it's sort of a funny thing

i sat down to write the other night and got distracted because somehow all my playlists on itunes were gone.  they had vanished and i panicked.  as if my musical creations were the most important things in my life.  i eventually figured it out.  thank goodness.  i mean some of those playlists are like 3 years in the making.  i'm not really that pathetic, but i just really love my music.  i even used to impersonate a hipster.  like when maroon 5 became huge, i was like oh yeah i bought their album like a year ago.  i mean like who really cares that i was listening to songs about jane before everyone else?  did that mean that i was infinitely better than them?  no.  that's the answer you were looking for.  

so today, or i mean yesterday, was my last saturday of unemployment.  on monday i will begin my new job and i can't lie.  i . am . nervous !  it feels a little like the first day of school.  thoughts like...will i make any friends, will i get lost, will i like the teacher/manager...flood my mind and i am absolutely certain that i will be a hot mess sunday night trying to sleep and pretend like i'm not nervous.  the good news is that the first day of a new job is like the first day of school in the sense that it's a lot of paperwork and touring.  you get a feel for the management and the staff much like you get a feel of your homeroom teacher.  you go over the expectations of you as an employee much like your expectations as a student. you size up the other employees like you do your classmates.  don't lie you know you do that too.  you see who the class clown is, the suck-up, the floater, the stoner and the boozer.  you see what cliques are in place and try to understand their importance to the well being of the society that is the workplace.  and sometimes, just sometimes you still feel like you are the smallest being in the solar system for about 2 months and eat lunch in the bathroom or your car.  i really am hoping and praying that it's not the latter.  

in the movie charlie bartlett a boy named charlie becomes well liked and dare i say popular among his peers by selling them prescription drugs that he gets from his family's on call psychiatrist.  in a conversation with his mom he tells her that for once he is the guy that people want to know/meet.  her reply is 'maybe there's more to high school than being well-liked.'  he asks what and she pauses and says 'nothing comes to mind'.  i think this also applies to working.  i learned in my last job that being the favorite meant the difference between having a job and well, not having a job.  i was well liked by almost everyone, just not the people that mattered apparently.  shortly after losing my job i was telling my sister the dirty details and she was sorry for my loss, but reassured me that no matter where i went there would be a favorite, that's just how life is.  very sympathetic that katie.  

well wish me luck. 

so that's what 1 degree feels like

it is bitter cold outside and my laptop that was on the ground under my window is even feeling the cold.  boo winter.  i get that utah really needs the moisture, but like can't it get some moisture at like 32 degrees instead?  

i didn't make resolutions this new year's day due mostly to the fact that i made resolutions in october cause i really procrastinated last year, and much to every one's surprise i broke every one of those october resolutions.  super pathetic especially since one of them was to keep my room tidy and even with 2 months of free time i am still looking at approximately 1/3 of the contents of my closet in neat piles on my floor waiting to either be hung up or folded, and about 10 pairs of shoes.  resolution fail.  so i don't really feel like making resolutions is the confidence or morale boost that i am looking for right now.  

recently i heard someone talk about the s.m.a.r.t way of making goals.  you know s.pecific m.easurable a.ttainable r.elevant and t.ime-bound.  i had a manager once who would make us do the same thing with our daily work.  i could never really grasp the concept of smart goals when it came to talking less to my two co-workers, so that may be why they put up cubicles.  (sorry kc and val)  oh well good try russell.  i'll so kindly break it down for you all in the land of the world wide web.  (that way you won't have to google it later)  and technically do i have to reference wikipedia?  based off my limited knowledge of wikipedia from tv shows, can't anyone post info on there?  anyway moving on.  wikipedia tells us that first you have to be specific about what you want.  duh.  but really it's the what, who, where, why and which of a goal.  next (measurable) is finding how much or how many, and how will i know when i have achieved said goal.  on to attainable.  this portion is mostly whether or not the goal is an actual possibility that you can achieve.  and the how of achieving the goal.  which leads us on to relevance.  are you the right person for this or is this the right time for you to do this.  is this even something that will matter and benefit your life.  and finally time.  when you wish to have achieved your goal.  what steps will i take 6 months from now, 6 weeks from now and today.  

i would give you an example, but i just tried and it was too hard.  maybe that is why i failed so horribly with goals pre-cubicle.  but i think you get the point right?  if i had to pick like the most important letter in the smart way it would be attainable.  because how easy is it to say that i will stop drinking soda this year unless you figure out how you are actually going to do that.  for me it would be cutting back from 64 oz in a day to maybe like 32 oz a day for a few months and then cutting back from there so that by 2014 i will be soda free.  hey look at that i kind of gave you an example!  you're welcome.  

so get out there and make some s.m.a.r.t goals for twenty thirteen.  

by the way i am kind of really looking forward to 2020.  only because i will make it a point to say 'and this...is 2020' like barbara walters and hugh downs used to do.  also i'll be 35 in 2020 and i like to think that i will make it to 70, so in 2020 i can plan on a legit mid life crisis while still being really young and ridiculously good looking.  it's a win win win. 

hola 2013

luckily i have good news to relay.  2013 is already better than 2012!  i got a job! yep i sure did.  after 2.5 months of living the ever so exciting unemployed life, i was offered a position at landis.  a super nice and newish salon in salt lake.  no i have no plans to move to salt lake county, so commuting will be my choice. my mom pointed out that if i just take the frontrunner i will have at least an hour to knit to and from work everyday.  my mom is really the brains of any operation in my life let's face it.  i finished my first ever knitted blanket and i had to call her to make sure that i was in fact done and didn't need to add an extra 4 inches like my pattern called for.  crisis averted with one phone call, thanks mom.

the finished product

             

jess and morgan utilizing the beastly blanket

okay so christmas was great.  i got 2 blankets, 4 books, 2 pair of eyelashes, mineral veil, a purse, a fur muff and 6 bottles of diet coke with a very classy vase to drink it out of.  most hilarious gift i have ever received i think.  well next to the rubick's cube my roommate got me for christmas.  and yes i know that you all really were dying to know what i got!  grandma jackson came into town which resulted in her baking us delicious sugar cookies and getting flour all over herself.  now the mystery of where i got the ability to get completely dirty while baking/cooking/eating is solved.  it must date back to my Irish o'day side. 

okay seriously isn't peggy patricia the most adorable thing you have ever seen?

      

because pink frosting is an obvious for christmas.

it was really cute cause my grandma told us how she first made these cookies for my mom and her brother and sister when they were kids for valentines day and obviously made pink frosting.  well after that she always made them with pink frosting.  one day she was out of red food coloring so she left the frosting white and no one ate a single one.  i guess the pink frosting really makes the difference.  i really love having my grandma around to hear her tell stories like this.  i made her a promise that if i didn't get a job soon i would come to stay with her in iowa as a way to restart my life.  looking back (a week and a half ago) i think why on earth would going to iowa somehow help my situation?  who did i think i was?  a character in my lifetime drama that will someday be made?  which i have decided that i would want someone like emma watson to play me.  she is a doll and i think she would be a very good aly.  and she is younger than me and that somehow makes me feel a little better.  anyway running to iowa was a nice thought regardless.  i also discovered that my grandma had a sister named ruby.  is that not an adorable little name?  i told her i was going to name my daughter ruby mae someday.  and that i would also have a daughter named lily jo.  ruby mae and lily jo...my mom told me that i belong in the backwoods of arkansas.  whatever that means toni lynn.  

okay so the whole point in blogging is to talk about the closing of 2012 roughly 3 hours ago.  at first when i started complaining about how crappy 2012 was, i really had no idea how crappy it was about to become.  but what i have realized this past week as i have been reflecting is that i have a pretty awesome support system and no crazy lady, no crazy ex boyfriend and no crazy ex-co-workers/ex-boss could take that away from me.  i have people who love me and who would do anything for me!  i think that is the most important thing that a girl my age could ask for.  i think that i have also learned that i can get by with very little in my life.  i am very blessed to have a house to sleep in (and house my shoes), i have a car that works, i have food to eat (well don't look in my fridge) and i have the knowledge of the gospel.  (i bet you didn't think this would get churchy huh?)  i am so blessed to be where i am and i wouldn't trade places with anyone in the world. 

i am 100% positive that 2013 will FINALLY be the year of aly!