The other day after work I needed to pick up a few things for dinner so I swung by the grocery store on my way home. I was pretty hungry and had been craving red Gatorade for a few days, but that's beside the point. I had just a little bit more than I could carry to the car, so I took the cart out and put the groceries in the car. Naturally, I had purchased my red Gatorade and so I pulled it out of the bag to consume on my way home. I was holding that and my keys in one hand and trying to maneuver my cart back to the cart return with the other. Just then a guy walked past me, returning his own cart, and said, "Here, let me take that for you," and returned my cart for me!
It really was such a small thing for him to do, but I was cold, hungry and feeling a little harried. That small gesture meant a lot. So to the random grocery store guy: Thanks! and keep up the good work. This world needs all the random acts of kindness it can get.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A New Year, a New Post
Okay, okay, okay. I admit, blogging is not my thing. But I know that all my loyal fans out there want to know all the details of my extra-exciting life so I will try to post at least once a month in 2009. I was inspired by my cousin Brooke's "thankful" blog so I'm going to try that route. I think we could all spend a little bit more time focused on the things we are grateful for anyway, so here's my grateful list for January.
I'm grateful for:
1. The little baby BOY growing so well within me! We found out the end of last month that we have a very healthy little boy on the way. We couldn't be happier-- we both wanted a little boy first. We've decided to name him: Wesley Eric Avarell.
2. Snow boots and a snow/ice scraper/brush with a really long handle. At the beginning of the month, we got some SERIOUS snow in Provo and I was very grateful to have something to push it away with, even just a little.
3. My cat-like reflexes. Yesterday morning as I was rushing out to my car to go to work, I slipped (and went flying) on some sneaky black ice. It could have been much, much worse, but I landed on my hands and knees like a cat instead of on my face, belly, hip, etc. I came back inside and Eric helped me bandage up my skinned knee and wipe the blood off my pants. He's gonna be a good daddy. :)
4. My yoga class. I get to teach every Monday and Wednesday night. Not only does it keep me in shape, but I've made some great friends and gotten great advice from some veteran mothers.
5. The extra cute Moses basket I found for only $30. I saw the exact same one online elsewhere for $90. Gotta love a bargain.
6. Friends that let me hold their sweet one-month-old baby boy for about 3 hours. I can't wait to hold my own!
7. Trident Tropical Twist gum. Nothing else beats a sugar craving quite like it.
8. A stable job with non-crazy co-workers. Mostly anyway... we all have our moments. Eric and I have gotten really into The Office lately and I'm constantly grateful for the lack of drama/craziness in my BYU office. Relatively, of course.
8. A stable job with non-crazy co-workers. Mostly anyway... we all have our moments. Eric and I have gotten really into The Office lately and I'm constantly grateful for the lack of drama/craziness in my BYU office. Relatively, of course.
9. Grocery stores-- particularly the fact that I don't have to milk my own cows and butcher my own meat.
So there you have it. My first post of the year. I even tried to go the extra mile, what with pictures and all. We'll see if I can keep up the blog ambition. And maybe if you're lucky, I'll even think about taking/posting a belly picture one of these days!
Friday, November 14, 2008
You should try this sometime...
Tonight I didn't feel like cooking, I didn't want leftovers, and Wendy's just wasn't callin my name. Thanks to my big sis, we had a little leftover on a Macaroni Grill gift card she gave me for my birthday and that seemed to be just right.
So we get there and are promptly greeted by our friendly server. We took a ridiculously long time trying to figure out what the heck we should order and whatnot, but the server was prompt with our bread and water and not at all pushy or invasive about when/what we should order. The food came out quickly and the server was really nice the whole time. I must note that nothing was out of the ordinary, just plain old good service.
So here's the part you should all try. As we were leaving we stopped at the host stand and I asked to speak with a manager. She got that terrified look in her eyes and went to fetch him. He came out a minute later with that "I'm ready to put out the fire" look in his eyes and asked what he could do for us. I told him who our server was and that he had done an excellent job and that we were very pleased with our overall service tonight. He was grateful, relieved, and entirely thrown off. Let's face it, we live in a time when people are silent when things are fine and throw fits when anything is wrong. Having worked in restaurants, I know firsthand that it's a big deal when a customer talks to a manager about your service. When it's negative, you are in the dog house. When it's positive you are praised and rewarded. At one particular restaurant I worked in, the rewards were often more than just a "good job." They'd give prizes like gift cards!
Anyway, so the next time you go to a restaurant, take the time to tell the manager that your server did a good job. It will definitely make the server's day and it will be fun to see that terrified look in the face of the hostess because she assumes you will complain. And you'll feel good about yourself too. If the service is bad, let's just try to remember that those who work in customer service are people too. Regardless of whatever sleight you may have received, it's not the fault of the worker in the call center at your credit card company, the cashier at the store, or the deliverer of your plate. They are people too and we all have ropes that fray and sometimes we find ourselves at the end of. So let's do more to tighten one another's ropes instead of making them fray more, shall we?
There's my soapbox for the night. Maybe it was inspired by the lady who nearly drove my coworker to quit today and made another girl in a different office cry because she was so rude. She was furious because she had misunderstood directions that said: Send one copy of your portfolio to this office and another copy of your portfolio to that office. Because she had sent 2 copies to one office instead of one to both, it then became everyone else's fault that her life was now ruined and she'd never graduate. At that point name-calling and belittling ensued. Interesting. I find it interesting that when we make errors, we blame others instead of swallowing our pride, admitting our error and working out a new solution. I've definitely been guilty of this before, but the longer I work in customer service fields, the more aware I am of this occurance.
So let's be nice to each other and compliment strangers at any opportunity! Happy holidays and happy shopping. And best of luck all you customer servers out there!
So we get there and are promptly greeted by our friendly server. We took a ridiculously long time trying to figure out what the heck we should order and whatnot, but the server was prompt with our bread and water and not at all pushy or invasive about when/what we should order. The food came out quickly and the server was really nice the whole time. I must note that nothing was out of the ordinary, just plain old good service.
So here's the part you should all try. As we were leaving we stopped at the host stand and I asked to speak with a manager. She got that terrified look in her eyes and went to fetch him. He came out a minute later with that "I'm ready to put out the fire" look in his eyes and asked what he could do for us. I told him who our server was and that he had done an excellent job and that we were very pleased with our overall service tonight. He was grateful, relieved, and entirely thrown off. Let's face it, we live in a time when people are silent when things are fine and throw fits when anything is wrong. Having worked in restaurants, I know firsthand that it's a big deal when a customer talks to a manager about your service. When it's negative, you are in the dog house. When it's positive you are praised and rewarded. At one particular restaurant I worked in, the rewards were often more than just a "good job." They'd give prizes like gift cards!
Anyway, so the next time you go to a restaurant, take the time to tell the manager that your server did a good job. It will definitely make the server's day and it will be fun to see that terrified look in the face of the hostess because she assumes you will complain. And you'll feel good about yourself too. If the service is bad, let's just try to remember that those who work in customer service are people too. Regardless of whatever sleight you may have received, it's not the fault of the worker in the call center at your credit card company, the cashier at the store, or the deliverer of your plate. They are people too and we all have ropes that fray and sometimes we find ourselves at the end of. So let's do more to tighten one another's ropes instead of making them fray more, shall we?
There's my soapbox for the night. Maybe it was inspired by the lady who nearly drove my coworker to quit today and made another girl in a different office cry because she was so rude. She was furious because she had misunderstood directions that said: Send one copy of your portfolio to this office and another copy of your portfolio to that office. Because she had sent 2 copies to one office instead of one to both, it then became everyone else's fault that her life was now ruined and she'd never graduate. At that point name-calling and belittling ensued. Interesting. I find it interesting that when we make errors, we blame others instead of swallowing our pride, admitting our error and working out a new solution. I've definitely been guilty of this before, but the longer I work in customer service fields, the more aware I am of this occurance.
So let's be nice to each other and compliment strangers at any opportunity! Happy holidays and happy shopping. And best of luck all you customer servers out there!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Tagged, eh?
Alright alright alright. I'm new to this whole BLOG thing... A lot of times I feel awkward blogging because I never take pictures and I don't have kids to gloat or complain about and for the most part my life involves the same boring thing every single day. It bores me most of the time, why would anyone else find it interesting? Well, all that is about to change. Well, I'm not sure necessarily about ALL of it changing, but the kids part definitely will. I've been sick for a few months now, so I went to the doctor and they found a heartbeat in my abdomen. I wondered if maybe my heart had shifted down a foot, but they say it's a BABY!! So I guess technically I'm already a mom but I'll have real proof of that May 22. (And hopefully not a day later. Or a day sooner really, because I don't have enough sick days at work...)
So there you go. The news is out. People who read my blog probably knew anyway but now you all have free reign to tell your friends and talk about how many people are pregnant in Provo.
Back to this tagging business. Let me quote from my loving sister's blog:
PS--I blog tag LadyCarma, Staci (because she NEVER blogs and she's lame), Brittney, and Jenny.
I didn't know you were allowed to tag multiple people, but apparently I'm the only one lucky enough to get called lame. :)
Tag Rules: Go to the 3rd folder of your pictures and select the 3rd picture in. BLOG!
Wow, I can't believe I actually followed the rules. What a weirdo picture. I'm kind of dissappointed, because when I went into the My Pictures folder a different way, the third pic in the third folder was this really cute engagement picture of Eric and I. But when I went to upload the picture to the blog, they were in a different order. So here you go. And because it is only one pic in a pair, I'll post the other to be fair.
So here's the scoop. This is when Eric and I were dating when he was first back from his mission in Russia. We were at Cameron and Makena's place in Orem, where we were often in the early days... I think this picture was taken in March when Eric surprised me by coming out to visit with only 20 hours notice. :) He had come home in February, so he was still very post-mission skinny!! He had this GIANT chapka-- Russian hat, that I think is his most prized possession to this day. He just wore it for Halloween, actually. He thought the picture of me in that enormous hat was just the cutest thing ever. So there you have it.
And because I thought I was going to get to blog about this pic originally, I'll post it for you too:
Thanks to Gwen for taking all these cute engagement pictures for us. We felt a little awkward about the whole photo shoot, but it was still fun. My reactions to this picture: Awww, we're so cute and giddy! Eric's hair was kind of long... So was mine for that matter. And HEY!! Where the heck is that shirt!?!? I seem to have lost both that t-shirt and the undershirt... 2 of my favorite items. Don't you hate that?? And also, it's different to see me wearing just the engagement ring without the wedding band.
So there you have it all you blog critics. I have BLOGGED!
So there you go. The news is out. People who read my blog probably knew anyway but now you all have free reign to tell your friends and talk about how many people are pregnant in Provo.
Back to this tagging business. Let me quote from my loving sister's blog:
PS--I blog tag LadyCarma, Staci (because she NEVER blogs and she's lame), Brittney, and Jenny.
I didn't know you were allowed to tag multiple people, but apparently I'm the only one lucky enough to get called lame. :)
Tag Rules: Go to the 3rd folder of your pictures and select the 3rd picture in. BLOG!
Wow, I can't believe I actually followed the rules. What a weirdo picture. I'm kind of dissappointed, because when I went into the My Pictures folder a different way, the third pic in the third folder was this really cute engagement picture of Eric and I. But when I went to upload the picture to the blog, they were in a different order. So here you go. And because it is only one pic in a pair, I'll post the other to be fair.
So here's the scoop. This is when Eric and I were dating when he was first back from his mission in Russia. We were at Cameron and Makena's place in Orem, where we were often in the early days... I think this picture was taken in March when Eric surprised me by coming out to visit with only 20 hours notice. :) He had come home in February, so he was still very post-mission skinny!! He had this GIANT chapka-- Russian hat, that I think is his most prized possession to this day. He just wore it for Halloween, actually. He thought the picture of me in that enormous hat was just the cutest thing ever. So there you have it.And because I thought I was going to get to blog about this pic originally, I'll post it for you too:
Thanks to Gwen for taking all these cute engagement pictures for us. We felt a little awkward about the whole photo shoot, but it was still fun. My reactions to this picture: Awww, we're so cute and giddy! Eric's hair was kind of long... So was mine for that matter. And HEY!! Where the heck is that shirt!?!? I seem to have lost both that t-shirt and the undershirt... 2 of my favorite items. Don't you hate that?? And also, it's different to see me wearing just the engagement ring without the wedding band.So there you have it all you blog critics. I have BLOGGED!
Oh yeah, and I blog tag: Erlynne, Brittany, Allison and Makena!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
It's been a while
I just realized it's been over a month since I last posted. I can't believe how time flies. I wish I had more cool things to say... I'm lacking in that department these days. Since my last post, Eric and I each celebrated our 23rd birthdays! It's fun to be so close in age. We are only 10 days apart. Unfortunately, I'm the old lady of the relationship. I remember being 18 or 19, new to college and meeting a whole lot of 23 year olds. They were old to me then. Funny, huh? Funny how life does that to us. I don't feel old at all, but high school kids think I am. Most everyone else I associate with is older than me, which I'm pretty sure contributes to the fact that I don't feel old in the slightest.
Just a shout out for BYU football: Currently undefeated, ranked #8 in the polls, the only team in the top 12 with a shut-out, 2 to be exact. It's a pretty exciting time to be a Cougar. Unfortunately, we are too poor for tickets so we catch the games online or at friend's houses. However, Eric was lucky enough to be invited to tag along with a friend who had one extra ticket. So while he freezes and cheers for the home team, I'm listening to Christmas music and blogging. Go Cougars!
Just a shout out for BYU football: Currently undefeated, ranked #8 in the polls, the only team in the top 12 with a shut-out, 2 to be exact. It's a pretty exciting time to be a Cougar. Unfortunately, we are too poor for tickets so we catch the games online or at friend's houses. However, Eric was lucky enough to be invited to tag along with a friend who had one extra ticket. So while he freezes and cheers for the home team, I'm listening to Christmas music and blogging. Go Cougars!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Musings
I've been thinking all week about things I need to blog. Then I sit down to actually do it and I can't remember a dang thing. Lame. That's been happening a lot lately. I always have that awful lingering feeling that you are forgetting something important. That tends to come from repeated instances of actually forgetting important things. For example, every Thursday night for almost a year now, I have taught yoga at 10 pm. The worst feeling in the world is waking up at 11:05, realizing that your 20 minute pre-yoga catnap turned in to a full 2 hours and you've missed class. Whoops. Thank goodness that only happened twice... or so. Or there was one time Eric and I got home from a really fun date around 11 only to remember that it was Thursday and we had completely forgotten about yoga. Geez. Hence, that feeling of "I must be forgetting something" that ALWAYS sticks with me these days.
Last night I had the privilege of speaking at our ward's quarterly Enrichment meeting about service. It was really fun and I enjoyed doing it. The best part is, during the talk I happened to look at a girl who was saying "She's so cute!" to the girl next to her. And shortly thereafter, another girl said, "She's really funny." It's always nice to overhear people saying nice things about you.
So, Eric just finished his first week back to school and I experienced my first September of no school in 17 years. Weird. After having to drop 2 classes the first day of school, Eric came home and sat down with me and worked out an entirely new schedule. Oh and a new major. He's now "Exercise Science" instead of "Exercise and Wellness." Basically, he switched to the harder version of the major that he already was. This will make him more marketable and a better candidate for grad school or whatever he ends up wanting to do.
Anyway, Eric finally got Mario Party to work so I gotta go!
Last night I had the privilege of speaking at our ward's quarterly Enrichment meeting about service. It was really fun and I enjoyed doing it. The best part is, during the talk I happened to look at a girl who was saying "She's so cute!" to the girl next to her. And shortly thereafter, another girl said, "She's really funny." It's always nice to overhear people saying nice things about you.
So, Eric just finished his first week back to school and I experienced my first September of no school in 17 years. Weird. After having to drop 2 classes the first day of school, Eric came home and sat down with me and worked out an entirely new schedule. Oh and a new major. He's now "Exercise Science" instead of "Exercise and Wellness." Basically, he switched to the harder version of the major that he already was. This will make him more marketable and a better candidate for grad school or whatever he ends up wanting to do.
Anyway, Eric finally got Mario Party to work so I gotta go!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Anniversary to US!!
August 30, 2007-- Eric and I were married!! It feels like yesterday. Everyone told us the first year was the hardest, there is a lot to adjust to, etc, etc... We beg to differ. Here's a list of adjectives that Eric and I came up with to describe our first year together:
awesome
cool
non-stop party
fun
silly
adventurous
exciting
learning-full
wonderful
new
spiders everywhere
cold
hot
funny
friendly
Bet you can't guess who came up with which adjective. :) But really, I'm so grateful to be married to Eric. He's the cutest, sweetest, and best guy in the whole wide world. That's right, you can all be jealous. :) It's been an absolutely amazing year. One for the record books for sure. It absolutely flew by and I just can't wait to see what the next year will bring!
awesome
cool
non-stop party
fun
silly
adventurous
exciting
learning-full
wonderful
new
spiders everywhere
cold
hot
funny
friendly
Bet you can't guess who came up with which adjective. :) But really, I'm so grateful to be married to Eric. He's the cutest, sweetest, and best guy in the whole wide world. That's right, you can all be jealous. :) It's been an absolutely amazing year. One for the record books for sure. It absolutely flew by and I just can't wait to see what the next year will bring!
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