A Volkswagen PSA

the problem-causing picture

I had a field trip for work last week that involved my driving up to Fish Creek to pick up a pie at a closed pie shop. (They were expecting me.) I knocked on the door and picked up the pie and all was good. I had brought my camera up north with me, because I figured that I would wish I had it if I didn't bring it with me, and it wasn't like I was going to wish that I didn't bring it with me if I did bring it.

I went back outside with the pie and my camera in the same arm as my purse. Wait, let me word that better. I had my purse at my elbow on my left arm, with the pie box balanced on that arm, and my camera in my hand. (The guy I got the pie from suggested that I put the camera around my neck.) I got back out to my car and opened the passenger door, setting the pie on the passenger seat and putting my purse on the floor in front of it. I closed the door and went to take a picture of the sign, since when I tried to take a picture of the sign when I got there, my camera was being weird and beeping, which it turns out happened because it was set to self timer.

I take the picture, and I hear my car beep, meaning that the doors locked. I realized that I didn't have my keys, as they were in my purse, and I freaked out. I went and tried to open the doors, but they were obviously locked.

Thankfully, I had my phone in my pocket, and I was able to reach my dad, who called a locksmith for me. I was so embarrassed because I know (I wrote about it here) that my car will lock automatically after a short period of time if the driver side door isn't opened or the car isn't turned on.

It was 25 degrees out, and thankfully I was wearing a hat and gloves, as I ended up walking around the parking lot for half an hour while waiting for the locksmith. My feet were giant ice cubes though, since I was wearing Converse.

My car got unlocked, and fifty dollars later, this has solidified the lesson that I always need to have my car keys with me if my car doors are closed.

xoxo.

I believe in pretty band-aids.

why would I want to hide something ugly with something else that's ugly?

on Sunday afternoon, I was washing some dishes at work, like usual. I was washing a polka-dotted glass that I had washed many times before, in fact, the dish that I had just washed was an identical one! my hand was inside the glass, and I turned my hand and must have put some weird pressure on the glass, because the next thing I knew, a triangular chunk of the glass broke off and my hand was bleeding in two places. I grabbed a clean rag out of the drawer next to me, and applied pressure to my hand while I walked into the other room and stared at the first aid supplies. I thought it would be a smart idea to clean the wounds with an alcohol wipe, but it really wasn't. it stung so much! I wasn't too impressed by all of the ugly band-aids on the shelf, so I went to my purse, where I have some pretty ones stashed. those were the ones I used, of course! these are Cynthia Rowley band-aids that I picked up at Target, but I'm sure they sell them anywhere you can buy Band-Aid brand bandages.

for the record, I previously had Candy Land band-aids {Target dollar spot}, but I used them all.

here's another similar story. when I was a junior in high school, I somehow managed to close my finger into a car door. I still don't even know how that is possible. after a few weeks and a doctor's appointment where a hole was burned into my fingernail to release pressure, my nail fell off. this happened about two weeks before my junior prom, so I made my dad buy pretty band-aids for me. they didn't have any Disney Princess ones, so I settled for a box of Barbie band-aids. and guess what? I just looked through pictures from junior prom, and there wasn't a band-aid on my finger. oops.

blood and fingers lacking fingernails. hopefully that is not a story that will be told again over here.

xoxo.

where I come from

for the first eight years of my education, I attended a pretty small Catholic school. I think at one point, the size of my class increased to eleven kids. when I attended St. Joe’s, we would go to Mass together as a school once a week, aside from my final year, when we went twice a week. I also went to Sunday Mass with my parents every week growing up, and I continue to do so. I was an altar server for - I believe - six years, and since then, I have been assisting {and now sometimes teaching} Children’s Liturgy of the Word, which is kind of like Sunday school, for the past four and a half years. my strong Catholic background definitely plays a great part in my beliefs today. maybe this is a decision that was initially made for me when I was baptized at a month old, but twenty years later, it is a decision that I continue to make for myself. do I have to attend Mass every Sunday? no. do I have to teach the future generation about God and his love for us? no. but I do both of these things anyway.

so here we are in first grade {let's all ignore my outfit... what was my mother thinking?!}

I actually think that public school changed me the most. I mean, I was kind of thrown into it, and I didn’t really want to be there. but I made some friends, and I grew, and I had different life experiences, and then I was done. and now, here I am at a different school that I don’t really like, but I just need to remember that I’m almost done there and every little thing is going to be alright.

eighth grade class picture. give or take a few people, this is who I spent five years of public school with.

moving on. where else do I come from? my family, of course, plays a large part in where I am today. maybe things aren’t going the way that I had imagined that they would, maybe my family structure isn’t ideal, but my family is still my family no matter what. one of the things that I’ve learned from my family, especially this past year, is that things don’t always turn out the way that you want them to be, but you can make the best of it. things change, and maybe that isn’t what you wanted, but it’s what you were given and you need to find a way to deal with it.

Christmas 2010 - my dad's side of the family

another place that I come from is Door County. you know, the thumb of Wisconsin. it’s pretty tiny, and everyone seems to know everyone else and everything about every other person. I guess that’s pretty annoying because it’s like high school never ends and everyone always has to have the top gossip on what’s going on, but it’s really pretty here. I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of this glorious place in the past couple years. summers and autumns up here can get pretty busy and crazy with all of the people who flock to “the Cape Cod of the Midwest” for their vacations, but once winter hits, it gets quiet and cold. it’s still pretty, but it can get pretty sad-looking after a while.

ahhhh classic Door County

the final place that I come from would definitely have to be the place where I work and all of the people who have come into my life because of that magical building. because of that place, I’ve met so many different individuals. not one of their stories is the same as someone else’s, and they’ve all touched my life. I’ve learned so much from those people, and they are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. thank God for those people - my second family.

photo by Len Villano, February 2013. and this is only a small fraction of those wonderful people...

I guess maybe the moral of all of these rambling is that I come from change. things change all the time, and we just have to roll with the punches and pretend that Teresa isn’t just rambling on about who knows what.

xoxo.

Difficulties.

May 16: something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

Time to get real and share something with you that I don't really like to talk about, something that probably not a whole lot of people know. I'm just going to say it publicly on the internet anyway I guess?

I've never had a boyfriend.

I've never even been out on a date.

And my first kiss? All kinds of awkward.

It's weird for me, I guess, to be nineteen and I've never had a boyfriend. Some of the people I graduated high school with are already engaged or married!

But in all honesty, I like not having to deal with yet another person and more drama in my life. I've always been more focused on school and work than boys, but maybe someday the right person will come along at the right time.

It's all in God's hands.

xoxo.

Public Apology

If you remember from yesterday's post, I mentioned that I did something stupid that forever ended a friendship. Since today's prompt from Blog Every Day in May is to issue a public apology, maybe today is my time to redeem myself.

When I was young and stupid {sixteen}, I was really hurt by the actions of someone I had once considered to be my best friend {maybe he wasn't actually my best friend, but I guess I've probably called him my ex-best friend because it's more dramatic than saying former friend}. You see, we were pretty close {I thought} when I was in seventh grade, and he was in eighth grade. We had a combined class that year, three seventh graders and five eighth graders, and he and I had a kind of friends-but-not-friends relationship. Our teacher had us sit at the same table to kind of get us to get along better, but it's not like we hated each other, that was just the way we treated one another? I don't really know how to explain it.

Okay, I got off track. As always. Where was I?

Oh right. So when he went to high school, I went to public middle school {those buildings are attached}. I would see him in the hallway or whatever, but we never talked or anything. We would still go to the same church, and we were both altar servers for Christmas Mass that year, and then a few weeks later. That January morning is the last time he and I actually talked.

Fast forward to the fall of my junior year. He's one of the most popular seniors, and I'm definitely not one of the "popular" group in my class. Somehow, I ended up on Yearbook though, me and two other junior girls, plus some of the senior girls. Our theme for the yearbook was "Seasons of Change," and for our yearbook layout pictures, the twelve of us girls, plus our advisor, and this guy {not naming names for privacy reasons, sorry if this is confusing} took a bus about an hour away to go to a cosmetology college to get our hair and nails done, and then get our pictures taken. Now, a great question here would be: why did he go with you if he wasn't on Yearbook?? I think he was supposed to take our picture/s, as he was on Yearbook the previous year, but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen, and he ended up getting a pedicure and his hair done. So anyway, as all of us girls are getting ready to get our group picture taken, he came over by me to fix my chair {we were all in the beauty shares from their stations...I bet they were glad when we left}, and he said something to me, and I was like whoa, maybe things are okay between us?

We paid, got back on the bus, and returned to school. It was around 4 pm at this time, and I had to get home, so I could go to the Y to finish my CPR class. I didn't have a car at this point, and while I could have taken a ten minute walk to get there, I picked up the courage to ask him to give me a ride home since he only lived a few blocks away. He said yes, and we left together. I would have to say that it is one of the two most awkward car rides I've ever been on. We had a semi-normal conversation, I guess.

We had a few semi-normal moments in the next few weeks, but then a few months later, I just couldn't take it anymore.

I wrote a letter. It was three pages about how he ruined my life.

I told two of my closest friends about it; I let them read it. They encouraged me to mail it, as I wanted to.

It was a terrible idea.

I never should have done it.

I feel so, so bad, and I am so, so sorry. It's one thing to write and get your feelings out, but to tell someone that they've ruined your life? Terrible idea.

I'm so sorry, M. I wish I would have never mailed it, but the past is the past and it can't be undone. Maybe someday we can pretend this never happened, just start over fresh? I'd like that.

I'm sorry.

xoxo.

embarrassing moments

when I first did a read-through of Jenni's topics for Blog Every Day in May, I knew that today's topic would be pretty easy for me to write about. why? because I have a lot of awkward/embarrassing moments, and I am one of the most easily embarrassed people!

enjoy.

-so I work at a tiny motel. the room attendants let me know when they left for the day that one of the freezers in one of the rooms was defrosting. the ice had been pretty thick, so I would check on it every little while, and it didn't seem to be melting too fast. a guy walked in to get a room for the night for himself and his dad, so I checked them in. I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I remembered that I hadn't checked on the freezer for a few hours, so I went to go check on it. I didn't knock on the door, because I knew that no one was booked into that room for the night. {do you know where this is going yet?} I started to open the door, when I noticed that the light was on. I didn't remember turning the light on, but I opened the door a little farther to see that there were people in the room! I apologized multiple times as I was closing the door, and then again when I was the guy a little bit later. he told me to stop freaking out. haha. the lesson that I learned from this is to mark the room out of service on the computer, so I will remember to check the freezer, and I won't accidentally put someone in that room!

-one time I was giving one of my friends a hug, and then I turned around to give another friend a hug, but he went to give the other guy a hug, and I was just like awkwardly in the middle...

-a few weeks ago at work, I was trying to close a combination lock, and I tried probably five times to get it to stay closed before I realized that I needed to switch the numbers for it to not unlock...

-one time during lunch in high school, I was talking with my friends about some people who had a baby or were pregnant {sorry, don't remember the details}, and I said, "what if [so-and-so] isn't the mother of his baby?!" which is impossible, since with a natural pregnancy, a woman cannot carry another woman's eggs...

-a few days ago I accidentally turned a 3/4 full box of spaghetti upside down. you know blends in to our kitchen floor? thin whole wheat spaghetti noodles.

-I'm also really good at saying things that I shouldn't say, or saying things at the wrong time.

via

xoxo.

How Uncomfortable

Today is the third day of "Blog Every Day in May!"

Things that make me uncomfortable:

-when people hang out in the lobby while I'm at the front desk at work.

-when guys hit on me at work. just no. go away.

-when there are parents in the room while I'm teaching my tumbling class. on a related note, when parents would hang out on the deck while I taught swimming lessons.

-sometimes talking to people, especially during class. I'm one of the most easily embarrassed people you will ever meet.

-cleaning/vacuuming around people. weird but true.

I guess the conclusion here is that other people make me uncomfortable.

xoxo.

Story of my Life...

alternate title: "Teresa is very awkward"

{this post includes pictures of me being awkward through life!}

I saw that some of the blogs that I follow are participating in Story of My Life's Blog Every Day in May challenge, and I thought that this would be a great way for me to do some writing this month! I hope that I am able to post each day!!

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I was born on the ninth of August, 1993, my parents’ second daughter. Something that not a whole lot of people know is that I was born cross-eyed, and it took everyone a few months to notice that, but I was able to have eye surgery at a young age to correct the problem. From kindergarten through seventh grade, I attended a small Catholic school. The class size was decreasing each year {3 of us in seventh grade!}, so I ended up going to the public middle school for eighth grade. I don’t really remember a whole lot from those days, just that I was the weird, small kid who always seemed to be left out. Junior year, I started my current job, and I totally fell in love with the hotel the fall of my senior year of high school. I was the editor of the yearbook my senior year of high school, and somehow I ended up on Homecoming court. I was intending to go to college in Madison for fashion marketing, but a few months before I graduated, I decided that I wanted to go to school for Hotel/Restaurant Management. I started college at a local technical school in August of 2011, and I will be graduating this December! Other than my amazing job at the fabulous hotel, I also teach a tumbling class at the YMCA for 3-5 year olds, and I am a camp counselor for four and five year olds. And the story continues…

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I made exactly 250 words! so here are the awkward pictures as promised...

{some taken my parents, some taken my other people - stolen off facebook}

 here I am at age 2 ~ my eyes still look a little crossed, not sure if it's just the picture or what ~ I liked to play with cars & Barbies! (:

Halloween 1996 - age 3 {I'm on the left} this picture makes me laugh so much!

Easter 2001 {I'm 7, so my sister is around 14} - matching dresses and sweaters from her Godmother!

awkward face while being announced at the Homecoming football game in 2010

thanks to this girl, there are plenty of funny PhotoBooth pictures of me on facebook!

at Lollapalooza {August 2012; my birthday present from my dad!} to see Black Sabbath!! mad because my phone wouldn't work haha

so that's pretty much me in a nutshell - I'm looking forward to writing more this month!

xoxo.

The Past Few Days

This past weekend was another interesting one at the motel. We're starting to slow down, since it's November, but there is still never a dull moment. I've been going through some archiving stuff, which is pretty cool. I've been finding a lot of cool stuff.

After Mass on Sunday, my mom and I went to get lunch at a popular local restaurant. Their lasagna is amazing!!

This morning I had an eye doctor appointment. It was my first time to see this eye doctor, and overall, I had a positive experience. I didn't have to have my eyes dilated! And I also don't have a different prescription (which means no need to buy new glasses!!!)! He did say, though, when he was looking at my eyes after the yellow eyedrops, that I have a slight irritation from something - some sort of allergy I guess?

I just updated the "Music" page on my blog. While searching iPhoto for pictures, I found some extremely awkward pictures of myself...that should be a post some day. Wow. When I was in high school, I used to just hang out in my room and take pictures of myself apparently. Not only that, I would also make stupid faces when my mom would take my picture.

Here's one that I found (that I like) from junior year. This was taken while I was doing my Alg II homework...haha.

Juicy Couture tee - TJ Maxx - "You Oughta Be In Juicy" - I used to get so many confused comments about it.
gold shimmery 3/4 sleeve crop cardigan - Macy's? - must find