Roaring 20's

Last night I went to a "Roaring 20's" themed birthday party and it was the cat's meow and how!

There was the customary gourmet layout of food, an open bar "non-alcoholic" of course, not only do none of us drink, but the party was set during the Prohibition Era. Globe laterns festooned the back patio and croquet was set out on the lawn. Everything at the party looked on the level but the best, aboslute best part of the party was the "speakeasy" set-up in the garage. To enter you had to give a special knock and password. Upon entrance you were given chips with which you could bet on a high-stakes game of bingo, turtle races or guinea pig races. For the record, my guinea pig and turtle kicked serious behind but I won only 1 out of 8 games of bingo...not such good odds, but it was fun.

Since a flapper outfit was required, I spent most of Friday evening browsing Goodwill and about 5 other stores before settling on an outfit. End result...I was a doll dressed up in glad rags for the night.

Overall, it was quite copacetic

If there were any sayings that you didn't quite get, I cheated and used this 1920's slang website here

What I Learned at Work Today

 Always keep a phone in your pocket

 Be friendly with your neighbors, you never know when they’ll come in handy

 When something goes horribly wrong, try to have a good attitude…it makes the situation better

 If you find yourself with time on your hands, find ways to be productive. Some examples include pulling apart leaves, splitting seed pods, or counting the number of passing drivers who are texting.

 If someone gives you a funny look, don’t explain unless they specifically ask. It’s more fun keeping them wondering.

 Be careful who you owe favors to. Even if your creepy neighbors helps you out, butt smacks are never appropriate.

And most importantly

 Never, ever, ever under any circumstances lock your keys and phone in your car with the engine running.

Quick Update

I currently live with two roommates, Sandy and Mari.


Aren't we adorable? Okay, so I realized we had no pictures of the three of us together, grabbed a camera and gave them not choice.

We have a pretty good time and even spent last weekend decorating the house (because I'm a lazy decorater) but more on that later.

I'm still loving life in east Mesa and have been keeping busy and out of trouble...for the most part.

And now some pictures of what completely overwhelmed my life for two months...and I do mean life and not just working hours.

THE dreaded GREENBUILD CONFERENCE
My company bid and won the opportunity to provide plants to the various vendors coming to a tradeshow hosted by the Greenbuild Convention in Phoenix (if you want to know more about what that is go here)
Most Ambius branches employ 20-30 people and a convention this size would be taxing to pull off, but manageable. There are three of us in Phoenix and two have very demanding service schedules, leaving a majority of the planning, preping, and stressing to me.

Well, it took every spare moment I had, many late nights, working weekends, helpers coming in from San Diego (our parent branch) and Florida but it all came together and looking pretty darn good.

Here are some pics of the infamous week:



See that smile? I'm smiling because it's 8:30 at night and I've been working since 6...but the end is in sight. Only another hour and a half and I'd be tucked in bed, recuperating and getting barely enough sleep to do it all over again the next day.



My fearless branch manager driving one of our rented trucks.



This is only about half the plants we used. It isn't even our warehouse, the neighboring business graciously let us takeover his space for the week.



And one of the many exhibits we put together.

This was one of those "growing experiences" that I look back and wonder how we were able to pull it off but am strangely grateful for the opportunity.

Unapologetic

Right, I know...by now everyone has given up even checking this blog because let's face it, I have been very, very bad.

Well, I think I may be over it.

You see, a while back several people in a very short time span told me I have no life (hence nothing to blog about) because I have no family of my own. I'm sure my brother, sisters, parents and rather large extended family will be shocked to know I am of no relation, but that's another topic for another day.

So, I let their comments get the best of me and found various excuses as to why I had nothing to write about.

And then it dawned on me, life is only as exciting as you make it and I have blog worthy things happen quite often. And true, My life may not be exactly what I imagined but I do have a life, a pretty good life if I do say so myself.

So here I am, returning to the blogosphere. No, I will not be posting every day and yes, I probably will go through another dry spell. But for now I'm excited about sharing my experiences and my frequent vents.

Here's to the new year and new lease on blogging!

It's In a Safe Place, a Super Safe Place

You know when you put something away, intentionally thinking "there's no way I'll forget that I put this item right here."
Well, it never works out so well for me. Take for instance right now. I've been invited to a going away party tonight and am excited about bringing some homemade caramel corn. Only problem is, I have no idea where my popping corn is. The saddest part is I had a really hard time finding it last time I made this recipe and remember thinking, I need to put this in an spot I'll have an easier time remembering. IT DIDN'T WORK.
So, now I'm going to tear my kitchen and pantry apart. Good Times!

Hiatus

As you can see, after a three month hiatus I've finally dedicated some time to updating my blog. And yes Alicia, I will be post- dating entries to make it look like I've been good about keeping up with things even though I've been horribly negligent.

Here are links to the most recent posts:

Colorado Dreaming
It's All About the Ring...Finger
This Just In
It Is a Truth Universally Acknowledged
Why Home Depot is on My Crap List

I'm working on a few more that I'll post a link to here once completed.

Enjoy!

Why Home Depot is On My Crap List...

Quick back story. I have a coporate credit card through my company for Home Depot. Whenever I need supplies or am in a pinch with plant material, I head over to the closest Home Depot and pick up what I need. Now, I think I've been to just about every single HOme Depot in the Phoenix area and I definitely have my favorites, but there are two that are high-ranking on my crap list and here are letters explaining why.

To the Home Depot closest to my office,
You always seems to know when I'm running late or just having a bad day. Like the one day where I thought my world was crumbling down on me, I had already worked 11 hours, and all I needed was a bag of perlite before heading home. For some reason, your store keeps the perlite on the top shelf in the gardening section and can only be reached by a ladder. So, I asked the associate in the gardening section to move the huge ladder 10 ft (and I'm not even exaggerating, it was literally 10 feet away) to help me get the bag. He tells me he's not able to move the ladder and calls for assistance. Twenty minutes and several reminders later I'm still waiting, a crying frustrated mess, dump everything in my cart, and walk out.
This morning I purchased some soil and gravel and asked for help to load my van. I was running late and the thought of loading everything by myself was daunting. In the 30 ft walk from the register to the loading zone, two of your associates passed off my cart to someone lower on the chain because they didn't want to be bothered loading a vehicle. May I remind you that it was 6 am and I was probably the only customer in the store, it's not like they had a lot going on.
In summary, your store's customer service is awful. I have never been treated so poorly and have gone 30 minutes out of my way to avoid shopping at your store. Please either train your employees better or have them wear buttons that say "I really don't care about you" so customers know what to expect when they ask for help.

To the Home Depot on Thomas,
The beginning of this story is my fault. Utterly and completely, I am willing to admit that. How it was handled and what happened in the end is 100% your fault and inexcusable.
A month, let me repeat that A MONTH, ago I left my wallet in a shopping cart. I had other things on my mind while loading my van and didn't realize it until 20 minutes later. I headed straight back to the store and saw my cart, but no wallet. I spoke with the customer service people, the head cashier, the head parking lot attendant, the cashier in the gardening section, and the book keeping office. No one had seen or heard anything about it. Walkie-talkies were whipped out, calls made, questions asked, but no wallet. After kicking myself for being so stupid, I began the grueling task of rebuilding my wallet. Credit cards were canceled, new drivers license obtained, and I realized how stupid my bank is (long side, story about how Wells Fargo couldn't issue me an ATM card at the local branch should be inserted here, but just thinking about it upsets me). In my hopeful moments, I called the store everyday for a week checking to see if my wallet had been turned in by some miracle... nothing.
To add to the stress of the situation, I was going out of town the next week and I was having nightmares that I wouldn't have access to money before leaving on vacation. Did I mention that I lived a week by bumming $20 from a roommate? Yeah, that was pretty sweet.
Jump to yesterday. I received a hand-written letter in the mail saying the store had my wallet and I could come pick it up. UM, EXCUSE ME!!! Did my three contact numbers not work? Trying to be grateful that I had my old wallet and the sentimental things that I was most upset about losing went out the window when I went to pick up the wallet and 1)the customer service attendant came out of her shell to ask what I wanted after waiting a good five minutes 2)customer service attendant was snotty and not very helpful and 3) there was nothing wrong with my wallet. Here's my rationale, if someone had taken my wallet and dumped it when they realized there was nothing of value in there, wouldn't there be some sign of wear and tear to the wallet? Am I just going crazy here? There was NOTHING missing, no credit card, no license, even my $2 was still there. Why was I notified after a month. There is no way I can believe that my wallet was found on the Home Depot property after a month and there was no damage from exposure to the wallet or the items inside the wallet.
My feeling is your store needs a better system to restore lost property to the owner. And if someone leaves every number she can possibly be reached, please have the courtesy to call instead of sending a letter.