I swear I did not plan this.

I can't get away from working at the mall.

When I was in high school, I had the high-schooler-job in the Food Court, at Charley's Grilled Subs. It was your typical fast-food job - hot, boring, greasy, and a REALLY good motivator for college, so I didn't have to do this for the rest of my life. Which was the whole point, from my parents' point of view.

When I was a sophomore in college, I worked for Worldwide Book Drive, and we had a kiosk in the mall for a month. I got to recommend books and talk to people all day (YAY!) but I had to be one of those annoying kiosk people who accost you when you are just trying to walk from one store to another. My love for books made me really enjoy half of that job, but I really hated bugging people ALL THE TIME.

After that, I applied for a summer job with Knighton Vision, and I became an optician (My boss, when she interviewed me, thought I was going to be black, with a name like Alyshondra. She was really surprised to see a white girl from Happy Valley Utah). It was, once again, in the mall, but it was a lot more than your typical retail job. I still got to work with people a lot - helping them pick the right frames, adjusting tweaked glasses, and generally doing the customer service thing - but there was a whole technical side as well that helped keep me interested. I fell in love with the balance of it, got my national certification, and have been working there for the past four years. It's now Insight Eye Care, and two of Jon's sisters and my cousin all work there, too (I'm good for employees, apparently).

Now. I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

I stopped working there about two weeks ago (because I need to get ready for the baby, dang it!). Jon's poor sister got her wisdom teeth out on Friday, and I offered to cover her shift. Look what I found when I walked into the mall!

It's a new store called the Candy Barrel, two stores down from Insight, and it was their FIRST DAY open! And look at the candy they had!

They even gave you your candy in a little brown bag. I felt like I was about 7 again, and Mom said I could have a dollar to buy whatever I wanted. It was usually at the pool, or at our family reunion in Washington, so the little brown bag inevitably got damp, and the wrappers got all sticky. It was perfect.

(Not these)

Except that this time I got to spend whatever I wanted. Muah ha ha! I tried not to go too overboard, but this is my stash: Neapolitans (I LOVE me some coconut), Giant Lemonheads, Fruity Tootise Rolls, Fizzy Zotz, a Carmel-Apple Sucker, and of course, Sixlets.

It is officially summer.

Also, it's probably a good thing I'm not working at the mall anymore.