4th Anniversary!
I’m a few weeks behind on getting a post up about our anniversary, but wanted to let you all know that Mike and I are 4 GLORIOUS years into our marriage. We are so thankful to be with each other and are so glad to celebrate being together. It was quite a low key celebration. I think we just stayed home and watched a movie because our main gift to each other was a trip to France with our friends Mark and Carmela (pictures to come soon hopefully). So we saved money to have a nice meal out in Monte Carlo. Mike did, however, get me these lovely roses for our anniversary, which are still kickin’ on our kitchen table! Amazing!
 |
| 4th Anniversary |
Crabs with the Arbo’s!
These are our friends Matt and Ashli Arbo. Matt and Mike are in University together and Ashli and I…well, we do coffee together. We’ve enjoyed their friendship a lot since being here and were already planning to have them over for a meal, when upon hearing of my…let’s all it a passion…for crabs, Ashli recommended that they try crabs with us…if we were up for it. Are you kidding me?! I’m ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS up for crabs! So, this is their first attempt, though I think Matt has done this before, at crab pickin’! We had a great time…and pizza as a back up in case it wasn’t filling or wasn’t what anyone had expected. Lots of fun! Thanks for trying out crabs with us, guys….it was great fun!
And then Ashli made this delicious fresh fruit over scones with a yummy sauce for dessert….we didn’t have room to fit all of the goodness in!
I take this moment to apologize publicly for the shell that cracked from my crab and into Ashli’s sweet little face. Girl, way to take one for the team!
 |
| Crabs With the Arbo's! |
Mike’s Starbuck’s Meeting
 |
| Mike's Starbucks Meeting |
It may not look like it, but yes, this was a meeting. (a 6.5 hour long meeting, but who’s counting?!) Their team went out for a group building activity around the city. They were paired up and, without taking public transportation, were involved in a scavenger hunt of which Mike and his partner won! Here are a few shots of their victory!
Celebrations Abound!
Well, in case you’re wondering what we’ve been up to recently, we’ve been celebrating! Three things we have celebrated since our last post are in no particular order:
-Mike’s first year boards
-My giving notice to Starbucks
-Cheryl Crowe’s Birthday
Let’s take a look at each celebration to give you an idea of just how wonderful each item is!!
- Celebratory item #1: Mike’s First year board was held on May 22nd. This is basically an opportunity for him to present to the professor’s here what he’s been working on thus far. He gave them each a copy of his proposal and a writing sample, they had time to review it and think it over and then Mike sat before them to answer their questions and defend his work. All in all, this was a good experience for him. He feels like he was able to gain clarity on their expectations and desires for his work. While it was somewhat stressful to prepare for, he is glad to have had the opportunity to hear from them and get helpful feedback and encouragement for his future work…..he’s so glad that it’s over and done with though! From here on out it’s open work and research for him. There will be no other boards, just time with his advisor, Professor Hurtado, if he’d like more feedback. One year down, two more to go! We celebrated this accomplishment by having dinner at Bella Italia and going to see the Mike-chosen movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We had a great time honoring Mike’s accomplishments! Way to go, honey!
- Celebratory Item #2: I’m very ready to leave Starbucks. I’ve given it a good go. While it began well, it’s been a stressful and frustrating experience that continues to bring me down. Therefore, my last day will be June 18th. It got to the point where I was getting anxious to go to work and having dreams about work…..just not good! I have signed on a fixed contractual basis with Office Angels, which is a temp agency here. I will be working 3-6 months at a time and covering for people’s maternity leave and extended holidays. While this is not ideal, it is a job and will continue to help bring money in.
- Celebratory Item #3: Cheryl Crowe had a birthday! Yay Cheryl! (In the brown top to my left, your right) And we celebrated her by going to Las Tesca for some tapas! We had a fantastic night of just being together and wearing party hats. Does it get any better?! While there, we were all flattered to have a gentleman approach our table and tell us how much fun it looked like we were having. (And he was right, we were having fun!) Apparently his brother fancied us but was too shy to come over himself….he wanted to take a picture of us….he was shocked to find out that each and every one of us was married!! (I think he was hoping for better odds than that). He was a bit embarrassed, but it was a hilarious part of the evening! So, we did let him take our picture, but only if we could proudly display our wedding bands….a tribute to our guys. We love you Mike, Brandon, Jonathan, Matt and Derek!!
So, let us know what your celebrations have been over the past month…we want to know! We love you all!
We’ll miss Mike a latte!!
That’s right, your favorite husband and mine =-) has completed his work at the Stockbridge/Baker’s Place Starbucks. Yesterday, Wednesday, was his final shift, and thankfully, we were able to work together! We really will miss working together on a more regular basis, but this switch is best if we want to holiday together, which we do! The main reason for Mike leaving this location is that if he and I both take holiday at the same time, then it becomes really difficult for our store to not only pay us for our vacation time, but then to also cover both of our shifts with remaining partners, particularly since we’re from the states and when we travel home we’ll be traveling for greater lengths of time. Therefore, he will now be found in the Starbucks on the Royal Mile as a shift supervisor…that’s right, he’s taking a step up in the world and joining the ranks for shift supervisor! Starbucks is always swapping partners to cover shifts, so there’s always the possibility that we’ll get to work a few shifts together, but for the most part we’ll now be at different stores. S Below is a picture of us on our final shift together…..for old times sake……..
Meet the Starbucks Crew
Just a few nights ago the Starbucks Crew had our Christmas staff night out! We went to Ecco Vino, which is where our store manager, Laura’s, husband is manager! We had a great time with them! The gang, from left to right around the table is:
-Sylvain from France
-Lukasz from Poland
-Mike and I
-Laura (store manager) from Spain
-Erica from Scotland
-Danny from Scotland
-Maria from Spain
We also have a new partner that couldn’t make it to the party. Her name is Zane and she is from Latvia! What a fun and diverse group we’ve got!
Laura had gone to a 3D film on the day of the party, so Erica needed to try on her cool 3D glasses. Ain’t she cute?!
They’re a fun group of people and it’s an honor to work with them! We love you guys!
Try not to poison it
Yes, the title of this post are portions of the first “post incident” interaction between myself and angry Starbucks man today. I knew we’d meet somehow since he has chosen to return to Starbucks. I work full time, so unless he really tries, there’s hardly any way he can avoid me. Somehow, I just knew today would be the day.
The day went along as usual and he didn’t come and didn’t come. Then, as I was preparing to close my till, he was the final customer that I served today. I did really well. I treated him just as any other customer who comes into the store. I didn’t bring up the incident or anything, just asked him what I could get for him today. I was smiley and everything!
His response was short and “sweet”: “I’ll have a tall drip with space for milk…..try not to poison it.”
Meany-head, he is!! I didn’t react or respond, just got his poisoned cup of joe, charged him for the bagel in his hand that he didn’t even let me know he was purchasing and took his money.
How can people live that way? Grrrrrr
The Red Cups Are Coming…..
This is what is happening in our lives at the moment. The Red Cups of Starbucks are being anticipated in our field of employment! We just had a meeting tonight to talk about our new Christmas drinks and snacks. The theme of the season….”Pass the Cheer”, which we are always trying to do!
I cannot believe that November begins this coming week….what insanity! Time sure flies when you move to a new country.
I’m thankful to God for the new friends that we’ve been making. Katie and Derek are a couple that we have gotten to know recently. They are a great couple from Vancouver (and Oregon). Derek goes to school with Mike and they invited us to dinner a few weeks ago and we have been getting to know them since. It’s great to have someone to connect with here. Thus far, Katie and I have gone to coffee, and starting this week, we’re meeting together with two other gals and will hopefully be able to just have each other to share life’s experiences with! Praise God for the people He places in our lives at the best times!
Mike’s advisor for his thesis invited the new phd students and their spouses over for dinner the other night and it was nice to reconnect with some of these ladies that I had previously met.
Mike is doing well. He’s enjoying his school routine and met with professor hurtado today to discuss his topic option further. They are together continually narrowing down their ideas, so we’ll see where this all leads.
Okay, I believe that’s all for now. I apologize that it’s taken so long to update you on anything. I’ll try to be better at this!
Starbucks Story
So today, I had my first customer refusing to return to Starbucks because of me. Yeah, that wasn’t fun.
Our espresso machine and coffee machine were both out and not working. Eventually, after half the day was done, the espresso machine was up and running, but the coffee machine cannot be fixed until Monday. Imagine all of the sadness I had to bring to people today. It’s not up to us whether we are opened or not, we have to wait to hear from the district office if we are going to close.
So, a gentleman wanted just drip coffee today and I had to tell him that the machine was broken but that we could make him an americano which is shots of espresso with hot water. When my co-worker was explaining to him the difference in the strength between the regular drip and the americanos, I think he began to get frustrated because he just wanted his coffee. Anyway, he asked if I would be charging him for the drip or or the americano and I told him that I would be charging him for the americano because that is what he was getting. (I didn’t know if I had the “authority” to give him something for another price. So, he said, “well, you’re not giving me what I want. I’ll take my business elsewhere.” To which I replied that it was “sad”. And he stormed out of the store, went down to the cafe practically next door, came back with his arms full of Cafe Nero merchandise and wanted the name of my manager.
She was just downstairs, so I went and got her for him to speak with. Though I did not want to let this man get to me, he did, and so I just stayed downstairs for a while. After 6 years of coming to Starbucks, he will no longer be coming……what a shame, huh?
I do wish he hadn’t reacted that way, and clearly, he DID, in fact, need his coffee, but he didn’t have to ruin both of our days.
Thankfully, we have skype and I talked to Meagan and Colin and I’m “all better” now.
Just thought I’d share my first disappointing Starbucks story.
Trudy
This evening, we will post pics!
Hi all! We have finally taken pictures of our flat for you all to see. Mike is at work right now and so I’ll have him help me hook up the camera to the computer in a bit! Thanks again, to Colin Whitehurst who took the time to make a neat video for us on how to use this blog. It’s so great!
So, I will try to update this blog as frequently as possible.
News for this week…….
Last night, at Starbucks, I had to stay 2 hours after close because one of the windows in the upstairs portion of the building had come off its hinge. We’re not allowed to leave until the building is secure, so after working 11-7, we were there until 9:30. But then, Mike came and met me since it was so late and we hadn’t had dinner and we found a new place called Pizza Express. This should not be the name of this place because it is really gourmet pizza with a beautiful atmosphere. It was delicious and lovely!
Also upcoming this week……Mike’s birthday. He’ll be 27 on Sunday! Yay hubby! We’ll be celebrating, but I can’t post about that until after the celebration because I don’t want to ruin it for him in case he sees this later.
Tonight….I make a new dinner from my scottish cookbook. I won’t give away all the details, but it includes monkfish. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Oh, posting new things is fun! Post something about your new recipies if you have them!
Send you all pics later!
Trudy
