Celebrity sighting...

Guess who shops at American Eagle in Orem, UT.....

Heather Locklear!
And guess who rang up her purchase....ME!!!
She spend lots of money at our store - so now when people walk out of the store having bought nothing, I want to say to them: if Heather Locklear can spend over $600 in our store, why can't YOU find anything??
Here are some things she bought...





We were pretty sure it was Heather - the black, bob-cut wig couldn't fool us. Plus I checked her credit card when I rang up her items.
My question is: what's she doing in Orem, Utah????

Things don't have to be PERFECT

Sunday was just one of those days I wish I had never gotten out of bed. Which is strange because I had actually been looking forward to this day. I was going to play the piano in sacrament meeting (which I enjoy doing), play the piano for ward choir (which I had never done before), and was having a dessert night at my place with mission friends. This was going to be a great day...
It all started that morning when I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me throughout the day. Like, to help me play well in sacrament meeting and for choir. Also, that the desserts would turn out just right.
Have you ever prayed for something like patience or charity? And then you feel like right away you are placed in situations where your patience is tried or you have to deal with a difficult person? You feel like instead of being blessed with patience, your patience is being tried. Or you prayed for charity and then you feel like you have to deal with all the stupid people.
I had prayed that I would play well in sacrament meeting. I've been playing hymns for years and I don't have a problem playing in front of people. Well, you wouldn't have known that I had ever played any of those hymns before. I kept messing up! I couldn't figure out what my problem was! I knew that if I played so bad in sacrament meeting that choir wasn't going to be any better. I was right. It was worse.
I had also prayed that the desserts would turn out right...it was like all my baking skills had been thrown out the window! Nothing turned out right!

I attempted to bake what my cookbook calls: Tarte Tatin. I called my version: Apple Soup because it did not turn out at all like the picture in the book.
Since that failed I decided to make apple crisp as a backup. I didn't have all the ingredients so I made a few adjustments...

That most definitely did not turn out right.
SO in an attempt to fix both baking disasters I decided to bake blueberry turnovers. I didn't have enough dough so I improvised...

Another disaster.
After a while I started thinking to myself...it would be OK if everyone forgot that it was today and didn't show up...
7pm rolls around and no one is there.
7:30 - people finally start showing up. Then David walks in with ice cream (he was on VANILLA ice cream duty). "Hey so I didn't have vanilla ice cream but I have this: (shows me a carton of cookie dough ice cream). I hope that's okay." I then told him about all the disasters of the day. He laughed and said "oh, well then this is perfect then isn't it?"
It ended up being alright. The world didn't end because my desserts didn't turn out right or because we didn't have vanilla ice cream. No one came up to me after church to tell me that my piano playing sucked and no one left choir because I couldn't play the song.

Sometimes I forget that things don't have to be "perfect".

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day - so naturally I spent most of the day thinking of my two best friends: Mom and Gramma.

Gramma is the youngest in her family with 3 older brothers. Her daughter (my mom), is the oldest with 3 younger brothers. I am the oldest with 3 younger brothers. The three of us know what it's like to be the only girl - this has created a special bond between us.
Words cannot adequately express how much I love my mom and my gramma. They are my bestest friends in the whole wide world. They have never left my side and have helped me through every hard and difficult thing I've experienced in my life. They are the ones I want to call whenever something goes wrong or when something exciting happens. Being with them is one of the things I miss most about being home. Their hugs are my favorite.
So for Mother's Day I've been making a list of memories I have or things I have learned from Mom and Gramma:
- "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."(Prov. 3:5-6)
- people are stupid but God still loves them
- the A&E, 6 hour verson of Pride and Prejudice is the greatest movie of all time
- Cheesecake Factory for birthdays
- shopping: Nordstrom, The Rack, Marshalls, TJMaxx
- quilts, sewing
- the Temple
- What Not to Wear
- "You're my favorite." (although lately it's been turning into "you're my first favorite"...little cousins, we're going to have to talk about this later)
- vacationing in Hawaii

- "You can do hard things my dear Rachel who I love so much."
- hugs
- yard work, plants, rocks
- popcorn cake at Christmas time
- chocolate
- patience
- mentos are vital to surviving sacrament meeting
- "Practically perfect in every way."
- LOVE

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM AND GRAMMA
I love you...
yours eternally,
your (only) favorite little Miss Muffett,
Rachel

Plant Killer

Mom came to visit last weekend and to express her gratitude for letting her stay at our apartment, she bought us flowers. Not like a bouquet of flowers, but an actual flower plant. I don't do well with plants. Children and pets I can keep alive but I can't seem to handle plants. Strange I know, because all you have to do with plants is water them or something along those lines. But I always seem to water them too often or too much at one time. So I had to ask my mom for specific instructions: how often do I water the plant? She said: whenever it starts to feel dry. Ok, I can handle that. I should have known that I would do something stupid...
Don't judge me people.
I paid attention in science when we learned that plants need water AND sunlight to grow. So on Sunday when the sun was shinning into our apartment, I placed our flower plant right in the sun so it could grow...

But it didn't grow - it died! I'm a plant killer!!

My roommate informed me though, that you aren't suppose to put plants in direct sunlight. What the heck?! That goes against everything I learned in science! However, I decided to take her advice and I put in the plant in the kitchen where it wouldn't get so much sunlight. I watered it (not too much) and let it sit in the kitchen...and then I waited....

and look! It lives!!! I can bring plants back to life!
(well...we'll see how long it lasts...)

I lost my heart to a German...

I lost my heart to a German at work today. He's beautiful - tall, dark, and very handsome. When he spoke to me in German, my heart just melted! He had gone to highschool here in Utah and was just in town visiting some friends. Once I found out he was from Germany I had to speak German to him! So I helped him find some clothes for himself (and for his girlfriend - such a bummer). Before he left he said that he was coming back to Utah sometime in June or July :D I told him that he should stop by the store to say hi again. He said he would and when he left he said "wir sehen uns" (which translates to "we'll see us"). I had to book it home after work to tell my roommate (and former mission companion) Angela how I had lost my heart to this German boy who shopped at my store. It totally made my day!

(Tyler, Kaitlin, Ryan, Sister and Brother Niederhauser, Me, Alec, Angela, Quinton, David)


To make this day even better I saw a bunch of people from my mission tonight at a wedding reception! It was so great to see everyone again. It's like seeing family. Hopefully we'll all be able to hang out more now that it's summer!


(Kaitlin, Me, Angela)

Yummies Custard, the tip, and the week of black

On my way back to my store towards the end of my lunch break I walked pass Yummies Frozen Custard. The nice, smiley, old man who works there leaned out from the counter and said, "would you like a sample?" "No thanks!" I sweetly replied. And then his smile changed and he glared at me. I was totally surprised! I'm sorry I'm lactose intolerant but I don't want your custard sample old man!

After my lunch break this couple walked in and came over to me holding a piece of paper. The man said that this was a list of stuff they wanted and wondered if I could help them find it all. The list had like 10 items on it and all that was written was the style number and color. So I looked up each item in the computer to find out what it actually was and then helped them find what they wanted. They were so nice and kept saying that they should send me flowers or something for helping them out. Well, it's kind of my job to help them. Plus, I like helping people find clothes! I wish every customer came in with a list of stuff they wanted and I could just run around the store all day finding it all. Anyway as I rang up their purchase the man tried to give me a tip. I'm not gonna lie, I SO wish I could have taken it. But it's totally not allowed. Bummer.

The week of black started on Monday. We found out that it was my district manager's last day because he was quiting. He had been our district manager for about 8 years and so everyone in the district was really upset about it. The phone was ringing off the hook, everyone calling everyone talking about how our DM had quit and why, etc. We decided to wear black the next day as a symbol of our mourning the loss of our DM. Well today as I was coming into work my store manager got a call from her family saying that they were pretty sure her father was dying. So we told her to leave and be with her father and that we'd take care of the store. Sure enough, a couple hours later she called saying that her father had passed away. Looks like we're wearing black again tomorrow...

Being productive...

I can't believe I'm doing this. Starting a blog...
My roommate Angela says "well everyone else is doing it"
True, I did get the idea from reading Keri's blog. But Keri is hilarious. I'm kind of worried that my blog will be lame or boring - which is why I've delayed starting one.
Why am I starting one now?? Because I don't have to be back to work for 2 more hours and I know I shouldn't just sit here on the couch watching my show. I should be productive. So instead of wasting my time sitting on the couch watching TV, I'm sitting on the couch starting a blog.

I should probably introduce myself....
I'm Rach.
I live my life at American Eagle. (no joke, I opened the store this morning and I'm going back to help close...obsessed? Well, I just like to think that I'm a loyal and dedicated employee)
I have the best family in the world - a dad and a mom, 3 younger brothers, and a dog
I spent 18 months of my life serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Frankfurt, Germany Mission - learned to speak the hardest (but also the most wonderful) language ever - lived in the most beautiful cities (at one point I lived 10 minutes down the hill from a castle) - and met the most amazing people (some of whom have become my best friends) [for my adventures in Germany go to: www.missionaryracheldoty.blogspot.com]
I miss everything about Germany - so much that pretty much all the music on my ipod is in German, I only read my scriptures in German, and I live with sisters from my mission.

This is me living my life - WELCOME!