Saturday is a Special Day...

It's the day you get ready for Sunday. So I was on my way to HOBBY LOBBY- which can be a dangerous place for a recovering shopaholic like me- to look for Primary and Nursery Singing Time props when I made an amazing discovery---IHOP. Just opened. CLOSE TO MY HOUSE. Certainly the food gods had something to do with this. It's so new I'm sure the booth cushions are still firm and the whole place doesn't smell like bacon and syrup yet. I can picture me and Jake pushing past hoards of senior citizens to enjoy a yummy Saturday brunch real soon...well, not too soon.

So there's good news and bad news. The GOOD news: Jake and I are going to visit Bekah and Jed in.....HAWAII!

A-LOOOO-HA!

The bad news? Since Jake and I have been married I have gained almost...20 POUNDS!!! Aaaaaaa! Not a big deal with clothes securely ON, but in a SWIMMING SUIT? Clearly a different story. I want to be a skinny minny in Hawaii. I want to frolick around on the beach without feeling altogether over exposed. I don't want to be thinking the whole time, "Is my booty hanging out?" or "Is this cellulite friendly lighting?" So, for the time being, IHOP, you will have to wait. But, if I were to make a top ten list of my fave restaurants you would surely make the cut.

And by the way, I did very well at HOBBY LOBBY and practiced a lot of shopping restraint. I bought two lonely little things: yellow curling ribbon for "Primary Colors" wands and a foam heart that I will paint and let the nursery kiddos pass as we sing "Jesus Said Love Everyone." Okay-and a bag of M&Ms- but the small bag...

I did envy the cashier when the thought came to mind that she probably gets some kind of employee's discount. Luck-y-duck. All the stuff I would buy. Probably Jake's worst nightmare. What I would give sometimes for a job like that: a summer job. Summer jobs, you know, like the kind kids work during summer vacation in high school. Of course, you can hold a summer job at any time of the year, really. It's work you can leave at work when it's time to clock out. No responsibilities, a little bit of pain (yes, you have to actually get up in the morning, put real clothes on, run a comb through your hair, and leave the house), and a ho-lotta employee discounts and freedom! Always wanted that kind of job in high school during summer vacation: serving up frozen yogurt at Nielson's, or racking trendy clothes at American Eagle in the mall, or doing anything at any place that had cute uniforms...

I had a summer job once---at D.I.

Did I STUTTER?

You heard me right. Deseret Industries. Full time. An entire summer. Me and my girlfriends, Jen and Cori, affectionately refer to that summer as The Summer of Darkness for obvious reasons.

Hey, maybe I can waitress at the new IHOP?