My First Month in New Jersey!!!

Well, It has been completely insane since the moment I left! Lets start from the beginning shall we. We left Bakersfield on a Sunday evening and headed for Albuquerque, NM. Michael wanted to make a hotel there that we had booked earlier that he was doing whatever it took to get there and not lose that reservation or money.  And then, whoop whoop, red and blue lights in the rear view and we were not even out of California yet!!! For those of you who know Michael's driving, this was the funniest thing that has ever happen to this date!!! I could not stop laughing!!! So Michael received his first speeding ticket ever!! He was really going 90 in a 65!!! but the copper was nice and gave him a ticket for 85.  I'm so sorry Michael I had to tell the world!!!! 

But wait it gets even better. So we are driving along I had fallen asleep and then I woke up because Michael got off the road and we weren't moving anymore. So he took the wrong exit to get gas and we were on the wrong freeway.  We are trying to read all the signs to get back to the I 40 and all of a sudden it was forth of July in the rear view mirror again! Michael got pulled over just as we were getting on the freeway. I was dying! Well the cop was totally cool and he gave Michael a warning. This one was Innocent, we were driving in a business area and didn't know the posted speed limit and we were to busy trying to find the freeway entrance! So in less that 4 hours of driving Michael received a speeding ticket and and 

warning for speeding. This is so priceless! 

Well the rest of the trip went really smooth! We drove straight through NM to San Antonio! That was a drive! I drove like 15 hours or something like that!! We had dinner with Uncle Jean and Aunt Kris and then headed to Ft Worth the next morning to see Leslie and had dinner with her! Leslie was the best because one; I had only 5 Cd's in the car the first 24 hours of driving! I didn't get a chance to get my Cd's from Liza before i left and we were listening to Britney Spears, Danity Kane, some mixed CD i had and a Disney Love song soundtrack. Ahh dying right?! well I told Leslie about it and she was all over it! Leslie and her roommate burned us like 20 different compilation Cd's and some single albums like lady gaga, Duffy and more! she was such a life savor for the rest of the trip!  So we finally had some good music and then we headed up to Oklahoma to see the all the Family in good ole Stigler, OK .

Everyone was waiting for us and i was so excited to see my grandparents and all my Aunts and Uncles! I miss seeing my cousins like I used to growing up! But I was glad that Michael was able to be there with me and meet everyone that he hasn't met yet! It was awesome! The sad part was that we just were only spending the night then going on to Nashville the next day.  I really don't like leaving family.  But on to the country capital of the world and we met my friend Russell for dinner! It was so awesome seeing him.  I hadn't seen him in around 5 years.  He made us an awesome meal and we hung out for about 2 hours and then headed to Knoxville,TN.  The drive was so beautiful and I wish we had more time in every state we drove through.  Finally after all the driving we arrived in Philly. This was our stopping point for both of us. We stayed in a good hotel in a sketchy area. But apparently all of Philly is sketchy. Well Michael had a couple friends from CT meet us there and we were able to visit and have dinner before Michael had to fly home on sat morning.  Saturday morning that was a sad day. I dropped Michael off and then that's when it all hit me what i was really doing.  I had no idea anymore. I couldn't understand why I was willingly putting my family and friends in such sadness and pain. For those of you who know Michael, he is not a very showing emotional guy, like most guys but he is less than normal. I couldn't believe the emotions that came out of him when we were saying goodbye.  I had to drive the rest of the way by myself to New Jersey and wow, I could hardly drive. I cried for about 2 hours straight. Then I went to see my Boss and I felt so bad because he said how are you and I fell apart all over again. Thank God that i had a friend I was going to be living with here in NJ or i think i would have been ready to come home! That was a really hard weekend because I wasn't working yet and I was so confused to what I was doing.  Now I wish I could go back and not be working cause I have been go go go since i started work on May 11.  I love that I have been so busy or else I would be a huge wreck but as the weeks went by I became a little more of myself again everyday.  

Well, work is now up and rolling!  My first two weeks out i had been training my 3 new managers for my store in Mays Landing, NJ.  We were working in Freehold, NJ waiting to get into our store. So the last few week were consumed with Flying back to OK to surprise my Mom and family for my cousin Shelly's graduation, doing lots of interviews, hiring, orientation and this last week setting up our store to open on June 3.  For that last week i have been working 12-14 hour days to ensure my team and store is ready to go!!!  Well its June 4 and we did open and it was fabulous! I have some really amazing employees and I'm excited to start a new working family! We blew our first day away and are setting our goals high to take over the East Coast for the # 1 District.  Well that is a little bit of what i have been doing. My life is a whole new adventure right now. I haven't even had a moment to do anything in New Jersey since I got here. I live in  Ocean City, NJ and its super cute and has a Santa Monica feel with a board walk and ferris wheels (ooh that makes my palms sweaty thinking about those). Its a beautiful area. The one thing I have learned is the weather is unpredictable, I will have allergies a lot and I will never be really healthy because the weather changes so much my body is confused! No but I have learned to enjoy the rain more and I actually walked home in it last night!!

Lastly, I love and miss you all! I am going to keep this going either once a month or each week. Just keep checking back and I will have Pictures up soon!! I cant wait to see everyone again!! Keep In touch and I will too!!!!