So I definitely can't stick to posting on a schedule, I just don't have it in me to commit to that! But what I can do is post when I'm for it... and at this moment, I am!
So as far as wedding planning goes, this is where I'm at...
-The date is set, December 28th, 2013 at 4:00pm (as of now)
-The venue is set, The Riverwood Inn
-My dress is in the process of being altered
-My friend is going to play the harp during the ceremony
-We're serving a chicken/ pork dinner (except my mom who's a vegetarian)
-I'm going to have trees wrapped in christmas lights around the ceremony room
-And the guest list is mostly figured out
I still have a lot to do, like picking my colors and flowers and other music and figuring out who's going to lead the ceremony, but I have 227 days to figure all that out :)
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Picking the Venue
Shane and I eloped on December 28, 2012, but we still wanted to have a wedding ceremony that all of our family and friends could attend. Our original plan was to have a fall wedding with a pumpkin theme but there were too many complications with a date and venue for that idea. We recently decided that having our wedding ceremony on our anniversary would be perfect for us. There'll be no issues with the date in the middle of busy times or anything like that. Plus, now everyone only has to remember one date!
This evening I went over to my parent's to discuss the venue for our wedding, along with picking up some kitchen supplies that my grandmother sent up with my parents. Here's what we figured out...
We have two different venues that we're looking at:
We have two different venues that we're looking at:
One: A small church in my hometown in Iowa (three and a half hours south of where we currently live in Minnesota.
Two: A lovely Inn that's only five miles away, with a beautiful view.
Both options are in our price range and have their own benefits:
Iowa church: I have a special connection because that's where my parents had their wedding, and it's also where I was baptized as a baby. I have a rather large family that all live in Iowa, so having a wedding in Iowa would be more convenient for them.
Riverwood Inn: It's close to home and to where all of Shane's family and our friends live, plus it has reduced prices for wedding guest rooms and they take care of the decorating, food/ serving, and the clean up. On top of that it's a beautiful place.
Now it comes down to deciding which place is best for us. We want just a small, intimate wedding. Hopefully we'll be able to make a decision soon and start the rest of the planning!
On a side note... I've decided to wear my mother's wedding gown! It needs to be altered quite a bit (she was pregnant at the time with me!) but it looks lovely and it's one less thing to buy (:
Here's a picture of what it looks like before any of the alterations
(and washed, she just pulled it out of the closet (: )
What do you think about my venue options? What would you choose? And what do you think about wearing my mother's wedding gown? Good idea, or not so good? Leave your comments below! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
New direction for the blog
I've decided to move my blog into a different direction, a better one I hope! This blog is now not only going to be about me and Shane's life, but about how you can live a natural, organic, and GMO-free lifestyle, in an affordable way. Here's my new schedule that's I'm thinking...
Monday: Meal Plan Monday
I'm going to post a recipe or two that I plan on making that week that is completely organic, GMO free and affordable.
Tuesday: Who We Trust Tuesday
The posts on Tuesday are going to be about different brands that we trust at our house, the things we like and don't like about them, and some of their prices.
Wednesday: Wedding Planning Wednesday
Shane and I are having a wedding! I'll be posting about weekly happenings with the wedding planning and DIY ideas that we'll be using at our ceremony.
Thursday: Thrifted Fun Thursday
I do a lot of thrift shopping these days. Each Thursday I'll post about something that I've bought thrifted that works just as well as buying full price (another awesome way to save money).
Friday: Feelin' Good Friday
Shane is quite the health guru and is very knowledgeable about health and supplements. Each Friday I'll be posting about a supplement that Shane and I take each day and explain the health benefits it has.
Saturday/ Sunday: Life Happens
If I happen to have something else interesting to talk about, I'll post it on either Saturday or Sunday.
So this is what I'm thinking for the my blog. Any thoughts or opinions? Leave them in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Have a great week!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
A New Computer Makes Hallie A Very Happy Girl
So about a month ago my old laptop decided that it didn't want to work anymore so for several weeks Shane searched for a new computer to buy me while I did all of my internet needs on his little Touchpad. Now the touchpad is nice and all but in no way does it compare to using an actual computer. A week ago Shane FINALLY found a good deal on a really nice computer and ordered it up for me... And that is what I'm using right now! It's like the most amazing laptop I've ever seen and Shane (my personal tech guy) says that it's like the Cadillac of computers! Now I really want to start blogging a lot and putting things on etsy.
The only downside to this new computer is that it doesn't have any of my pictures or documents on it but that is going to change tomorrow! Shane managed to get my computer turned on and plugged in and as long as we don't touch it it will stayed on long enough for me to transfer all of my goodies onto a flash drive. Cool beans (:
My new laptop is a ThinkPad by Lenovo. And I'm typing in the dark with my back lit keyboard... it's pretty cool (:
The other thing that I was going to post today was pictures from our Duluth trip last week but I don't really feel like downloading all of those pictures tonight. =P So another day!
The only downside to this new computer is that it doesn't have any of my pictures or documents on it but that is going to change tomorrow! Shane managed to get my computer turned on and plugged in and as long as we don't touch it it will stayed on long enough for me to transfer all of my goodies onto a flash drive. Cool beans (:
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| This was the first webcam picture I took with the new computer (: |
The other thing that I was going to post today was pictures from our Duluth trip last week but I don't really feel like downloading all of those pictures tonight. =P So another day!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Just Plain Rude and My Cute Yellow Shoes (:
So this past weekend I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the only blog worthy thing that happened was on Friday...
A lady came in and bought a pair of shoes. As I was ringing her up I gave her back her change and that was when everything started to go downhill. First she was complaining about the price ($31.58 which isn't bad at all) being too high. I handed her her change and then she started going off about how no one counts back change like they used to. I never learned to count back change like they did back in her day so to have her yell at me for something I didn't know how to do was kind of upsetting.
Fifteen minutes later she comes back in to return the shoes because she found shoes for WAAYY cheaper (not sure how that works). So I start returning the shoes and ask for her ID because that's protocol for the company. She starts complaining about how she's ran three businesses and never done things like that. My manager thankfully step in and said that I was just doing my job and doing what I was told.
My rant here was just complaining about customers getting upset with employees for just doing their job. I saw another occasion at a movie theater just a few nights ago.
Shane and I went to see the Expendables 2 movie but one of the speakers in the theater was blown out giving everyone a headache and made it impossible to hear the movie. So the entire audience when back to the ticket window to get our money back and the guys infront of us yelled at the guy behind the counter. It made me feel bad because I knew that it wasn't his fault. When we stepped up to get our money back I made sure that I was very polite and gracious, I wanted to make sure he knew that there were still good people in the world.
Okay now my rant is over and onto something else that I love... SHOES! So in my second post I showed everyone a picture of my lovely yellow shoes. At that time I had two pairs of Kaylees. Since then I have purchases another pair! I couldn't pass up the good deal because the shoes are sooooo comfortable and adorable. I bought a pair of tan ones that can go with everything.
I'm having a slight issue though... I'm not sure how to go about cleaning them. The yellow ones have gotten quite dirty since that picture and could use a good washing but I don't know what to use to wash my shoes! Any ideas? Please post them in the comments if you do (:
PS I'm getting a new computer tomorrow! My old laptop broke a few weeks ago and since then I've been using random computers and a touchpad to try to do all of my internet needs. It's the cadillac of laptops and I'm super excited!
A lady came in and bought a pair of shoes. As I was ringing her up I gave her back her change and that was when everything started to go downhill. First she was complaining about the price ($31.58 which isn't bad at all) being too high. I handed her her change and then she started going off about how no one counts back change like they used to. I never learned to count back change like they did back in her day so to have her yell at me for something I didn't know how to do was kind of upsetting.
Fifteen minutes later she comes back in to return the shoes because she found shoes for WAAYY cheaper (not sure how that works). So I start returning the shoes and ask for her ID because that's protocol for the company. She starts complaining about how she's ran three businesses and never done things like that. My manager thankfully step in and said that I was just doing my job and doing what I was told.
My rant here was just complaining about customers getting upset with employees for just doing their job. I saw another occasion at a movie theater just a few nights ago.
Shane and I went to see the Expendables 2 movie but one of the speakers in the theater was blown out giving everyone a headache and made it impossible to hear the movie. So the entire audience when back to the ticket window to get our money back and the guys infront of us yelled at the guy behind the counter. It made me feel bad because I knew that it wasn't his fault. When we stepped up to get our money back I made sure that I was very polite and gracious, I wanted to make sure he knew that there were still good people in the world.
Okay now my rant is over and onto something else that I love... SHOES! So in my second post I showed everyone a picture of my lovely yellow shoes. At that time I had two pairs of Kaylees. Since then I have purchases another pair! I couldn't pass up the good deal because the shoes are sooooo comfortable and adorable. I bought a pair of tan ones that can go with everything.
I'm having a slight issue though... I'm not sure how to go about cleaning them. The yellow ones have gotten quite dirty since that picture and could use a good washing but I don't know what to use to wash my shoes! Any ideas? Please post them in the comments if you do (:
PS I'm getting a new computer tomorrow! My old laptop broke a few weeks ago and since then I've been using random computers and a touchpad to try to do all of my internet needs. It's the cadillac of laptops and I'm super excited!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Mall Madness Monday
Okay, so I know it's technically Tuesday right now but I've been busy all day so I didn't have time to post my stories.
Mondays are my official "Crazy Customer Stories" day but this past weekend I didn't work much and there wasn't any crazy customers. (Saturday Shane and I went to Duluth! I'll post the pictures and stories with that tomorrow maybe).
I have two stories though that I can share from when I worked on Friday. The first one isn't really a story... it's more of a... complaint I guess would be the word. Friday afternoon the shoe store I work at received a HUGE shipment of shoe boxes. The stacks of boxes were literally taller than me! It was just cruel for the company to send us that huge amount of shipment late on a Friday afternoon. The store was fairly busy too! So it wasn't like we could just focus all of our time into unpacking and putting away the shipment, no we had to first focus on all of the customers AND try to get rid of the towering stackS of boxes.
Okay now onto the actual customer story... The mall that I work at get a lot of foreign customers, and sometimes those customers don't speak very good English. On Friday two men (which was strange enough because I work at a women's shoe store) came into the store looking for shoes. They were looking for a size 36 but they didn't know if it was a Mexican size or a European size. Different countries use different methods for sizing clothing and accessories. I guess the US just likes making our feet seem smaller by using little numbers (: Anyway, Kate and I spent like 10 minutes trying to help these two guys decide which size to get. After they left Kate and I just looked at each other and started to laugh, it was a really funny situation. (:
This weekend was a busy weekend. Saturday Shane and I went to Duluth and Sunday and today I've been working on bracelets. Shane's aunt and uncle are going to a fallen firemen fundraiser that has a silent auction. Last Thursday they saw me working on a bracelet for my best friend, Emily, and asked how I would feel about making some bracelets for the silent auction. I of course accepted and now am working my little tail off to make three or four bracelets before Sunday. Right now I have an American flag bracelet finished and am almost done with one that has fire colors in it. I'll post some pictures tomorrow of the ones I have done. I figured that the silent auction will at least be some good publicity for my etsy shop, HallieAnneOriginals. (:
What did you do this weekend? And what do you think about making creative things to help fallen firefighters, or just any type of fundraiser? Please leave me some comments below and have a good night (:
Mondays are my official "Crazy Customer Stories" day but this past weekend I didn't work much and there wasn't any crazy customers. (Saturday Shane and I went to Duluth! I'll post the pictures and stories with that tomorrow maybe).
I have two stories though that I can share from when I worked on Friday. The first one isn't really a story... it's more of a... complaint I guess would be the word. Friday afternoon the shoe store I work at received a HUGE shipment of shoe boxes. The stacks of boxes were literally taller than me! It was just cruel for the company to send us that huge amount of shipment late on a Friday afternoon. The store was fairly busy too! So it wasn't like we could just focus all of our time into unpacking and putting away the shipment, no we had to first focus on all of the customers AND try to get rid of the towering stackS of boxes.
Okay now onto the actual customer story... The mall that I work at get a lot of foreign customers, and sometimes those customers don't speak very good English. On Friday two men (which was strange enough because I work at a women's shoe store) came into the store looking for shoes. They were looking for a size 36 but they didn't know if it was a Mexican size or a European size. Different countries use different methods for sizing clothing and accessories. I guess the US just likes making our feet seem smaller by using little numbers (: Anyway, Kate and I spent like 10 minutes trying to help these two guys decide which size to get. After they left Kate and I just looked at each other and started to laugh, it was a really funny situation. (:
This weekend was a busy weekend. Saturday Shane and I went to Duluth and Sunday and today I've been working on bracelets. Shane's aunt and uncle are going to a fallen firemen fundraiser that has a silent auction. Last Thursday they saw me working on a bracelet for my best friend, Emily, and asked how I would feel about making some bracelets for the silent auction. I of course accepted and now am working my little tail off to make three or four bracelets before Sunday. Right now I have an American flag bracelet finished and am almost done with one that has fire colors in it. I'll post some pictures tomorrow of the ones I have done. I figured that the silent auction will at least be some good publicity for my etsy shop, HallieAnneOriginals. (:
What did you do this weekend? And what do you think about making creative things to help fallen firefighters, or just any type of fundraiser? Please leave me some comments below and have a good night (:
Monday, August 13, 2012
Working as a Shoe Sales Associate
As I said (I think) in my introduction post, I am an assitant manager at a shoe store in the outlet mall near town. The mall is literally a seven minute drive from my house. It's a really big outdoor outlet mall and has over 100 stores. The entire mall gets customers from across the country and some even from other countries (mainly Canada). The mall hours are 10 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday and 10 am to 7 pm on Sunday. This goes for the ENTIRE mall. Every store closes at the same time. Last night I had to close the store and I only have half an hour to do so. But for some reason I guess people don't pay attention to when the place their shopping at closes. There were customers in the store until 7:05. Now that may not seem like a long time but when you only have a mere 30 minutes to close the store five minutes is a big deal. After those customers left (they purchased over $200 of shoes by the way) I locked the doors and began closing the registers. There were 3 other people that came and yanked on the door after 7:00. People were trying to open the door at 7:20! What the heck! I just don't get people.
I think because I work most weekends I'm going to make Mondays my offical "Crazy Customer Stories" day. I'll keep track throughout the week and weekend of any weird, annoying, or crazy customer incidents and post them each Monday.
Anyone else work retail and have any crazy customer stories from this past weekend? If you do please share them in the comments! I'd love to hear how you deal with the insane life of retail. (:
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