making some adjustments

(this starts out a little tedious..but i promise i will make my point by the end of it!)

early this week i noticed that half of our track lighting was burned out...but, to my surprise, my boss actually got me replacement bulbs fairly quickly. light is shining.

today i came in and noticed that-yes, the lights were bright. but also, the lights were making the area a bit too warm. also, the direction of light wasn't doing anything for me or doing much to help people see the board much better than before the lights were replaced.

as i looked around the area...i decided to come out from behind the counter and do a little adjusting. aiming lights so that the nearest spot wasn't the one shedding light on the area..looking for glares on the menu from customer perspective...tedious..a little daunting at times when i just couldn't figure out where the light was going....but upon considering my work complete...i stood back and enjoyed the look of it.
a few hours later...i noticed, not only does the menu look nice...but it is feels cooler (less warm) than it was before and, as an added bonus, i seem to have achieved a bit of fung shui in this setting, too!

it wasn't simply a matter of replacing the bulbs that were burnt out..though...having full capacity of lighting is very helpful....what made the difference was how the light was being distributed.

i'm sure if i ponder this long enough...i'll find the spiritual application point. its there....

maybe its that once we've been given all that we need in order to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, it doesn't do to just go through the good works and motions of life...it doesn't feel like we've got everything where it ought to be if we just take what he's given us and keep doing what we were doing to begin with...

it is then that we should ask that the Lord interrupt our lives and move stuff around...to shed some light on the areas that we've left in shadows..and take some light off of what we had thought was so important before.

caught up with you

after weeks of reading....i finally caught up on all of the entries of QC i'd missed

*sigh*

now what do i do with the time between customers?

it feels good to be reading about real people today

invitation paper is purchased (and at a steal of a price, too!)

invite lists are almost complete

invite design is closer to ready

facebook is my new obsession.

i agree with chelsea....forget myspace...facebook is where its at!

(i especially like that i can post the same entry to my blog and facebook without having to actually post it to both of them myself. did myspace ever give me that freedom? well...if they did....nobody ever told ME.)

hello! i am Too-Much-Coffee-Girl!

(not that there could ever be too much of coffeegirl...but rather..that the coffee girl has had too much coffee!!!!)

the machine here is set to pull two shots of espresso at a time...which means that anytime someone orders a drink calling for only 1 shot....or for three shots..or anyone odd number of caffeiney goodness...the lone shot either gets poured out....or drunk. (my coffee is drunk!)
(actually..most coffee shops are set up to pull doubles...so as you read on, imgine that every barista you have ever encountered has had days like this...)

today..i forgot to monitor my coffee intake...and i began my sleepy morning with a cup of regular brew....or two...then added a bit of leftover latte to the tummy...then i had a cup of green tea (make that two, also)...then i had a straight shot ( because someone ordered a shot cuban style...brewed with yummy raw sugar in the portafilter! those are too yummy to waste...and sooo fast to take down...)
..and from there i just lost count....but i can FEEL that it was much..and i can feel that this hyperness is lonely..because i work alone..and the afternoon is slow...and i realy realy just want to goof off and make wisecracks with a fellow barista when i feel like this...dangit.

the only thing that would make this any worse would be if i'd had that teriyaki chicken for lunch today instead of diner last night...because Michael and i discovered that the sweet red sauce Sun and Moon Kitchen uses on that realy gets the system into hypermode, too. (dont do that sort of thing before attending small group discussion-oriented bible studies....the rabits are many...)

all of this to say.....what was i saying?

if only we could get away with this sort of treatment somedays

this reminds me of life before the corner coffee kisok
life when i had co-workers
http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=375

"that's how life usualy is, honey"

i spent my saturday late-morning and early-afternoon traversing from store to store in search of those perfect shoes.

my well planned trip took me to only three parking spaces, but i was able to cover dozens of stores (4 free-standing, and one mall included...adds a lot there)
the whole time i searched, my dear friend fer came with me via telephone. (because its hard to find someone who will actually come with me in person to hop stores as quickly as i ...just searching for that one pair of perfect shoes. )

my first stop, i discovered the most amazing shoe store..which i'll have to reattend on a day when i can permit myself to browse for non-wedding shoes..it was HUUGE and had so many different types of shoes to behold....but did not carry my perfect wedding shoes.

2nd, 3rd, and 4th stops were no good. lots of fall and winter clearance items..no white shoes...welll... none except for those pumps that resembled something from 1985.

at the mall i kept finding fancy silver shoes and gaudy gold shoes and no white satin shoes. i found some white casual platform sandals..but nothing wedding appropriate. nothing at all.

after nearly three hours of searching..and no moments of finding...and no more stores in the immediate area to shop in...i decided to put my search on hold til another day...to move on...to buy groceries...to finish my saturday without the perfect shoes in my possession.

i got my groceries...i went home..i unpacked my groceries...then i noticed that my "plan" for the day had been to be finished with shoe shopping and grocery buying around 3pm..but it was only 2:15 at the time...there was still shoe search time alloted!

i decided to look at one more place today..afterall...it was nearby..and wouldnt take very long just to check.
i drove about 1 mile...maybe less...to the shopping center where Shoe Carnival has recently been added. i HATE going into shoe carnival....thus why i had not looked there to begin with. to get my nerve up, i went into Goody's next door first...before facing the game-show-like employees of the dreaded shoe store. remembering that i'd found one of my favorite pairs of dress shoes at goody's once..

..i took a venture to their shoe department. on the first aisle i saw a pair of nice looking shoes..definately better than what i'd seen in all of my galavanting at the mall previously...but they weren't WHITE..they were BONE (which is a little bit nearer to ivory) i tried them on..and they looked okay...but the heel of them was brown like wood..instead of being white...and they did have pearls on them like everything else i'm wearing...but they also had some not as pretty beads.they were 1/2 price... i was about to just get them to have "in case"...when i turned around...and exactly behind me were the same shoes..but PERFECT.

they were white.
the heels were white.
the beads were EXACTLY like my jewelry.
(i felt certain these would be the most uncomfortable shoes on the planet. )
the moment i slipped my right foot into the shoe, another shopper --who, to me, seemed like a very wise woman-- said "oh my goodness! those look perfect on you!" and "You've got the legs for those" (and no one has ever told me that i have legs for any sort of shoes)
(and the shoes weren't uncomfortable at all.)
i looked at the woman and told her how i had just spent hours searching for these shoes ...and here i come to the nearest shopping center to my home, and there they are.
she replied "that's how life usualy is, honey"

i tell you...when i turned and found the shoes, i was pretty certain about them already...but she was like a messenger from the Lord.

because samantha asked how plans are going...

...and i have so few regular readers, i like to respond to them as proptly as i am able!

(i'd realy love for my readership to go up again...darn me taking so much time away from this blog!)

my goal for this week is to finally choose where we're ordering invitations from and what those invitations will look like.....hopfully all the way down to the wording...but that depends on when michael can work with me on that part...because i have a feeling he'll be better at it than i will.
(....i like run-ons....)

i'll at least make all the needed print shop visits and various phone calls and such this week to know where i can afford to best decide from...
...and by the end of next week weed down the invite list some more and redefine it...and fill in the blanks....
...and before march ends...we'll have them ordered so that we can get them back, address them, and have them going places before summertime is on us.

(ps....email me addresses if you would like to be included in the mail outs....i'll do my best to send to those who want to come! rjgosey at hotmail dot com.)

i also get to start deciding about shoes. i know shoes dont seem like anything difficult to choose to some people...but for me, i have a few criteria which must be met.

1. white shoes. not clear...not silver...not with gaudy metal stuff....not with ribbons to wrap around my leg.
2. heels with a little width. i cannot stand on toothpick heels...i'd die trying. but...i do want heels...otherwise, i'd just buy some slippers at belk and not be concerned with this at all. i am concerned. i want shoes that make me a little taller. (or maybe just a touch above short, as the case seems to be)
3. do not cost a rediculous amount. we're on a budget here. i like $20 enough.... i do not like $40... i'd need medication if i spent $70.
4. would go with things i wear after the wedding. i dont have any white shoes anymore...so while i'm shopping for some..they should be a little bit univesal.
5. dressy shoes. not flip flops... or brown heeled casual sandals...or the other beachy wear trend of white shoes i keep seeing.
6. i have to have this by the end of april. thankfully...its almost spring..so i should be able to find these soon.

recap: 1. please read my blog. 2. invitations soon. 3. shoes also soon.