Nice Hotels and Dirty Kitchens

I made it to Canyon! Mom and I left at 7:00 yesterday morning and got to Amarillo (about 15 minutes from Canyon) at 9:30 last night. A long day's drive, but it was completely worth it.
As we were driving through Groom, Texas, my mom was frantically making phone calls trying to find a hotel for us to stay in for the night. We made reservations at a Holiday Inn Express. It was expensive, but pretty much worth it. We got two complementary bottles of water. Woot. That's what my mom gets for being a Priority Club Member. Ha. We had a nice stay. My legs hurt from driving, so my mom made me take a hot bath before going to bed. Then, when I finally hopped into bed, P.S. I Love You was on HBO, so I just had to watch the end of it. So, I finally got a good night's sleep when I laid down in bed around 12:15 in the morning.
My alarm scared me (and my mom) awake at 7:45. Mom got up, but it was just too much of an effort to get up with my alarm this morning, so I laid in bed for a while longer.
After checking out of the super-nice, really new hotel, we made our way to Canyon, which was really easy to find. Much bigger than I thought it would be. I thought it would be about the size of Monmouth. Boy, was I wrong. It's much bigger. I can only dream of Monmouth having a Wal-Mart.
We drove around the square about 3 times before finally parking right in front of what we didn't know was the TEXAS! office. I went in and met Ashlee (who, I found out, won't be my immediate supervisor....it will be some guy who I haven't met named Luke), and also filled out a bunch of paperwork. Ashlee gave me directions to the apartments, and we easily found those as well. Didn't really meet anyone special right away, but filled out a lot more paperwork. Once I started moving in, thinking nobody else was there (I knew that I would have two apartment-mates), the girl who I will be sharing a bathroom with appeared from her room. Her name is Tessa and she seems really nice, but she doesn't really talk much. And if you know me, I'm a talker. I love to talk. I've actually had people ask (more like tell) me to shut up before.
Anyway....I finished moving my stuff in, she left, mom and I went out to lunch, went to Wal-Mart, and I dropped her off at the airport. Once I got back to the apartment, I started organizing and cleaning. I began to put my stuff away in the kitchen and realized that there was no way I would be able to live like this. There was an entire shelf in the fridge that was covered in something sticky--I don't even want to know what that was--so I cleaned it up. The pantry was all discombobulated, so I organized and threw out a LOT of stuff. We currently have three tubs of butter, four jars of pickles, three jars of mayo, four jars of peanut butter, LOTS of chicken broth and chicken noodle soup, bags and bags of popcorn, and a whole shelf of cereal. A lot of stuff we don't really need, right? Right. But I don't know who all of this stuff belongs to, so I'm hesitant to throw it away. I also cleaned the cast iron skillet because it was dirty and just sitting on the counter. I think someone tried to clean it with water....BIG oops on their part.
I'm going to tackle the bathroom next. No before and after pictures are required for this one...it's not nearly as bad as the kitchen was. And I think I'm going to wait until tomorrow to clean it.... Or maybe I'll clean it before I shower.
I don't know when Tessa's coming back, but my other apartment-mate, Sara (or is it Sarah?)--who I met when she came home for a spot of dinner around 5:30--should be back around 11:00. Hopefully. She said that hopefully they would be done with rehearsal at 10:30 tonight--they were going to be in the canyon for it tonight. I don't have to be there until Thursday to watch the dress rehearsal. Then next week, I will have a training session early on in the week and work for two days for dress rehearsals, then we open on Friday!
Well, I'm thinking that shower sounds pretty nice. Maybe I'll get motivated to clean the bathtub before I get in it....I don't even know how often it's been cleaned. Know what I mean?

Oh, one last thing....
My address for the summer!

47 Valley View Road Apartment #121
Canyon, Texas 79015

That's all for the moment!
Time for dinner and a shower!

Blessings!
~Jen

"Moving Day"

Well, everyone....
My sister's graduation is over, and now I really have to focus on getting some other things done! My car is all packed up and ready to roll tomorrow morning. I have a sack lunch ready to grab out of the fridge before I leave, and the family's new atlas has been freshly highlighted.
One could even say, "Jen's ready to go." But am I?
I don't know anything about this place I'm going to. Other than that it's in the Palo Duro Canyon in the middle of the desert of the Texas panhandle. I've only briefly talked to folks on the phone about the job and my apartment. Hopefully when I get there on Tuesday, there will be someone in the apartment office to let me know everything about where I will be staying. Someone called me on Friday asking me what my apartment number was and a few other questions, but I didn't really know how to answer them because I haven't heard anything from the Collegiate Station Apartments. I suppose I'll find out when I get there.
So...I suppose tomorrow is the big day. I'm planning to be up and out on the road by 7:00 a.m. Hopefully I will make it all the way to Texas! The drive is going to be about thirteen and a half hours, so I will be there by sometime on Tuesday if not late tomorrow night.
I will definitely keep everyone updated on how things are going and everything like that once I get settled and start working.
I had better get some sleep, y'all. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow!
Wish me luck!
~Jen

TEXAS! Musical Drama

Hello all! And welcome to my new blog, TEXAS Tales. This blog will basically be an outlet for me to tell you all about my internship with TEXAS! Musical Drama for the summer. While I'm still in Illinois at the moment (and I will be through the 24th), I wanted to give everyone a heads-up on what's going on here.

I have been hired to work for TEXAS! Musical Drama's hospitality team. Which means I will be working mostly in sales--gift shop, concessions, box office. But I will also hopefully be doing things like directing parking lot traffic and giving tours of the theatre (The Pioneer Amphitheatre, that is, in Canyon, Texas).

Right now I've been getting some paperwork done and turning things in to my employers/supervisors. So far, I've just been keeping myself busy with packing and cleaning the house here in Illinois (there's so much to do before family comes for my sister's graduation--which is why I'm not leaving for Texas until the 25th).
I will keep y'all updated on what's going on, but don't be expecting another post from me until sometime next week when I'm finally in Canyon and getting settled.

Have a beautiful week, and I'll be in touch soon!
~Jen

Oh, by the way, something exciting I found out yesterday....I get my picture and biography in the souvenir program! Woot!