Merry Christmas!!!

Just in case I don't post again for a long time, Merry Christmas!!!!

I haven't posted in a while because I've been so busy.  We're crazy busy at work and my days off have been packed.  Let's see if I can remember everything that's happened since I last posted...

Mary's friends Nick and Afton played a show at a wine bar in town.  Nick plays the vibraphone (and occasionally piano) and Afton sings.  It was really cool.

Dee had her birthday.  Her birthday is the 20th, but since everyone was leaving for Christmas, and it was a Thursday, she celebrated on the 15th.  We got all dressed up and ready to go out, but since I had to work in the morning and Corey had just gotten home from work, him, Grant and I drove separately.  Long story short we didn't end up meeting up with them :(  But it sounds like they had a lot of fun, and we offered to go out with Dee on her actual birthday since we'd be around, and both Corey and I had Friday off.  I also made some awesome Carrot Cake Cupcakes because Dee really likes Carrot Cake!

Thursday we ended up just staying at home for her birthday because she had to work Friday and everyone wanted to save money.  I think she was a little upset at first because a lot of her friends weren't able to make it, but she ended up having a lot of fun.

The 21st, the day after Dee's birthday, the world was supposedly going to end, so at about 2am we climbed up onto the roof just for fun.  It was cold, but over all a really nice night out :)

Angelo (Mary's boyfriend) and Dee

Me and Dee

L to R:  Me, Dee, Marcos, Mary and Angelo (taken by Corey with a cell phone)

Grant's roommate, Adam, also made it out here from Michigan.  He'll be coming to our Christmas get together.  I baked awesome cookies for people to decorate.  Cookie cutters from the awesome ikea.

Now I want to watch Rocky and Bullwinkle...

Mary wanted to get a real tree this year, but then she had her unexpected trip to China, and about a week later left for Minnesota.  So we never ended up getting a tree.  I think I improvised pretty well though:

I've gotten lots of cards and presents in the mail.  Thank you all!  I really wanted to send out cards since I wouldn't be home this year, but just ran out of time :(  My Uncle Pete and I wanted to get together at some point, but we're both so busy that it's not going to end up happening.  However, he did stop by and drop off some brownies this morning as I was sitting here typing this!  I had one with my egg sandwich I was eating for brunch, and they're good :) 

Boog's also getting into the Christmas spirit with the new sweater Mary put on him before she left:

Dee keeps calling him a watermelon

I have been taking some time as I walk around town to take pictures and videos of some of the cool places and Christmas decorations in.  Is there anything you want to see?  There's a comment section at the bottom and I believe you don't have to sign up to use it.  So just let me know and I'll see if I can get a picture!

And once again,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas at the Americana

Boog was a homeless dog rescued by someone Mary knew, and I'm starting to think that he was raised by cats in his early years.  Sometimes while sitting with you he'll sit there and lick your hand, like a cat. Recently he's been really into curling up next to me, he has to be touching me somehow.  And the past couple of days I swear he tries to sit on my lap every time I try to use my laptop.  He's also really good at portioning his food, especially for a dog that was once homeless.  You fill up his bowl whenever it's empty and he'll slowly eat it over the course of the day, rather than gobbling it down as soon as he gets it like some dogs. Here's Boog in his new sweater Mary bought him :)

Looking Snazzy!

Today I walked down to the Galleria and Americana to do some Christmas shopping.  On the way there and back there was an older man playing guitar and signing, with full amp and microphone.  Coming back there was a guy playing either a brass clarinet or soprano saxophone.  Inside the Americana there were 4 bell players.  While wandering around later I saw them in a few different spots singing Christmas Carols.  They also had a stage set up and a free outdoor concert going on.  Something about Radio Disney and the next big star or something.  Whatever it was, there were lots of screaming tweens/teenagers around.  Because of that they weren't doing the snow thing, so I wasn't able to get a picture yet :(

While I was there Corey went on his lunch break, so I hung out with him while he ate.  He also discovered that Rite-Aid sells scooped ice cream.  What?  Yeah!  Apparently Rite-Aids in California sell Thrifty Ice Cream.  Corey and I each got a single scoop sugar cone for $1.69

Walking home I passed a store having some sort of red carpet event.  I couldn't figure out what the store was, (side note, I'm now typing this with Boog sitting on my arm and the front part of my laptop.  He somehow wiggled his way under my arm and into my lap) but I had to walk through the parking spaces along the street because they were taking up the whole sidewalk.  There were girls all dressed up getting their picture take in front of a backdrop, and tons of camera men. 

Sometime I'm going to have to go around taking pictures of the city I live in and all of the cool places here.

Friday night about 10pm my phone started ringing.  Because it was so late, I figured it was Grant calling to see if Corey and I wanted to hang out.  I was surprised when I ran upstairs to grab my phone and Target was on the ID.  They wanted to know if I wanted to pick up a couple of shifts next week :D  My third week and I'm already getting extra shifts.  Yay!

Why my job and roomates are awesome.

I didn't manage to get a picture of the snow because I picked up a few extra hours at work. I took something to Corey at work today though and got this picture of the giant tree in the Americana:

I took a picture of the snow that one night with my phone, but I can't figure out how to get the pictures off of my phone :(

My manager also gave me 2 free bottles of tea the other night to try so I can explain what they taste like to guests.  Cool perks from my roommates' jobs:

Free clothes from Mary who works in the fashion industry:

Cheap Playstation and controller that the Sony store was raffling off and Corey won:

They're also fixing his old PS3 for free.  And Dee got a second job at a Thai restaurant.  She thinks she might be able to get free Thai food :) 

I forgot to mention before, but we had our first visitor from Michigan.  He was actually here just to see us though.  An actor friend from MI flew into and out of Burbank to visit his son stationed up in Monterey for Thanksgiving.  He stopped by the night he flew in and stayed here a couple of nights before he flew back.  It was nice to see a familiar face :)

Also, I think I mentioned our friend Grant got his own place.  It's technically in a different city, but it's right on the border of the city I live in, and only like 10 minutes away driving.  He has a friend driving out from MI to live with him.  He moved in just before a couple of Mary's friends from the Thanksgiving party were moving in together.  So Grant got some free furniture and stuff from them.  It's cool how things like that work out :)

I've also been baking!!!!

Ciabatta Bread

Cornbread Muffins

Tuscan Bread

Various cooking levels of chocolate chip deliciousness

Ahh!  My spatula couldn't handle it all and broke :(

Work

Work's been going really well.  Apparently I'm picking everything up really quickly and they're really impressed with me :)  I should hopefully be fully certified soon!  My manager also agrees that the hiring process at T is a mess.  No one ever told her when the new people were going to be coming in for training, we just kind of showed up.  And she told them they needed to hire people early to get them trained in time for black Friday, but they didn't (almost everyone in Starbucks worked over time that day).  She was supposed to be involved in the interview process for Starbucks team members, but they kept scheduling them on her days off.  But, I'm really glad that I get to work in a department when I can actually interact with and get to know my co-workers rather than just being a faceless employee at a giant store. 

Apparently at actual Starbucks the employees get free drinks, free bags of coffee, tips, etc. that we don't get since we're not a "real" Starbucks.  But, my manager is awesome and tries to reward us whenever she can.  Rather it be getting the store to comp us a drink, or yesterday's gift, a Lego Star Wars flashlight keychain:

Lego Stormtrooper keychain/flashlight

I also really like that since T has their own janitorial staff we don't have to do stuff like take out the trash or sweep and mop the floors.  I haven't had to wash dishes yet.  There are dishes, but I haven't had to do them yet.  And there aren't nearly as many as there were at Quiznos.

In other news, my roommate Mary gets to go to China for her job.  Her boss was going to do something with the production line and joked about her going with him. Well, she showed up to work Monday morning and he sent her home to get her passport to make sure it was still vaild and everything.  She leaves Thursday night!  So that was unexpected for her.  She doesn't really want to go, especially since it's with her boss, but at the same time everything's paid for (flight, hotel, meals, etc.) so she's excited to sort of have a paid vacation.

I also keep finding cool stuff in the city I live in that I never realized was there.  It'll be some place I've driven past a million times, but when walking by, or driving a bit further down the road, discover it.  Like along the main road there are a bunch of restaurants, stores, etc.  But every so often there are little inlets where there are more stores you can't see from the road.  There's also a fountain with giant frogs the spit water in one of them.  I drove past a park the other day with old men sitting at tables playing chess just like in the movies and on tv.  I knew places like that actually existed, but have never seen it in person.  There are a million other things I've discovered, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Also, the Americana (the outdoor mall where Corey works) is all decorated for Christmas, and every hour it "snows."  They have a bunch of foam float down from an upper level and it looks like it's snowing.  It was snowing when I walked home from work yesterday and it was super pretty.  I didn't have my camera with me, but hopefully it'll be snowing on my way home tonight so I can get a picture.  :)