Team Marty ~ 1, Team Amanda ~ everyone else!

These last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting. Starbucks has been crazy busy and a lot of fun. I have decided to start learning all my customers names I have got about 20 of them down. Bon Appetite is slowly getting better, the bakery lead is leaving around Christmas and not coming back. We are all pretty excited about him leaving. With him gone, that means more responsibilities for the three of us left in the bakery. I will be taking over the catering side which means I now have a meeting every Thursday.
This last week was a little rough, Tuesday I woke up pretty late. I usually wake up at 3 am and get dressed and head to Starbucks but that morning I fell back asleep for 45 minutes and had to rush out of the house. When leaving my house I walked right into the biggest mambo jambo spider web EVER! It was seriously the size of my face! I wouldn't be surprised if Spiderman himself spun the web, it was that big. My face nearly bounced back...sadly the web clung to my face and I was for sure there was a huge hairy spider on me. All day I felt as though there were spiders crawling in my hair! I then went to Starbucks where I was a little grumpy and was pretty happy to leave at 10 am. When I got to Bon Appetite Marty decided to have a meeting with our Sous Chef ( She is second in command) to tell me how terrible of an employee I was. Needless to say I was pretty upset at the end of the meeting. When he went home for the day I went and talked to the Executive Chef and he told me that Marty is an idiot and not to listen to him. That made me feel a lot better! Don't worry my day wasn't quite over yet! When I got home, I went straight to bed only to find that Murphy had Peed on my pillows! Well I assume it was Murphy, Tori doesn't usually do that! So then I had to wash my pillows and ended up sleeping on a stack of towels! We think Murphy is mad at us because we aren't always home, about a week or so ago he peed on Tori's rain coat, luckily it was a rain coat and not her pillows! The rest of the week went ok, Marty started being nice to me again...although I don't trust it! Thankfully he will be gone after Christmas....Merry Christmas to us!

October

Well it has been a quick month and a half since I last blogged. Sorry, although I don't have internet at home and get off of work after the library closes...not so much my fault. Both works are going fine. I was a little stressed out there for a while. Starbucks was messing with my schedule and Bon Appetite was just frustrating. I now have a set schedule that I work and it is working out wonderfully.
A couple of weeks ago I had a wedding cake down in corvallis. I baked all the cake at my house and made buttercream at Aunt Mel's house. The cake turned out really nice. It was very plain but I usually feel that less is better. I drove down to Corvallis on Friday and spent the night at Aunt Mel's house and the next morning she and I went to deliver the cake. When we were done I hung out with Uncle Jack for awhile and then drove all the way back to Portland. Here is a picture of the cake, when I first dropped off the cake there was no table cloth of even flowers for the top. I am glad they changed that...It looks much better.


Since I now open Starbucks everyday during the week I have started to get to know the regulars more. My co worker Carolyn told me that I had to learn the names of 5 different customers during my shift. I actually learn 8! I mean really 5? come on give me a challenge! There is Judy ~ Grande extra Caramel, Caramel Frappachino, Janice ~ Venti non fat Caramel Macchiato, Taryn (the pregnant lady) ~ Grande 3 pump non fat no whip mocha, Don ~ Venti no room Americano with a double cup, Pete ~ Doppio espresso with 1" of steamed milk and a tall ice water, Shelia ~ Venti non fat no whip Hot chocolate, Ashley ~ either or both a tall Caramel Macchiato, Grande non fat extra foamy latte, Bobbi ~ Venti Light whip pumpkin spice latte. That's right I know my customers!
Last week I went to lunch with Sandra and after lunch signed me up for my 401K. Now I really feel like an adult! She invited me to go to the blazer game the next night. Our tickets were on the 100 level and we had so much fun! Her friends Woodley and Kristi came with us. I haven't watched a blazer game in a really long time! This game made me want to be a blazer fan again! We ended up winning by 2 or 3 points.



Things will calm down a little in December. Bon Appetite will close for about a month for Christmas break. So, if anyone needs any ganaches, turtles, truffles...let me know. I will be charging $10 for Ganache, $1.75 each for Turtle and $1.25 each for truffles. Or really if you need pies, cakes ect. just let me know!

My typical day with both jobs...

You might be thinking that waking up at 2:45am is just dreadful! Well, It kinda is. I usually wake up hoping that my phone is ringing or someone it texting me but it's always my alarm. I will snooze the alarm once but only once because I know that if I do again there is about 72% chance that I won't wake up until Carolyn calls me at 4am, to say I am late. So, I roll out of bed and flip the light on to see Murphy looking all distorted and mad because I am making him go outside. As he is outside I find the Starbucks uniform of Khaki pants and black polo that are most likely on my floor. I would like you all to believe that I am the type of person that folds my clothes after wearing them and puts them away or into the dirty laundry container. If you know me at all, you know that is soooo not the truth! I have tried to be that person but it doesn't work...I have come to grips with it, you should too! I don't usually shower in the morning on the days that I open, only because my 10 minute shower turns into 30 minutes. It takes everything in me to turn off the hot water. I don't know why Tori's house has so much hot water, the last 2 places I have lived you had at the most 7 minutes to get your showering done. As soon as I am dress I leave and head to work, I usually get there about 30 minutes early, if I fall asleep in my car waiting that's ok, falling asleep at home is not! When Carolyn arrives we both go into the store and start the opening process. We usually spend a lot of the morning complaining about the close the night before. We ponder why the 3 people closing couldn't find the time to fill the ice bin. They always leave a note saying "sorry about the close, we were really busy!" even though they are expected to be there till 10:15pm and probably left around 10:00pm. Filling the ice bin takes at the most 2 minutes depending on just how retarded you are! We finally open at 5:00 am and don't usually serve any one till about 5:30am. Then the regulars start flooding in starting with chopper guy, neck tattoo, Iced 5 shot venti vanilla latte guy, the funny grande coffee guy, extra caramel frapacchino lady who smells bad, lady that wears too much perfume, Chai guy who I hate....oh the list goes on and on and on.
around 8:30 am it gets really busy and the shift manager gets really quite hoping that I will forget that I have to leave at nine to start my commute to the other side of town. So, I start saying in the midst of calling back drinks "I gotta leave, Decaf iced venti with room americano, really I have to leave, Double tall nonfat no whip pumpkin spice latte, really guys I need someone to take over my spot" Eventually the next person on wanders out from the back to take my spot and I clock out grab my Iced Venti no classic green tea lemonade (which lights up my morning). I jump in the car and take off towards my house.
I sometimes depending on how much time I have, will go home and let Murphy out. Mostly I go straight to Lewis and Clark and try to find a parking spot near my building. Once I have parked I run into the kitchen walk back to the bakery and say good morning and drop off my purse. I then head over to the uniform rack and search through the pants to find medium with draw strings. Sometimes they have them and sometimes I have to wear the larges. I don't like sharing pants with everyone I work with but it makes me feel better that the ones that really gross me out are a lot bigger then a size medium. The pants are elastic band with drawstring and tapered leg. I personally feel that whoever came up with the tapered leg look should have been shot. It's one thing if they are skinny legs all the way down but another thing when they poof out at the hips and then taper down to tiny little ankles. These pants seriously were made for people with the "Frontal Butt" or in the medical world it is known as a "Panis". Seriously I have room to fit a fairly large watermelon in the front of my pants! Really, I am not lying to you! The jackets I don't have a problem with, They are always the same. The changing room is our bathroom with one stall and about five feet wide. So, you have to be quick with you changing pants because if the door opens anyone walking by sees you naked. My day in the actual bakery is mostly uneventful. Marty my boss goes over the list he wants me to do for the day which the list usually takes me 4 or maybe 5 hours. I will make what we need for dinner around 800 pieces of dessert with 5 different choices including 1 vegan choice.
The rest of the day goes by without too much craziness. I try to leave work at 6:30 pm for my full 8 hours...but sometimes there just isn't enough for me to do. When I go home Murphy is sitting an the couch barking at the leaves falling until I walk in and he runs over to greet me. I try to relax for an hour and half and then head off to bed only to start the whole day over again. I know I have made it sound glamorous but it's not as great as it sounds.

3am...it's early!

No worries guys, I am still around! Now that I have 2 jobs I am a little bit busy. We don't have Internet at the house so I usually go to the library to blog...and since I work 10am to 6:30pm (the same hours as the library) I don't get to go to the library that often. Starbucks is going good...although they did just fire our Manager and we don't have a manager currently, but for the most part it is going well. I usually open for them during the week. We open at 5am, I have to be there by 4am which puts me getting out of bed at 3am!
Bon Appetite is fine, I don't usually work 40 hour for them and the job is easy and kinda boring. I do really like the people I work with so that makes it nice. There is this one guy who seriously is the smelliest guy I have ever met. He stinks of B.O. I am not sure how someone goes around smelling so bad. I always know if I smell...although I usually don't smell. All he has to do is walk in the bakery and the whole place smells of him! Even the yummy cookie smell is killed by his presence!
I went to my friend Sandra's office in downtown to figure out my 401K with Starbucks and found out I have 2 shares of Starbucks stock. I am not sure where they came from but I have them! I have had them since September 2005...I am guessing Starbucks gave them to me, but don't remember being told and I don't remember buying them...oh well!
The only other thing going on in my life right now is the 4Th season of Prison Break! Hooray they brought back Dr. Sara Tancredi! Those of you who don't follow the show they chopped her head of in season 3 and well it turns out it wasn't her! Hooray!

I Love the Olympics!

I am never as patriotic as I am when I watch the Olympics! My favorite events are Swimming, Women's Beach Volleyball and Gymnastics! After watching these events over the last 2 weeks or so I have decided that I want to be Shawn Johnson. Not only is she miniature and cute she is pretty darn good at what she does.
I have also decided to become an Olympic swimmer. I figure I have 4 years to become the best in the country...not a problem. Think of the fun I will have going to the Olympics! I would definitely become good friends with Michael Phelps, they would talk about our great friendship in interviews and we would say things like "we're practically brother and sister". We would listen to the same music on our ipods, and have stories about stupid stuff that would only make us laugh.
While I was racing the cameras would pan to the audience to show the reactions of my family and Debbie Phelps. Which they would all be excited and crying because I would have just beat the world record and won the gold. When the award ceremony came around I would wave and hug and kiss my competitors and I would stand all proud and probably cry and sing along when they played the national anthem. I might as well, I almost cry and I do sing every time just watching it. The big story would be about how I decided to become an Olympic swimmer at age 28 and made it to my first Olympics at 32! So, all I have to do now is basically learn to swim. I mean I can swim but not for a long distance and not very fast...but like I said...not a problem!
I thought about going into Gymnastics but lets face it, I am about 5 foot 10ish and really I am a giant among those girls! I can't even do a cart wheel, hurl my self towards the ground and relying on my arms to catch me is really not a good idea! Beach Volleyball could be fun but I have always kinda hated volleyball! I mean I played volleyball in middle school because that's what 7Th and 8Th grade girls did. I also played for church but that was really just so I could go to the tournament and see my friends from Idaho and Washington. So, I figured I wouldn't enjoy it again, not to mention the fact that they play in a sporty bikini! I mean really I am not about to do that, the other day the announcer said told the whole world that one of the Belgium girls was 6 foot 4 inches and weighed 195 pounds! Really, the whole world Folks! I mean she didn't look bad in her bikini but still did we really need to hear her weight? Wish me luck on becoming the World greatest swimmer!

I worked a lot this last week at Starbucks and also found out I got a job at Lewis and Clark College through Bon Appetite. I will be a pastry cook there and work Sunday through Thursday while maintaining my job at Starbucks. I think it will be fun and tiring. So wish me luck!

I also This last weekend made a cake for Hannah B. She was hosting a bridal shower at her house and needed a cake. So, here's a picture of that cake. She really liked it, although I was having issue with my butter cream because that day was pretty hot. It still looks pretty good and you can't tell in the picture!

Back to the bucks!

I got hired last week at Starbucks. I am pretty excited, I did love working at Starbucks! So, for now I will work as many hours as they give me until I get a full time job and then I will only work less then 20. It's the Starbucks out by the Airport right next to IKEA. So, feel free to stop by and say HI if you're in the area!
Last week I went to the Dolly Parton concert! It was great, she sang some oldies but goodies and some of her newer stuff. My sister and parents were also there. Then next day we headed out to Estacada to go camping with the whole family. The wasn't the greatest but it only rained Saturday morning. We had a lot of fun playing games on Saturday afternoon and roasting marshmallows at night. I was glad to get home, a whole weekend of chasing kids wears me out!

haircuts with hannah!

This last week Hannah B and I got our hair done at Phagans Beauty School. It only cost us $5.50! A steal if you ask me. I thought that Katie did a great job on both of our haircuts. I don't have a picture of Hannah's but here is a picture of mine.