For Chris...

Here is the press you got me for Christmas ;). I tested it this morning and it was wounderful!

I almost forgot one!

I can't believe I almost forgot this picture where Emily is doing the "blue steele" (I really hope that's what its called, I haven't seen Zoolander in quite some time). I also forgot to mention in the last post how thankful I am for digital cameras. Can you imagine the developing fees my family would be facing right about now. But wait...aren't we supposed to delete some too? (The pictures you see on my blog, my sister's, and my mom's are about 1/4 of what was taken!)

Back to Raleigh

I made it back to Raleigh virtually problem free, which doesn't exactly happen to me very often. Both flights were on time and I may have even been at the gate just a couple of minutes early. All very exciting until I had to wait for my bags for 30 min!

The trip was a sucess! the only downfall was that it was way too short. It was awesome to have our own family together and even around hanging out for the 5 days I was there. We made cookies, watched movies, played with Emily, attended and held family gatherings, ate many things, watched old...scary...funny...family videos and even brought out the albums when the videos were done!

Tomorrow I am back at work around 230pm unless I get in eariler to do some reading/shift lead training. I still haven't decided if I will go in seeing as I already have 30 hours over this weekend, which includes closing saturday night (getting off at 1145pm or so) and opening Sunday morning (545am...thank goodness we open later on Sundays). Sunday will be very interesting seeing as I have never actually opened at Starbucks.

The Emily Show :)

Poor Emmy looks just sad...her attention = Stolen


And she's done.
She recognizes her favorite when she sees her!

Jullota 2006

Going Going Back Back To Cali Cali!

Just one 9.5 hour shift left to go and I'm packin my bags! Ok ok they are pretty much packed already. I wanted to pack like last week but managed to hold off until last night. I do my best thinking late at night....so I packed into the wee hours of the morning. So tomorrow morning at 730am I am off to LA until the 28th. Have a great Christmas everyone!

New haircut!

That's me!

She said Yes

Recently my roommate came across this book and knew I would like it and so it ended up on my nightstand for about a month before I finally picked it up this week and read it. "She said Yes" is the story of Cassie Bernall, the girl who when asked if she was a Christian during the Columbine High School shootings....said yes, and paid with her life. I know I am about 7 years behind in reading this but I am glad I did. All I knew about the girl was that she said yes and was murdered a second later. I didn't know that in the years leading up to this she had given her soul to Satan and battled daily with parents who were not only scared for her life but afraid for their own. I didn't realize she was headed down the very path that her killers were on just a few years before her death.
The book is just another reminder of Gods power to save those who we think can't be saved and it shows His protection and guidance in her life even when it appeared He was gone. In one of her letters to a friend that was found after her death she said this,
"I am just so thankful to God for everything He's done for me, as well as for others. Even when things are bad, He's stood next to me and things are a little less prone to becoming blown out of proportion by my emotions...you know, I wonder what God is going to do with my life. Like my purpose. Some people become missionaries and things, but what about me? What does God have in store for me? where do my talents ad gifts lie? For now, I'll just take it day by day. I'm confident that I'll know someday. Maybe I'll look back at my life and think "Oh, so that was it!" Isn't it amazing, this plan we're a part of?..." June 28, 1998. (Yeah wow!) This note is even crazier when you read back a few chapters and see the letters her parents found when she was in junior high that talked about her and her friend killing her parents. Anyway it was a cool book to read and a good reminder to not take a day for granted.

"It is easy to die for Christ. It is hard to live for him. Dying takes only an hour or two, but to live for Christ means to die daily. Only during the few years of this life are we given the privilege of serving each other and Christ...We shall have heaven forever, but only a short time for service here, and therefore we must not waste the opportunity." Sadhu Sundar Singh

The South Ain't Perfect-Raleighwood's reply!

Well...even after venting in my blog and to a few friends I was still a little upset about what had happened at the movie so I decided to find a website. I found one for the theatre and it had a "corporate" email address so I thought I would try emailing. I started with saying that I am sure my email would mean nothing since I am probably emailing the manager right now who was probably the man who I had the confrontation with. My email turned into a rather large apology because for one, I have been in the man's shoes. I explained how silly I was for forgetting about the soda and bringing it in and how thoughtless I had been to put my feet on the chairs. I apologized for disrespecting the building but also did make sure to say I thought the situation was handled wrong. Humbleness sucks sometimes. Here was his response:

Thank You For Your You E mail... The Man was not the Manager 'The Man' It was Me the owner of the business....
So you walked past two signs which said " No outside Food or Beverages Allowed in the Theater' You thought you would be welcome in our restaurant with your drinks from someplace else??? Did you think Raleighwood was a State Campground.. Hey, Phony why did you try to hide your 'Outside Food and Beverage" under your seat ???? Go to Moe's and watch their movies!!
Should we have put up a sign that said " Please don't put your feet on our chairs'. Please, I have raised four daughters and now am blessed with four grandchildren. It's really embarrassing to explain common courtesy and manners. Do us a favor and don't come back.


Hey here's the deal...you should go to the Blue Ridge.

So wow...the south does breed mean people too I guess. It took everything I had not to email fighting back but in the end I knew it wouldn't matter. Cause someone who responds to a forgotten soda like that must have a lot more going on and apparently must have some deep rooted anger or pain to respond in such a way. I am not sure why it really matters to me so much but his email really did hurt my feelings. I emailed him once again (holding back what I really wanted to say) and let him know I was truly sorry for disrespecting his business and I should have known better. I also rather tastefully explained that I wasn't raised in a home where putting my feet up was wrong but should have paid more attention to my environment. I don't think I have ever apologized so much for such a seemingly silly thing. I really hope he doesn't feel like this every time something like this happens...what a life. Anyway, I kinda hope he doesn't respond again but in case he does I am preparing myself for much more sarcasm and hurtful words. Just gotta remember he doesn't know me and the poor man must really hate his job!

Ok I have to let the sarcasm out at some point. Here are some of my actual thoughts...things I would have loved to say:
Did he really think I would go back? he he he. Like it was some sort of memorable experience. A warm fun environment to bring my friends and family. If you read my first email you would probably wonder too why he was being so defensive. Like why he thought I was complaining about bringing my soda in and him taking it away. You know those pesky 24 year olds sneaking in the half empty sodas. My fault I totally got a rush out of it. I am soooooo cool! hiding it under my chair cause there was no where else to put it. HA HA HA. Its funny cause he just did not read into my first email. I apologized for bringing in the dang soda! Oh wait...I'm phony! ha ha ha I love that. Or wait...he's right I thought it was a campground....even brought my sleeping bag and hot dogs. Dang it! tricky theatre. Thought I was gonna be camping and then all of a sudden surprise! its a movie! I wish Moe's did have movies! It must be a good feeling to raise 4 perfect daughters. Wow. I bet they never did anything wrong or made any mistakes. AMAZING. Gosh I wish I could be perfect just like him. He taught them amazing manners. I wonder if he also taught them the lets through the chair into the wall move. That was slick. I hope he taught them this way of tactfully handling customers who make mistakes.

Raleighwood

So spur of the moment Alisa and I decided to go see the movie, "Little Miss Sunshine" after working out. Well first let me tell you that Raleighwood isn't just any theatre. No sir. Its a cinema grill! that's right its a full service sit down restaurant where you sit in luxurious computer desk chairs at tables and are able to order food and drink from a server. Thank goodness for the non-smoking policy, which stated, "All shows before 9:00 are smoke-free.Smoking will be allowed in designated areas for shows after 9 pm."

Since it somehow can be spendy to eat and watch the movie we ate before we went. So when we went to purchase our tickets get this......we were carded!!!!!!!! So of course we had to both run back to the car to get our Id's, which Alisa didn't have since I had driven. I think the girl realized how silly her request was when she saw that I was 24 and let us in. (I don't even think I was carded when I was under whatever age is illegal to see R movies!). So without thinking I walked in with my soda from Moe's and we quickly sat down. We weren't exactly at a table and there were more chairs in front of us so we immediately put our feet on those chairs. A few minutes later a man came from behind and said "you can't have drinks from outside in here" and I immediately apologized realizing how silly it was for me to bring it in. As grabbed it he quickly snatched it out of my hands and in a very rude tone said "and while your at it you can take your feet down. As I lifted my feet he ripped the chair from under my feet and spun it around to face forward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were both in such shock that neither of us said another word for a few minutes.

The only thing I think I am really upset about is the fact that the man who rudely ripped the chair from under my feet was probably the manager and there is not a thing that can be done about his behavior. Were guessing he thought we were punk teens there to cause trouble (although obviously they card there and since apparently it was rated R no such kids would be in there). I suppose next time I will stick with Regal Cinemas. (Oh and in case you didn't catch sarcasm...this was a crappy theatre and I think we were doing the chairs a favor by putting our feet on them!)

So a big thank you to the manager of Raleighwood who really put me in a great mood to enjoy the rest of the film. Gosh almost felt like I had left the south my beloved Bible belt.

Freak Weather

I've decided that I am not a fan of what the climate here does to me. The weather here has been really random ever since I got here. Last week it was freezing. Monday and Tuesday were in the 70s. Today it was raining when I got up. So why do I hate this randomness? well because every time we go through the drastic changes I wake up with a terrible headache and sinus issues. Ugg. Thank goodness for Excedrin and Tylenol Sinus.

11 Days until I go home!

My Top 2 Starbucks Drinks That People Order:

The Carmel Mach-e-atta (should be pronounced Mock-E-otto)
The Grande (pronouncing it like The Grand Canyon and not the Spanish word for large) Le-tea(instead of Latte)

Surprisingly enough these are ordered quite often. When I get these ones I try and not correct them because most of them are new to Starbucks and I don't want them to feel embarrassed...the problem arises when the barista then yells out the drink when they make it! oops.

Starbucks!

One of our shift leads put in his 3 week notice yesterday so today I had an "interview" with our distract manager. She asked me a few questions but mostly we just chatted and told funny stories from past jobs. Then she offered me the job! So starting Monday I will be training to be a shift lead, which means a $2.00 an hour raise....or something like that.

Here you go mom........

My sister made me this quilt.

Better pictures to come

We had a birthday party at our apartment on Friday night for Julie with her staff team from NC State. There were around 20 people that came over for cake, brownies, random starbucks goodies that came home from work, and games.

Julie and Mikel who also works with the athletes at NC State. They are the chaplin's for the women's basketball team together.
Gail, Megan, and Mikel
Our tree.

It was about this time that the battery in my camera died so I am waiting for some other pictures to be emailed to me. Not really any others from the party but I will have some from the weekend.