Life

If you shop on Thanksgiving, I’m judging you.

| cheriarmour

This will be my only post/rant on the issue, and then I will drop it and we’ll move along and all be friends.

On Thanksgiving, i will be doing two things.

  1. Going for a run so I can enjoy indulging without much guilt.
  2. Cooking.
  3. Enjoying dinner with my family.

So that was three things, but you get what I’m saying.  Nowhere above did I say I was going to go to Best Buy, Target, or Macy’s to stock up on some crappy deal, when I really need to be saving my coins (my car just decided it needed about $600 worth of help, so I really can’t be spending money all willy-nilly anyhow).  And the reason for this is that, after working in retail, Whole Foods and Fleet Feet, there is no way on God’s green earth that I’d get up from my dinner table, run out, and make someone else’s life really mis on that day.

Let me explain something to you about working retail during the holidays.  I truly didn’t experience this as much with the customers from Fleet Feet, however, the Whole Foods schedule, and the customers made me resent them and resent the holidays, a feeling I hated having.  I felt myself starting to hate holiday themed food, answering people’s dumbass questions regarding some weird food we have never carried, and hating people themselves, especially those who took out their holiday-induced stress on us.

Here’s an example.  One Thanksgiving-Eve, a woman called the bakery and screamed at me because she hadn’t realized that the Yule Logs were like chocolate inside when she bought them.  First off, I don’t care.  If that is your worst worry at the holidays, consider yourself lucky.  There is poverty, hunger, genocide, and racism in the world to scratch the surface – none of which take a break on the holidays.  And furthermore, it is not my fault that you didn’t realize that the yule logs were chocolate inside.  Now, if she were actually nice to be, I might actually feel inclined to fix her problem or offer her something of her choosing in the vanilla family, however, she was unkind, and therefore, I didn’t feel too pressed to correct her issue.  Especially, ESPECIALLY given that she seemed to have no concern that while I listened to her yule log lamentations, my family was wondering where I was, and getting started on all the cooking without me.

But I digress.

You can try and slice and dice it any way you want to…

-Those people volunteer to work. (And really, the way it works is that the folks that want to work volunteer first, and then your manager fills the rest of the holes with other folks who may not particularly care to work.)

-These folks make a TON of money in this season. (No on is getting rich on a retail salary.  If they’re making time-and-a-half, that is absolutely wonderful, but a really temporary fix for the anger and resentment that builds up towards folks around the holidays.)

-If they don’t like it, why are they working retail.  (Now, I know jobs are extremely easy to come by ::cough::, however, sometimes folks don’t have a whole lot of choice.  Or sometimes, they actually LIKE their retail situation during months that aren’t November and December.  However, that doesn’t mean they want to get screamed at about your yule logs on Thanksgiving Day.)

…But the fact stands.  You don’t need to shop on Thanksgiving.  And I’m judging you if you choose to do so.

Simple question.

| cheriarmour

Today’s post will be short and sweet.

Once again, a friend of mine is experiencing a horrible, horrible loss.  He is a good person.  I don’t understand it.  And I have to wonder…

Why do bad things happen to such good people?

Why?  Why should my friend have his entire universe shift in the matter of one phone call?

That said, if you’re celebrating this week with friends or family, remember that stupid petty stuff is just that, stupid and petty.  There is nothing on earth worth bs, especially when there’s no guarantee that any of us will wake up tomorrow.

What are you thankful for this week? 

 

Food Lion Observation

| cheriarmour

I’m not an absolute Nazi about my diet, but I watch it pretty closely.  In the years after I graduated from Elon, after a summer away teaching fitness classes at a weight loss camp, I was educated on calories, portion control, and the necessity of exercise each day, and managed to lose the thirty-fiveish pounds that had crept up while I made my way through college.

Through the last part of graduate school, as I continued losing weight, I did the best I could with portion control and food, and ate a lot of processed crap like Lean Cuisine, more for the portion control.  I was more concerned with calories overall, and not necessarily what was in the food.  And I lost the remaining weight, as you will when you’re focused on that number.  But once I got down to a good weight, and felt comfortable stepping out of that premeasured box that was Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice, I started dipping my toes into the Whole Foods pond, and discovering how much better I felt, and how much better my body looked when I was eating salads, fruits, and coffees that were locally grown, and not at all prepackaged – the closet thing that I could get to eating foods from the ground without pulling it out myself.

Our last apartment before we bought the house was almost painfully close to the Whole Foods.  Austin would groan when he saw that brown paper Whole Foods bag because he knew that meant that I had spent somewhere between $10-a billion dollars.  Now, even though the Whole Foods is not really more than like 15 minutes away, it’s not as convenient, and I’ve found myself shopping more and more at the Food Lion because I can literally walk to it without breaking a sweat.  And what I’ve seen has been a little troubling.

The nice thing about those more expensive places, is that if you can afford them, they offer you some great selection, as well as the fact that a lot of these stores are expanding into more local and organic options.

But with the Food Lion back across the street from me, I’ve noticed a few things.

  • The produce section is not as robust as it is other places. I’ve had to hunt for certain fruits and veggies, and on more than one occasion, have not been able to find what I’m looking for at all.  Additionally, when you do find what you’re looking for, a lot of times the fruit has been harvested early so that it will make the long journey fresh, and is rock hard, almost unedible, or the opposite.  Mushy from the nitrogen that they pump into the room to make sure the fruit is attractive and ripened.
  • But the freezer section is bangin’. For the first time in years, I’ve eaten a few Lean Cuisines.  They literally have an unending selection of this stuff, however, the sodium is off the charts.  And ‘tis no bueno.
  • Lettuce at the Lion and lettuce elsewhere is not always created equal. In my experience, I’ve purchased lettuce, that once I’ve gotten home, is slimy, so I have to pull out the slime, and use the edible parts.
  • I’ve unwittingly purchased spoiled dairy there as well, which is a pretty nasty surprise when you’re all excited about the little dollop of milk you put in your tea.

Now thankfully, I can afford, once in a while, to make the trip to a Whole Foods or a to a Harris Teeter to pick up some of those items that can’t be found in Food Lion, such a sundried tomatoes, fresh pasta, and fresh lettuce, and fermented teas that I’ve developed a love for.  But for those who can’t afford to make a trip across town, or for those who straight up don’t have access – have never set foot in a Trader Joes, for example, what is the best way for those folks, to make sure they’re getting a full, well-rounded, healthy diet, high in nutrients, but lower in sodium?

Just food for thought…

 

Parking Ticket

| cheriarmour

Once again, I’m writing from somewhere over Texas.  I’ll set the scene for you.  I’m sitting…in a plane….legs are really squished…and I’m kind of hoping that my husband remembers to let my poodle out.

Speaking of poodles, this dog is not a morning dog…I found her like this, head buried, when I got up pretty early a few mornings ago to get some laundry done before work.  I called her to come get her food, and this was her response.  Kind of ignoring me, and kind of trying to preserve heat with what little body fat she has going on.

Coco

Moving right along…

So I’m actually so blind.  Thanks to some excellent eyeball genes from my mother, I’ve been rocking the spectacles since about fourth grade.  It’s a little inconvenient, since I’m so active, to ever really wear glasses, but a lot of times in the spring and in the fall, when my allergies are really acting up, I don’t have a lot of choice.  It’s always really fun, when I wear my glasses to work and stuff, and people are like “You wear glasses?” they think they’re fakes, until they do that annoying thing where they make you take your glasses off and guess how many fingers you’re holding up.  Spoiler alert: I never know, because I can’t see anything more than like, six inches in front of my face.

So, I went for my annual eye appointment, and since the place I go is downtown, I had to pay to park.  I fed the meter, did the whole shebang, and once I was all done with my appointment, I went outside, to find that I’d gotten myself a parking ticket for my meter being 7 minutes expired.

Now, I take full responsibility for this ticket.  I’m not one to sit here and curse out the guy doing his job when I was clearly parked somewhere I shouldn’t have been, but this got me thinking – how could cities make parking tickets more fun?  Like, is there a way to make me less irritated that I have to spend $20 because of my own stupidity?

So here are a few suggestions to make a parking ticket fun:

  • Include some coupons in the envelope with the ticket. Now, this one can be tricky, because not everyone likes everything, but I bet you if you included a coupon for a free coffee at McDonald’s a lot of people would take the ticket thing a little better.  Or a frozen lemonade.  Those are fun!
  • Include a nudie of the guy writing the ticket in the envelope. Nudies always make me laugh. And life’s a party, rock your body.  Amirite, Marcel? (10 points to whoever gets that one.)
  • Maybe the attendant can write his or her name and a little smiley near the bill, like they do at restaurants when they want a big tip. I’m not tipping you, but I may admire your artistry, especially if your smiley face is a particularly good one.
  • Maybe the envelope can shoot confetti at you. On second thought, maybe not though.  Because someone from the city might have to clean it up.
  • And finally, if Lil’ Jon could come over a loud speaker to the tune of “Turn Down for What,” kinda like the horns in the Hunger Games, signifying that another ticket has been written, I think I’d get down with that.

Just a few suggestion to brighten that ticket up!  What’s the last ticket you got? 

Twitterversary

| cheriarmour

Hiiiii I’m back from Vegas!  I have to update you, but seeing as how I’ve been living in a van for the past two days, give me like a minute to get it together.

For now…

So the other day, I got an email from Twitter, stating that the day was my 5-year Twitterversary .  Aside from making me feel fairly old, it got me to thinking to why I’d ever gotten on Twitter in the first place, and why I use it now.

I think when Twitter was first introduced, the concept was a little strange to me.  I was the class of Facebook, where you could, and still can, share every single aspect of your life if you wanted.  Pictures, status updates, as well as the coolest feature, I always thought, being able to keep up with your friends and family.  The concept of a timeline featuring only status updates seemed a little sparse to me, and pointless.

What I didn’t realize, however, was that Twitter was kind of awesome; not only could you keep up with friends, pretty similarly to the way you would do on Facebook, it got you a little closer – not only to your friends’ thoughts, but to the thoughts of celebs and musicians.  And as someone who eats up celebrity news, this was, and continues to be, really appealing to me.  Instead of sort of having this weird view of your favorite folks, you really get a chance to get inside of their heads, and discovery who’s funny, who’s not.  Who’s witty, who’s silly.   Who’s dumb as rocks?  You get it.

So…how I came to launch my own Twitter account.

I am a huge Gavin DeGraw fan.  I’ve been a fan of his ever since my mom let me skip school one day my senior year, and I discovered his CD (yep, his CD), at a record store near school.  That very night after a first listen, I was hooked.  In the years to come, I saw him live once or twice, but the opportunity came up for us (me and Deb, my sister) to see him at a smaller, more intimate show in High Point, North Carolina, and we jumped at the chance, even though it was at the end of November, outside, and I would be freezing.  Deb and I were pretty much front and center, and danced so hard throughout the show, that afterwards, when we met Gavin, after he told me I was pretty (duh fool), he said “I saw you guys dancing out there!” He then signed my Budweiser.

Gavin DeGraw

So anyhoo, not only was I in love with him, I feel in love with one of his bandmates, the adorbs Billy Norris.  So I got the idea to follow them on Twitter in order to tweet and stalk them for all future performances, a move that would prove to be pretty smart, as Billy retweeted me a few times, and Gavin tweeted me as well as DMed me regarding some song lyrics that I’d absolutely fallen in love with.

And that is how I started my love affair with Twitter.  Now I use it for very much the same purposes, as well as to keep up with #blacktwitter when they’re coming for Keri Hilson or Keyshia Cole, livetweeting awards shows, or spoiling episodes of Catfish for me.

How do you use Twitter?

Vegas!

| cheriarmour

I was gone yesterday, so no #weddingwednesday post for you guys, which I’m sorry about.  Well, not that sorry.  Oprah told me I should stop apologize for just doing me so…bye haterz!

At any rate, I’m writing to you from the air, somewhere above Texas.

If you’re new here, you’re prolly all “Whhhhaaa homegirl’s from Texas?!” so let me explain.

I’d briefly mentioned over the past few weeks that I’d be in Las Vegas this weekend for my first ever Ragnar Relay, joining 5 other girls on an ultra team to run from a ski resort alllll the way down down down over the course of about two days.

I think honestly, I haven’t talked about it a ton because of the sheer volume of things I’ve had going on.  With the move, with the new husband, with the foster beagle who sits on the back of the couch and keeps me company while I write – there’s a lot that’s been going on.

That and I’m a little terrified.  Because I’m running 35 miles over the course of two days, and I’m not a million percent sure that I’ve ever done something like that.  But I kind of take it like I take everything else, like a challenge that I will get through and learn from.  I’m taking this as a practice run for when I want to do my first ultra, once I convince my husband that nothing will happen to me if I nutrish up properly for an ultra.

So my fabulous day of travel?

So, Tuesday night, while my husband was out playing with some friends, I straightened up the house and folded the mountain of clothes that had taken up residence in every single corner of the bedroom.  I have this ritual of scrubbing my living space every time I go on a trip because in case I die, I don’t my my husband/my mother/whoever is coming to collect my things to be like “omg, ew what a trash bag she was.” I mainly just want people to come in, should I find myself you know, gone to the Starbucks in the sky, and be like “Oh man, her house smells so good, it smells just like essential oils and Glade plugins, may she rest in peace.”

So once I got that all squared away and hit the sack, Wednesday morning, I woke up with my husband, who generally leaves a bit earlier than I do, started packing, and making myself some breakfast, and went into work for a few hours.  I love my job, am obsessed with my job, and I actually feel guilty when I leave it, so I wanted to go to make sure that everything was set there.

I headed home, hubby picked me up, and off I went to make my way to Vegas!  Now I’m actually on the second leg of my trip, but a few things to share with you.

Once again, my first leg, they had me on some crazy little commuter plane, second time that’s happened in a year, but I survived by doing the only thing I knew how to do in these situations – I literally SLEPT for every second of the like, six-hour flight.   I was seriously passed out so hard that the flight attendant asked me if I was okay with the same concerned look on her face as when I broke a bone one time and was laying on the ground.  I musta been looking really rough.

This really horrid girl put her BARE FRIGGIN FEET up on the arm rest and I almost fainted.

Feet

And that’s pretty much been it!

I’m nervous for my first time in Vegas, but excited to meet some new friends, and definitely really excited to take pictures so you guys will be really jealous of me.  Kidding!  Kinda…

So no question today, but leave me a random comment so I have something to answer when I’m in the van/in the hotel tomorrow!  Seriously, leave me anything, ask me any question!

I can fall asleep anywhere.

| cheriarmour

First and foremost, can we all thank my amazing husband (who’s gotten a lot of love on the blog this week), for doing something to my poor laptop to make it run faster?  I have this adorable pink Dell that my dad got me for my Elon graduation in 2009 – I’m trying to squeeze a few more months out of it while I save up for a Mac, and you guys better watch out for the Mac attack because I will be on that thing, editing photos and writing like a crazy person.

Moving right along.

So, yesterday, I participated in Peachy Keen’s fall fashion show.  Remember,  I did their show last spring?

Because of the fashion show (which was a blast) here’s what my day looked like.

The night before, I stupidly drank two extremely large glasses of wine, knowing full well I wanted to be up and ready to go to work by 6am (ish) so I could work for the day and then head to makeup for the show.  So I woke up, feeling awesome (absolutely not) and sobbed through a shower.  Or at least I felt like sobbing.

I worked for the day, got a 5ish or 6ish miler in, and headed to makeup for the show.

The show was Frozen-themed, so makeup was pretty, blue, and ethereal-looking.  And the second I got done with makeup, I laid down on a bench in the dressing room with a tiny pillow, and fell asleep.  I felt nothing, heard nothing, and have no idea how long I was out for, bout it was just long enough to feel refreshed and walk the show no problem.

I don’t want to spoil anything for when the real shots are done being edited and all that fun stuff, so take a little gander at this backstage…

Peachy Fall Show

Makeup was awesome, hair looks good, and the show went off without a hitch.  I even felt myself moved by the spirit, and danced a little on the runway.

IMMEDIATELY following the show, I kid you not, I asked Austin to unzip the back of my dress, and I faceplanted on the bed at about 8:45pm.  The only other time in my adult life I ever remember going to bed that early was once when I had a Zumba training that I went to after a wedding.  I promptly found myself wide awake at 4am, in a mod dress from Loft, wondering where I went so wrong in my life.

But I digress.

What are your guys’ weekend plans, especially given that this weekend is Halloween?  

Me?  Come hell or high water, I will play with this…

LetterpressThis is my new baby that I have yet to get a chance to play with!  I finally got my L-Press from Charlotte, so I would love to break it out and play with it, and in my WILDEST fantasies, get it up and running in time to shoot off some holiday cards.  I can dream big, can’t I?

Weekend updates!

| cheriarmour

I hope your weekend was really good.  I’m surprised I’m still standing upright, because I got a toooon of stuff done.

BeagleSo for starters – if you’ve come to our house in the last year or so, I’ve sworn up and down that we were not getting any more pets.  We have two cats, and a poodle that I love dearly, but of course, I could not keep my word.  We inherited a sweet beagle named April, and we’re fostering her until we can find her a nice, sweet home to stay at.  Prilla is a typical beagle, and unlike the poodle, who’s often off the leash, sniffing around the backyard, when you open the door, Prilla jets off.  But we’re enjoying having her!

I got notice that my replacement Fitbit has shipped!  If you’ll remember, I am a complete idiot, and mere weeks after getting my Fitbit, I was dancing, and looked down a few minutes later to discover that my new fun toy was missing.  I spent the week on the phone with the company, who very graciously decided to send me another, since I’d already replaced it.  All this, just in time for my next new toy…

fitbit.0The Fitbit Surge, the answer to the problem that EVERY single runner that owns a Fitbit has – how dumb do I look wearing my Garmin and my fitness tracker at the same time….

Now to convince my husband that I need another gadget (I don’t)….

CardSpeaking of that sweet man that I love, I was at the paper store to pick up some cards, and found this!  How cute, right?  It’s by a company called Emily McDowell, and the creativity that just oozes off her work is simply inspiring.

Which brings me to this!

My letterpress machine showed up!  After deciding just after our wedding that I was obsessed with all things paper, I called around to some folks, one in particular in Asheville, who have antique letterpress businesses.  One girl in particular, the very sweet Nicole, from Mink Letterpress, actually called me back and walked me through getting started with pressing beautiful paper.  She told me about the Evolution Letterpress, and about a few local paper specialty shops that have workshops, so those are things that I’m really looking forward to in addition to the stationary conference in New York next Spring (if I can afford it 🙂 ).

And finally…

IMG_1454The weather here is gorgeous, and I finally, finally feel like I can run without getting nauseous.  Which comes just in TIME for my Ragnar in Vegas next month.  In two weeks, I’m running 35 miles over the course of a weekend, along with 5 other girls.  Eep!

How was your weekend? 

 

Proactiv Perjury

| cheriarmour

So, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I struggled with some acne in high school.

Currently, at the ripe old age of 26. I still struggle with hormonal acne, and at certain times of the month, my forehead will erupt into angry acne.  Eventually, it goes away, but it leaves behind some hyperpigmentation that seems to take forever to get gone.  Since I had some success with Proactiv in undergrad, I went ahead and ordered Proactiv again.  And this time, the formula is even better, and more moisturizing than it has in the past.

I noticed that I was getting low, and checked my account – my package was supposed to have shipped on October 3rd, but somewhere between the old house and the new house, my package didn’t get to me.  And if I go a few days without using it, my skin is really unhappy, so I called, and tried to track down my package.

Here’s where things got a little weird.

The folks at Proactiv, who are generally pretty nice, told me that in order to send me out a new package (and I’ve been autoshipped up to this point), that I would have to SIGN AN AFFIDAVIT stating that I had not received the shipment under threat of perjury. Threat of perjury.  Woo!  They are not messing around up there.

I mean, I get it!  Evidently, there are some clowns running around claiming they never received product and ruining things for the rest of us who just want clear skin.  Additionally, they offered, once they receive my statement, to refund the two months I’ve been paying with no product.

I’m certainly not here to bash Proactiv, but I’m more asking for all of us to look at our behaviors as they affect others.  Working in running retail, we ran into this issue a lot.  Folks returning shoes they’d been wearing for over a year.  Folks returning socks so old, that the artwork on the packaging had changed.  Folks returning used clothing items that had clearly been worn to work out in.  And finally, clearly, folks returning empty bottles of an expensive skin-care product.

So next time you’re like “why the heck are running shoes so expensive,” or “why does this company make me jump through hoops to get a replacement [blank],” remember, one, you could be made to sign an affidavit swearing that you did not receive said product, and two, it’s these jerks running these streets that are ruining it for all of us.

Phew.

What’s your best/worst experience with customer service?