A Trip to the Fair

Well my computer seems to be cooperating and has been for a bit so I'll see if I can get a blog out before it crashes. This past weekend I was off so Ryan came to visit! 

Saturday was a day of first time experiences for me. We went to the State Fair with a few friends! I rode the dart (Dallas's version of the subway but mostly above ground) for the first time, and went to the fair for the first time. The fair was basically like the rodeo but without the rodeo events and the concert. It was a lot of fun though. We rode a few rides, ate fried food, and wandered around looking at exhibits and even saw pig races. It was a long exhausting day but a lot of fun. The only thing we didn't find was the deep fried loaded baked potatoes and the walking tacos (a taco in a bag!). After the fair it started raining like crazy and Ryan and I braved the storm to meet up with my friend Ashleigh who was visiting from New York. She moved there after graduation and was back in town for the weekend. We watched the Rangers game with her, her boyfriend and her family. Saturday in photos is below! 

At the fair! 

On the swings ride! 

 It was a lot faster than we were expecting

 Downtown Dallas from the swings

 A deep fried margarita! Interesting, but not bad

 On the Texas Star

 Dallas at night

Sunday was another rainy day. We went to In n Out burger for lunch (one FINALLY opened down the street from me!) and then headed to Ikea. Where of course I found all sorts of good stuff. 

This is how my room looks now with my new dresser! It's so nice to have my whole closet to use now, especially with the constantly growing red and khaki section. I also like the small desk better than my big desk. The big desk was nice at school but not necessary anymore. 

Also scored this cool bowl to go on my coffee table. It looks nice with the couches and my kinda new curtains in the living room! 

I also finally found some flowers to put in the vases I got years ago. They look pretty good in my bathroom. 

This last one has nothing to do with Ikea, I got it a little while ago. It's the new litter box for Stella and Jasper to use! It's pretty awesome. Big enough to share, and it doesn't look like a litter box. I've also switched to feline pine litter so it's not all dusty and a lot better for the cats. It also smells like pine! I mixed it with corn litter to make it clump a little better. The cats seem to like it pretty well. 

It's Already October

It's finally Fall! and not 100+ degrees outside. It's a sunny 77 today and it feels so good. It's crazy that it's already October. We've had our first 4th Quarter planning meeting at work and are already preparing for the holiday season. I've also successfully lead my first surprise visit and navigated through a transition in Produce. The Deli and Meat ones are coming up in the next few weeks. I've also filled out my first guest incident report for a woman who had a seizure, fell and hit her head. Tonight I close the store by myself and lead ad take down for the first time. So work is going pretty well, I've gotten to know my team and every one at the store. It's fun hanging out with the other execs my age, I just miss having weekends. 4th quarter will be an interesting experience, long days, crazy sales, lots of new stuff.
Other than work I've made it back to Waco for a football game which was a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be back for a few more. I'm going to homecoming for sure. Marianne, Thomas and I have also started meeting up every Friday night after work to eat, get drinks and hang out which is a lot of fun. I'm also working on planning a trip to the state fair sometime next month, and Ryan, Matthew and I are going to go to a Cowboy's game too. I've got to do as much stuff as I can in October before I don't have the time in November or December.

Is it Fall Yet?

I'm ready for cool weather...
Oh man, it's been a busy last few weeks. I finished food training and on Tuesday started at my new store. I have an office and everything! My computer has been having a lot of problems lately so I haven't been able to update. Training went well, food is very involved and it was a lot to take in in three short weeks. My new team is pretty seasoned and successful so they will be able to teach me a lot. I'm also enjoying being reunited with Thomas and Damon again, not being the only new person is great. I decorated my office a little, put some pictures up, and organized things. For the most part I'm hoping to spend the next week or so just getting to know everyone and learning about what's been going on at my new store in Hurst. Right now though, I'm just grateful for tomorrow off. I closed all last weekend and Monday and then opened the last few days so I'm ready to sleep and relax.
In other non-work news...
It is still insanely hot here, reaching at least 100 everyday and I am so ready for it to cool off.
Jasper now has a kitty friend. Her name is Stella, and she came from my friend Kristen and her boyfriend Carl. He took her in as a rescue but she was living locked in a bathroom because they have dogs. I brought her home for the weekend so see how they got along and couldn't say no.
I hung curtains in my living room today. I had to buy a power screw driver, but I managed to put up the rod and everything (all bought on clearance at work).
Baylor football starts Friday! I'm hoping to go to about half of the games. Definitely going to Homecoming, and I think I'll be there in a few weeks for the Rice game.

 I visited Austin one weekend and hung out with Ryan's fat cat Shadow. I'm his favorite.

 While Ryan was here we went to the Dallas Aquarium. It was pretty fun.

 Last time I had a few days off I went to Houston to visit. Jason, Kevin and I had a movie/Howl day.

 This is Stella. 

Food Week 1

Well I knew I was back at 1784 when a few hours into my shift last Monday I was called to sit in the AP office until the police arrived to pick up a woman who was apprehended. It's good to be back at a busy store and I'm enjoying spending time with all the team members there again. They are all so welcoming and fun.
Sitting in on an apprehension was interesting to say the least. I worked on my online food training while our TPS and officer filled out all the paperwork and took photos and everything to prepare to call the police. It was actually pretty fun to see how everything works back there and so interesting to hear this woman try to get out of being arrested. With multiple IDs in her purse and a prior arrest for shoplifting there as no way she was getting out of it. So, it was a good start to my return to 1784.
Food training is going well, so many things things to learn in the next two weeks. I'm hoping I have a good team leader who orders at my store because I have a feeling I won't be very good at it.

I like Food

I mean, who doesn't like food right?

Anyway, what does food have to do with anything you might ask? I'll give you a hint, it has to do with my new position with Target!

Monday afternoon I had a visit from my DTL (district team leader) in which I found out I am getting a new ETL position and a new store assignment! So because of STL interview results and people moving around an ETL-Food position at Hurst opened up. So I will be the new ETL-Food at that store! So starting next week I will go back to 1784 and train for 3 weeks with Kristen to learn all about food. I like eating food, so I feel like this will be a good fit. Also, I enjoyed all the food stuff I did during my training for hardlines. After 3 weeks I'll go to Hurst which will be my new home store and I'll be in charge of the front half of the food area (bakery, deli, produce, meat, Starbucks).
Another good thing about this move is that two of my training buddies from 1784 are already at Hurst! Thomas (ETL-HL) and Damon (ETL-AP) just started at that store and we are all excited to be reunited.
So, lots of exciting changes in the next few weeks. I'm kind of sad to be leaving because I was just feeling settled at 255 but I'm excited to learn new things and be back in a Super Target (I like the busy atmosphere!). For now, I'm going to enjoy my last few days at 255 and my weekend off in Austin and I'll update next week on how things are going.

First Week in the New Store

I've been at my new store for two days and I can already tell it's going to be tough. Not only is the store being ripped apart to be remodeled but there isn't enough equipment for those who need it, and there aren't very many people working at a time. Not to mention, much of the team has been there for a very long time. So for a newcomer it's a bit overwhelming. I don't want to step on any toes, but I want to bring new ideas and changes to the store. I have a small area in hardlines that I am in charge of and I have one team leader. She seems pretty baller at her job so she should be a big help to me. Adjusting is just really hard, going from a high volume large store, to a super low volume store is weird. The things I am used to doing all day, and the calls that kept me busy don't happen at my new store so I'm going to have to be a little more creative in finding things to work on, especially when I'm not LOD. Being temporary also poses a problem, I know I'm only there for a few months, and so do they which makes starting any long term projects or enacting any changes tough.

So all in all, the new store isn't what I was expecting. No home store means no office or desk, remodel means disorganization and crazy planogram changes, and small store means less LODing and supervising and more hands on daily tasks. It's a lot to get used to, so for now I'm going to focus on getting to know everyone and the routines of the store while keeping note of things I'd like to work on.

In other news- Jasper let a wasp into the apartment yesterday while he was on the balcony and then couldn't take care of getting it back out. I'm not sure why but the wasp decided it didn't want to come out from behind my blinds in my living room. So it spent its time walking in the cracks on the side of the window frame at an angle where I couldn't smoosh it. Jasper made one attempt to attack it when it came out from behind the blinds but the wasp scared him too and he took off into hiding only venturing out to watch from afar. When attempts to coax the wasp back outside failed I took to watching it crawl around looking for an opportunity to hit it. In the end I took my outdoor wasp spray and used in on the window. It killed the wasp but left a mess and made the apartment smell.

Ready for the Next Step

That's right, today I am officially done being an EIT. Today was my last day training and my last day hanging out at store 1784. I am sad to be leaving everyone there, they were all so nice and welcoming and really made me feel like part of the store. I have this weekend off and Monday morning I report to my new store. I am going to the Irving store on Airport Freeway, which should be pretty close to my apartment. Hopefully this weekend I'll drive over there and check out the store. I also need to return some khaki pants that didn't fit right and maybe look for some more red shirts. I'll be at the Irving store helping with their remodel (the store is becoming a pfresh store so it is getting a grocery area). After the remodel is finished I'll go to Grapevine and replace the ETL-HL who is going on maternity leave. I think these new stores will be a big change, they are a lot smaller and have less ETLs than I am used to, but it should be fun.

I've also started making a list of things I really want to buy now that I am making real money. For the most part everything big that I bought has now been paid for so other than rent my next check is all mine to spend. So I am keeping my eyes out for a bigger tv and a new bedding set (which to my surprise is pretty expensive). There is a super cute gray and yellow set at Target that I really want but everything has to be bought separately so it's pretty expensive.

No exciting plans this weekend, Kristin stopped by this evening and we went out to dinner and hung out some. Other than that I've got no real plans.