In which she remembers she hasn't blogged in months

I turned 25 three days ago! And went to Disneyland for my free ticket to celebrate and it rained!

I gained about 15 pounds... ok who am I kidding, it's more like 20 - since September!

I quit the fitness instructor program! Because who is going to take me seriously as a fitness role model when i can't even look at myself in stretch pants right now? (And who needs that kind of pressure anyway?)

I'm playing soccer once a week on a co-ed recreational team! I play defense and I have scored ONE GOAL!!! Isn't that exciting? I actually suck pretty bad at soccer and I think that goal was a total fluke - considering that I usually play defense on the opposite side of the field hehe.

I lost my job at Linens N'Things and their stupid bankruptcy!

One month later I got a new job at AMC La Jolla 12 and can get all the free movies I like! Except I have to sweep up popcorn for hours and I might get carpal tunnel syndrome... but it's worth it! Right? $8 an hour (oy vey) but I'll take it, because it's a JOB. And the job market in San Diego is pretty dry.

I've decided that I'm going to Baking and Pastry school in September! I'm going to school to become a pastry chef and it's something I've wanted to do for about 2 years now. I'm going to save up enough money with the movie theater job so I can pay my bills and not work so hard during school.

Finally, due to personal reasons, and I do not in any way speak for anyone else but myself, but I have decided not to be vegan, or vegetarian, anymore. It's one more thing that I'm doing for myself, to take care of myself, and do what's best for me. And I'm dropping the subject there.

So that's my life summed up, badly, but hell what do you want from me? Ha, just kidding. Thanks so much for your support and for reading the blog. I'm not knitting anything recently and I'm not running so much - actually I did do a couple 5 mile runs the other week! Woo! I've still got it! I'm thinking of doing the 3 day breast cancer walk in November, so hopefully I'll get back in shape soon :)

See y'all soon :)
Jenny

Eat. Knit. Run. BLOG.

How to Survive Working in a Liquidation Sale

1.) Forgo customer service and start pointing in general directions as to where they might find aforementioned product.

2.) Ignore customers when using semi-polite phrases in a completely rude way to get your attention. Eg.) "Excuse me, miss.... excuse me.... EXCUSE ME! You DO work here don't you? I need HELP right NOW." (This particular example was while I was with another customer...)

3.) When a customer asks a question, answer quickly, then walk away asap. Otherwise you could be stuck in a line of endless questions about certain products, their prices because NOTHING in the store has a price tag on it, etc.

4.) Lie when you know the price is going down tomorrow and the suckers are still buying at a higher price today.

This is sucking little pieces out of my soul. Yeah the LNT madness is a little hectic and there is little motivation until we realize we do hardy anything anymore and get paid to do it :) Perhaps it's a little bit more hectic because it's the holiday shopping season too. I walked into World Market the other day to use the restroom since our was out of order and I was holding my uniform apron. I was walking fast because, you know, had to pee, and this woman stopped me and was like hey, hey HEY! You're an employee here right? Can you help me please? (Dripping with sarcasm, of course). I turned to her, crossed my arms, waited a second, and said "No" quite flatly to show her how annoyed I was... Then she started giggling and said "Oh I'm so sorry I saw the apron and figured you worked here, so sorry! Merry Christmas!" I told my friend at work later who said, "You should have told her, 'So you only treat people who wear aprons like assholes?'" That would have been perfect. Gotta love it. At my store everyone who works there is cool and we're all friends, so we commiserate. Sometimes with beer hehe. Or cookies.

Speaking of cookies and leading into running - I haven't been doing enough of it. I actually popped the button off my jeans the other day!!! Holy crap. Time to, eh, start running methinks. I can only use the "Oh they're crap jeans from Target, that's why they broke" excuse for so long. Eventually my other pants will follow suit. But when there is lots of working everyday, there isn't much left to do but come home and watch movies with Mexican food :) Mmm. And cookies :)

Happy holidays folks

Eat. Knit. Run. BLOG.

I'm so organized

Not.

So this great idea to get my patterns up - well, I pulled out the ol' sketchbook and remembered why I haven't gotten them up earlier. Mind you these patterns have been in there since, oh, January '08....



I happen to be the world's worst pattern note taker. It may take me hours to decipher this madness. I'm a very intuitive knitter. I problem-solve as I go along. Unfortunately I don't often remember what I did. I cross things out, circle them to undo the crossing out, then star them, then cross out the stars because I changed my mind again, then go back and redo everything - but of course I do it all in teh same color pen so it's IMPOSSIBLE to see clearly what was the correct version. Sigh.

I will persevere.

Eat. KNIT. Run. Blog.

Feeling the Love

I cannot say how much I appreciate everyone's kind words and well wishes. Thank you all so much. Every time I would check my e-mail and see another new comment it made me smile.

I am doing better. I have moved back home to be with my family for awhile to regroup. My store is still going out of business but it's okay now. We have a countdown - no end date yet, but probably by the end of the year. I'm ruined for retail for awhile hehe - guest service went out the window. I walk around with a force field around me as I battle horrible people looking for cheap things and complaining how it's not cheaper. I think they would rather just loot the store. Ah well. :)

I am about a month away from becoming a group fitness instructor! And the university I'm doing the program at is interested in hiring me! And I will probably be working doing some freelance classes at my aunt's office. Things are looking up. Though the exercise classes aren't my true passion. I'm still thinking about finishing my art degree and going to baking and pastry school...

Anywho, after a long hiatus, I have three - count 'em - THREE - new patterns coming your way soon. A cabled dog sweater, a cabled people sweater, and a pair of cabled mittens with a flap that folds back into fingerless gloves. (Are we seeing a pattern here? Was someone obsessed with cables for a bit?) I will post pictures soon. I have yet to type up the patterns. This has been a long time coming!

Thank again everyone and I hope to see you all soon!

Eat. KNIT. Run. BLOG.

Back from Dropping off the Face of the Earth

I thought it would be good to check in and let my friends know what has happened to me. I think of you all often and think about blogging often too. I'm in a very weird and stressful place right now.

First off, about a month and a half ago my husband and I separated. I'm living with a friend right now. And I'd rather not talk about it here, which is why I haven't been blogging.

Secondly, my beautiful store that I work in is going out of business. It's Linens'N'Things. I work at Linens'n'Things and everyone in the store has become like a little family to me and it's all going to end soon. The company is bankrupt and a liquidator bought them so now we're having a huge closing sale and everything is different and horrible. People come in and rip up my store. My windows section gets torn apart hourly and I can hardly keep up with it. We all feel like our store, which is kind of like our home, is being raped and pillaged - and we have to stand by and help.

I'm not really knitting. I'm not running. I could really use some good thoughts sent my way right now. Sorry for such a depressing blog! I just feel like I'm letting everybody down lately. But when things pick back up, I'm going to get myself and this blog back together. I'm thinking of all of you and hope you're doing well :)

Love,
Jenny

Eat. Knit. Run. BLOG.

Love for Deena

Having no television or internet in my home, I've been out of the loop as far as the Olympics go. I plan to catch up at my parents' house this weekend - they have Tivo. :) But I just read Deena Kastor's blog and my heart broke for her a little.

Deena Kastor is a marathoner, and she's one of my heroes. She got me going in running, and whenever I thought training was getting too hard, I thought of her and how hard she worked to get so good. I recommend her blog - she doesn't write often, but she's pretty funny and seems like just a really nice person.

I just read that after months and months of preparation for the Olympics, and how she was expected to place, Deena broke her foot after 16 minutes of the race. She wrote about it pretty calmly in the blog, but that's tough.

Anyway, I feel for her. Send good thoughts her way, okay?

Not really linked with this news, but I decided to start running again. My knee injury from the marathon in June is better. I'm not sure it will ever completely heal... it always feels tight nowadays, but it's not swelling anymore. I keep ice on it most nights as a precaution. I'm going to start with one day a week, 30 minutes... and see if that works ok. Sometimes at work, or if I'm running late for the bus, I start an all out run without even thinking about it and it feels SO GOOD to stretch my legs. I miss it.

I'll let y'all know how it works out :) Have a great week.

P.S. To everybody completing the Ravelympics and Knitting Olympics - GREAT job! I'm browsing through my regular bogs and seeing all of these gorgeous FO's! I'm jealous. I have to start knitting again too :)

Eat. Knit. RUN. BLOG.

A New Obsession

The reason I haven't been blogging is because:
a.) I'm working a lot
b.) I haven't been knitting, running, or baking...
c.) Every spare minute has been given over to my new obsession:

The Twilight Series.

My dear friend, Lucia, lent me the first three books a week before the 4th came out... I read them all during that week and read the 4th in a couple days...

I love this story. It makes me feel like a little 14 year old again. I have been sighing over horribly romantic and absolutely corny lines... I haven't had a book series I've been this excited about in a loooong time. So I gave myself up to it completely. Edward, Bella, Jacob and company are feeling like close friends at this point..... hehe. Should I be worried? ;P

I'm currently re-reading :)

Also, the movie comes out on Nov. 21st! CAN"T WAIT!

If anyone is looking to gush, FEEL FREE :) But please, no spoilers here okay?

Eat. Knit. Run. BLOG.