Just Another Rep: Temporary v. Permanent

Well, not so much temporary or permanent, but rather temporary and permanent. I still haven't readjusted my schedule/time management skills, so it has been quite some time since I last blogged on a regular basis. Add onto that internet connection problems for the better part of a week, too. I promise I'm getting there though--I just recently ~~read~~ skimmed through the 400+ new blog posts that racked up on my Google Reader! Here's hoping that doesn't happen again! And in this new vow, I also promise to get back to commenting SOON!!

Holidays...?

Before I really get into the temporaries and the permanents of this post, here's a ~~not-so-~~ brief recap of the past few weeks. Halloween has come and gone, but not without some fun and festivities. A pumpkin carving get-together was a must at Megan's house with a group of old and new friends. As always, my overachieving lead me to this masterpiece:

Hardness: 4 out of 4 pumpkins!

Let's see that again, shall we! One picture just doesn't do it justice ;)

Now I don't know if it's my old ~~crappy, but cheap~~ apartment, or if it's normal, but this sucker didn't last too long. Started molding and getting smelly after about a week. Finally, when my roommate and I couldn't stand the smell, it died a slow (or fast?) death in the dumpster. But hey, I have photographic evidence of its magnificence and that's all that counts!

More Halloween weekend festivities included a dinner, Guitar Hero, and drinks.

Sometimes I love getting all glam--and not for work!

Insert your own caption here.

And then of course Saturday night was the night to get decked out! I may have outfit repeated from last year, but I swear I wore it better this year!

Last year.

This year.

Believe it or not, but last year I was also The Little Mermaid one night. Or attempted it. Umm yeah, don't worry--I'm not going to bother horrifying you and embarrassing myself with those photos. Just checked back for them, and not only am I extremely pasty and pretty drunk, but I'm not in the best shape either. Not that I was in bad shape, but I had other goals at the time (aka having too much fun that more times than not involved alcohol).

Retail Therapy?

So yes, Halloween has come and gone and now it's November! Which brings me into the temporaries. As you all know, the full-time job didn't work out, but now I'm working on other plans. This involves a lot of working at Loft, which I DEFINITELY don't mind! For the past few weeks, I have been averaging over 30 hours, which is almost unheard of in retail unless you are a manager. While I'm hoping to make this somewhat permanent (though in another store, same company), I'm temporarily helping out our Richmond store at Short Pump through the holidays. Which means I've been bumped back up to sales lead! Pretty much, this is the only way I can keep that title at this point in time, and since I'm trying to move up and hopefully work my way into corporate, I am more than willing to do anything to get there. Well, anything within reason.

Hello, Holiday!

This is what 120+ boxes of shipment looks like...

For those of you that are not too familiar with Virginia, Richmond is about an hour away from Charlottesville. Luckily, I'm only working there 1-2 days a week and my brother lives downtown there, so I can stay with him when necessary--thanks bro! Also, it helps that I get generously reimbursed for gas. That just means more money for my moving fund!

Which brings me to the first "permanent" of this blog post. I'm looking to move sometime in the new year. I would prefer that it be sooner rather than later, but according to my assistant manager, the company as a whole "cleans house" after performance reviews come out in April. On the one hand, if the temporary traveling sales lead position takes me through holiday, my assistant manager will be on maternity leave soon after so I can remain a temporary sales lead through most of February and into March, probably. From there, April is only a few (short?) weeks away. And my lease goes into May. On the other hand, I would really love to get settled into a new city before then with a new position--I'm hoping a co-manager position. But really it's all up in the air with the availability of positions before April.

Busy schedule + forgetting a paper plate = this.

I'm excited for the coming weeks at work! Holiday is by far my favorite season in retail, although the busiest. Fun colors, fun people (sometimes), and just the air about the season. Slight panic, excitement--it's a bit of a thrill. Add in the excitement of getting to meet the Regional Vice President and possibly one (or two!) of the company's executive directors, and I'm BEYOND stoked! That's something I would not have the opportunity to do if it weren't for my commute to the Short Pump store. It pays to be flexible!

Muscle Mania

My workout program is once again temporarily revamped. For the next few weeks, it's 5 sets of 5 reps, heavy sets! Am I nervous? Nah. Am I amped? Yes, definitely! Although, my first words to this were "Man, now I have to make more friends at the gym, so I can have a spotter when I need one." Ha! I'm really not against making gym friends, but many people who go to "workout/lift grrrrr" spend wayyy too much chatting between sets. And I really don't need anyone ogling me when I'm working out and thinking that I'm coming onto them by asking for a spot. I kid not! The guys at the gym that I frequent think that if you walk one foot closer to them to re-rack weights you are pretty much asking for a comment from them. Uh, let me check--No!

The only thing I'm nervous about regarding heavier lifting is looking more awkward than I already do. I'm about 80-85% sure that I have decent form, but there are some things that have been added to my workouts that I am not really that great at--deadlifts, I'm talking to you! So heavier = more awkward = "Look at that chick that clearly doesn't know what she's doing!" I'll be okay, promise!

Oh, and if that's not intimidating enough, a new friend wants to put me through a Crossfit workout. He said he likes to judge his progress against this video:

As if I've EVER done a clean and press in my life! I may not come out of this workout unscathed! He's putting me through it on Wednesday evening, so if you don't hear from me on Thursday, I died a quick death.

It feels good to be back!