grace eventually.

I recently celebrated my 4-year anniversary with Starbucks a couple of weeks ago. I just found this blog I wrote in honor of my 1st anniversary and thought I'd share.
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One year ago yesterday, I met Greg Melnyk, my first-ever Starbucks manager, along with Clay Mason and some other folks who no longer work for the company, for our first official training session. I was a little intimidated and uncertain of what my future with Starbucks would hold. A year later, I'm still with the company, only I'm in a new store in a different state. As I look back over the last year, a few things stick out. One, how quickly everyone in our store acclamated to one another when we opened the Nicholasville/New Circle store last July. When I left Lexington in December, only 6 months after my first day, I felt like I was leaving behind family. Two, I still love my job and although I have no clue how long I'll continue with the company, I'm excited to be a part of it. Three, when I visit other Starbucks when I'm traveling, I always check out the bathrooms...not for cleanliness per se but because I've seen some of the coolest bathrooms in Starbucks. Yes, I know this sounds weird:) Unfortunately, neither my old store in Lexington nor my new store in Ruston have cool bathrooms. Four, Greg told us during training that one day we would have this "Aha" moment when everything would just click. We would come to the point where we could make drinks and carry on a conversation without much thought and provide the legendary service Starbucks is known for. It's true...although I have no clue when my "Aha" moment occurred. And lastly, I've been at my new Starbucks for a couple of months now and although I still miss my Lexington family very much, the Ruston crew have welcomed me in and made me feel very much a part. I am grateful. I know I wouldn't love my job as much as I do if it weren't for the Starbucks partners.

I knew my life had been insanely busy lately, but I didn't realize how busy til I remembered that I haven't blogged in almost a month! I mean, I know you have all been waiting with bated breath to read my next post:) Let's see, in the last month I've said goodbye to 3 good friends and got word this weekend that another kindred soul passed away. Ironically I was out of town when I got the news...running away from the reality of my sadness here in Ruston. Funny how I've yet to learn that you really can't escape. The last time I went out of town was for a girls weekend trip for my birthday back in March. It was then I learned Andy was moving to Lubbock. I've been joking with everyone that I'm not going out of town anymore, lest I get bidded with more bad news. I've got enough change on my plate to get me through the end of the year, thank you.

In other, more positive news, Avery turned 3. This is from her birthday swim party. The girl is obsessed with Monsters, Inc., especially "Boo" so I had to search cyberspace to find her this doll since that movie is several years old. She loved it, of course. I'm constantly amazed at the things she says. One day Pop (Claire's dad) was talking to her about something and in the midst of that said her name. She looked at him and said, "Pop, my name is Petey-Pie!" She has a lot of names, but apparently Pop's nickname is her favorite:)