wil and kris (and gracie and ava)

oh my gosh- it’s the 28th already? it’s been like a week…well you want to know why? because the most exciting thing that has happened this week is that i moved the dog couch downstairs. yep. that’s the only thing that’s been out of the ordinary routine of our life.

well, i just got home from a regina spektor concert. that’s different. it was pretty stinking awesome, but there’s not much reason to blog about a concert since no one can relate unless they were there. so ok, it was a nice change of pace to go out and do something interesting in the middle of the week (the concert was for my birthday last year…it got postponed from november to now)

but otherwise, i am basically just coming on here to complain about the boring lull we’re in right now. that’s ok. the days aren’t bad…just regular. because of that, all you get from me is pictures of the dogs on the sofa in it’s new location.

…while sitting on my porch.

this is sure to be one of my favorite summer pastimes.  the other night, it was about 60 degrees outside so kris and i (and of course, the beasts that are our dogs) decided to spend the evening sitting out on the porch enjoying the warm air we all miss so much.

i decided to grab one of my new pipes and light it up.  this was the first time i had a chance to do a little smoking since christmas… the weather has been so poor this winter.

so, kris was snapping some pictures, and i was smoking away.  the dogs were meandering around, sniffing the smoke, wondering what the heck it was that i was putting into my mouth.  it was a pretty enjoyable evening.  hopefully i’ll have many more opportunities this year to enjoy one of my favorite birthday presents i’ve ever received.

if you haven’t taken the meyers briggs test, or it’s been a few years, take this test (it only takes about 5-10 min).

go learn about yourself…it’s fun.

we have had a lack of excitement lately. thus the lack of posts.

wil’s settled in to his new store so far, and i have been churning away at the normal stuff at my work. he’s working right now…and i am extremely bored at home with the girls on a saturday night. i know what you’re thinking: what a loser. ha. i don’t care. but anyways, since there is rarely anything good on tv on saturday nights, because the rest of society is out being social with one another…i have been roaming the house in the last hour, just taking pictures (and avoiding the laundry at all costs).

i figure, being creative is better than watching a lifetime movie i’m not interested in (i don’t actually watch lifetime by the way)…so i was just walking around in circles capturing a shape or item that might be interesting through the viewfinder, or maybe has a particular story to it. it was kind of fun, and then, when i sat down to upload them, i realized i had a bunch of pictures from a few days ago that i had forgotten to load as well. my flickr account just got bombarded with randomness in the last few minutes. here’s a smattering of images from tonight and the last few days. a glimpse of life through pictures (hold your mouse over the image for descriptions, if you want).

they like the morning sun as it moves through the bedroom…

So, most everyone knows by now that I was promoted to Store Manager. Right now I am in a sort of … limbo. The old manager is still there, and I get to spend all week observing, meeting employees and customers and sort of ‘taking it all in’. Some of my fellow managers say that this is a great time to create ‘the plan’ (what I want to do with the store.. start mapping things out in regards to partner development, marketing to draw new customers and store cleanliness and organization). I’m doing pretty good with all that and am just sort of hanging out for now.

Tonight I closed with a few partners, one of which is possibly going to be my new ASM. She gets to have a meeting with Te’sh, my boss, and they talk about her development and when and if she’ll be promoted. Tonight we were talking a little bit about that and I think she will be great! She’s got what it takes and I would love to have her as my ASM. Also, her work ethic and personality are very similar to mine, so her management style is also similar.

I also worked with a lady (Pam) who has been at that store for about 7 years!! She knows pretty much everyone and despite the fact that she’s seen manager after manager move through the store, she’s excited to work with me!

Another guy I worked with (Sam) got into a fight with a bum last weekend… he told a pretty funny story and now he can barely walk. He’s a nice guy and has also been at the store for a while.

So far, it’s a great group of people that all know their stuff pretty well! Looks like I’ve got to be on top of my game.

All afternoon, people were coming to me with questions about orgainization, scheduling, ordering, cleanliness… you name it. The funny thing is (and what really excites me) is that it felt so natural for me to answer for them. It was like I could really see my transition into my new role really well, right before my eyes. I am so excited to start planning things and see what we can accomplish at this store. I’m ready, and I know my new partners are ready to elevate the game and bring it to the next level!

Wish me luck!

p.s. I’ve got a picture of my new store somewhere around here… I’ll take some of my own and post them, so you can get a feel of what my new home looks like.

***i was just on, so i thought i’d add the picture that we have on our desktop on here for wil. but of course, i know you would all like to see some more shots… -kris

hooray for lost season 4 premiere! we ended up having like ten people over so wil decided it was a good idea to create stadium seating in our den (for those of you who have not been in our den, there’s only about 8 feet from the sofa to the tv…not a big theatre room). i said it was crazy, but he did it! and it was pretty fun. ava liked to sleep under the couch. : )

a friend also brought some awesome dharma initiative snacks…very official.

as for the show itself- it was pretty good and we are both excited for it to finally be back on the air…we’ve missed all of our regular primetime shows!