Average? I don't think so.

Earlier this summer, a friend of mine introduced me to a new website that has now become one of my favorite pick-me-ups. Just when I was getting tired of fmylife.com and all the negativity it brought into the world, a little bit of sunshine was let in by . Don't let the title mislead you, the stories on this website are anything but average.

Several times a day, the site is updated with short blurbs that consistently make me laugh. Check it out if you're in the mood for a good chuckle (and honestly, are you ever NOT in the mood for that?).

A couple of my favorites from today are:
"Today I had a day off. I went to IKEA dressed as a lion and hid in a cupboard, welcoming people to Narnia every time they opened the doors. Best day off ever. MLIA."

"Today, I took a test in science class. One of the questions was "What is arguably the most dangerous element?" I said the element of surprise. I got extra credit. MLIA."

I tried to come up with a clever one for myself but it turns out my life actually is average and not absolutely hilarious.

It's been one year since I fell...

into the Gap. At work today, my manager walked up to me and handed me a white envelope that proclaimed "Happy Anniversary." It's been one year since I started working at Gap and what a year it has been. Over the past year, I have folded shirts, hung pants and tried to get people to sign up for a Gap Card for more than 1,000 hours...and now I have a commemorative pin and quit a bit of Gap knowledge to show for it. Here's a few things I've learned in the past year:

1. The slogan is no longer "Fall into the Gap." As catchy as it is, nobody says it or uses it anymore. In fact, I've noticed that my coworkers might even cringe a little when someone says it.

2. Cashwrap is Gap lingo for the cash register. When I worked at The Fresh Market in high school, we just called it a register but Gap's got its own thing going on.

3. More Gap vocabulary: the A on women's jeans is short for Ankle, not Average. Ankle is the shortest length pants come in for women. A frequent occurrence in the fitting rooms involves women busting out of their room and asking why the jeans they have tried on are so short when the label clearly says "A."

4. How to do a bra fitting. When I started working at the Gap, I was placed in the Body section of the store and as part of my training I learned how to fit women for their appropriate size. At first I thought this aspect of the job was incredibly awkward but you get used to it after a while. It's only awkward when women think they have to get completely topless for you to fit them when that is definitely NOT the case.

5. Oprah's favorite jean is the Long and Lean. A few times women have come into the store asking for Oprah's jeans and I had no idea what they were talking about until recently.

Resolutions.

Every August since I began college, I have made resolutions. It's the same general idea as a New Year's resolution but it takes place in one of the hottest months of the year. The reason for it comes from the fact that January doesn't seem new to me. However, August brings all kinds of changes- it's the beginning of a new school year, which always stirs up everything.

Last year, I probably made several August resolutions but only one stuck around for good. I resolved not to buy bottled water and since last August, with the exception of one incident, I have been going strong with my Nalgenes.

This year, I hope a few more resolutions become a habit. Here's a list of my latest ones:

1. Keep a blog- For years, I have been promising myself that I should write in my journal everyday and for years I have written in it approximately three times before forgetting about it all together until the next August rolls around. I feel like a blog is just what I need to keep up with writing whatever I'm thinking/wondering/feeling without having it feel like homework. I am aiming to post at least twice a week.

2. Make eye contact more often- As fun as staring at the ground is, I find myself doing it way too often, especially when I'm in conversation. And you know what they say, the eyes are windows to the soul.

3. Do every bit of assigned reading for my classes- This one is pretty obvious since I am an English major. Nearly every class I’ve ever taken, I’ve wondered if my professors would make more sense if I done the reading for that day. I guess this is my year to finally figure that out.

4. Get organized- My roommate/best friend is one of the most organized people I have ever known in my whole life and she makes me want to get things in order as well. On the downside, while I was writing this blog, I lost my note card filled with August resolutions somewhere in the stack of papers and magazines that are lying on my desk. There’s nowhere to go but up for this resolution.

5. Break my caffeine habit- This one comes up every year because I obviously haven’t been able to break the habit yet. I feel like 2009-2010 is the year for this one to be taken off the list though…goodbye deliciously refreshing Coke!

Maybe making new resolutions in August isn’t the most practical thing but it’s good to spice things up every now and then, don’t you think?