Day 5

A photo of yourself

Hmmm should I do recent?

Or old?

Or when I was little?

Too many options!

So I'll just go with this one for today

I showed this picture before

but it is one of my favorites!

I was Madonna from her Like a Virgin video

for a rally we had with Verizon in Las Vegas.

My mom helped me make my awesome tutu

and I had so much fun this night!

Really I would wear that tutu all the time

if it were back in fashion!

Have a great weekend blends!

See you tomorrow.

Its the weekend!

Working retail you sometimes forget that sometimes people don't work on the weekends

and that they can go enjoy themselves for a few days!

In the past 3 months I have only had 3 Saturdays off...

and it gets old pretty fast.

But this weekend I am going to St George with Angie!

Shopping and not having a schedule sounds so good!

My mom and Amanda will come down on Saturday

and we are all going to THRILLER!!!

Remember when I went a few years ago?

So excited to see it again!

Enjoy your weekend and see you next week!

One year ago

• I was packing up 2 suitcases with the clothes and items I would need for 5 months.
• I was saying goodbye to my family for 5 months.
• I was picking up my best friend and driving to Salt Lake.
• I was getting ready to start a week of training for a job that would take me thousands of miles away from home.
• And I was scared silly.

I can't believe that a year has gone by!  I was so excited to go on the biggest adventure of my life!  To go to a tropical island and live in a place where I wouldn't know a single person except for my best friend Kassidy who was going with me.  A place that I had only found out 3 weeks before that I would be moving to. 

I had no idea what adventures would come my way.  The people I would meet.  The places I would visit.  I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to go there.  For everything I learned about myself and the world.  One year goes by so quickly!

Also another celebration that is going on today is a blog-o-versary over at Love and Happiness!  To celebrate she is hosting a giveaway.  Go enter and if you win I want one of the caramels! lol

The Latest

One of the blogs that I read and love is

Adventures in Love and Happiness

Well earlier this week she posted about some

of the latest things she loves

and I thought I would take her lead

so here goes!

Lately I've Been Listening To:

Sara Bareilles

Josh Kelly

Lady Antebellum

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

(I heard about them from this blog and I am in love!)

Reading:

Can You Keep A Secret by Sophia Kinsella

Heart of The Matter by Emily Giffin

Return to Red Castle by Dorothy M. Keddington

(don't judge me that I have read this book over 30 times before...)

Wearing:

Maurices clothing!

ha ha a given since a work there...but seriously now

Toms Shoes and lots of flats

Something about this summer has made me want simply flats

and not the heels

weird for me I know...

Watching:

The Twilight Movies

Pshyc

Kourtney and Khole Take Miami

(yeah I love it, don't judge)

Eating:

hmmm cant think of any food I have

had a ton of but I have been

addicted to MetroMint Water!

So good and refreshing.

I like the Orangemint, Lemonmint, Spearmint and Peppermint

Working on:

Trying to find a job in the SLC area

so I can move!

What have you been doing?

So funny yet so true...

I saw this list on another blog
and I thought I would share!

1. There is great need for a sarcasm font.


2. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

3. Was learning cursive really necessary?

4. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

5. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

6. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

7. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

8. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

9. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

10. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?) but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

11. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

12. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

13. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

15. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

16. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

17. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

18. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. (or look at my phone, since I dont own a watch)

I'm getting a little burnt out...

I have worked every day but one for the past 3 weeks. 

Some days both jobs even.

I need a day off.

I can't wait for Saturday!

Finally a day off!

And to top that off I am spending the day

at MY CABIN!!!!

I haven't been there since last August!

I NEED to go there.

Recharge, relax,

and get myself ready for more!

Maybe I will even see one of these!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

(This picture is from a few years ago

when we added on the front porch.)

I promise there wont be to many more...

But I still have a few pictures from St. Thomas that I need to put up on the blog.

While I was down there I did more then just play,

I worked over 40 hours a week.

The people in my store and building are people that

I came to really enjoy being with and

I miss them.

Me and Bev

Me and Melissa

Me, Geoffrey and Kassidy

He was the PL for the Carnival Vicotry.

The best was he started on that ship only

1 week after we got there.  So he was one that

learned with us, and it was always good to

see him every Monday!

Me and Mario

He had a little sunglass shop under the stairs

in the same building as Del Sol.

He was so funny and I definitly miss him!

Meagan and Laura

I dont know why I dont have a picture of

just me and Laura at work! 

But this picture of her and Meg is classic!

There are other girls I miss,

Arrika, Sheryl, Vanessa, and Tasha.

And there are times when I even miss

Jaliem and Brian.

It was definitly a different experience working down there,

but it was so great to learn about a whole

different market then one I am use to.

The cruise ship market is a great one at times,

but it is still hard!

I am so greatful for this learning experience!
Thanks again Del Sol for the amazing opportunity!

Blah...

Today I have ZERO motivation to get any work done...

This is not good since there is a huge stack of changes/faxes/emails that need my attention

The problem is I just dont care today

and I really dont know why

Maybe if I get the mail done first I can find the motivation to do everything else...

Wish me luck or come save me from my boredom!

(photo found here)

More Little Letters

Dear General Conference: You were amazing! It was exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you to all of the inspired leaders of the church for giving such wonderful talks.

Dear Roommates: I love you! You are wonderful girls! I am sorry when I act like a brat, I swear it is nothing personal to you!

Dear girls at work: I would really appreciate it if you would all stop fighting with each other over sales in front of customers! So unprofessional! Also please work on showing up on time, not being on your cell phone constantly, and helping out around the store more, I am not the only person who knows how to fold a t-shirt!

Dear former managers: For all those times I gave you some major attitude (lets face it I am the queen of attitude!) I am sorry. I now know how annoying it is when employees wont do what you ask them to do! Sorry about that!

Dear Postal Service: My mom sent me a package over a week ago and it still has not arrived! I am not so happy about this! Please have it get here soon, or send it back to her so that I know it is not lost in the mail! I would cry if it becomes lost!

Dear St. Thomas: You have been wonderful to me so far, but really lets work on the price of food over here ok? Also lets not run out of water at our house again. I know I didn't have to pay to have it filled up but really that was just annoying!

Dear whoever is reading this: Obviously I am close to you or you wouldn't have this website. I love you and hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather that I am missing down here!

Little Letters

Dear Taza @ The Rockstar Diaries: You inspired me to do these little letters from your own little letters! Thanks for making a very fun and exciting blog to read daily that makes me feel inspired to do more!


Dear Weather: Kassidy was going to teach me how to kayak today. Then you decided to do a 180 a half hour before we were to go. Please make this up to me before I leave for St. Thomas where I will need to know how to kayak.


Dear Del Sole: Thank you for selecting me for an internship. I can't wait to start. But why is your information packet taking so long to get here?


Dear Maurices: I have loved working for you and will miss you and my discount terribly when I leave.


And finally Dear Mom and Dad: I love you, but stop leaving me so often at night. I know I am a big girl, but I get scared in the house all by myself and the couch is no fun to sleep on!

Love to you all, Laurie

Random happenings in July

Well other then the 4th we did have a few fun adventures.

The first was that Collin was blessed on July 5th. It is so

nice to have so many family members who hold the priesthood

and are worthy to use that blessing. A lot of family members were

able to be there since it was the holiday weekend so it was fun to

share that with them. We didn't get a picture of

him in his outfit but this is one at the lunch after, isn't he so cute!

I finally finished up with school for the semester!

Whoever had the idea of summer school should be hurt...

Whoever had the idea of online classes should be hurt...

and Whoever thought that we should combine the two should be hurt!

I have never been a big school girl, so why I decided to take so many classes in the summer I am still not sure about! Not only that, but I am a huge procrastinator. I only do things right before they are due, so when my online class said everything was due on 7-27 by 11:59 p.m. I figured I was fine to wait a little while. It only showed 4 assignments and 4 test so I thought I would be fine. I was so wrong! One of those assignments was a general assignment that had 15 assignments in one! I started the class a week before it was due, and I finished at 11:55 p.m. on 7-27. I am pretty sure that I will never do an online class again!

Also this month I decided I would apply for an internship with Kassidy.

It was very last minute and so when I called I was lucky to getan interview on the very last day they were holding 1st interviews. For the second interview Kassidy and I had to go up together, and on the way home we decided we would just have fun and do whatever we wanted. It was one of the best trips I have ever had to Salt Lake!

First we decided to go over to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house.

I had never been inside of a temple, except for the baptisimal font, and it was so BEAUTIFUL!!!

I really was so happy that we went, because it is something that I don't know if I will be able to go to another open house for years!

We also decided that we would stop at the lavender fields. I had always wanted to stop and so had Kassidy so we decided why not! It was just before sunset when we got there and the lighting was perfect! We had so much fun running, and jumping throughout the field and taking tons of pictures to go with it. After we were done there we decided to drive over to the lake right by it and walk around there as well. It was so fun to just relax and take the side roads. It also really made me want to do a road trip sometime. Having all the time to just stop and view anything you want sounds like so much fun!

Well back to the internship! After the 2nd interview they told us we would know in about 2 weeks if we had got it or not. And boy did they keep us waiting forever!!! But when they finally did call we found out....WE GOT IT!!!! We are being sent to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands! We have a week of training in Salt Lake starting on 8-17, then we fly out on 8-22 and will be there until the begining of January. I can't believe that something I was so last minute about turned out to be such a great opportunity! And the fact that I get to go with my best friend is amazing! Once I get over there I promise I will try to keep the blog updated on all of our adventures!

I Think I'm Ready For It...

Wow I really should work on updating this thing more often! ha ha Life has been good for me since my last post. I got a job at Maurices in Richfield (finally a job!!!) and it has been great! Now if I could just work on bringing home more money then clothes...lol! I love the girls I work with there though so that has really helped. This is a great environment for me and I finally love my job! The nice part too is that since I have a retail back ground it was really easy to adjust to this job, and since I love clothes it has been a fun and exciting adjustment!

School is coming to a close and I am so ready for it to be done! I have really enjoyed being back in school, even though sometimes it gets in the way of other things ha ha! This semester has gone by so quick it feels at the same time though! It is crazy to think I am already done with it (well in 2 weeks but still). I have signed up for summer classes though so no break for me! Then I have also decided to attend Snow this coming fall as well. The best part about this is the fact that I am going to move there so no more commuting for me!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I am so excited for that to be done. A year and a half of driving is far to long! Also by staying there I can work on getting my prerec's for my major done quicker and for less money! I have decided I am going to go into Elementary Education (which is funny because that is what I always wanted to do but then never got around to doing it ha ha!) It is a good fit for me I think and it should be really fun!

One thing that has been driving me crazy lately though is this stupid weather!!! It is April, snow should not be allowed! I hate driving to Ephraim when it is crappy weather, it is no fun. My one teacher always try's to tell me that Sevier and Sanpete have the same weather but he is so wrong! The other morning I left Richfield and the sun was shinning, then on my drive I was probably 10 feet from the Sanpete county sign and it started to rain and just got worse as I continued on my drive!!! I think that is proof enough that Sevier has better weather but either way it is time for it to warm up. I haven't even been burned yet this year, something is odd with that! ha ha

Other fun things that have happened since the last update are my cousin Sarah got married (crazy! she is younger then me by almost 2 years!) I also have enjoyed being able to chill with my family more and get closer with some of them. Tonight for example I went to a flag football game that was Keldon and Jim's team verses Kaden's team. It was freezing though so my parents, Amanda and I all left at half time. Also Jim and Angie are going to have their baby any day now so that will be fun! I love being the fun Aunt to all these kids and can't wait to spoil one more!

Speaking of being the fun Aunt one of my favorite things lately has been with Aubrey. If she comes over to our house in the morning (well really anytime of day that I am there lol) she comes up to me and say's, "I want make-up!" So we go down stairs and put make-up on and do our hair. She is so cute! I let her play with one brush and my one powder while I do everything else. We always listen to music while doing this as well and I have gotten her to start saying things like, "We need a good song" or "Dance to the fun song." It is so cute! I love it! And then after we are done she always has to "Go show mommy." When she does this though she always says "Come on Laurie" and take's my hand to go find Amanda. It is so fun! I love my Aub's!

Well hopefully I can work on keeping this updated more! Wish me luck! lol

Dancing Through Life

Well it has been a long time since I posted anything, I guess it is about time! I have been keeping really busy with school. It is so crazy being back in school and having to deal with homework and classes and teachers, just everything that way! I am living in Richfield and attend Snow College. I have classes there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I have class her on Tuesday and Thursday! So in general I am kept busy! But it is good. This semester is now half way over so I am very excited! After this semester I only have the summer then I will have my associate degree, so I am very excited!

I also recently finally got a job! I now work for Maurices in Richfield, and I love it! It has only been a few weeks so far, but I have so much fun there! I hope I can just discipline myself enough to actually bring home a pay check! ha ha! It has been pretty easy since I already had retail experience, but working in clothes is a much better fit for me! The girls I work with are awesome as well, so it will be good times!

Not much else has been going on though. I got another nephew on January 9th, his name is Ethan O'Nil Izatt. I can't wait until I get to see him! They will be coming out her in July so I am very excited. Also we are just getting ready to welcome a few more kids into the family. Angie is due in about two months, and Shalane is due in August! So our family is just growing like crazy!

I recently went to Cedar and was able to see my friends. I miss them so much! It was so great to see them again, I wish I lived with them still! Tiffany and I got to chill the most, and I miss her so much! I hadn't seen her in two months, and it had been way to long! While in Cedar my cousin Mckay was playing in the state basketball tournament for South Sevier. They made it to the state game, but sadly couldn't pull it out! I felt so bad for them! But he is only a junior, so hopefully they will do well next year! Also it is so crazy my cousin Sarah is getting married in the morning. She is a year and a half younger then me! Holy Cow do I feel old! But she has a great guy so I am very happy for her, it is just kinda odd to me is all!

Goodbye To You!!!

Yes this blog is a little late in coming but as of January 1st at about 6:05 pm I no longer work for Verizon Wireless!!!! I may seem a bit excited, but that is because I am! I no longer have to drive 40 minutes everyday to a job that I HATED!!! Yes there were good things about Verizon, such as some of the people I met there and the great pay! But those things were not enough to keep me there after everything else that happened! It was a great 2 and a half years, I learned a lot. I wish I could thank everyone there that helped me grow as a person and an employee. Stephanie: I miss you so much! You made so many of those days when I just wanted to scream at certain people bearable! I never could have lasted as long ass I did without you there. Bri: Thanks so much for teaching me how fun life can be. I always loved all your treats, thanks for being the work mommy! Scott, Jay, Daniel and everyone else: Thanks for making me step outside of my bubble! I learned so much more about life from you. Verizon was great, but I am glad I am done for now!

Long time gone...

So quite a bit has happened since I last updated this. The first thing was of course Halloween! I love Halloween so much! Dressing up, puting up decorations, watching scary movies, carving pumpkins, handing out/recieving candy... What could be better? This year I decided to go as Betty Boop! The costume was a little hard to find and I ended up ordering one on the internet. Once it got here I was kinda nervous about how much skin it showed so I added on straps, and put a 2 inch ruffle along the bottom... All by hand sewing it on!!! Yeah I know, I am kinda a joke but it was so worth it!!! I loved my costume and even though a lot of people didn't get to see me in it, it was worth it!

Second thing that happened was the election. I think that this was of the most contrversial elections ever! So many people were judging the candidates off of race, religion, gender, and age. I couldn't believe how many ignorant people voted this year for a candidate not because of what he or she wanted to do while in office, but because of one of the above listed reasons. Or vice versa, so many people would vote for the opposition because of the were not black, or female, or a mormon. I tried very hard to study up on all of the candidates and figure out which ones I agreed with the most as far as what they said they wanted to change. As for the final two Mccain and Obama, I voted for Obama. Yes there are things that are not my favorite with him, but at the same time there is a lot more that I like with him then I did with Mccain. For being the first election I have been old to vote in, I think it was a good one!

The third thing that happened was I had the opportunity to go to Vegas for a retail ralley for my work. The theme was hotels in Vegas and our store was the Hard Rock Hotel. Each of us got to dress up as different singers that we liked. My choice of singer was Madonna, from her "Like a Virgin" era. It was so fun dress up, go to Vegas, and get to see people you work with in a different environment. Our store won the 2 best awards for the night being the Most Gross Gains for the year (aka. new lines of service) and the Swagger award (aka. the spirit award.) We worked so hard for this and have been robbed of it the last two years! Thanks so much to Bri and all of her hard work she put in to help us come home with this award!

Last, but definitely not least is the fact that 2 days ago I had a brand new nephew born. His name is Andrew S. Madsen. He is 8 lbs. 5 oz. 21 1/2 inches long. He is so cute! That brings the grand total up to 9 nieces and 6 nephews so far! I love my family so much and feel so blessed to be a part of these amazing peoples lives! They help me more then they will ever know! My biggest wish and prayer is that one day I can find the love with someone that each of my siblings have found with their spouses and that we too can be blessed by the Lord with beautiful children!

Starting Now...

So I have been thinking about starting up a blog for a while now and finally today figured why not! A little back ground information on me: My name is Laurie Ruth Stubbs. I live in Cedar City, Utah. I work for Verizon Wireless in St. George, Utah (yes I know I am crazy to commute.) I am 20 years old. I currently have 9 nieces and 5 nephews with 2 more nephew on the way and another baby on the way. I love my family so much. My Mom is my best friend. I really don't know what I would do sometimes without her. I love to go home and visit every chance I get. I love hanging out with my friends. They are crazy and full of life and help me realize to not stress the little things. Going to concerts is fabulous!!!! I wish I was closer to where they all come so it would be easier to attend them more often. Shopping is my favorite past time and biggest addiction. I love retail therepy and can often tell you which item was purchased when and where and why. Ha ha I know kinda a joke. I have one of the best memories for the most random facts. I often will just say something that makes perfect sense to me and everyone else thinks it is crazy that I even know that fact. I love music and dancing and often will bust out into song or dance, ha ha it is great! Well I think that is about all for tonight. I will try to get on here often to keep things updated!