Alec

My work family got together last night to say farewell to Alec, who you see above posing with the owner, Jason. We had appetizers and drinks at a pub, and had a great time with employees past and present sharing stories of how intimidated/scared/worried/etc. they were when Alec first started as manager.

Alec is moving to the D.C. area with her husband, Eric. Eric just got a job with the secret service, and have been waiting for months to get the word of when to be at training. They leave IL on Wednesday and will be in Maryland for who knows how long.
Here is Alec with the apron I made her, to remind her of Common Grounds (there have been lots of compliments on the aprons I've brought in to wear), and to help her on her domestic adventure. Alec is excited to have "lots and lots of babies" and be a stay at home mom. I told her to let me know when she gets pregnant so I can come see her in her mama glory, and get to sewing on a baby sling for her.


Here are some of the troops. Above is Nikki and her boyfriend Roger. Below is Alanna, the former manager before Alec, and her husband Jeremy. She and I got along swimmingly. She moved to IL in 2005 also, and she was teasing Dan and I that even though our plans are to move out of this area when he is done with school, you never know how you will be sucked into a place - she and Jeremy swore they would leave too, but they just bought an old house and are fixing it up. I'm hoping to see more of her and share more stories. She seems wonderful.


Alec is amazing. In the quick six weeks since I started, she and I have become quite close. She really is my only friend down here, and having her move is both exciting and lonesome. She is herself at all times, and I've never seen her be ungenuine. She is funny and big hearted, but has a tendency to rub people the wrong way because she doesn't tolerate rudeness or being taken advantage of, which reminds me of Ciara, which is comforting.

This is Jordan with Alec. Jordan is just a sweet girl. She helped organized all of the the evening's events. She came in to work on Alec's last day so Alec was free to talk to regulars and hug and cry. All of which happened.

Below is Jason with managers, past, recent past, and future. I'm glad there is a history of having people who stay in touch, as I can already tell my next year here will make a lot of these people dear to me.

Alec with MJ (above) and below are Maria, Alec and MJ. The only person that couldn't make it was Izabel, as she was working the shop. All girls! I told Jason that I wasn't used to working with so many girls - he just shurgged and said I'd get used to it.


So now I'm no longer the Manager-in-waiting. Starting Monday I've got to keep all the balls in the air. Yay!

Workin' shoes!

I'm not really into shoes. I can count all the shoes I own on my two hands (that includes the rain galoshes). When I started working at the Hound (in 2006) I found a pair of shoes that worked perfectly for me. Made by Privo, red, and after a full day of work and play, my delicate tootsies wouldn't be screaming at me. Now that I'm back in a cafe, standing for 8hrs+, it was time to retire the old Privos for a newer version. Ta da! Orange Privos!

The old ones held up well, but as you can see from the pic below, they are gross. Coffee, milk, syrup splatter and all sorts of cleaning products have found their way on to my shoes, and after wearing my new pair for the first time last night, I couldn't be happier to give respect to Reds and bury them.

This little shopping spree was also the first time I had used Zappos.com. I found the orange ones around the beginning of January, but couldn't justify getting them until now. Free shipping is wonderful. I came home on my lunch break yesterday to check on the cat situation, and just as I was leaving to go back to work, the friendly UPS man came to the door and dropped off the goods. I was tired and sore and not wanting to finish my shift after the crazy cat business that happened yesterday, but after putting these little refreshing, comfy goodies on my feet I was fine for the last three hours.

I wish I spoke felinese better

Something went wrong in the relationship between my cats. They are brothers. They have always been together (except that whole Baxter living in the Alaskan wilderness thing). After going to bed at 10:30, the shit hit the fan. I don't know what happened between 10:30 and 2am, but they are angry. Chasing, growling, clawing, biting. I came out of the room and couldn't get them apart for a bit. I have cat blood on my robe. Baxter lost (another) toe nail. Kodak won't let me look at him close enough to see if he has any serious wounds.

I separated them. I went back to bed.

At 4:45 I give in to the cat scratching at the door and m-rowling. They've been at it now on and off for the past hour. I figure this is just something they'll have to work out. I'm guessing it's some sort of dominance shift or lovers' quarrel. I have many hours before work starts, but for 4 hours from12:30 until 4:30, when Dan comes home, they will be left to their own devices.

Kodak is posturing under the side table in the living room and Baxter is making his rounds, every few minutes to try a new approach, or seek negotiations, or gloat.

Monday happy things

Here are some things I found in the blog world that make me happy. Hope it helps get Monday's bad taste out of your mouth.

Dinosaur wallpaper?! Yes please!



This weekend it was super warm outside - like lets-only-wear-one-layer-of-sleevage warm. Made me want to play in the flower beds outside.

Of course the coffee theme is wonderful in these posters, but I love the print!
Color wheels anyone?
I know there are good things in my brain just waiting to come out! I need to find a bucket big enough to catch all of those great ideas.

Mustaches aren't just for creepy people anymore.

I realize this is the antithesis of the Bee N-ice shirt, but I chuckled when I saw it. You know I love a good flow chart!

Happy day!

Painting

Man, this picture looks like crap, but here it is mom. The tree I was telling you about. I can share it, now that I gave it to my dear friend, Danny. I'm really bummed I didn't take a better picture. Oh well. I guess this is even more motivation to save my pennies for this. Recently, there have been many opportunities to use a camera, and I'm feeling sad that I haven't made it a priority to replace the camera that was taken in Juneau.

Other picture news, here is a recent one of Miah, me, and Ciara, while C was flying through on her whirlwind job finding adventure! We probably won't all be together again until Josh's wedding, and then all 4 will be together! (Miah and I used to be thought of as twins growing up. I think you can really see it in this pic.)

And I don't know why the font and size is all over the place. I promise, I'm not trying to shout at you.

Visit pics

Turns out I have less pictures than I imagined. Here are two great ones of Cecilia, Ben and Ciara. Isn't my family beautiful?

Ben is quite taken by flight. RC planes, helicopters, blimps, jets, you name it, he wants to talk about it and see pictures of them. You tube has been great. His reaction above is to an awesome video he and Ciara were watching - he just couldn't contain his joy! And Cecilia is getting big and strong. She is six months now, and loves her mom and dad. She is all smiles when they are around.

Home safe

I am home. Ciara is on a plane to Portland, and Violet is safe in the drive way. All is well.

The last 24 hours have been so busy! Driving, cleaning, and driving. The condo was left in wonderful shape, so instead of going over everything, Ciara and I went to work on details that I never seem to get around to like cleaning behind the refrigerator, replacing the furnace filter, deep scrubbing. Ciara tackled a project I've been avoiding since October of '07, when at my house warming party a candle dripped a huge puddle of wax on the carpet. Now it's gone! Ciara is amazing!

But now, I will rest. Getting up this morning and leaving the house at 1:30am to get her to St. Louis for her flight has taken it's toll. I'll post pictures of the kiddos and sister after a nap.