some days i do, some days i don't

i've worked in the service industry for the last six years. i have found it to be both the most rewarding and the most demanding work i've ever done. i'm a people person so most of the time i love getting to interact with different people on a daily basis. i've met a lot of really cool people through my serving jobs over the years. some days i love my job, some days i don't. 

today i did not.

we hosted a lunch for over 50 older women today (something we didn't have to do). and they were the rudest, neediest bunch of ladies i have ever met. i don't know where people get off being mean to people who are waiting on them, but it's absolutely ridiculous.

oh and p.s. "scones" and "sconces" are not synonymous. a scone is what we serve with your drink before your meal. a sconce is a light fixture that hangs on a wall. so don't ask for another "sconce" or i'll bring you a decorative light.

[end of rant]

outer loop and laryngitis

my car arrived earlier this week, meaning i could finally start work! yesterday was my first day at my new roadhouse at outer loop in louisville. things were different than i'm used to, but it was just like riding a bike. i got right back into the swing of things and quickly everything became pretty familiar. all the servers i met last night were so sweet and welcoming and were very helpful and willing to answer my questions about how their restaurant functioned as opposed to mine. i'm starting to make friends! they even think i have an accent, which is ironic because they're the ones with the thick accents. i'm from the midwest. silly people. 

i also lost my voice last night. so that made quite a good impression i'm sure. i went to the doctor today to get a strep test. the good news is i don't have strep. the bad news is that i have laryngitis. which is a swelling of the voicebox and vocal chords. awesome. my voice is entirely gone. but my family is excited because that means their loud, chatty paige is limited to a whisper. happy day everyone. happy happy day. 

lately

i can't believe i'm going to say this, but... i'm liking winter in idaho. it hasn't been bad at all. i work a lot. like, a lot. but i'm not even really that mad about it because i finally have money in the bank. i'm so glad i got to go down to provo to spend time with my cousins for christmas. we had lots of christmas pj days, fondue, movies, and shopping. and we made a trip to temple square to see the christmas lights. it was magical.

brent is here and i'm so very glad. i hadn't seen that boy in four months. we're going to jackson hole on sunday and i've got other things to show him around rexburg. it's been so nice not being entirely alone during winter break. unfortunately he's going home on tuesday :(

and can i just say that the weather has been fantastic? it hasn't snowed once and it's been in the 50's all week. gimme more of that. i guess what i'm trying to say is that being stuck in the iceburg won't be so bad this semester. i'm going to concentrate on work, my friends, and being the best version of myself. maybe i'll have enough to find a new hobby. basketweaving anyone?

tumblr thursday and such

i can confidently say that i am happy. and i really truly love that. i have incredible friends, cute roommates, a great guy, an amazing family, a fun job and i am so very blessed. i work a lot. but i'm not even mad about it because i don't dread going to work!

last night a bunch of guys from corporate came to eat and some of the head honchos supervised and checked on things to make sure we were doing it all right. one of them grabbed me in the kitchen and told me he had a couple of guys that wanted to meet me. i met chris and tim who told me they just so happened to have eaten lunch with my mom last week! i miss that woman.

okay, on to tumblr thursday. there's not too many this week, but they're good ones. so love me through it.

4 days til halloween (i hate halloween)

8 days til juelaine and i head to vegas for kyle's wedding

26 days til i'm with my family in kentucky

ecuador reunions and first day jitters

saturday morning i had my menu test at texas roadhouse. i haven't been that nervous for something in a very long time. but after lots of studying, prayers, and maybe a small miracle, i passed with a 95% and got to continue on to orientation. ryan helped me study and agreed to take me to dinner if i got the job. so we got our behinds to olive garden for some endless pasta bowls, salad, and breadsticks. yummmmm.

the chicaiza family (who i stayed with while i was in ecuador) is in the states right now, so we had a little reunion with them and all the osso people in rexburg. it made my heart so very happy. they are the greatest family and it had been a long 7 months since i'd seen them. it'd also been a long 7 months since i had spoken spanish all day every day so talking to them in spanish was a little harder than i anticipated. but it came right back. say hello to maibe and tanner...

and to beth ann and brianne...

monday was my first night of work at the roadhouse. it was overwhelming/exciting/stressful/fun and left me eager for day 2. i may or may not have slipped and fallen in the kitchen carrying two salad plates. it was beyond embarrassing. however last night went much smoother and i didn't fall a single time. tonight i'm training again and am going to have to start taking tables all by myself! i'm so nervous. so so nervous. but i love that our uniform is a tshirt and jeans. i love my job.

happy wednesday!

and be nice to your servers when you go out to eat :)

gettin' down on friday

friday night i babysat walker (not the little blondie i normally babysit... two walkers, one neighborhood). sometimes we play outside. sometimes we build forts in the basement. sometimes we play video games. sometimes we watch movies. sometimes we draw. and friday night, there was a lot of drawing. i wrote amy another birthday letter, while walker was silently working on this magic...

(that would be me and walker holding hands, i think we're cute)

and then we went outside, but walker discovered spiders and spiderwebs all over his play-set, so i sat on the back porch swing with buster. i happen to quite like buster. he's a funny dog. and he likes to give me kisses. so he's alright. 

after walker was sound asleep and his parents returned from their date night, i went to logan's to watch a movie, but ended up watching him and wil play call of duty for two hours. so that was just, awesome.

how was your weekend? 

insert creative blog title here

okay, first off...

my family is moving!!!!!

i've lived in kansas for 17 years. it's all i've really ever known because we moved here from california when i was about 3, and like most 3 year-olds, i don't have hardly any memories from before then. but basically kansas has been our home forever. and it's gonna be really weird leaving, but change is good. and though i'm not going to be in kentucky for very much of the year, i'm really excited about it.

the other day i told you i've been obsessing over this blog. and well, it's rainy today here too, so her post this morning was so poetic and perfect and i really enjoyed it. the sky is doing crazy things today. maybe it has something to do with the eclipse last night.

aaaaalso, i've recently fallen in love with the shine project. this week is "fitness week" and after i saw this post, i grabbed my brother and we decided we're going to be better about getting our daily exercise. so far we've gone running and played basketball. tonight we're planning going on a bike ride. and i find it all too exciting. i've lost 20 pounds since last summer, and i want to continue to be healthy and set more goals. betsy told me about livestrong.com and how you can track what you eat, your physical activity, and the progress you're making. it's nice to be able to have a visual of my progress.

i spent my yesterday with hank and hannah! we played on my old elementary school's playground (hello nostalgia), went to the library, ate pizza, went to the pool, had a kool-aid stand, and went to get peachwave with the money they earned from selling kool-aid. it was a blasty blast.

also i got to skype with cass and mads and that made me really happy. only 69 days til i'm in the pacific west!

cutie faces

i feel like maybe this is a little bit blurry, but it's a phone pic. and he was ready to speed away. but this is walker and his beautiful sister reese. isn't she pretty? i like when i get to play with them. they're cute, and fun, and stuff. and i just like this picture a whole lot. that's all really.

i hope everybody had the absolute best sunday!

the freshest

as i've mentioned before, i'm nannying this summer. and i've already figured out that i'm going to be spending a lot of time at the pool. i'm not really even mad about it though. i wake up, throw on a swimsuit and a tshirt, and head out the door. the last three days i've spent a total of ten hours at the pool. have i already gotten sunburned? yes. have i braved the cold water and jumped in yet? no. but that's okay, i have three more months for that...

hiiiiiiii nasty natural hair

meet dixie, betsy's kitty. it turns out, dixie is a boy. so now dixie is dix. betsy loves her (him, it, whatever) just the same. sometimes they have staring contests... betsy always wins.

and i may or may not have finally gotten david to play "tisbury lane" for me. i've only been trying for, oh, i don't know, six months? but it was unbelievably worth it. my future husband will play the guitar for me everyday. not that david and i have plans to get married. haha i'm just saying, whoever it may be.

happy (almost) summer!

walker texas ranger

meet walker

he isn't a texas ranger. although i think that'd be kind of neat. i believe i mentioned walker here. he's a funny little guy. he declared today a "jammies day" so he didn't put real clothes on. but that was fine. we sat in the basement for an hour during a tornado warning, we played ice age on nintendo move, we ate chicken nuggets for lunch, and then watched an episode each of batman and full house. it was a pretty productive day, i'd say. and while we were watching batman, and a glass of punch fell onto the floor (in the show), what did walker say? "they need to clean that up, somebody could slip" ...good lookin' out, walker john.

at world's end

i spent pretty much all weekend at wedding receptions. i worked friday night aaaaand saturday night, and it was exhausting. yesterday's event was stressful. everyone was having a rough night and there was lots of yelling, arguing, crying, and things not being ready on time. but by 8 or 9 when the music was booming from the speakers and people were flowing to the dance floor (and after the DJ announced we were safe from the rapture), things were looking up. the boys who were working as dish washers could tell i was having a bad night and they may or may not have let me throw cake in their face. i felt worlds better afterwards. at about 11 we heard the tornado sirens go off so we started herding drunk wedding guests to the basement. it was a pretty eventful evening.

also, i've been spending a lot of time with this boy.

and i got to skype with this one for a couple hours the other day.

this week i also got to see my bank account finally surpass the $1000 mark! today is graduation for all the seniors at my high school and i'm going to a few open houses in a couple hours. i can't believe that was me two years ago! that's just weeeeiiiiird.

anyways, happy sunday, everybody!

work = play

i'm not sure if i've ever mentioned just how much i love working. i've had a job pretty consistently ever since i was 15. even though i wish so terribly that i was at school with all my friends right now, i'm pretty happy that i'm working so much. during the week, i get to play with some of the cutest/funniest/smartest/funnest kids ever. and during the weekend, i get to go to wedding receptions, eat delicious food, and laugh at drunk people on the dance floor. it's pretty great actually. so most of the time, my job feels more like play than it does work. two of my favorites are sam and kate. we go on walks, play skipbo, watch disney movies, and plan fieldrips for the summer. and i love it a whole lot. i don't want to grow up and get a real job because i'm confident it's not going to be near as much fun as my job now. that is all.

i miss my brown babies...

...but these ones are pretty cute too

meet sophie, she's almost two and sooo blonde. have i tried to speak to her in spanish all day? why yes, yes i have. too bad she doesn't understand what i'm saying like my ecuador babies do.

and this is walker... i got to play with him earlier this week. he's 4 (and a half). he told me he didn't like my hair that day, because it was kind of "wacky." but i still really like him anyways. and he said it'd be fine if i came back to play.

all i really do lately is babysit. but i don't even mind it one bit. right now the kids are in bed and i'm watching say yes to the dress while i work on my talk tomorrow for church. i loooove speaking in church. sorry if that makes me weird. also my friends kat and skyler got married today! so hoooooray for that. 

happy weekend :)

barefooted child

let's talk about my tuesday. i woke up at 9 and cleaned my room whilst listening to the most fantastic playlist i have ever created which contains songs that remind me of ecuador. then at 1 i left for work. it was ridiculously nice outside so kate and i sat on her back patio for a good half hour. 

kate's really cute. and i really like her. also it's her birthday tomorrow and she'll be 12 whole years old!

sorry that it's hard to look attractive while staring directly into the sun

i ran around without shoes on today, and i really enjoyed it.

then i watched sam play soccer in the backyard before he went to practice. and then i went to target and bought kate her birthday present which i'm confident she'll enjoy. aaand saw a girl i knew in middle school.

and then i came home and saw this face. i happen to really like amy. just look at her.

and that, people, was my tuesday. it was a pretty fantastic tuesday actually. lame, but fantastic.