp for awhile. I wanted to share a few pictures of one of the greatest places I have ever had the pleasure of being:

Camp Needlepoint, Hudson, Wisconsin

The new tables and benches in the dining hall - what a transformation! I sort of miss the old tables and benches!

 

A pretty big moment for me - I was talking with one of the nurses about one of the newer pump site inserts and at the end of our conversation, she asked if I wanted to try putting one in! I said sure, why not, and i did it by myself and it was really neat! First time for everything!

Nature building

The Lodge

The stairs by the lodge that begin your decent to the Beach Path

Staff during the opening ceremonies of week one of Camp Needlepoint 2012!

This place has such a place in my heart, and no matter how old I get, I at least always hope that I will be able to be there in spirit, or some form or fashion through the years.

Peace. Love. Diabetes.

-LD

Bus Book Club

It has been awhile since I have posted in general, but it has also been awhile since I have posted about books I have read while commuting to and from work.

Over the past few weeks, I have read:

There's A (slight) Chance I Might Be Going To Hell by Laurie Notaro

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster

See, told you it's been awhile!

But all that voracious reading hasn't exactly stopped me from frequenting the Goodwill locations near me to find some great new reading material.

As you can see a few Goodwill stickers peeking out of the stack, between Goodwill and PaperBack Swap, I'd say they are both going to do just fine keeping me in enough reading material to last me awhile.

And now, the reviews:

There's A (slight) Chance I Might Be Going To Hell by Laurie Notaro

This was a book that caught my eye on PaperBack Swap. I am not entirely sure why I picked it out to be sent to me, probably the title made me laugh. I was reading one of Jen Lancaster's books right before this book, and to be honest, I didn't find Notaro to be remotely as funny as Lancaster. This is one of the weirdest books that I have ever read, I will tell you that. And for these "reviews," I will not go into the synopsis on each one, or we will be here for a week! This book went back on my 'Swap Stack,' to be enjoyed by another reader out there. Not a huge fan of this one and I would not read it again.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

This is a re-read book, to help weed thought my book collection I have spent much of my lifetime accumulating. This is one of those books that is a pretty quick, decent read. Though, I will admit, after reading so many Nicholas Sparks books back-to-back-to back, I was getting a little tired of our Mr. North Carolina-only writing style. I remember when I first read this book, I thought it was completely awful. I did not like any aspect of the book. But after reading it a second time and seeing the movie in between readings, I liked it more the second time around. But, this one is going in the 'Swap Stack' as to clear it from my shelf to make way for reads that I can see myself reading over and over again that are my true favorites.

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

This book is also a re-read of my NS collection. This one fell into similar territory as Dear John for me. Although, when I was in the midst of reading this one, I was almost sure that I was going to keep it. That is, until the end came and I was so cheese-balled by the way the story wrapped up, I gladly ended the book and placed it on the 'Stack.' I have not and WILL not see the movie that has been made about this book, however. I am not sure why, but I have a strong dislike for anything staring Zac Efron. Yuck. Pass.

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

Also on the list of re-read NS books that I had to conquer, this was one of the ones that made it back onto the keep shelf. I remembered why I had kept it in the first place after getting to a couple of parts in the middle to end of the book. The way that NS describes something in the book - why the wife wants the husband to go to church with her, touched me and I could really relate to that part of the book, and wished that I could so eloquently put it in the same light to my husband as NS did for his characters in the book. Heck, I might just tell Derick to sit in front of me, be quiet and I read to him that passage of the book because, really, that is how I feel about it too, and have for a long time. Though I think he knows, it would be good to say it out loud in that way too. Maybe I am just wishing for my Hollywood moment, but just the same, it should be said. 

Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster

Another gem by Lancaster. Seriously, if you have not read one of her books, you should go out and check-out, purchase or borrow one as soon as you can. She makes me laugh-out-loud. For REAL lol-ing, even on the BUS! The other day on my commute to work, I had a permagrin on my face reading some of the happenings of her life written on the pages. Just great. I actually got a lot of reading of this book done while on my new store opening business trip to Georgia (see later post to come about that). This one might be a keeper. I could see keeping all her books. Not that I would need to read them again, but just because they are awesome books. We shall see if I start running out of shelf space again when the time comes to weed though again or buy more shelves!!

I think that just about sums it up for this long post - I had to get you caught up on the books I had gone through while riding the bus to and from work. I had gone through even more books that even I had originally thought heading into this blog posting!

-LD

Random Bits Of My Life Happening Right About...NOW!

Borrowing and adapting an idea from another blogger's website:Sasha at Lemonade Makin’ Mama.

Random bits of my life happening right about....NOW!

loving: 

That my job right now is not what I would consider stressful, the majority of the time.

reading: 

There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble by Laurie Notaro, and The Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham

waiting for: 

Some mystery flower seeds to bloom on my patio, and my squash plant from a friend to start making squash!

excited about: 

Getting together with an old college friend for makeovers and occasional shops round 2 (?) this weekend!

missing: 

Friends that I have gotten out of touch with - but am rallying to try to reconnect with them!

trying to:  

Plan out important events

enjoying: 

Hot weather nights, comfortable inside, relaxing with the air conditioner with my hubby and dog

using: 

My design skills to help a community theater - design and layout their Program this year, and a friend design her wedding save the date's, invitations, RSVP cards and programs!

wearing: 

 My work outfit still...khakis, light blue tank top with darker blue lightweight long jacket over it.

planning: 

Some important dates into my summer calendar

singing: 

Some top 100 song played on the radio or a sitcom theme song from all the Netflix I have been watching lately

needing: 

A mani/pedi, and a bigger house . Okay, need is not the right word. But wanting, yes.

learning:

 To stop babysitting coworkers and let them sink or swim more on their own to realize their full potential.

wishing:

For a drama-free family life and the chance to get ahead in debt payments and my career, among other things, in the near future

doing: 

lots and lots of list-making and hoping for the future. 

dreaming of: 

Being able to take a vacation somewhere I have never been before, or experiencing new things at somewhere I have been before.

Want to play along? What are you currently up to?

Book Review: Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

Book Review time once again folks!
This time, another one of my Paperback Swap book arrivals: 

Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

This one looked interesting to me right when I read the back cover online. There was something about the book cover and the title that totally gripped me right away. I wanted to see if the sassiness continued throughout, and so far, just a couple dozen pages in, it does not disappoint!

The description on the back of the book sums it up quite nicely, in her own words:

This is the story of how a haughty former sorority girl went from having a household income of almost a quarter million dollars to being evicted from a ghetto apartment...

It's a modern Greek tragedy, as defined by Roger Dunkle in The Classical Origins of Western Culture: a story  in which "the central character, called the tragic protagonist or hero, suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental and therefore meaningless, but is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected."

In other words? The bitch had it coming. 

Right away, you know it is going to be a fun read when the book starts out just like the title and summary, and there are footnotes of her wit on almost every page, lying there in wait.

So I finished the book this weekend and it was every bit as good as I thought it was going to be by my initial read. I ALSO found out that she has written a bunch of other books:


 

So, of course, I will be needing to read them ALL!

-Happy Reading!
LD

Drumroll Please...

I HAVE KITCHEN STORAGE IN A TOWNHOUSE!!!!

Yes ladies and (if there are any following) gentlemen, after last weekend, 4 trips to Fleet Farm and 2 trips to Menards later, I have more custom shelving in my kitchen pantry. Organizational geeks like me, eat your heart out!

These were the first shelves - the first four from the bottom up. We added one more on top to make 5.

All of my shelves are in!!! There is SO much room in there! Yay!

My baking pans and stuff have a shelf of their own (very top) and ingredients take up almost the entire second shelf from the top. Be still my beating heart-shaped-cookie!

Living in a townhouse always is challenging my space-saving and tetris skills with the things we have, and wish to store. Check that one off the summer to-do list! Next on the organizational list is re-organizing the spice cabinet. With Derick's new-found and active grilling hobby, the spice cabinet never stays too clean and organized for long! haha. You should have seen the look he gave me when I suggested we keep everything in there alphabetized by spice! But that is also something that he says that he wants to do - get that organized more too, so to Bed, Bath and Beyond we go! 

-LD