Day Three Completed...

So today was the third day of the sort at Borders. I am damn tired, and sore. Today we actually got books today, around 20,000 of them I would guess.... Tomorrow we start shelving.

I still need a Halloween costume idea. Any brilliant thoughts? I need help!

Celebrity Sighting

I also forgot to mention that today, while on break from Borders, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette outside the nearby Coffee Bean, I saw Neve Campbell! It was very thrilling and I was quite starstruck. YAY!

YAY for BORDERS!

Today was the FIRST DAY of the leadership team of the brand spankin' new Hollywood Borders to be in our actual store!! Now I'm sure this doesn't mean much to the average consumer, but the store is absolutely GORGEOUS! I am SOOOO happy with the entire team that I am working with, and the store itself will be a sight to behold once the store is open.

Unfortunately, everything was a little crazy today with all the fires going on - the Simi Valley store was supposed to start their sort today, but since Simi Valley is burning right now, there were many displaced people who were rerouted to our store and everyone was very confused and much of the outside staff coming to help was very much in disarray.

But all in all it appears that it will be a fabulous experience and I am so happy with the results!

This weekend was also the big bachelor/bachelorette shindigs for Matt and Meli and it was a lot of fun.... It was really fun and interesting to spend some time with Meli and Mary without our men! The drive in both directions seemed pretty uneventful and a big thanks to John and Beau for driving each leg of the journey.

This upcoming weekend is Meli's bridal shower in San Juan Capistrano - which I've never been to, but since the 4th grade California mission projects, I've always wanted to check it out, so that should be really nice! I need to somehow find time to go shopping this week!

Dammit! Where did all my time go?

Saturday is also Beau and Mary's Halloween party - and I am stoked about that! Halloween has always been my favorite holiday since I was a wee child (I had quite the sweet tooth back in the day) so it will be great to see everyone decked out in their costumes..... if only I had a brilliant idea of what to be.......

So that's my last three days in a nutshell.

Good luck to everyone experiencing ash or fire or the hideous smell of smoke near their homes. John and I are fortunate enough to be out of the range of all of the above, so I will send out positive thoughts to all those who need it.

Sooo tired....

So really, I had forgotten how much it sucks to have a job.... well, in some respects. For one, I am always so damn tired now! I'm not bored with sitting around watching TV and doing nothing - actually I welcome it with open, sleepy arms... But I am enjoying my new job, getting really excited about Monday, when we actually start working in the store with the three week deadline of getting everything done.

I only get Sundays off for the next three weeks, and I'm working 60 hours per week! How the hell did they convince 59 people that this was a good idea?

(My bet is all they had to do was say "overtime" and people were more than happy to give up their lives for a few weeks for a phat paycheck.... I know I am....)

This weekend is Meli's bachelorette party, so that should be really fun! It won't make for a very restful weekend, but hell, who needs sleep??

John and I were just watching the Daily Show and saw a segment on the Santa Cruz City Council's plan to try to get our Prez impeached. It was really really bizarre, but kinda cool to actually know who some of the crazy people they were talking to were. Very very odd.

Well, I'm off to bed. Gotta rest up so I can do it all again tomorrow......

We Have Returned!

So we have just arrived home from our first visit up north since we moved to LA, and it was really nice. We got to hang out with a bunch of friends and family, and experience the glory of Taqueria Vallarta once again. All in all it was a lovely weekend, and I am beat.

One more week of training in Glendale and Westwood and then next week we start the sort! So after this weekend no one will hear much from me, cuz if I'm not at work (which I will be nearly 12 hours a day) then I'll be home sleeping, preparing for the next day...

Damn it's good to be home....

Back to Santa Cruz and NorCal....

It's strange to think that John and I will be in Santa Cruz in two days. It really hasn't been that long, but it feels SOOOOO long. We'll be leaving LA around 3pm (when I get off work in Glendale, so hopefully John can come pick me up and we can leave straight from there and avoid some traffic in the valley.) which puts us in Santa Cruz around 9:30 with traffic. It will be strange to be making the trips in reverse of what we normally do, and weird to be back on old turf, but I am excited to see everyone and catch up on all things Northern California.

In other news, my co supervisors in the new Hollywood store got to check out the store yesterday, and said that it is absolutely beautiful. They claim the cafe is large and shiny and gorgeous, and I get an outdoor patio area!!!!! The cafe of my dreams is coming true!

I just woke up from a four hour nap, so I may not sound all that coherent.... I need to learn how to wake up at 6am again.....

First Day Headache....

So, today was my first day of training, and things went okay.... I was told to report to the Glendale Borders at 9am this morning, and did so with excitement and nervousness. When I arrived at said store, no one there had any idea that I was coming and no one there was available to train me. So I anxiously called the general manager's cell phone and was informed that I was supposed to report to the West Hollywood store at 10am... So I then made the trek back to WeHo, where I endured 4 hours of orientation, then a return trek back to Glendale for some real cafe training. So I had some traveling to do, but all in all my previous experience at Borders will be an incredible asset to me.

In other news, John and I will be trekking up to NorCal to visit my family, including my great uncle who is visiting from Hungary and who I have not seen since I was three years old. Hopefully we'll be able to visit with some friends in the SC area in our whirlwind journey up north. Fortunately, since we had planned this trip, I got out of training this weekend, and then next week I will be doing some official cafe training in Westwood....

So all is well, but I have a killer headache....

Ahhh, back to the working world......

My Last Few Days of Freedom...

Well, here we are, my last Friday of unemployed bliss. I think now that I know I have a job to go to on Monday, the hours are feeling longer and longer and it's a darn good thing I finally found something, cuz I am ready to go insane.

I'm sure I'm driving John up the wall with my constant boredom.....

But it should be really cool, we are having a little soiree with the SoCal people to celebrate my new found employment tomorrow night, so at least that gives me some cleaning to do.... And that should be really fun.

Hopefully sometime soon we'll be able to have a bigger bash involving our NorCal buds, but unfortunately with all the work of putting a new store together, and then the impending retail doom of the holidays, we may just have to wait until January.....

I'm really kind of frightened that once our Borders is open everyone will have not quite two weeks of real-time experience before the biggest shopping day of the year... But Christmas time really is the most fun time at Borders (at least in Santa Cruz) because of the constant crazy busy-ness with no time to think about how bad your feet hurt due to standing for eight hours straight. And then there's all the holiday themed drinks I'll get to make in the Cafe!!!!

WOOHOO!

I can't wait!

FINALLY!

The General Manager of the new Hollywood Borders store just called me from the Michigan home office to let me know that he has selected me to be the cafe supervisor in this new store!

YAY! I HAVE A JOB!

I start on Monday with training in Glendale, and then two weeks from then we will start putting together the new store with a soft open date of November 15!!!

This is the best day ever!!!

We Made It!

Well, here it is, our first full earthly revolution around the sun as husband and wife (and yes, i am spending the first few moments blogging about it.)

Honestly, the past year has been one of the best in my life and I have not only my wonderful, caring, sweet, loving, sexy husband to thank. (But mostly.... ;) Our friends and family have been such a wonderful network of support and love. Despite all the monumental changes in our lives, and the long distances that we now have from many of our friends and family, I want to thank each and every one of you for the friendship and love you have shown John and me in the past year and throughout our lives. We certainly couldn't have made it through without you.

But seriously, looking back on the past year has been a common theme for John and me in the past few days, with this milestone date upon us. I cannot even fathom the breadth of amazing things we have shared with each other in the past... um, well, since February 1999 when we discovered something so special in each other that we just had to see where it would go. And as many of you know, it has taken us some amazing places, even if we never left the comfort of our living room.

And truly, the journey is only beginning...

I can honestly say that falling in love with John Michael Verive is the most wonderful thing that has ever bestowed itself on my modest little life. Everything is more special when shared with him, and looking to the future I am so excited that I have him to share every new experience with - both the exciting and the ordinary.

And now that I have blabbered on, I extend this wish to you all - if you have found that special person that makes you feel incredibly wonderful every moment of every day, cherish it and realize that you have something truly extraordinary. And if you are still searching for that special someone, just know that when you find it, your life will become more wonderful in ways that you can't even possibly imagine.

Happy anniversary, John.

I love you more than anything.

What a weekend!

It was quite a nice weekend! We went to a cool little bar in Chinatown (view Octopus Hat for the lowdown) and then this morning, we went to see a taping of Hollywood Squares! All I can say is...

Damn you, Charo!

In all seriousness, it was a lot more enjoyable then I thought it would be, and it was really cool to see a TV show behind the scenes. The shows we were taping will air on CBS on December 1-3, although I am sure we will not be visible in the quick shots of the studio audience.

Cucchi cucchi!