Wheel of the World

By Carrie Underwood

Love goes out, out like a light

Out like a flame, and you can't find it anymore

Just when you think it's lost in the rain

It comes back knocking at your door

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

And around

God put us here on this carnival ride

We close our eyes

Never knowing where it will take us next

Babies are born and at the same time, someone's taking their last breath

It's the wheel of the world

It's the wheel of the world turning around

In the blink of an eye

It can change your life

And it never even slows down

It's the wheel of the world

I don't know what it is

I'm flying high

Then I'm wondering whyI'm sinking on this ship, going down

Life keeps on moving anyway

It's the wheel of the world

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

And around

And around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It can open your heart

It can break you apart

And it never even slows down

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

It's the wheel of the world turning around

And around

Everyday

Emotions run high this time of year. The 2 year mark is coming up. Last year I stayed home and drowned in my grief. This year it will be just as hard as it has always been. This year I decided to work. I don't want this day to take me over, this day is not any harder than the others. I miss her EVERYday, I feel the void in my life EVERYday. Hopefully by going to work it will get my mind onto other things.

Get Credit!!!

Getting customers to apply for our credit card is a very important part of my job. Let me just tell you that it is harder than it sounds. It has been a big learning process for me, learning how to sell credit. As an employee you are required to get at least one credit per shift, that means 5 a week for me. The new Full Time Key Holder, Rachel has played a huge part in me improving my credit results. She taught me what to say and encouraged me. Unlike the boss who constantly dogged us out if we weren't getting any credit. Well obviously encouragement works better than discouragement. For the month of September I only got 5 out of the 25 credits I needed. For the month of October I got 30 out of the 25 credits I needed!!! OH YEAH!!!

Bye Bye Brown Hair

I am no longer a brunette. I am going through a coloring process to go back to my natural hair color. Its a slow process, but it will be worth it in the end. I go back in 8 weeks to finish.

From Princess to Queen

I have evolved. Yesterday, being Halloween and all, the girls and I at the store dressed up. I started out with the whole princess thing, but it turned into a queen thing. I know what you are thinking MJ, Brenda no longer a princess? Has the world gone mad?!?! No, it hasn't gone mad, I have just been promoted, that's all. I wore my senior high school prom dress (which, by the way, fits me better now than it did then! How many women can say they are smaller now than when they were in high school? ) a crown I got at Disney years ago and an array of my sparkiest brooches. The girls at work loved it and got what I was going for. It was alot of fun dressing up. But I must say, when I was getting ready for work today, it wasn't as much fun without the tiara. Just felt like my outfit was missing something.

Rocki in Front of the Rocki's

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

A very busy crazy Saturday afternoon at Lane Bryant. The day begins with the store being a mess from the previous evening. My co-worker and I spend the first two hours of our day cleaning up the place. Then the adventure really begins. A customer comes in with her 2 teenage daughters, while the mother is looking around, the 2 girls take it upon themselves to walk around the store and "fix" our mannequins. By "fix" I mean, pop their collars and undo buttons to make our mannequins more "sexy". Do they not realize that these are MANNEQUINS?!?! Then our credit card system goes down, not once, not twice, but THREE times, meaning we cannot process any sales that involve cards. At 2 o'clock one of the girls doesn't show up for her shift, so I have to call someone else in. And then it happens again with a different girl at 6 o'clock! Two no calls/no shows in one day, crazy! Then just as I am about to leave, I see a father standing outside the store with a stoller, his child comes in and knocks down one of our big posters that are in the window, the dad sees what happens and tells his kid to RUN. And they start running down the the walkway in the mall!!! And to top it all off, my car and a few other cars in the parking lot got egged that day. I can't believe people still egg cars?!?!

Just Keep Swimming

Mom is at school at Camp Blanding, which is home to a very lovely lake. The Scotts and I drove out there to visit her two weekends in a row. It is so much fun out there. Nice cool water, cool breeze and great company. I also got a chance to work on my sunburn (haha). We kept trying to think of different games in the water, being in a lake there weren't to many traditional water games we could play. We had a handstand competition, sycronized swimming and a water dance off. Lots of fun, we lost some and we won some. But it was a great two weekends, it was nice to relax and not worry about work.

Fly Away, Be Free

We let Star go last Wednesday. It was really hard to let this one go, she became very attached to us and us to her. She was a mocking bird and made all of these really crazy sounds. We let her go at Camp Blanding, that place is crawling with mocking birds, and she should be able to find some friends there. Here are some pics I took before we let her go.

Little Birdie Part 2

We have just discovered another little baby bird yesterday. This one is the youngest one we have ever had. And we just let Apollo fly free about 3 weeks ago. This little girl has bones for wings, very long legs and neck. I posted soem pictures of Apollo down by his blog. Here are some pictures of our little Star. Not the best pics, but they will have to work for now.

Star with her mouth wide open, waiting for food.

Star with a mouthful of food.

Tattoo

Yes, I got my tattoo in memory of Kierra, no, you will not be seeing a picture of it on this blog or on my MySpace. This tattoo is very personal to me and I would hate for someone to take away from it. You will have to see it in person. I love it and has alot of meaning. It was inspired by the artwork of Amy Brown. I played with the colors a little to make it more personal. I am in love with it and can't stop looking at it.

Little Birdie

I have always had a love of birds, especially little baby birds that can not yet take care of themselves. Its seems every spring, a new little baby bird finds their way to me. This year is no different. My moms boss found a bird on the base, so she brought her home to me. I broke out my little bird cage, liquid bird food, and I made a little nest for her to sleep in. She is doing well and eating alot. I have named her Bethi, after my moms bosses daughter. She is just the cutest little thing, she is already learning how to balance on my finger. And at night she nestles into her little nest, SO CUTE!!!


*UPDATE* I have since discovered that Bethi is actually a boy. Oops!!! He now goes by the name Apollo.

Today

Well to day was a very busy day at work. I, and about 8 other girls had to be at the store at 6 in the morning. Meaning Brenda had to wake up at 4:30a.m. I spent the whole day sizing and resizing bras and panties in Casique. Our new manager starts tomorrow, so the store needed to look perfect. We didn't finish until about 2:30, and the store was packed when we left. I am super tired, yet I can't see to fall asleep. Oh, and I am getting my tattoo on Saturday, Kierra's birthday.

Let's See...

What has been going on in the life of Brenda? I have been in my new management position now for one month. There have been some ups and downs. Stress is a bitch!!! The Store Manager quit and we will have a new one on Monday. Which I couldn't be happier about, the store was slowly dying, and now we will be revived!!! I know alot of the girls that work there now will be leaving soon after the new manager starts, they are so use to working(or not working, I should say) with someone who really didn't care about the store and what happened to it. So its a new beginning and I am very excited and looking forward to some hard work.
I have been so busy working a full time schedule that I haven't had much time to see the people that are most important in my life. I was able to go out twice last week though. I more stuff to tell you about, but I have to be at work at 6 in the morning, yay!

BIG NEWS!!!

After 2 months with Lane Bryant, I have been promoted to Full Time Key Holder at the Lane Bryant at the Avenues Mall. I am very excited about this oppertunity and ready for Monday to begin!!!

I've Been Tagged

By Brianne. Which means I am suppose to list six weird facts about myself, so here goes.
1. I like to decorate in sets of three.
2. I will not mix my foods together.
3. I love when Eddie Murphy sings. LOVE IT!!!
4. My cat likes to curl up into a ball and suck her tail, like a baby sucking its thumb.
5. I am the only daughter and granddaughter on both sides of my family.
6. I was born in the 10th month on the 21st, 10 days after my mothers 21st birthday.

Work=Love

Well for me at least. I love, love, love my job!!! How many people can honestly say that? I love fashion, I love working with people, and I love telling people what to wear, lol. The past few weeks I have been working at the Casique part of the store, learning how to do bra fits and learning about 20 different styles of bras and panties and Spanx. Last weekend we had a bra fit event. We had a little compitition going on between the workers to see who could get the most bra fits and sell the most bras during the three days of the event. I am happy to say I kicked ass, blew all the other girls out of the water. I had two full lines of stickers, the closest to me had three quarters of one line. Sorry, I am finished gloating now. My bosses say that I am doing very well and are already talking about promoting me to a part-time manager!!! Well I am off today and Friday, so I am going to go do some chores now so I won't have any to do Friday.

Old St. Augustine

Mom, Jennifer and I went down to St Augustine this past Friday. Jennifer had never been so we thought should enjoy coming along with us. Well it was field trip day down there. We felt like we were at an amusement park. There were some fun times and some disappointing times. In all we had a pretty good time, but learned our lesson. Next time, go on a Tuesday!!! And no one down there serves shrimp cocktail. Oh and Kilmans has the BEST caramel!!!

Another one of my problems was I just couldn't really get into the day. All up and down St. George Street I thought about Kierra. As some of you know, the first time I had ever met and hung out with Kierra was when we all went down to St. Augustine over Thanksgiving weekend about 5 years ago. We had just a good time down there. Its hard to go to favorite places like that and not have her there to enjoy it with.

Dr. Scholl's Rocks My World!!!

I have been working nothing but 8 hour shifts the past week, which has been killer on my feet and calves. Until Saturday when I discovered the most wonderful shoe ever!!! I went there looking for some shoes that were recommended to me by some of the other girls, but of course the store did not have that brand of shoes any more. So I looked around some more and found shoes made by the one and only Dr. Scholl. I figure that he knows feet, so they must make a good comfortable shoe. Boy was I right!!! My feet are no longer paining me, and I now own the shoes in black and brown.

New Jobs, New Pains!

Well I offically started at Lane Bryant today, my first 8 hour shift. It was loades of fun and I learned alot. I now know how to fold and hang clothes fancy. The only problem is the pain in my feet. It feels like my feet are bleeding. I have to find some cushiony shoes. I also work tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, then the schedule starts over on Sunday.

Oh YEAH!!!

I GOTTA NEW JOB!!! I turned in an application last Thursday, interviewed Friday, found out I got the job today!!! Nice fast and simple. I am now a Style Expert at Lane Bryant and Cacique. Oh yeah!!!

***NEWS FLASH***

The Starbucks on Dunn Avenue has offically opened!!! I was one of their first customers when they opened up yesterday morning!!!

Some People

Are just too freaking nosey!!! We all know that my face is all scrapped up, right? Well some people can't tell a scrap from a bruise. I had a lady walk up to me in WalMart today, she told me to leave my man, and that he just wasn't worth the pain he was putting me through!!! I was so shocked, I laughed and told her that I had fallen off a horse Monday, and no man has or ever will do something like that to me. I understand that in her mind she was just trying to help out, but come on!!!
My back has started hurting worse since I have been home, and I find myself running out of breathe alot. I am going to call my doctor Monday and setup an appointment.

Who Needs Sleep, When You Can Trot in the Arena?

Well the drive up to the ranch was quite interesting, to say the least. I have one word to describe it...CHATANNNOOOOOOOOOOGGGGAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday was a dreary wet weather day. We still went riding, of course!!! You could only ride in the pasture, so the rides weren't to eventful. After the evening ride Brianne and I noticed some people trotting in the arena and asked if we could too. It was so awesome, I had Haley and Bri had Ginger, they were both very good trotters and seemed to enjoy it as much as Bri and I did. Monday I was not as lucky. This time I had Ginger and Bri had Haley. They weren't trotting as well as they had the day before. Anyway, Ginger began to trot, she slipped and lost her footing which caused her to fall to her knees. I wasn't prepared for it at all, there for I went flying over her head towards the ground. My face hit first and sort of skid across the ground and i continued to flip finally stopping on my back. The way my neck bent I just knew that it was over for me. The fall completely knocked the breath out of me, I had to close my eyes so I could concentrate on breathing. Everyone stayed pretty calm which kept me calm. Everything went by so fast, yet felt like slow motion. I had so much dirt caked into my mouth, Mari-Jane said it looked like I was doing dip! Anyway I walked away from the fall with a big scrap on my forehead, another on my nose, some scraps under my left eye and on the inside of my bottom lip, and a very sore back.
We went and saw Happy Feet that night, it is just as good the second time around. The next morning I was back on a horse!!! Moose was a good girl, the slowest walker horse ever, and she always has to be in the back of the line. I got to ride Stella a couple more times, yay! The ride home wasn't as eventful as the ride up, Brianne and I slept most of the way home.