Updates

last day at hyvee!

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today was my very last day working at hyvee. it’s the shortest period of time i’ve ever worked at one job-only six months. it was a little weird leaving after such a short time, but i’m moving on. : )

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in some ways i’m sad. i’ll miss all the fun people i got to work with. i’ll miss seeing my friends come through my check out line. all those produce look-up numbers i have in my brain are useless to me. i won’t be as “up on the deals” at hyvee because i’ll probably never really go there except for late night junk food runs. and i won’t get the gas discount without having to purchase something.

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whoa. i probably look a little too happy in this picture. but, yes, in more ways than i am sad, i am happy to not be working at hyvee anymore. my favorite realization was when i was menu planning for next week and i realized: i can actually make dinner every night! no more working nights! no more working until 11pm on a friday night, and working at 7am the next morning to be specific…because that been the norm for me the last couple months!

gosh, i’m really excited to have a new schedule. i start at capanna at 7am on monday, wish me luck.

goodbye late nights.

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hello [super] early mornings!

remember this post? well, on january 15th i had my second interview with the owner of capanna coffee company. guess what? i have a new job!

no, no, no, contrary to popular belief, i would not kill myself by working four jobs. do you think i’m crazy? my two weeks notice is officially in at hyvee as of monday. i’m kind-of sad about it, but mostly not.

i think capanna is going to be a great fit for me because…

  • i’ll be working early morning shifts! this does mean getting up at 4-4:30am, but it also means i’ll get to have dinner with my husband and have really consistent work-from-home hours
  • i’ll be getting a pay upgrade!
  • i’ll be working with people! i already get to work with people at hyvee, i know. but the coffee shop enviroment is a different kind of people work. especially in the morning, i’ll get to know all the “regulars” and get the chance to build “deeper” relationships
  • i’ll be learning new skillz. i know my way around financial stuff, i know how to fry some darn good french fries, and i know how to check out groceries. i’m pumped to increase my skills by learning the coffee trade.
  • i’ll be working the morning shift! i’m just really excited about starting my day so early. plus, i think it will be awesome practice for children someday…just sayin’

thanks to those of who prayed for me, i felt so confident about taking the job that day. i’m excited to start in the coffee business!

alsbury family vacation

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In the middle of October, we were super blessed with a trip to North Carolina to see and enjoy the Senior Alsburys and the Panickers (aka, Bryan’s side of the family). We had SOOOO much fun hanging out in the beautiful Carolina Mountains. These mountains are covered with deciduous (that’s a fancy word that means the leaves change colors in the fall, foo’) trees and we were there at the peak of the fall season. Needless to say, it was breath-taking, especially for this girl who LOVES trees!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

In O’Hare Airport, I experienced a “first”-seeing a dinosaur skeleton! It was of course, fake, but still, I had never seen a life-size dinosaur skeleton so it was exciting. See my excitement?

The next day, I had another first experience, riding in a train!!!! We didn’t actually go anywhere, besides up the mountain and back, but it was awesome! TWO FIRSTS IN ONE TRIP!

The awesome view from the train.

Jobin & Jenni
LisaGrace & Bryan

Bryan loves all animals.

The whole Alsbury Clan!
L to R: LisaGrace, Jenni, Jobin, Bryan, Joyce, Tom

Let not forget about the train museum…yes, TRAIN MUSEUM!!!!
This sign is awesome.
Jenni & Jobin terrorizing the town.

And we also went to a mansion. The Biltmore House:

The rest of our vacation included playing the Farming Game (Jobin won, again), driving around in the mountains which consequently included me puking my guts out several times in front of Bryan’s family, went to a Cherokee Indian Reservation Museum (which was awesome), and had some family pictures taken!

It was so much fun, can’t wait until next year!

we are awesome

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I know I’m about a month too late, but I have a boatload of old pictures to share with my blog friends anyway, so I thought I might as well share the most awesome one.

What are some alsberries to do when they don’t want to spend any money and don’t have any ideas two days before Halloween?

LisaGrace: Bryan, what should we be for Halloween?
Bryan: I don’t know a rock an a hard place? (a hint of sarcasm in his voice)
LisaGrace: hmmmm…this could work.

So with two dollars and 34 cents, stolen paper sacks, and spent creativity, we have this:

A rock and a hard place. Hilarious.

Look, here’s our friend Layla as Mrs. Fox between a rock and a hard place. tehehe…

aspirations and other things

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this morning i got out of bed at 5:30am. that hasn’t happened for a long while. it didn’t even happen when i was working outside of the home. it certainly hasn’t happened since my office became my laptop.

why can’t every morning be like this? i’m sipping hot chocolate, listing to the Film Score Pandora Station, and writing. I’ll probably pick up my knitting needles later this morning before church, but that’s hours away.

but seriously, i would love if this morning was a reality in my life. oh discipline, why are you beyond me? someday, i will catch you.

have you ever noticed that we tend to make all these wonderful, perfect plans in our heads about our lives, be it day-to-day schedules, or life-long plans, that never seem to be as important, when caught in the moment you haven’t yet brushed your teeth for the day?

i notice that a lot. i had a plan. i wrote it down! it was all there, what happened to the day? why do i still have my pajamas on?

somehow, by God’s grace, no doubt, i still manage to accomplish everything. i still work my three jobs. i still make dinner, or at least, eat something. i still spend time with Bryan. i still get all my ministry stuff done. i still sew and knit and write.

but, at least for me, i’m always stuck on the fact that it could all be more efficient; i could do so much more than i’m currently doing, you know?

i suppose that’s my lot in life, though, being who i am and being gifted with the personality i have. but i can dream, right? i have aspirations, you know.

i want to write. and i want people to read my words. a lot of people.

i want to make things that people enjoy and want to show off. i maybe even want to make a side-income making things.

i want to counsel people on budgeting. i want to help people my age get a grasp on simple things like paying their rent. i want to help money make sense to my generation.

i want to go to college. (your mom goes to college)

i want to take some classes and learn how to do things. like prepare taxes. and quilt. and write (better).

i want to write children’s books, and finance curriculum, and screenplays.

and i really, really want to ride in a hot air balloon.

i’m already feeling overwhelmed by my plans for myself. but i’m not taking a single thing off my list. my dreams may change, and there is nothing wrong with that, it doesn’t mean i’m giving up (i say this more to myself, than you). right now, i want to have these goals. i like hard work, challenging myself, and accomplishing impossible things.

and there you have. aspirations and other things. (see how i cleverly worked in the title, there?)

Anniversary Weekend: The Real Deal

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On our actual anniversary weekend, the weekend of May 23rd, we had a TON of fun as well. As I mentioned, Bryan had to “lay down his tracks” for the next Anthem CD. He went up on Friday night and got back around 4pm on Saturday.

I took advantage of this time to clean everything and make pita bread. Can I just say, that this pita bread is the best I’ve EVER eaten? I was SO PROUD of myself that I ate two whole pitas fresh out of the oven! DELICIOUS!

When Bryan got back from Minneapolis, we left for Iowa City almost immediately and arrived by 7pm. The Robinsons (our future Trailer Park buddies) were awesome enough to put us up for the night. We met up with my little brother and his girlfriend and we all went out on the town for the evening.

On Sunday we went to Parkview Church, which was fun because after we plant our church, we won’t really be trying out churches in Iowa City, you know? Then we grilled out:
and hiked:
and watched LOST for the next…9 hours. Yep. That’s what we did on May 23rd, watched LOST for 9 hours. We wouldn’t have had it any other way!

The highlight of my weekend was actually Monday, though. We called our workplaces and told we weren’t going to able to make it. We really did need to figure out the problem with our mail key [our mail keys didn’t work for some reason], and thankfully we were able to do that. But we also got to hang out with the Robinsons for an EXTRA day! We played the Farming Game with them for around 6 hours. They, of course, loved it. We ALSO found out that that the BOWLING ALLEY/MINI GOLF (you read that right, bowling and mini golf in one?! YES) which is located RIGHT NEXT to our Trailer Park is AWESOME!!! It’s only $2.75 for mini golf, $4.75 for bowling and $.25 for arcade games! And me and Miranda got to ride on Chuck-E-Cheese-like RATS!!!
In other words, we are excited to live in Iowa City and our actual anniversary weekend was a major SUCCESS!