Zoe Faye

Happy Thanksgiving.

1. I’m thankful for the wonderful husband I married this year. He fills my life with so much love and joy everyday and I’m so glad he’s mine.
2. I’m thankful for my bestie, who’s always there for me.
3. I’m thankful for my job, even if it wears me out and owns my life right now. It’s not a bad job at all, and I have plenty of delightful co-worker friends who make it even better.
4. I’m thankful for the tips of generous customers; your quarters wash my clothes every week.
5. I’m thankful for family, and miss mine in California more every day. Hopefully we’ll get to visit them soon.
6. I’m thankful to work at a store that doesn’t open on the Thanksgiving holiday, and to be a bus rider, because it means no crazy early Black Friday shifts for me.
7. I’m thankful for the delicious food we were able to cook today; our first time cooking a turkey turned out really well. We are very proud of ourselves.
8. I’m thankful for the home I have. It may not be the best apartment, but we’re making the best of it.
9. I’m thankful for happy memories and for adding on to them.
10. I’m thankful for the overall coziness of this time of year. It’s my favorite.

Who is training the customers? and other unsolved retail mysteries.

Last night I dreamed that cafe customers kept coming up and asking me if they could leave their empty cups and paper plates on the counter. So my manager and I decided to make a sign to draw people’s attention to the trash can, because I kept having to tell them no and point them to the trash can.

In real life, for resons I do not understand, almost everyone overlooks the trash can in the middle of the condiment bar.  It’s kind of ridiculous, because if you go over there to put cream in your coffee or grab napkins, you should totally notice the hole in the middle of the counter. I guess people around here are just too unobservant, because they leave their cups and plates and wadded up napkins on our tables all the time. They buy desserts and coffee, don’t even tip me, and then leave their garbage behind for me to pick up. I don’t know what it is. Nothing about our establishment says “full service restaurant” to me. I mean, yeah you are eating overpriced cheesecake, but you’re eating it off a paper plate with a plastic fork for crying out loud. Throw your trash away when you’re done. Or at least tip me more generously than your penny change if you’re going to leave me a mess to clean up.

A lot of people are also insistent on leaving their receipts on the counters too, which is something I hate so much. Tell me (nicely) you don’t need a receipt and I will be happy to throw it away. But please don’t crumple it up and stick it between the Kind bars right in front of me. That’s just rude.

Luckily there are more delightful customers than evil, messy, rude ones.  And I do  enjoy being a barista. It’s great fun making pretty drinks that make other people happy.  But I do have to wonder who is training customers how to be good customers? Why is it that some people’s default setting seems to be “rude” or “snotty,” even when dealing with innocent retail associates who are just trying to help them? And why are basic manners so hard for some people to grasp?

I just don’t get people sometimes.

It’s that time of year again

Moving time, that is.

Today I packed up all my books. And now I want to read them. Now that they’re sealed up in Joe Muggs coffee boxes. Isn’t that always how it works? Maybe I’ll sneak out my Kay Ryan book or something. I need to read some poetry.

I hope my books smell like espresso when I unpack them.

After the Apocalypse, We Went to Starbucks.

It looked like the end of the world in Huntington last night.  Trees down everywhere, police directing traffic at the intersection, neighbors venturing out looking like they didn’t know where they were.

We had just decided on what to do for dinner when our electricity flickered off and on for a few minutes before deciding it just couldn’t hold on any longer.  There went any plans of cooking. And 80 mile-per-hour winds meant we weren’t walking anywhere to get food either.  We waited it out for about an hour, hoping the power would come back. It didn’t, but the wind died down and Levi’s mom was able to take us somewhere to get food.

The thunderstorm, which was mostly crazy wind, had cooled down the world enough to sit on our front steps for a bit. So Levi and I ate our food and sat out there, watching people walk their dogs and take pictures of a splintered half of a tree in the yard across the street. It was too late to try to go anywhere without knowing what places would still have power, and I didn’t really want to walk around Huntington at night in its apocalyptic state. So we just sat and talked and it was as nice as it could be. At least we were together and safe, and Levi had made it home in time.

When it got too dark to be outside, we set up our giant flashlight on the coffee table, a make-believe campfire, and I lit candles for extra light.  Sannie made it home safe too, and about an hour later we rejoiced—our electricity had been restored!

Once I could get back online, I saw how much more terrible and expansive the damage actually was—more than half the state was suffering, and we were lucky to have electricity so soon.  As I write this more than 24 hours later, many people still don’t have power. And some places have power, but no air conditioning.

Today I woke up before my alarm because it was too hot to sleep in any longer. I debated pouring my hot coffee over ice and ate leftover pizza for breakfast.  Levi and I debated going somewhere and doing something. I figured anywhere we would want to go would be full of people trying to escape the heat and lack of electricity at their homes. Finally we decided to go to Pullman Square. We saw splintered tree remains and lots of debris.  12th street is covered in sediment from a water line break. 11th Street’s street sign is hanging askew. And the Glenn’s Sporting Goods awning is now on the ground beside the building.

We didn’t think to call ahead to see if any place at Pullman was actually open. When we got there, it was dead.  All the stores were dark, and it was empty except for a handful of people hanging out on Starbucks’ patio furniture or waiting for the bus. We ended up getting frozen yogurt instead, because thankfully the frozen yogurt shop is still fully operational.

It seemed like a weird dream.  Overnight, our town has become this alien planet, storm-torn and unbearably hot.  Some say it will be several days before electricity is fully restored.  I cannot even express how lucky I feel that ours came back within hours. And I feel really terrible for those who are suffering this heat without power.  I hope the world here goes back to normal much sooner than expected.

Five Things on a Friday Afternoon

I’ve been doing an excellent job of neglecting you, Tumblr. So here’s a little list (in no particular order) of five good things from this week. Maybe it’ll make up for all the not-writing I’ve been doing. At least a little bit?

1. Polka dot dresses. 
From now on, if I’m ever having a bad day or in need of a self-esteem boost, I’m going to put on a polka dot dress. It’s hard not to feel cute when you’re covered in polka dots.

2. Cheap used games.
On Wednesday we ventured out to Pullman Square just to get out of the house and go somewhere. While we were there, Levi suggested going into GameStop, even though we probably wouldn’t buy anything. To our surprise and delight, we walked out with a used copy of Kirby’s Epic Yarn for less than $15. Win!

3. Reading to my husband.
Levi doesn’t like to read as much as he likes to listen.  And I like to read aloud, so I am his own personal audiobook.  Recently he asked me to read Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver to him, one of my favorites, and we just finished it this week and started on the second book in the trilogy. I like being able to share something I love with him in a way that he can enjoy it too.

4. Giant coffee mugs.
When I came into work Tuesday there was a giant red coffee cup of magic and wonder in my box, an old Seattle’s Best mug from Meg, who may or may not be lurking out there somewhere. It’s a beautiful bright red, and big enough that I could eat soup or cereal out of it.  Thanks again, Meg! Now I can drink two cups of coffee at once!

5. Wedding Pictures
When we registered at Target, they gave us a Shutterfly gift card.  Using that gift card and a 50 free prints new user promotion, we were able to get a bunch of prints of our wedding pictures for basically the cost of shipping.  We got the big orange envelope yesterday, and it was fun looking through actual, physical pictures instead of just pictures on the computer screen. I can’t wait to get some picture frames.

Escape

I want to go on more adventures.  Maybe this summer we will have more adventures. If we can afford them.  It will be nice to not be broke and hopelessly job-hunting this year.  Even if I have to wake up at 7 almost all the time.

I want to go to the zoo, which is happening after the wedding, I’m pretty sure.  I want to go to King’s Island and the really awesome Japanese market I keep hearing about. And the two-story Barnes & Noble.  So I guess I want to go to Ohio, haha. Also, I would really like to go back to Santa Monica.

Or maybe to a beach on the East Coast. I haven’t seen the Atlantic Ocean yet.

Levi and I are hoping to visit my family in California sometime later this summer. I’m really hoping we can go to the beach again, because it was wonderful. Visiting my family will be even better this year, because this week they have found a new house of their very own to move into. Well, technically not their very own. They are renting it. But they have been living with my mom’s parents ever since I left for college (almost 5 years now), which has not been fun at all, so I’m sure it feels like their very own enough.

I am so very happy for them to have found a good house and a delightful-sounding landlady.  Good things have been happening for them lately, and it’s about time.  So much has been really lame for them the past few years, and I have felt so bad not being able to help in any way. I have also felt a little guilty not being stuck in all the lameness with them.  I got out of Bakersfield after high school, and save for a couple of long summers and seasonal visits, I haven’t really lived there since. And I don’t plan to. I keep saying if I move back to the West Coast, it will be to the Northwest. Southern California is too hot in the summer.

Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it sometimes.  I guess that’s what visits are for.

(Pictures from Levi’s camera, during our trip to Santa Monica Pier, May 2011)

Surprising Simplicity

Even though I am pretty convinced the universe won’t let anyone get out of Weddingland without some difficulty, some things are still allowed to be simple.

Like the actually getting married part. Surprisingly easy.  Get license. Get it signed. Send it back.  You’re married!  All for under $50. And applying for the license itself was pretty simple too.  We had a very vague idea of what documents we needed to bring with us.  The county clerk’s website has been under construction since we got engaged.  The lack of websites around here is rather frustrating.  But we asked around and ended up going in with more than we needed to identify ourselves and prove we live here.

Also, the courthouse has a mini airport security type deal set up at the entrance, except you don’t have to take your shoes off. The buckles on my boots set the metal detector off, but Levi’s suspenders and Pacman belt buckle didn’t. Weird.

I like it when things are simple. I also like it when things work themselves out nicely.  Like our matching clothes. We told our party to just wear blue dresses/ties. Any kind of blue. And we are wearing a nice green color that Levi calls jade. It started with my wedding sweater, a cropped cardigan I ordered from Forever 21. I ended up finding sneakers in the same color; then we found Levi a tie and pocket square that matched me. We ordered all these things online, knowing the colors might be distorted by pictures and computer screens. But when each item arrived, we compared them. The color has a different name on everything we got. Sea Green. Jade. Waterfall. But it all seems to match perfectly.

I think it’s a good sign.

The Vexing Venue

So this week, we almost had a crisis concerning our chosen venue, a picnic shelter in a really nice community park.  A little over a month ago, Levi had called to reserve the shelter we wanted, a large one near the lake. Well, a couple of days ago, he caught me at the end of my lunch break at work to tell me that when he went to pay for our reservation, he learned that the Park Reservation People wrote down our date as March 11th instead of May (when it was past March 11th at the time of the call—come on, Park People!) and someone else now had our shelter.

Fantastic. Now what?

We chose the park because it was nice and easy. It has tables and seating. It has a playground. It already looks nice, so minimal decorating on our part. It has a roof over the tables and seating in case it rains.  And it’s VERY inexpensive, which is important to a couple of broke college kids.

But I have been learning that nothing about weddings is ever simple. The universe just doesn’t allow it.

We talked it over very quickly (I had ten minutes of lunch left).  Apparently the park people had not been very helpful or apologetic for their mistake. Well.  I suggested we get another available shelter at the same park. We had a couple of other options in the backs of our minds, but we really wanted to be at the park.  I bought him an Arctic Lemonade and reminded him of Cave Johnson’s advice for when life gives you lemons. He went back to the park people, and I went back to work.

For the next couple of hours, I cleaned the cafe and argued with the Park People in my head. I told them we called to reserve the shelter about a month ago, and had already been inviting people to our park wedding, thinking we had a venue.  I insisted they had made a mistake, and asked them how they were going to fix it. In my head, they made an ignorant comment about how weddings are usually on Saturdays.  I reminded them that I was having mine on a Friday. They asked why I had waited so long to reserve a shelter.  I pointed out that we called a little over a month in advance, and kindly reminded them that this was their mistake, and asked them not to project the blame onto me.

Internal Zoe handles these things much better. If I had really been talking to them, I probably would have ended up crying, or something embarrassing like that.

As I got off work, I got a text from Levi saying they gave us a smaller shelter, no charge.  That’s more like it, Park People.  I guess my internal argument really got to them.