Happier Than A Bodybuilder Directing Traffic

Sometimes at work you got to keep things interesting. This is a convo Lindsay and I had on work I.M. after I left a little Post-It note on her desk (can i tell you how much i like IMing people i work with? it's awesome. super convenient too because if you just have a simple question, IM someone...you dont even have to loose time getting up and walking over there)
Lindsay : lol. did you leave #stalkeralert??
Natasha: no.
   ◄       that's weird
   ◄       maybe you have a stalker
Lindsay: hahaha it is SOOOO your hand writing
Natasha: rofl.
◄         tricked you!
Lindsay: haha you stalker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Natasha: SOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cody, Rachel & I decided I'm channelling Snow
White with my dark hair and red lips. #legit

Last Friday (9/28), I was planning on seeing Pippin in Kansas City...until I started reading reviews and realizing the plot line might not be 100% appropriate. So I went to work looking up other stuff to do. I found two acceptable options. 1. See a community play production of Annie. 2. See Boys Like Girls in concert for only $20. Both were good options, but i'm a sucker for the theatre. So Rachel, Cody, and I got dolled up to go to Columbia, MO to eat. We were planning on going to a nice little jazz restaurant ..but we left a little too late. So we managed to get to the theatre with 15 minutes to spare, and since there were some reservations that didn't show up, we got tickets. The best actress award goes to the perfectly ridiculous evil orphan keeper, Miss Hannigan was. However, I think the best part of the night was the end...when the whole audience joined in with the cast to sing "Tomorrow", so I got to belt out the song with my new friends. It was legendary! Then we met up with Cody's sister and her friends to get some frozen yogurt (yuck). But it was nice. We ended up getting back to Sedalia at 1-ish. I felt like a bad influence keeping them out so late :)

Saturday (9/29), I was planning on going with Sage to Kansas City to meet up with Lindsay & her boyfriend, Alex, who came in for the weekend to visit. However, I couldn't get a hold of Sage, so I didn't want to leave without her. So I turned on my computer only to discover that Alias had come to Netflix. #dreamcometrue So i sat on my couch relaxing and watching Alias. By the time I decided I wanted to do something, it was too late to go to Kansas City, so I continued watching Alias :) Then Sage responded. She had slept in. lol. We decided to make plans to meet up with Alex and Lindsay at DQ that night. It was a lot of fun. Alex is a cool guy and super nice. He surprised Lindsay with a couple's massage #lucky I told him if he ever wanted to give surprise me with a massage, I would love one :) lol.  Afterwards, Sage came over, and I introduced her to Scandal. I know, right? We stayed up till 3:30am watching Scandal. SOOOO GOOD! Then I had to get some sleep for church.

I got a calling at church. Gospel Principle's teacher. aka my fav calling EVER! I'm super excited. Church was good, but I was a tired. I had trouble getting to sleep that night because my throat was hurting too. But Monday morning (Oct 1st), I woke up feeling terrible, especially at 4:30am in order to get to work by 5am. Why was I going to work so early? Inventory week. If it wasn't inventory week, I would have called in sick because I felt terrible, but I went in anyways. What is Inventory Week, the first week in October in the Sedalia facility, we do a physical count of all the inventory in our factory for an audit to check that the computer is correct and to account for lost or misplaced inventory. Our area "misplaced" about 125 motors...really, it was just shipped to China, but that information got lost a few weeks ago. But it was a great time to really get to know the guys in my area. There are about six total who work on a regular basis in my area. We bonded. The first day, we finished counting out area. Seriously. 2.5 more days of sitting around. So we talked a lot. I learned a lot from them too. I learned:

• how to cook raccoon meat. you got to boil it first. then bake it with lots of bbq sauce.
• turtle meat is tough like goat
• what Noodling Catfish is
• there is a man called Turtleman with a tv show called Call of the Wildman (which is supposedly amusing, more because of what the two main guys say more than what they do) who likes to catch wild animals with his barehands.

Basically, lots of good things. Tuesday morning, the company brought in some Papa Jake's donuts....SOOOO GOOD! At one point, I was up at my desk and Sage messages me to tell me I'm in trouble because I came in a little late. (aka, Sage took me to work because I didn't have to come in till 7am and Lindsay had to be in at 5 again). She looked all serious and I started freaking out. Then she told me it was a joke. #trickysage
And speaking about being tricky, another guy came into my area while we were sitting around bonding. He asked me who I was, and me and the guys were just talking about how I did welding in high school, so i responded, "the new welder". He looked at me like i was kidding and asked one of the guys, "is she really?" and one of the guys said, "yeah, she's really good." lol. #practicaljokesatwork

While I was down there, one of the guys from Lindsay's area found me to tell me more info about the dodgeball league they're having. I told them I couldn't this Wednesday because of the Presidential debates. He looked at me and said "you're a nerd, aren't you?" it normally takes people a little longer to figure that out, but i responded positively :) I told him how I wanted to make cupcakes and have a little party. The debates were hysterical. Cody let me borrow her food dye. I had a little trouble getting the red to look red...it looked pink #sadday but I continued. Marjin said my cupcakes look like they're Israeli. The actual cupcake is supposed to be red, white, & blue. but either way....im super impressed, and i did the little icing decorating with a little plastic snack baggie that i bit a hole into a corner. (new item on my Christmas Wish List: icing tips)

The rest of the week I was still sick but slowly improving. As soon as I left work on Thursday to start my 3-day weekend/holiday, I donned my awesome red lip gloss and began the long drive to Kansas City. It was cold so I got a hot chocolate as soon as I arrived, and of course spilled on myself shortly after. With my sinuses all out of whack, I still managed to survive a flight to Salt Lake City on Thursday night. I caught my shuttle to Elo's house, and managed to stay up to socialize for a bit, as the exhausting week was slowly catching up to me.

lo mejor!

Friday (10/5), I woke up and read a bit from my NOOK, and eventually one of the 9 roommates, suggested we watch some ALIAS! It's like she knows my soul already! I found Elo, and since I was bored being inside, I put on my super cute blazer and headed into town with my phone's GPS as my guide. First stop...Starbucks. I was going to get a hot chocolate...but then decided to go for the healthy choice of Orange Juice and some banana bread for my breakfast (at noonish...did i mention i hadn't eaten all morning?) After boosting my blood sugar and attacking my body with Vitamin C, I decided I must have some retail therapy because I work too much. I hit up H&M first. The closest thing to Europe I have in my life. Then I learned in Banana Republic that the colors for fashion are maroon and dark yellow. #learnsomethingneweveryday Elo joined my shopping excursion and we shopped all afternoon, until we had to go back to the house for the reunion. I changed from my skinny jeans to my pencil shirt and voilá, I was ready. #lowmaintenanceattimes We took the traks down to Murray and walked to the Mexican restaurant I made reservations at for all the hermanas to meet up before the reunion and eat. It was awesome to see everyone. Even Katie came up to see me, even though she didn't stay for the reunion. woohoo. The reunion was WEIRD! I couldn't handle seeing everyone in normal clothes and hugging each other. my brain was on overload. But it was nice to see my mission brothers and sisters. And of course my mission mom and dad, President and Sister Bunker. aka my heros. PBunk was in a baby blue sweater. it was great. he looked so un-intimidating. jajaja. Elo and I got to go home with Pam & Trey (the newly weds) after picking up Melissa. We drove and went to bed as soon as we got there. I was exhausted. too much socializing.

Saturday, the first day of Conference, BLEW MY MIND! First off, it was Pam & Trey, Bonnie (pam's sister), Elo, Melissa (a girl we taught in Cali who now is going to LDSBC) and me watching conference together. The prophet made an awesome announcement. LDS guys can now go on missions after they graduate high school at age 18. And girls can leave at 19 years old. Effective immediately. Do you know how many people are now eligible to go on missions now?!?!?! OH MY GOODNESS! We were all so excited. Emotions were running high. texts were being sent out. facebook statuses were being updated. trust me. in the mormon world, this is life changing. HUGE! Plus, telling that to 4 returned missionaries, one convert of these returned missionaries, and a girl who wrote all 4 missionaries while they were on the mission...it was a room of joy and excitement. The rest of the day was anticlimactic. Can you really top an announcement like that? No. But the rest of General Conference was amazing as usual. It's such a blessing to have a living prophet on the earth who is able to lead and guide Christ's church, and of course, the apostles are also equally inspiring. I am so grateful for the hand of God in directing their words and their actions. For lunch, we ate yummy pizza. YUM. After conference, we had girl time and watched Hairspray, and then went for Indian food. Melissa didn't like it too much. her chicken was green, which freaked her out.

Sunday was amazing. My fav talk was Elder Holland's talk. He gave this talk before but to missionaries, so this time it was a little different, but the message was the same. He spoke of if we love Christ, we will feed his sheep (John 21:17).  Sister Bunker shared this with us as missionaries a little before the end of my mission. I love how Elder Holland doesn't hold back. He speaks to the world as an apostle of God, and he doesn't sugar coat things.

He testifies, and the Holy Ghost confirms to me that what he's saying is true, as it does whenever the prophet and apostles of Jesus Christ speak. I think of the prophets of old, in the Bible, how grateful I am to them for writing down the words of God. I am grateful for the modern day revelation that goes on today and the knowledge I have that God spoke to his prophets of old and he speaks to his prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson.

After conference, I caught a plane ride back to Kansas City. When I arrived back to Kansas City, I picked up my beautiful Jeep Liberty and was waiting in line to get out of the lot, when one of my jams came on. Taylor Swift's "We're Never Ever Getting Back Together". So of course, I was dancing in my seat. When it was my turn, the guy asked me, "what are you rocking out to?" I responded joyfully, "taylor swift". He looked at me and said "really?" "haha. yes. really." I recommended he do it too next time he was in the car. He laughed and let me go on, and i laughed at how silly i am sometimes.

funniest thing Sage IMed to me on Tuesday 9 October:

just so you know...if there were any more than two people to be friends with here...I would totes ditch you.

jk :)
(..maybe) my response:

how could you ever resist being my friend?!?!?!?! 

NOLA

So life in Sedalia is pretty quiet. I wake up at 7. Leave for work at 7:50/7:55ish and get to work 5 minutes later. Work is nice because I really like the people I work with and my project is super interesting and keeping me busy. A busy Natasha is a happy Natasha. Fact. Also, I've started wearing red lipstick. Like Taylor Swift red. well, it's lip gloss, but still good.

Quick recap of last week: Lindsay and I went shopping at Lee's Summit last friday (9/15), where due to our lack of luggage, we used it as an excuse to buy new things. i invested in some new flats. YAY SHOES! Then we went to a bonfire at a YSA girl's house and played volleyball (where we weren't the worst players) and ate hot dogs roasted over a bonfire. Nice! Our luggage finally came in on Monday (9/17) so im very happy to have all my clothes with me. clothes. and my love-of-my-life-boots. LOVE THEM! I want to wear them all the time. My new exercise shoes came in the mail too. Still haven't used them...but now i have them should i decided to hit up the gym.

This past weekend (Sept 21-23) I was able to fly down to New Orleans. NOLA. The Cresent City. The Big Easy. The City That Care Forgot. Nawlins. Can I make a correction first off? It's not New Orleens, with the hard "e". It's pronounced New Orlans, with the soft "a". It's the south. Love it. Let's start with that Friday.

Friday (9/21) Lindsay and I met with Kim to go over some Kanban questions we had. Lindsay was on a roll as lunch time came around. I could tell Kim was getting a little hungrr, so I suggested that we pause the meeting for lunch. Lindsay responded that she wasn't hungry. lol. but we stopped anyways and Kim invited us to lunch. Lindsay and I bring out lunch, but Kim said to leave it so we could eat some BBQ. Can I just say, the place we went had very bland pulled pork. All the flavor was in the sauce. #depressing but super filling. I wasn't hungry the rest of the day.

taking pics with statues :)

So I left work early to drive the 2 hours to the airport. Note to self: Never live more than an hour away from an airport. Back to the story. When I got to the airport I realized that my NOOK battery was dead. Bah humbug! I just bought a book specifically for the flight. I plugged in my phone, connected in the internet and proceeded to download the NOOK app onto my phone. It took FOREVER. So I was able to get the book on my phone and read it on the way down to New Orleans. So the flight was nice, and I took the airport shuttle to the Marriott on Canal Street. Swanky. Thank you corporate America. (as an explination, my dad is in New Orleans on a business trip and i flew down for the weekend with his frequent flyer miles. win!) I got up to the room and guess what was waiting for me? My blanket, water filter, and winter coat! Best Dad EVER! We were chatting and at one point my dad said, "oh I got you an Apple." "An APPLE?" I responded, thinking of the iTouch Saryah got last week. Then I looked on the bed and saw he had 2 little red apples he got as a snack. Not the kind of apple to get that excited about. Haha.

I woke up from Dad moving around around 7am. Not the time I'm used to waking up at on a weekend, but he was teasing how i've been sleeping the day away, so I got up and found a place online for us to have breakfast, The Old Coffee Pot Resturant. it was adorable! And our waitress was so full of southern love. So happy. We wandered through the French Quarter and made our way to the St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square. We meandered along the Mississippi River (that's right, I just did the whole childhood-spelling-chant as I typed the word Mississippi) We did the cemetary tour of St. Louis Cemetary #1, and our tour guide was super cool. He even explained the different types of houses found in the French Quarter, along with what Romeo Spikes are. Cool. As the day was progressing the hotter it was getting. After the tour, we went to have one of the original muffalettas. There was a lunchtime line. I know I love telling people I'm half British, but I forget that people can actually tell my dad is foreign. He was talking to someone in line and they ask, "where are yall from?" Dad responded, "Texas!" and they guy says, "no really. where are you from" I heard that and thought, 'dude, he just told you he was from texas. why do you think he's lying? we're from texas!' My dad told him where he's originally from and then i realized, 'oh yeah! my dad has an accent! duh!' I just forget because i dont really hear it. We then went by the oldest building in New Orleans, the Ursuline Convent, before heading back to our hotel for a break. It was just getting too hot and I was DYING!

House in Musicians Corner with Katrina marking still

So Dad took a nap and i relaxed for a bit. We then made it out for dinner at...get this...Huck Finn's Cafe. Say what??? I know, right? But it was funny because we happened to go in right during a football game with tons of fans. Too funny. I got my crawfish etouffee that i'd been craving. (and i sneakily robbed him on his credit card to pay for the meal. hahaha) Then we walked around the French Quarter for the rest of the night. We got to hear the jazz along Frenchman Street and see the nighttime vendors along there. We also got to a park with lots of statues of jazz musicians. It was nice. It was past nightfall when we got back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night watching Ratatouee on ABC Family.  Seriously, coolest dad EVER.

Above Ground Cemeteries are all the rage 

So Sunday morning we got up bright and early to go to Cafe Du Monde for the beignets because Saryah would kill us if we didn't. (Saryah loves NOLA) We then headed back for our city tour. We saw everything. We saw the 9th Ward, where there is still Hurricane Katrina damage. The house that Brangelina own in the French Quarter. the cool LDS church on St. Charles Ave (that wasn't mentioned on the tour, but i totally saw it!) and the Musicians Street. It was a really good tour. Then we went to have our last meal together. I had my first taste of alligator! It was tasty. A little too spicy for Dad. We walked the streets a little longer, and saw the French Market, before I needed to get back to the hotel for the shuttle pickup.  It was funny because as we were walking back to the hotel, Dad said we should turn on the street after Royal. I said, "nah, that's Bourbon Street" and he said, "yeah, that's not really my kind of street". lol. mine either. we aren't really into the party scene :) Our goodbye...of course...was a silly one. Then I got onto the shuttle where we were stuck in standstill traffic for over half an hour due to the LA Saints game just getting out. But i still had plenty of time to get to the airport. There was a magical Blue Bell ice cream place in the airport, which i had never seen before. I slept on the plane ride home, arrived, picked up my beautiful Jeep Liberty, and drove the two hour ride back to Sedalia. The best part when when I was feeling tired and Katy Perry's 'Wide Awake'...the irony made me laugh.

It just made me think of a conversation I was having with Jay over Labor Day weekend. I just kinda paused and said, "it's kind of ridiculous how cool we all are." My family is AWESOME. I haven't had a vacation with my Dad since, I think junior high, when we did Spring Break back home in England. He is so funny. Good ole British humor. THE BEST DAD EVER! But then again, my parents are awesome. And vacationing with them is fun too. I may tag along on their possible trip next year back to visit family and friends in the UK because they are too cool for school. Who knows? #stalkeralert

Can I just say that I shop way to much at Wal-Mart? No seriously. It's ridiculous. but Wal-Mart has everything I need in one stop. On Monday (9/24), Lindsay and I spend 1.5 hours at Wal-Mart after work. It's where the rule, "if it has glitter, it's not manly" was created.

Also, I got my steel toed sneakers for work and they are soooo comfy. I wear them most of the day because it's easier than changing in and out of them whenever i want to go to the factory floor. and they keep my feet so warm because my side of the office feels like an ice box. literally. i have a jacket on all day just because it's so cold.

Futhermore. I love my NOOK. The only bad thing is...it's too easy to get new books. i buy a lot of books now. especially since there is no good library here. i am a fan of libraries. for rizzle....i miss the Tempe Public Library. That library had every book you could ever want! It was a bookworm's dream come true.

And I love that me and my little sister are in the States at the same time again (which hasn't happened since early January) so we can talk on the phone all the time :) She's the funniest person i know. for example click here. And once again....im considering joining Twitter. 

Prepping for Work

I just got back from New Zealand, and I've been getting ready for work this week.

Monday: Woke up after maybe 5 hours of sleep to see off Uncle John and Grandma. Due to the lack of sleep and stress of all the work paperwork I was doing, I was pretty crabby most of the day. Went shopping with James at West Oaks and The Galleria. He left me after about 2 hours. Best news: Express dress pants fit me like they were made for me. The funny part is: I have to wear the petites, so it makes me feel super dainty :)

Tuesday: Got to sleep 13 hours. Glorious. However, in the first 9 hours I was awake, I was shopping for about 7 of them. Spent the day at Katy Mills Mall. Had someone told me there was an Express there, I wouldn't have gone to West Oaks yesterday. Got a suit. Super classy. Shout out to Banana Republic because they are my work brand with Express. Other pants that fit me well. I just have to have mom hem the pants. They're too long. But it's okay. It is sooo hard to find pants that fit. True story. And I had a 50% of coupon for NY Company, but didn't find anything. Lame.

Wednesday: I was still shopping and making sure I had everything. I was soooo exhausted. I could barely move by the afternoon. We were going to go up to San Antonio, but it didn't work out because I still had so much to do and I was too tired to go to San Antonio. It was sad.

Thursday: more organizing. I'm doing a lot of donation boxes. It's kinda ridiculous how much crap I have. Even with all the boxes of stuff out of my room. It barely made a dent. I want to become a minimalist, but everything i have has a purpose. How can you choose?

Friday: It was Jamsie's birthday. We went to Coco's for brunch. It was soooo yummy. and it was nice to see my bro. Then I fell asleep on the way home, and continued to nap the entire day away. I was in intense denial about the whole moving thing. So instead, I went to Barnes and Noble to read a book. It was lovely. Then I locked myself inside the house because I was home alone for the night. Then when mom and dad did come home, mom was messing with the doorknob, so i thought someone was breaking in. I'm such a paranoid person!

Saturday: Woke up and went to CityCentre to have brunch with Nay. It was awesome!!! It's funny because we haven't seen each other in literally...years. But it was like no time had passed at all. It was awesome. I think it's because Nay is so chillax; she thinks its because we know so much about each other that it's hard to not get along. Lol. Then I went home and packed for hours. HOURS!!!! I showed mom and dad NZ pics and then went over to Hollister's and we painted toes and caught up. I went home to finish up some packing and the freak-out set in. Anxiety and Nerves. Bah humbug.

Hoy/Sunday: I barely slept last night. Woke up at 5:30. Sooo early. but mom took me to the airport. My freakout was still there but not so much. Got to Kansas City and met with Jon, one of my co-workers. we chatted the whole way to work and it was really nice. He's from Michigan and he's such a gentleman. It was cool cuz we had the same kind of questions, and we were both nervous. I'm glad that we just got along so i have a little friend. And he as a girlfriend and he just says the sweetest things about her. it was ADORABLE! Anyways, im sitting in my hotel.

First day of work tomorrow. Eep!!!