Furniture Mess

So now that you've seen my beautiful new furniture, there's a not so beautiful story to go with it! My mom happened to come visit me on the perfect weekend--the weekend I got keys to my new place. She got the lucky task of furniture shopping with me! For some reason, I had Ikea on a pedestal in my mind and was adamant about getting furniture from there. My mom tried to warn me....

Stop #1: Ikea~We started at Ikea and I found a few cute kitchen pieces, but once we got to the couches and beds, the prices were just way more than I wanted to pay for even what the pieces looked like, and what I'm guessing the quality is. On the way to Ikea, we drove past Ashley Furniture, so my mom had the idea to go there to look and that we could always come back to Ikea. So we tried to leave Ikea. 3 miles and 2 hours later {pretty close} we FINALLY made it out of Ikea. That place is seriously a death trap!! I vowed to never go back.

Stop #2: Ashley Furniture~We get to Ashley furniture and hadn't even made it two feet in the door and we were swarmed by Edith, the OVER-eager sales associate. We simply told her that we were just looking and walked away to figure out our plan. Edith followed us. Again, we tell her we were just looking. We walk at least five laps around the entire store and look at pretty much every piece of furniture in that place--all the while Edith is literally stalking us! It got so annoying!! I ended up getting  living room and bedroom sets and am very happy with both.

Stop #3: Ikea~Back to Ikea we go, much against my will. Only this time I knew exactly what I wanted--a kitchen table and chairs and a TV stand. We found those items and walked the 3 miles out of the store again. Of course, they were out of the chair legs that I needed. Just my luck! So we got the other items and left. Note: we drove Old Blue to Ikea. I have packed that car full so many times that I had faith we could fit everything in {shipping was $99. No way!}, but my mom didn't share the same faith. So we kind of stood there looking at everything and these two older gentlemen in the parking spot next to us offered to help. It took them a good half hour, but somehow they miraculously got everything loaded in. We would have been in big trouble if it weren't for them! Thank you old foreign men!

Furniture Delivery Story~What.A.Mess!!! I scheduled the delivery for Friday afternoon when my dad was supposed to be in LA and could receive my furniture. They told me they would call 30-45 minutes before they would be at my place. My dad go into town later than expected and I got off work earlier than expected, so we met for a late lunch. Before we even got our food, the delivery guy called and wondered if he could be to my place in 5 minutes. I said no way and that I would need the 30 minutes promised {we were eating in downtown LA--an 18-30 minute drive depending on traffic}. He literally laughed and said sorry, I can't do that and that he would have his manager call to reschedule. The manger called and we set up delivery for Sunday, but not without her telling me that I will be charged a second delivery fee. I immediately called Ashely Furniture customer service and explained everything and that lady basically said "sorry honey." Keep in mind that this all would have worked out had I had the 30-45 minute warning as promised. So I drag my Dad into the furniture store the next day because no way was I paying a second delivery fee! That lady told me that I shouldn't have even been told that and that my account didn't show a second fee. Again, What.A.Mess! So I sit at home on Sunday waiting for my furniture instead of running the million errands I needed to. I get a call a little before 3:30 saying they'd be there in 45-90 minutes. I sit and wait..and wait....and wait. I call the number a few different times and of course nobody answers. 6:30 they finally show up!!....without the footboard to my bed. Awesome. So I slept on my mattress on the floor for a week until the following weekend when I could be home to receive the footboard. Every single person I worked with at Ashley Furniture was extremely rude--down to the jerk delivery guys I got! I sincerely hope I don't need any more furniture anytime soon!

New apartment!

I'm officially all settled into my new apartment in Burbank! It's been wonderful to get out of the hustle and bustle {aka NOISE} of the city. It's not water, but water is coming :-)

The guy who set up my cable said my bedroom looks like it's out of a princess catalog

 {Photos of my bathroom coming soon--it got a facelift this weekend and needs to get put back together}

Wartburg wall!

Fun chalkboard wall!

I'm still working on adding decor and a few small furniture items, but here is the skeleton of my new home!

4th of July in Iowa!

I was lucky enough to get a long weekend off of work for the 4th of July. Last minute, I decided to spend the weekend in one of my favorite places, Okoboji with my family! Although I had recently seen my parents, I hadn't seen Eric or any other family members since Christmas. Plus, it was great just being home.

I had a whirlwind trip, but managed to squeeze in a lot of favorites.

• I had coffee with my Grandma Endorf and her friends. What a hoot! They are some awesome ladies!! It was so nice seeing my grandma and catching up with her!
• I saw my favorite little kiddos and spent some time playing with them. I absolutely love Andrew, Avery, Alex, Riley, and Jacey and wish I could see them more!
• We ate at Duke's Burgers and The Lighthouse--my only two requests being home. My mom made me a strawberry pie {my favorite} and had all kinds of other delicious sweets. Definitely need to get back into the workout routine.
• I spent a day with my cousins on the boat. We had so much fun and had lots of laughs!! Grandma Z joined us for supper that night, so I got to chat and catch up with her.
• Poor Eric got to ride on the back of the jet ski while I drove...I can't imagine how he felt because I was sore for a solid two days!
• I went out for a few drinks with a good friend from college. So great to catch up!
• Some time was squeezed in just to relax on the boat, too. Heaven!

I took the red-eye flight home and missed that night of sleep. I didn't get back to LA until 5 am on Monday morning and had to work that same day. I was tired for a few days, but the trip was definitely worth it! So blessed!

Baby Jacey. What a sweetie! 

Heaven

Fireworks from the boat!

No way could anyone but this kid get away with eating breakfast out of the pan. Backstory: I woke up and was slaving away helping Mom in the kitchen. This kid wakes up, gets a hug {I did NOT receive a hug}, sits down and eats, and goes to watch TV. Seems about right.... 

Tourist status 

I call this kid my friend...not sure why!

My One Year Anniversary in LA was Spent.....in IOWA!!

July 5th marked one year of me being in L.A. I can't believe how fast {and slow at the same time} a year seemed to pass!

Some of my accomplishments:

• Earned a degree from FIDM in Merchandise Marketing
• Landed a retail job at a very up-and-coming designer, Michael Kors
• Started my career as a Merchandise Assistant at APAC Sale Group {see New Job}
• Moved to my very own apartment in Burbank
• Last but not least, became a big kid.

I have definitely learned a lot in my year in LA and am still continuing to learn and grow, and more importantly weigh pros and cons of everything.

Ironically enough, my one-year anniversary was spent in Iowa ;-) 

Graduation

Lindsay and me after the ceremony. I have some
major hat-hair going on!

I am officially a graduate of FIDM (although I've been done with school for three months)!!!! I wasn't going to go to the ceremony, but my friend Lindsay pretty much made me go. Looking back, I'm sure I'll be glad I went. It was a long, boring ceremony--as to be expected with 5,000 students from three campuses graduating at the same time. My dad was nice enough to come all the way and sit through the ceremony!

Lindsay and me bored before the ceremony.

Receiving my diploma!

We were encouraged to decorate our hats. There were some pretty serious hats going on, but I had no time to figure something fancy out, so this is my hat!

I made the program! Pretty cool!

The stage and sea of students.

New job!

As of a couple weeks ago, I am officially part of big kid world! I accepted a position at APAC Sale Group as a Merchandise Assistant. Essentially, I assist the Buyer and Assistant Buyer.

APAC Sale Group is a flash sales site very similar to Gilt, but for the Australian/Asian markets. We currently have major presence in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand selling name-brand products for less! My role is to create and upload the sale once I have information from the Buyer. He will secure styles rough quantities from the supplier and from there I secure final quantities, request samples to be shot in our in-house studio {it's always a good day when men's product is being shot ;-) }, create the sale using our templates, and upload the sale. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot! I can only get 2-3 sales uploaded a day. I work for the Mens/Home/Kids buyer, but there are also Womens and Accessories buyers.

So far everything is going well and I am liking it! Since it is a relatively new company {about 2 years old} and still growing, it sounds like there is a lot of room for growth and advancement, which is a good thing!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately!!!! I'll do better, I promise! Here are some exciting posts to look forward to:

• New job!
• Juice cleanse
• Moving!
• Graduation

The Adventures of Lindsay, Rachel, and Old Blue

I finally decided that I needed my car in LA and picked last weekend to get it. The plan was for my mom to drive to Denver and my friend Lindsay and me to meet her there. A great idea turned into a disaster.

Clue #1: Having to take a bus to the middle of nowhere to board the airplane. Literally.

Clue #2: The Bermuda Triangle of children surrounding Lindsay and me on our flight. I had a screaming child next to me. Yes, screaming. The entire time. Lindsay had a child sitting behind her kicking her seat and annoying children across the aisle from her. I definitely do not recommend Frontier airlines. Cheap flights aren’t always worth it!

Lindsay and I took off bright and early Sunday morning. We weren’t even 45 miles down the road and a light came on in my car. I immediately called my dad and he said all I needed to do was add water to the tank for a short-term solution until I could get my car looked at in LA. That worked until the light came back on 30 minutes later…and my engine temperature went way high. We kept adding water and adding water until finally my dad said there was no way we were going to make it to LA and we needed to stop and have it looked it. At this time we were close to Grand Junction, CO. My dad somehow got a hold of a repair shop owner and when he tried to start my car to look at the engine, it wouldn’t even start. Awesome. So here we are stuck in Grand Junction with no car. The repairman was extremely nice and drove us to a hotel. I had planned to be gone for two days and see nobody on Sunday, so I packed less than the bare essentials. We ended up staying in Grand Junction until Tuesday. The hotel we stayed at was close to a mall, so I bought a change of clothes. Lindsay’s dad rented us a car for Monday afternoon, so we had a little freedom. We drove around Colorado National Monument…which is a rock. Lindsay and I got to the point of not even wanting to sit in a restaurant for dinner. I didn’t know that was possible for me!! We got my car back Tuesday morning and made it safely back to LA. What was supposed to be a quick two-day trip turned into a four day adventure! If only we had stopped in Dillon, we could have stayed with my aunt and uncle and had something to do.

45 miles down the road...this is where we are

Our home for two days

Welcome to Grand Junction

So excited we got a car for the day!

Another New Discovery

Lyft is a super cool ride-share app that I've used a couple times now. Essentially what it is, is a taxi service, but with non-creepy drivers and is much less expensive. It's technically all donation based, but a fare is suggested and I can adjust what I want to pay from there. However, it does track what I do pay and the driver has to rate me based on their experience with me (I get to rate them as well) and all that goes into a big database. That information pops up when a driver has the option of accepting me or not. Drivers use their own car and it's a great way for them to make extra money on the side. They'll go anywhere you need to (within 60 miles) and operate until 3 am Thursday-Saturday. All I have to do is open the app and it shows me how far away the closest driver is. I then request a Lyft and the app tells them my location and the option to accept me.

I got a 20 minute speech on God one ride (it's great, it truly is, but all I wanted to do was relax after work. I was not in the mood for chit-chat, especially a deep conversation about God) and one guy's cousin is married to the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, so he is tight with them. Way cool, but would've been cooler if I got concert tickets out of the deal. :-)

Latest Celebrities on Robertson

Kelly and Sharon Osbourne and a mystery man with long hair were across the street from Michael Kors eating at The Ivy yesterday. I didn't get a good look at Sharon, but Kelly looks the same in person. Her mystery man looks like Casper the Ghost....he needs some Vitamin D in his life. Also spotted by co-workers the past two days were Paula Abdul {I don't know how much I trust this one...one of my co-workers "ran into her" on the sidewalk but no paparazzi were around. The rest of us were in the store and would've seen either her, paparazzi, or both.}, Katy Perry's stylist, and the blonde pool boy Eva Longoria hooks up with on Desperate Housewives. All of these are insignificant to me, except seeing Kelly and Sharon Osbourne was pretty cool. I really should get paid for this...or get a raise!

{Rachel Zoe came into our store last week and bought several items, but of course I wasn't working. :-( I was working the first time she came in, though! And yes, she is like 30 pounds sopping wet!}

Life After FIDM....

...isn't anything too exciting!

• My entire apartment is spring cleaned with the exception of my hanging clothes closet. That's just too daunting of a task to think about right now! 
• Michael Kors gives me something to do and I'm definitely enjoying my free time, but in order to be able to feed myself, the job search continues. It's still not a fun process.
• I bought a crochet book last week to learn how to crochet, but have yet to buy yarn. That's on this week's to-do list. 
• Only SEVEN more bus rides until I will never have to ride again!!!! I'm beyond excited!! However, if I'm going to write the book on my bus experiences I may have to ride every once in a while to keep things fresh ;-) I'm still debating between the bus rides book and the being homeless book, which is where I'm headed soon. My mom was even kind enough to help me pick out homeless friends and places to sleep in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara when she was out here last month. What would I ever do without her?! I'm so glad she's looking out for me.

Happy Day!

I am DONE with FIDM!!! Yayyy!! It's a great feeling! I actually have free time--a new concept to me! I definitely plan on enjoying it while it lasts! Now it's full-force job hunt mode for this girl... I'm not very good at being broke.

Beautiful congratulatory flowers from the best parents ever!

A Week Filled With Celebrities

Just when I thought my life was mundane and boring, a few exciting events happened this week.

Event #1-Wednesday: Kathy Lee Gifford came into the Michael Kors I work at!!! I had nooo clue who she was at the time! I was the only one on the floor at the time and was helping another client when she walked in. I greeted her, and she started browsing. She was very self-sufficient, which was a nice change of pace. I immediately recognized her voice, but couldn’t quite place it. I finished up with my other client and went to help Kathy. She was very nice! I asked her the typical lifestyle questions we ask every client (where are you from, what brings you to LA, etc.). I’m sure she thinks I live under a rock since I had no clue who she was. In my defense, she was wearing sunglasses. It finally all made sense when I saw the name on her credit card and saw her ID. Kathy's purchases are below. I just know she's going to give me a shout-out on her show! I just know it 

Straw tote

Black drape dress

Event #2-Thursday: A lot of paparazzi starting gather at The Ivy restaurant across the street from work. Since there were more than a few, I knew somebody big was on the street. All the sudden a crowd of people started gathering, so I knew somebody was somewhere! It turns out Kim and Rob Kardashian and Kris and Bruce Jenner were there. I saw all four in real life! I’ll keep my opinions of Kim to myself, Rob was kind of fat and not as cute (but drives a sick car…of course), Bruce looked the same, and Kris couldn’t make it down the stairs without help. They all left separately, except for Kris and Bruce. I couldn’t get any pictures because I was in the store L. I think Khloe might have been there, too, because she posted an Instagram pic of a meal at The Ivy, but either she left early, incognito, or through a back exit because she wasn’t part of the hoopla with the rest.

Event #3-Thursday: Danni, the winner of the Biggest Loser came into the Michael Kors I work at. I didn’t watch any of the season (the troubles of not having cable), but saw the final photos. I wouldn’t have recognized her, but she instantly said she won the Biggest Loser and wanted to buy a watch since she can afford it now. She was a sweet girl! She had on a jacket and shorts, but from what I could see, she looked great! Absolutely great! She didn’t want to talk much about it, which I understand as I’m sure that’s all she’s been talking about since winning. Such an inspiration!

Bradshaw Chronograph watch