Best of '09 (9)

December 9 Challenge.Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

The challenge that really made me grow this year was definitely helping the company I fell in love with five years liquidate all of its 100 stores.

Shutting down this company was like watching your home with all of your possessions in it being auctioned off to the highest bidder, except people are like vultures with liquidation sales. They want things practically free and don't care how you feel. I came across some real a-holes and I was quick to remind them that we are all losing our jobs and a company we love very much. That shut them up real quick.

That has been one of the most difficult challenges in my life so far and I think about it often. It has made me appreciate what I have and how easily it can be lost. This horrible economy has touched literally everyone and is a time in our lives we will never forget.

What I did take away from it was a job career that I was extremely passionate about. Many people never find that and I am thankful that I did.

More snow!

This is the view from inside my apartment looking out the door. Crazy!

It's a winter wonderland...

Cars at the mall when we closed at 5pm. We closed four hours early! I'm hoping we are closed tomorrow as well.

My door. It looks worse now, the snow is even higher!

Zeke LOVES the snow. He bounds around and rolls around in it. Hilarious!

Can you believe this?

Zeke eating the snow I tracked in.

See Libby looking at Zeke in disgust? I'm sure she's thinking, "You stupid, stupid dog."

Now, I'm off to get some work done. I am a full two weeks behind on some paperwork. My boss is gonna kill me. Eeeeeek!

Winter Wonderland!

Zeke loves the snow! He can't get enough of it. :)

Best of '09 (7) (8)

Yikes. Behind again. Oh well, I'm going to quit with the excuses and accept it. December is my busiest month of the year and... it is what it is.

If you're in the Midwest and getting lots of snow, please be safe! We are getting dumped on today and tomorrow. It's supposed to be at worst tonight right when I get off work! Keep your fingers crossed I get home okay. Luckily, I only live about 8 miles from the mall I work at.

December 7 Blog find of the yearThat gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.

I didn't even have to think about this one. I found a GEM of a blog waaaaay earlier this year, I believe back in January and it quickly became a must-read everyday!

Amber from Girl with the Red Hair formerly Amber Alert is one my absolute favorite bloggers! She blogs about running, food, her long-term relationship, careers and school. She keeps it interesting by blogging about different topics daily and many time very thought provoking subjects. One of my favorite things about her is she always leaves very thoughtful comments on my posts. I can tell she has really thought about what she is saying to me, and she almost always says something. I love it! I also see her everywhere on the blogosphere, she really gives back to her readers by returning the favor and visiting their blog. It's so refreshing for a blogger with such high traffic. Sometimes I wonder if she sleeps! :)

If you haven't come across her blog, you are seriously missing out! Check it out! NOW! :)

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

Hmmm.... a moment of peace? I'm gonna have to think about this one for a minute.

Ok, got it.

My biggest moment of peace happened about three weeks after my store closed. I still didn't have a job and although I was financially secure and enjoying some time off I was still scared to death of being jobless and on unemployment for the year. Then, I got the tip of a lifetime. The Limited Too in my mall (which had just been turned into a Justice, which was another chain owned by the same company) needed a store manager. I knew the district manager (thank you networking skills!) I contacted her and a week later, I had the job! I was happy with my salary, incentive plan and (probably the best of all) the volume of the store. It was HUGE! Even now, I am sometimes overwhelmed at the amount of merchandise I "own". It's off the charts crazy. Just on Black Friday we moved over 4,500 pieces of merchandise. That's insane.

After I got the call that I had the job a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I felt this tranquil, untroubled feeling. I could relax! I was still mourning the closing of Club Libby Lu and probably always will but I believe 100% that everything happens for a reason and I knew at that moment that I was a very, very lucky and blessed girl.

That's it for me! Catch ya'll later! :)

Best of '09 Editions four, five annnnnd six.

Yikes guys! What was I thinking committing myself to a month long challenge that required I blog everyday? I failed by the third day!

Oh well, here I am now with December 4-6. Better late then never, right?

December 4 Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies? (+ giveaway)

Definitely The Shack, by William P.Young. I read this book back in February and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I have encouraged several people to read it (although have been holding on tightly to my copy!) and am considering purchasing it as Christmas gifts for many of my friends.

Here is the description found on Amazon:

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

If you believe in God, but sometimes have your doubts this is the book for you! It really made me think about why things happen in a totally different way. I found it made my relationship with God even stronger, even though it was fiction! Read it! I haven't met a single person that didn't love it.

December 5 Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

I'm going to have to go with last weekend. I'm choosing last weekend because it was the first time I really went out and partied with Cy's friends. I had such a great time and am growing to adore his group of friends. They are all from the same (semi) small town in Iowa and have been friends for years. My group of friends are very similar, as we have been close for the past 10 years and it's the same kind of unconditional love, but we are all growing up and the past few years have been a little rocky with new marriages and careers. Although, no children yet! Surprisingly! I'm the youngest of my group and even though I want the marriage, the house and the possibility of kids I haven't sowed all my wild oats. I like to go out every weekend and let loose. Just in the past year I had kind of been hoping to find a guy with a great group of friends like Cy's. I feel so fortunate right now to have him, he has made my life so incredibly happy. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Anyway, I lost focus.

The night out! We went to a little dive bar that is actually a Hawkeye bar, which are the Cyclones' biggest rival! It was called The Longest Yard and you could get your beer in one of these yard glasses. Yes, Cy and I got one and guess who finished theirs first!! Me! Haha! I even took a picture of my empty glass next to his glass to prove it! I had such a good time getting to know Cy's friends better and I can't wait to have many more nights like it!

December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

Hmm... not really! Besides a couple of meetings in Omaha for work, I didn't go to anything like this! Too bad, I like this kind of stuff. Especially the motivational workshops!

Well, that's it for me! Hope you all are having a great Sunday!

Best of '09 (3)

Good morning!

It's my day off and I'm up at 'em by 8am! Who is this girl and what did you do with the real Amber?

On today's agenda is...

♥ Laundry

♥ Possible hair cut and highlight

♥ Manicure (a day early! I usually go on Fridays)

♥ Grocery shopping - I am going on 6 days of eating Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm sick of it!)

Well, today is December 3rd which means it's time for the 3rd edition of the Best of '09 Challenge!

December 3 Article. What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and reference throughout the year.

Sadly, nothing is really sticking out to me as best article of 2009. Seriously, nothing. Maybe I didn't read enough news articles? Perhaps that is something I should change in 2010. Cy and I were both talking about getting a subscription to our local newspaper so we read the paper everyday.

So, sorry for this lame-o answer today! I feel a little bad considering I was a journalism major and loved news writing in high school and college. Sigh. I was going to pick my favorite forward/email of the year but I figured that a forward does not compare to a news article one bit! Ha!

Do you have any favorite articles from 2009 that I may have missed out on? If so, send them my way! :)

Have a great day everyone! Thanks for reading!