Progressive Dinner

December 27, 2011

Every month all the girls above 18 years old on my mom’s side all hang out once a month. Every December we have what we call [progressive dinner]. All twelve of us girls dress up and go to the [first] house and all eat an appetizer and or dinner, hang out and spend time together. Then travel to the next house and eat desert.

On December 27, 2011 I had to work 12:00p.m. to 3:30p.m. at Bath and Body Works; our party had started at 4:00p.m.  I knew that 'to-be-on-time', I had to boot scoot and boogy my butt to the party and that meant, leaving right after work without any dilly dally. I walked into work right on time at 11:57a.m. and worked; I was usually checking customers out or helping them find product they wanted, answering questions, doing shippment ect. ect... 3:15p.m. rolled around so I had my manager check-out my items that I wanted to buy and by the time I had been finished with it all it was 3:30.pm. so I clocked-out and changed into my dress in our store-bathroom with the help of my amazing manager, Erin! :) After I was already, I came out, behind the counter to unlock my wallet and of course, working with all girls, heard many compliments on my dress and was happy to be fitting in my dress and wearing it once more before I might gain too much weight and not fit into any longer.

It had been snowing outside, and all I had worn to work was a sweatshirt; with all my managers being so motherly like, I was forced to buy a jacket to wear so I wouldn't freeze my butt of driving to my party in my van that has been heatless for two years.

 I carried all my three heavy bags through the mall, into American Eagle, trying to find a jacket that would match my dress. The bags were heavy and hurting my fingers, my dress was falling off me, and I was just having the darnest and hardest time ever; I couldn't concentrate on finding a jacket, only that my dress falling off of me and I was having to pull it up (in public) every 5 seconds (which I feel is really rude doing in public, but hey better a girl pulling up their dress than seeing their boobs right??...(damn dresses that fall off!) So I finally picked out a jacket, and waited FOREVER to get checked out while my fingers get ripped off from the bags, hangers my clothes were on, and as my dress slowly slips down farther and father.... It was finally my turn to get checked out, I got the associate who's really nice and talks to you to check me out. Of course he gets so interested in my [dress-pulling-up-skills] he forgot to enter in my $10 off coupon, so he had to return everything and then re-buy everything and use my coupon and then ask for all my information since it was a return.... wait forever,,,, pull up my dress,, and finally leave American Eagle.

I walk out into the cold, flurry, snowy weather without my jacket on, all to find some moron parked so close to my drivers side that I had to squeeze between the two vehicles sideways WITH all four of my bags!! I CAREFULLY and slowly open my door so I won't hit the moron's car beside me, lift all the bags into my car, and into the passenger side seat, which was full, and all in my dress that was falling down. I finally got situated, put on my jacket I bought turn my car on, plug in my space heater, so I will hopefully be able to see out my frosted windsheild after waiting a bit to defrost a little circle to see out of.

...So then I had to drive to the gym which is only three or so minutes away from work, drop a gift for a gift exchange there, which I was going to miss and then finally drive to my party. By the time I got to leave the gym it had already been 4:00p.m. and I was shivering.

SO the Party,, and Progressive Dinner...

This year we all went to our Aunt Lyndene’s house for the dinner, which was DELICIOUS! We had cabbage salad, twice-baked potatoes, sweet potatoes casserole, asparagus casserole, pork with glaze, rolls, and cook cinnamon apples. I sat in the dining room with my cousins Jennifer, Rebekah, and Leslie, two aunts Erin and Lyndene, and then my sister Bethany. It was a good time; we talked and laughed a lot while we were eating our fabulous meal.

The entire meal was so delicious, the sweet potatoes tasted like desert along with the cooked apples. After all of us [12 girls] were all done eating our wonderful dinner, we sat around and talked and of course laughed a lot, mostly at nothing, striving for attention from girls in the kitchen. Then we all went to my cousin Jennifer’s for desert, games, and an elephant gift exchange.

 There were many delicious deserts as ever! There was mocha punch, cream puffs, cheesecake, chocolate covered pretzels, anise (annnnn-issssss) cookies, buckeyes, and chocolate peanut covered butter chunks.

The first game we played was a guessing game, Jennifer had an apron on  that had polka dot trimming, and we were to guess the amount of dots that were on her apron, my cousin Rebekah won at a guess of 350. Then we played a game that we all drew a candy cane out of a jar and who ever got the shortest candy cane (which was cut) won, my favorite, Aunt Netsie won. ;) The next game we played was “Honey if you love me?” We went in a circle; a person to the right would sit on their lap and would say “Honey if you love me, smile” and then they would reply without a smile, chuckle, or laugh “Honey, I love you, but I just can’t smile.” If you smile, chuckle, or laugh you’re out and lose. If you know my family, we have a great array of hilarious personalities and it is impossible not to laugh with the things these girls. We had a grand time coming up with ways to make the person laugh of details that stay within the Capman Girls. Everyone at least smiled or grinned. My Aunt Lyndene won our game. Then we did our white elephant gift exchange. I received an air freshener, smells wonderful, I have placed it in our upstairs bathroom. After our fun time with our exchange, then we played a rowdy game of catch phrase, celebrity game, and a funny game of Mafia(directed my Jennifer).

My cousin, Leslie had gotten an IPad for Christmas, she took pictures on her “ ‘lol’ cam,” which makes you look like a funny alien is the best way to describe the outcomes of it. After a night full of laughter, we all went home and had fun sleeping away.

I'll post up pictures from it later, cause I don't have any right now.

I wore the same dress I wore for homecoming with straight hair. I don't have picture of the event... yet. (this is homecoming day)

Story about my dress: As I wrote before, I wore my homecoming dress, that I wore my senior year in 2010 and was constantly pulling it up one year later in American Eagle. Since I've worn my dress last on homecoming day, I have gradually lost weight (by eating healthier) and I had forgotten that when you loose weight and don't wear a dress in a long time, that you forget the size. The dress had been two sizes too big, literally. I guess that means one thing..... Time to get more dresses!! :)

Where did all my money go???

This past holiday season, I’ve worked a lot when I could at Bath and Body Works; I got a few 7-12 hour shifts here and there, which I LOVE!!!! Yesterday [Friday] I got paid, and my paycheck looked wonderful, all the hard work I put into that store paid off and got paid to me!! J

I actually cleaned my room on my days off and now you can actually see the carpet it in. J I went through all my clothes, nothing of course got pitched or given to a sister, but I reminded myself, “Kellijean, you don’t need any more clothes. So when you go shopping next time, don’t get anything.”

Jener and I were texting as I was cleaning my room and bathroom, we figured out a day(that day) that we could both hang out together before she left to college again. So I hurry to clean the rooms, to leave and see Jener. We haven’t been able to hang out that much with her off to college and working, and my schedule: going to college, working two jobs, and still doing gymnastics. But we found time and decided to go to the mall, of course my favorite place, where else?? And of course... I spent too much money. I bought a new purse that I had been needing for quite some time now, a few shirts from American Eagle, two bras at Aerie (got double points on my AE access pass card), and three camis from Wet Seal.  And ALMOST got this GORGEOUS dress but it was $90 and Jener talked me out of not buying the beautiful dress. I’m just waiting for it to go on sale now. Cause once it’s on sale, it’s MINE!! So after the mall we went to Olive Garden upon my choice, because I had been craving it for a long time and needed an Olive Garden fix. I got Chicken Parmesan and she got Alfredo. It was delicious!!!!! We then went back to her house and hung out. Stayed up talking till 3:45 am.. And now it’s New Year’s Eve!!!! J My Grandparents were in Texas for Christmas so today is the day we’re spending time with our family for Christmas. J I’ll tell you about it later, but now, I have to get ready for it.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Time!!!

So Christmas has finally come and there is NOOOOOO snow on the ground!!! It doesn’t feel like a real Christmas to me, I think this may be my first Christmas without snow on the ground; yes, I love not having to drive in it, although just one inch of snow would be nice as well.

Last night we opened all our gifts as we usually do on Christmas Eve. Clara didn’t like my wrapping job, which was put everything in a shopping bag without tissue paper and leave it at that. Clara ended up wrapping up all my presents for me. (note* I DISPISE wrapping presents!)

Let’s Move on to Christmas Eve 6:00 p.m.

My wonderful mother cooked a big and wonderful meal. She cooked each person their own Cornishhen(mini full size chicken), stuffing, corn, potatoes, rolls, gravy, and cranberry jelly. It was all quiet delicious!! After we all stuffed ourselves, we waited for my brother, David and his girlfriend, Kenzie to arrive. While waiting I took a shower, and by the time I was out they had gotten home. I went downstairs all to find, three boys Kyle, David, and Sam all playing Sam’s Xbox. After a little while, we all opened presents. I received a wireless mouse for my laptop from Kyle, a 8GB chip for my new camera I bought from Bethany, of course nothing from VS, a wireless router, jeans from AE, plaid shirt from AE, necklace from AE, headband, Nickelback CD, and a gymnast Christmas tree ornament from my parents.

After we had finish unwrapping everything Kyle and I set up the wireless router for my laptop and I of course got right on my computer and checking my Facebook for any messages or alerts.

The Arrival of Christmas… December 25th

The Arrival of Christmas… December 24^th                       

As anyone who knows me personally, I’m a very impatient person, I hate waiting and I can’t sit still!! I love Christmas; I love giving out my presents to my siblings and parents, waiting for a surprising and hopefully happy response. I love shopping for them all, and usually I’m so impatient, I’m the type of person that will get everyone’s present all done at once and get all my shopping done at one store. However, this year would be different than all other years.

I had been really anxious one day and had nothing to do; I had a call-in to work at Bath and Body Works that day so I decided to “waste” time just in case I would have to use my call-in and work. I had been in a big Christmas mood, and decided to go to one of my favorite stores, T.J.Maxx, and maybe “make the maxxinesta” out of myself. I starting to shop, spending a lot of time looking through the women’s clothes for myself because shopping for myself is what I’m very good at. ;) I didn’t find anything I really liked and started shopping for Audrey and didn’t find anything much I thought was cute either so I went in the back and looked around, seeing if someTHING might catch my eye. Finally someTHING did catch my eye; I then found part of Clara’s Christmas present and part of Audrey's present. I kept looking and found nothing else so then I went to Kohl’s, first of course, looking at the women’s section, seeing if I could find any clothes that I liked, but again, couldn’t find anything I liked. Darn! I kept looked around and finally came across my dad’s gift, Bethany’s, and my teacher’s present as I was in line to check-out,  checked out and went to the mall. I shopped at Target and another store in the mall, and finished my Christmas shopping that day! I had shopped at the most stores EVER to get my Christmas list completed, which was three, and set a new record!! I have all my Christmas shopping done, now I have to think of hiding spots and hints for those hiding spots. Because I’m so impatient and horrible and gift wrapping, I refuse to wrap my presents but instead I hid them and make clues that they have to figure out and find their presents and unwrap the grocery bag that I wrap them in. I find it so much more fun to do for me and them, for those who are little and love adventures and aren’t lazy. It saves me time and effort and makes people get up and move around so I LOVE it!!! J

 Now I await extremely impatiently for December 24^th, Christmas Eve, when my family will all take communion, drink sparkling grape juice, recognize Jesus’ birth and open presents!!

The Christmas Dream

by: Audrey Leigh Younglove

            Once upon a time there were two princesses, named Audrey and Kelly who wished they could have Christmas inside a grand castle and kept wishing on a beautiful, dazzling, bright pink wishing rose. The princesses weren’t very old; Audrey was eighteen and Kelly was ten.  The princesses were best friends; they loved to play in their tree house they had in their back yard.

 One day while they were playing in their tree house, a tornado appeared very swiftly, and the funnel cloud’s winds picked up the princess and their tree house they were playing in! The twister twirled the tree house up into the clouds where they landed on a rainbow.  They climbed out of the tree house and onto the rainbow, they looked around and saw a great big rainbow waterfall, lushing with rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and many other jewels snow white’s drafts and mined.  They walked through the beautiful waterfall, and came upon two great big doors. The doors had been locked by a rainbow phone. They didn’t know the secret combination to unlock the doors on the phone. They guessed and typed their names and the doors magically started to open!! They walked through the doors and saw gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies and many other jewels on the stairs, chairs, walls, and everything that the castle was made from!! The princesses LOVED it and played with the jewels. then all of sudden the king and queen, who were nice, ran down from the stairs and asked the girls if they liked strawberry cream pie, the girls’ eyes widened, because that was their FAVORITE food. They girls cried out “we love pie!”

The king and queen hadn’t had any children, and after a long time of spending time together, the princess had been adopted by the king and queen.  After they had been adopted, they princesses went home to the castle and played dance mania on the wii because they had been so happy!!  They had Christmas there and loved their presents they had gotten from the king and queen. And thennnnnnnn…… they woke up, in their tree house and realized they had been dreaming and their dream had come true! J

Thanksgiving and the Famous and Dreadful… Black Friday

Thanksgiving:

The great and mighty Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday of the entire year! I love the food, family, and whole meaning behind this holiday; it greatly inspires me to be a better person. OH… I forgot to tell you one of my other favorite things, and that is………… SLEEP!! Ahh… of course, I get to sleep in on this awesome holiday!! So as all my other previous  Thanksgivings, I sleep and sleep and sleep, until I can’t sleep anymore or until I am forced to wake up, as Audrey bounces on the bed, rocking me back and forth to wake up, or screaming “Get UP Kelli I want you to play with me!!!”This year however, I have finally trained Audrey, not to wake me on the days I don’t have school, but instead to play in another room or play very quietly in our room, otherwise I might become a scary, loud, and mean monster. This Thanksgiving, she had followed her instructions and didn’t wake or disturb my sleep; I woke up around 11:oo a.m. and it felt great!! As many of our Thanksgivings in our family, my extended family (Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins from my mom’s side) will all go over to Mimi’s (Grandma’s ) house to celebrate and give thanks for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving dinner was at beginning at 4:00 p.m. Clara and I finally made our way to Mimi’s house around 4:20-4:30 p.m. Immediately we dug into the delicious food; the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes(my favorite), green bean casserole(my other favorite food), rolls, cranberry salad, rolls, and corn. Then our newest cousin, came to Mimi’s and of course all the girls wanted to hold the sweet, tiny little newborn. After I had my chance to hold her, I of course looked through the Avon books of which my Aunt sells and made my list of items I wanted for my Christmas. After about an hour had gone by since I had been there I received a text from Amanda, my manager at Bath and Body Works, asking if I could work from midnight to 8 a.m. for Black Friday instead of 1 p.m. to closing, at 9:30 p.m. the following day!!!!!!!! My first thought was, “You’ve got to be kidding me!!! I don’t want to make my Thanksgiving shorter than it already is!! That would mean I would have to stay up all night and wouldn’t be able to enjoy my sleep, which I knew I would get, also, I would have to go home earlier, and I wouldn’t be able to do a little of Black Friday shopping myself!” But without hesitation, I told her that I would love to work at that time instead. After two short hours of being at Mimi’s and being able to spend a little bit of time with my family, I left at 6:30 to go home and sleep a little bit before I had to go to work at midnight, the time that the mall would open at and that customers would be flying in dodging for assistance of checking them out at the counter.

The famous and dreadful… Black Friday:

I woke up from my nap around 10:30 p.m. packed up my things for gymnastics, ate a little bit of food we had and left for work. I had been expecting crazy drivers and traffic when I got to Telegraph Rd. expecting it to be backed up to the light where it meets Stewart Rd. However, to my surprise the traffic was bad at all, it was actually lighter than usual. I quickly ran into Meijer for a snack to share with my co-workers and a drink for myself, and one of my favorite movies, a Disney and Pixar film, Cars 2; it hadn’t been too busy inside the store, nor was it hard to get a good parking spot near the doors. After grabbing my things, I went to Wal-Mart to see if they had the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love I had been waning because I was told it was really good by my cousin, Leslie. I pulled in and the first aisle I turned into, I found an extremely great parking spot and grabbed at the first chance I had. I walked in, to see my eyes widen at the sight of the caution tape up for directing the lines for check-out, and customers all over, invading the store, I strolled back to the electronics, looked for my movie, all to find nothing. On my way back to my car I found myself pushing through the long lines trying to get to the ‘Exit’ doors and back to my car, the safest place, much safer than the store anyways, of which felt like a wild zoo, with hungry animals running around, looking for their desired food. As I pulled out of my parking spot, to drive back onto Telegraph Rd. I saw cars ALL over: on the grass, the curb, the Applebee’s parking lot, and in the way of coming in and out of which I hadn’t realized was so bad when I had pulled in. I finally got to work, where the parking lot wasn’t full of chaos and confusion, but the line in front of Bath and Body Works was already starting to get long. I got into the store, put on my Christmas Red Bath and Body Works apron on, took some Tylenol® and got ready to deal with crazy customers who were brave enough to actually come out and shop on the famous and dreadful… Black Friday!

Only an hour had gone by and it had seemed as if I had been checking people out for three hours because I had checked so many people out; the lines were long and ridiculous but I just kept on going: focusing on each customer, one-at-a-time as I checked them out, trying to be as fast, efficient, and pleasant as possible. Finally after eight hours of checking people out, 8:00 a.m. finally rolled around, and my shift was done and I was going home to sleep, just in time for me to go to gymnastics at 1:00 p.m. that after-noon. I got home, found everyone still asleep, and went to bed myself. I woke up at 12:20 p.m. and then went to gymnastics, which I had been dragging from working on the famous and dreadful… Black Friday on that VERY early morning before.

Gobble Gobble Gobble!

I decided "Hey, I'm new to blogging and you may or may not know that much about me, so what a great way to start my bloggers with what I'm thankful for? After all Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, not only because I have GREAT cooks in the family but also because I have soo much to be thankful for." I love through the fall season to look back and ask myself, "What am I thankful for and why?" just like any Thanksgiving season. It helps me get my persepective back and not to get in a pitty party of "boo hoo me" stage that everyone gets in every once in a while.

Things I am thankful for:

• Jesus.
• School.
• Family.
• Friends.
• Laughter.
• Teachers.
• My Laptop.
• Gymnastics.
• Scholarships.
• A Running car.
• My Cell Phone.
• My Pell Grant.
• Bath and Body Works.
• A Roof Over My Head.
• My Home Comupter and Internet.
• Food to Chow Down on Each Day.
• Peppermint Hot Chocolates from McDonald's.

Why I'm so thankful for...

... My God. I give Him all the Glory and Honor for everything I've achieved, for who He's created me into today, and who He's creating me into becoming. He's given me a countless amount of opportunities. He has died on the cross for my sins so that I may enter into Heaven and have an everlasting joy, happiness, and praise in my heart. He sits up in Heaven, awaiting when He wants me to come and sit with Him.

...My friends. My friends continually cheer me up on any given day. They bring me joy and happiness to an uneasy day. My friends are my world! I have to say a special thank you to: Karla, Nicole, Jener, Hannah, Ashley, Nancy, Heather, and all my girl girlies, You all mean the complete world to me!!! :) I love you all!! :)

...Gymnastics. Gymnastics has been played a huge part of my life since I was a little muchkin at age three. It's been my stronghold and a steady place I can always call home. I've continued have a strong support from all my teamates, those who have came and gone and those who are currently at my practices as well. They push me to do my best and help  me learn lessons through out my life.

...School. I love learning and going to school. If I could go to school and take every class there is, I would do it in a heart beat, but as we all know: It's just not going to happen. Learning new things and about how do things, how things came about, why things the way they are now, how to please a person, how the body functions, how we are able to do ______. It all amazes me and I want to know it all! I just find it all so interesting! Goodness I'm getting all hyped up just thinking about learning and my biology test I have this coming Monday!!

...A roof over my head and food to eat. Lately I have been watching movies, reading, and learning about the children in Africa and China and Prostitution. My heart just reaches out to those poor children!! My friend Skyler Dieselberg's parents are in Thailand doing missions work for prostitutes; giving the hopeless feeling girls a job in a factory making jewerly to help them out of the "business." I just have to turn to God, and say "Thank You, for keeping me healthy, giving me a family that gives me a roof over my head and food every day" I just watched a movie called Beyond Borders with Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen which is about the people in Ethiopia who are dying of starvation and living in extremely harsh conditions. It helps remind me that I live safely, in a house, that when I get a boo-boo, I have band-aids and Tylenol for any pain I'm having, and that I'm given food to me whenever my stomach comes a calling and more.

... my green 1990's Chevrolet Astro Van I drive. Thank you to Skyler, who says you have name everything, my van's name is Grace full of Joy. She has given topfulls of grace; not once have I got a ticket with her as well as she's done a great job to prevent me from getting me into an accident since I've recieved my license. She listens to me very well, She will turn in any direction I ask her to and go any speed as well. She does get a little down and broken sometimes, but I do my best to keep her in her best shape. She gets me from point A to point B with fail every time so far. By getting me to my joyful destination, brings joy to my heart. Also, she's never failed in the amount of passengers she can hold. I love her most for that! :) Thank you Grace!

...my pell grants and scholarships. Those awesome treasures are allowing me to further my learning and my college education towards receiving my degree in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement. I'm sooo stoaked until I get to start my "big girl" job as a Police Officer! I want to work with Criminals but more with a special cases involving abused and neglectic children. God has a strong hold on me and children, my heart just aches for them.

...Peppermint Hot Chocolate from McDonald's. I always get addicted to a drink in each season; in the summer I get addicted to strawberry-banana smoothies from McDonald's and in the Winter(or any cold day) I get addicted to their Peppermint Hot Chocolates. When I go into work at Bath and Body Works I remember to bring my drink for a GREAT day at work, with my wonderful co-workers, whom I love!:)  

...Bath and Body Works and all it's employees at store #648, in Monroe, Michigan. One of my jobs is working as an associate at the store, Bath and Body Works. I've been working there since July 2011. I love it and wouldn't change it for the world! I love all my managers and co-workers. All the girls there always cheer me up and we are always having a good time and laugh so much! God has blessed me with a third family here.

...lol. The amount of laughter that it's my life is just amazing! Laughter makes the pain leave, relieves stress, and just plain fun to do! Laughter is the best medicine. I laugh at myself so much, I think I could heal myself just about every day. lol. I love laughing, it's seriously the best thing in the world!! Try it, laugh today!! :) I'm sure I have today!! Laugh at others' funny laugh, the randomness of someone talking like me, the cute little old man at the grocery store, the littles little baby in your family that is halarious!! Just know this: laughter heals and relieves all stress and pain.  lol

So those are the things I'm extremely thankful for. I hope you learned a lot about me.