beautiful day.

today was the day i have been imagining in my head for the past six months. at school, when i wanted to drop out and burn all of my books, i instead pictured days like this and they made me hopeful.

i LOVE summer!

i woke up today, changed from my pj's into my swimsuit, and headed over to leah's house. we picked up cafe rio. i had a free meal. cafe rio got new sphere-shaped ice. the salad was perfect. we got it to-go and then set up our tanning area and ate and talked and tanned!

i love living in las vegas and being able to count on the sun shining every day. even though all it takes to lay out is a swim suit and the sun, i feel completely relaxed and content haha. like my own perfect little world.

photo courtesy of zoe jane. haha. zoe is the cutest little thing. we hung out with her for a little bit...

THEN, i came home to my lovely family. my family is the greatest. we went to farm basket for dinner-which was amazing as usual- and i got to say hi to my three favorite workers there! and we are watching AFTON for a couple 0f days. she let me carry her into farm basket... it was kind of a big deal. she doesnt let anyone hold her besides her mom or my mom. but i got her out of her car seat and walked her in. very exciting moment in my life.

she would be so much cuter if she was nice. but even when she screams and cries, i still like holding her. i love her.

then the cherry on top of today was my grandparents came into town! they are so cute. i like having them around :) they're always keeping us laughing.

i loved today!

t-boy

(i cant sleep. heres whats on my mind...)

i LOVE tanner.

he is the funniest little boy i've ever met.

he makes me laugh so hard sometimes that i cry.

he is forever talking, singing, telling stories, or cracking jokes.

i missed tanner a lot while i was at school! luckily we had skype and phone conversations weekly. his skype chats always made my day. whether he's telling me about a "hot chick in second period" or showing me new origami creations, he's always got me laughing.

here are a few favorite memories:

1. when tanner found out what a tampon was, he literally passed out. i dont think i will ever forget that day haha... cant wait to tell his future girlfriends!! :)

2. this is a family favorite. one night my family was talking about something ironic, and tanner asked what "irony" meant. my dad explained that irony is like when mitchell is absent on the day that he gets a perfect attendance award in seminary. tanners response was "they made up a word for THAT?" hahaha.

3. lately tanner has been singing every night. the past two weeks have been "what do you want from me" in a deep opera voice. i snagged a video of it on my phone.

i really hope you can hear it haha! sorry its sideways.

4. tanner has gained quite a bit of weight in the past year. he loves to show off his new belly haha. i remember one night my mom was sitting at the computer and tanner would go right up behind her and lift his shirt up and dance and then when she turned around he would quickly put it down and act normal. this went on for at least five minutes!

5. i dont even know how many times he's made me spit water out at the dinner table. its like his never-ending goal. i take a sip and the challenge is on!

6. one thing i will never forget about tanner is "the butterfly moment"... he was playing a game with my aunt. she would name an animal and he would act it out. she said a butterfly, and tanner jumped up in the air and flapped his wings. not quite sure what he was thinking, but he kept flapping until his forehead SMACKED the ceramic tile in the front entry way. he had a huge goose-egg for weeks. there's still a little mark if you look close.

he's a funny kid. i love him!!

lakes cleaners

i dont think i've ever fully expressed to anyone how much i love my job.

come august i will hit my two year mark of working at lakes dry cleaners!

yes, i know i complain about working a lot. ever since i moved home i've been working 40+ hours a week. and there are definitely bad days and whiney customers. but truth be told, i adore this place.

reasons why:

1. carol

i IDOLIZE my sweet manager. i wish i had a picture of her, she is the cutest thing ever. carol is one of the most amazing ladies i've ever met. she wakes up at 3:00 a.m., just so she can get to the shop by 4 and have a head start on cleaning... even though we don't open until 6! she is the definition of charity. while our prices may be a little high ;) carol is so giving. two weeks ago, a rival cleaners had some machines break down. without thinking, carol called them up and invited them to share our machines and pressers while theirs are being fixed. cool, huh? another thing about carol: she is a charmer. you think i'm a brown-noser? she is incredible. a customer will yell at me about something, i will try so hard to make them happy yet it rarely works. without fail, every time i ask carol to help me with customers, they leave the store smiling. i dont know how she does it... but i'm hoping it will rub off on me eventually.

2. the people

there is a special bond between middle-aged women and their dry cleaners. not sure why, but each and every one of them feels a need to sit and chat- which i love! they'll tell me of recent trips, family issues, anything! every article of clothing has a spot or a stain that tells a story. i, the privileged counter girl, am the recipient of all of these stories. some are hilarious! some are disgusting. but it is so fun to get to know all of the customers on a first name basis. they ask about BYU, i ask about their kids. its awesome. we've had customers bring us treats, make us CDs, give us sports tickets, discounts at their workplace... the list could go on and on. we make awesome tips from certain people because they love us so much haha. last week, my coworker dani and i split a $50! we've gotten so close with a few that we are facebook friends. i love people and i love talking to people! i guess this is the perfect job for me :) some customers stay and chat for over 10 minutes. some tell us jokes. its just fun.

3. the clothes

i get to be entertained by people's clothing. we've had just about everything imaginable brought into the cleaners. whether its a polar bear or taco costume, disgusting lingerie, or this weeks model the BANANA... we have a blast joking around with them!

i pull it off nicely, right? its fun trying on things (dont worry it doesnt happen a lot....) and seeing everyone's different tastes in clothing. i'm always awestruck when people bring in new clothes and i look at the price tags. definitely some big spenders coming to the lakes cleaners. most memorable is a hideous navy plaid blazer... price tag still on it: $2,300. BARF. pretty sure i could put that to better use than a stupid blazer. that's almost a semester of college. it makes me sick.

haha anyway, i love my job.

its been fun being home and seeing all of my regular customers again :) we missed each other.

makes me want to drop out of college and work here forever.

-ashley