humpback rock

yesteday i went hiking up humpback rock in the blue ridge mountains with my friends joey and karen. it was perfect weather for hiking, and an all around beautiful day! it was so nice to be outside and definitely made me appreciate beautiful virginia!

switzle and bed fixin'

so i went up to northern va on sat after work and it was so much fun to see all the people up there! i arrived home this morning to find pops thollander sick in bed (very sad) and so momma thollander's first reaction to me was "go drink some switzle" and because when instructed to drink switzle you drink switzle, i went and made some! it was pretty delicious. and also im hoping i dont get sick. i also bought a new toothbrush today because ashley pointed out that it was time for a new one (the bristles on my old one were sprayed in a million directions and it was pretty grosse looking). OH also! so half of my bed has been broken for a couple weeks. basically a wooden part of the box spring was broken, and unfortunately it was on the side that i sleep on (meaning the bed has tilted down where i sleep. it was kinda annoying but i didnt think too much of it, but while i was gone my dad fixed it! i took a nap today and realized how much better it is to sleep on a horizontal surface!

a few encounters

a few good customer interactions from bed bath and jennie today:

1- a woman came in who has decided to become a 'fruit artist'- you know someone who carves things out of fruit. well she's gonna need lots of different 'fruit tools' so we set about looking for appropriate ones. i guess because i wear an apron, nametag, and walkie talkie that means im knowledgeable about things like 'fruit crafting tools.' and of course i pretend to be. needless to say we found some good stuff (she even bought a "cake tester" aka long plastic skinny stick to see if cakes are done....necessary? i think not) and then i gave her advice on making apple sauce. it was very enjoyable

2- saw a guy looking at knives (the expensive ones are behind a glass case) and went over to see if he needed anything. he was from another country and had a really thick accent, and somehow i got roped into a 30 minute conversation about...well im not sure what. i think he was from russia. and i know we started out talking about different types of metals, at one point we talked about how his daughter is named after a russian cosmonaut, then we talked about the rest of the family and what they do, and then somehow onto american cars and jobs. not really sure, but it was definitely an interesting encounter!

pockets

so i have now had two official full days of work, and i'd say its going quite well! lots of stocking things and helping customers, which is actually pretty fun. at this point im kind of looking at it as a constant scavenger hunt. but i think im catching on pretty well. in fact one of my managers (not to brag...ok but to brag) today told me that he thought that i was maybe catching on faster than anyone he'd seen. now i can't really imagine how that could be possible since i haven't really done much, plus im pretty sure he got chewed out by his manager later, so eh, who knows. but i do get to wear an apron. which i love. and its got pockets, which i like to fill with things. (like if i have to carry stuff i try to put a substantial amount in my pockets) really i want to be known as 'pockets' at work. like "hey, pockets, whatchu got in those pockets". thats what i really want to happen. so im gonna work on that. here's a picture of my name tag. plus my folks get back tomorrow which im excited about. its been a pretty good week overall but im definitely starting to get lonely around the house.

oh plus ive been thinking about what the 'beyond' could stand for, here are some options
1- all the kitchen stuff, table settings, cleaning stuff, appliances (pretty much all the stuff i work with the most)
2- the 'beyond store'- the online store
3- me- the newest and possibly most fabulous employee- they could really replace 'beyond' with 'jennie'

first day of work

so last night was my first day at bb & b, and it actually went really well! it was all orientation stuff, paperwork and videos and such, but the managers are laid back and joke around a lot and the other employees seem pretty cool! so anyways, i think it'll be good. plus actually i was impressed by the practices of the company and it seems like a good one to work for. also, i'm assigned to the "hard side" for my next 3 shifts, which means the side that has kitchen gadgets, plates, etc. which in my opinion is the cooler side. boo ya. plus i will be wearing an apron, which im not gonna lie, i like wearing aprons. so anyways, my first actual shift is tomorrow night, so we'll see how that goes!

job!...and bears!

well doesnt look like nannying is gonna work out, so i went out today to find a job to make some money before india, and i got one! you are looking at the new floor associate at bed bath and beyond. oh ya, i start tomorrow for training at 4. anyways, im actually pretty excited about it, the pay is pretty good, the employees are all pretty young and seem nice, and i even knew one of the girls already working there! (i knew her from like 5 years back) hopefully it will go well! at least it will help pay the bills for a while!

also, there have been bear sightings in our neighborhood (a momma black bear and two cubs), and check out what the "redfields community sign" said today on my way out

my question is who's been feeding wild bears???

several updates

so i forgot a few posts ago to mention that i had gotten a speeding ticket. i got it the weekend i went camping. cops are lame. it was one of those country-ish roads where the speed limit is less than it should be and i didnt even realize. so that sucks. oh well. here is a picture of my ticket. BUT also i went to take a picture of the ticket a few days ago and when i did i found that my camera no longer will take pictures with the flash. only without, which is not good for my unsteady hand. or when its dark. or inside. when i try to take a picture this little light next to a flash symbol blinks orange. but everything else works. so i didnt know that flashes can die (or something) but apparently mine did. i took it to best buy to ask the 'geek squad' and they're assessment of the situation was "yep, something's wrong" thank you technology geniuses. so i guess ill take it to a camera store or something. anyone ever heard of this problem or have any suggestions? oh and when i went to work out yesterday i realized i put on a lime green jumart. yess thats a rare and good one. sorry the picture is blurry- see above section

and one last thing- my folks left today for a week at hilton head. it will be a much needed vacation for them, but so starts my week of being by myself at the house. i dont think ive ever spent that much time alone, but it should be good. hopefully ill get this nannying job (i also emailed 2 more listings i found today) or else im gonna be really bored

possible nannying

so subbing has been not the most reliable profession, and i was startin to get antsy about income and such (my dad is still employing me but i feel like i need some outside income as well) and so yesterday i was looking at part time jobs online. i found a childcare one that runs every weekday from 1-6, and so i sent them an email and my resume. the dad emailed me back and we arranged to meet tonight. i just got back from that and it went really well. the only thing is they're also interviewing people who can be there longer than me (since im goin to india in nov) anyways, he's gonna call me this weekend, and hopefully it will work out, but we shall see. if this doesnt work out then hopefully something else will come up!

i dont have any pictures related to this post, so here's an awesome giant picture of kayla.


stick it to the man kla (ps i love you)

camping in southwest va

so late thursday night i was talkin to my friend kaiti from the forge who goes to school in nashville, and we decided to go campin this weekend in southwest va. after about a day of deciding if we were actually going to go, late fri night we decided to go for it! so another girl from the forge who lives in charlottesville (emily) and i left on sat to meet kaiti and her roommate jane. it turned out to be an awesome weekend, and i'd say we did a pretty good job of pullin off the "campin experience" with little knowledge of what we were doing. we managed to build fires (well with some help from neighbors), put up the tent, go boating at "hungry mother state park" and not get attacked by any wild animals. although this morning i did see a black bear walking on the road as we were driving out! here are pictures of emily and i putting up the tent

kaiti crafting a roasting stick with a giant knife

and jane posing by a tree for her future "woodland ranger"

all in all it was a fabulous labor day weekend