Garages

Since we've moved to our house in late April, I've been observing our new neighborhood and the surrounding area from a different point of view. Garages have definitely caught my attention, especially since we now have a two-car garage of our own. One of the things that strikes me is how different every one's garage is, and how you use your garage says a lot about what is important to your lifestyle.

For example, one of our neighbors has a two car garage, with one half of the garage dedicated to being used as a home gym, complete with a heavy bag and mats to stretch out on. The other half is used to park their sporty car. I'm definitely envious of their dedication to their health and fitness!

Others in the neighborhood have their garages packed to the gills with boxes and other flotsam and jetsam from their lives. So much so that over 75% of our neighbors can't (or don't?) park their cars in their garages. This leads me to wonder: what is it about our society that tells us that we need "more, more, more" ... so much more that we fill our garages with boxes and other items so full that we can't put our cars in the garage?

For our garage, we're trying to strike a healthy balance -- parking both vehicles inside as well as storing seasonal items like our camping gear or our Christmas decorations. What does our garage say about our lives? Well, I'd say that it says that we've moved in, but there are still a few boxes left to find a home... until then, they're stacked neatly in our garage. It also says that we're working on being good gardeners, starting with the basics and working our way up... slowly! :-)

What does your garage say about you?

Cirque du Soleil and New Furniture

Last weekend was another whirlwind! We spent Saturday morning at an estate sale, where we scored a great black leather recliner for an absolute steal, and my mother purchased a beautiful -- but heavy -- dining set. And there were a lot of stairs between the street and our new furniture.

While I enjoyed lunch with friends from college, Lennie and my mother began scheming on how they were going to get the furniture out of the house and back to the Eastside. It was great to see my friends from Whitworth; great conversation and some good laughs. As I was leaving, I learned that my family had rented a truck, and I headed to meet them back at the estate sale. After a lot of heavy lifting by many, and a few close calls on the stairs, the furniture was safely secured within the truck and making it's way to my parent's house. The table looks great in my parent's dining room, and I find the new recliner to be quite comfy.

On Sunday, we took advantage of the elusive Spring sunshine and got some work done in the yard. Sunday afternoon brought us back to my parents, were we enjoyed an early dinner before taking in the Cirque du Soleil show "Kooza." The show is being held under a big top style tent at Marymoor Park in Redmond. Much like the show "Ka" that we took in last month while in Las Vegas, the show was amazing. I was surprised that our back row seats still had a great view, and that the theater felt intimate, even though it was me and 2,499 of my favorite Seattleites! If you get a chance to see the show "Kooza," I say go for it -- it's definitely a great show!

Sold! Closed! Happy Birthday to ME!

Wow, what a ride. For those of you following along with this blog, you may remember that we put our condo up for sale on February 1st. Well, as of today it is sold and closed. Done deal. Finito. On the books; recorded with the county and all that jazz. Happy birthday to me! :-)

Nobody prepared me for what an emotional ride this would be, but I'm very happy to have this leg completed. Lessons learned:

• If you're selling your home, you should definitely have a real estate agent show it. No homeowner should have to endure hearing people's commentary on the small nit-picky points that they don't like about your home.


• It's not personal, it's business -- but sometimes it's still frustrating and hard to take yourself out of the equation.


• If you're going to call the power company to cancel your account, be sure you write the number down correctly... there's a big difference between 1-888... and 1-800... trust me on this one!

There were a few other lessons learned, but for now, I'll leave it at that... and you'll definitely want to trust me on that last point!

Closing today was quite the birthday gift, that's for sure. Over the past three years, great things have happened on my birthday, and I sure hope the trend continues -- here's to another great year!

Banking & Customer Service

On Friday, I decided to stop at Starbucks for a morning mocha before work. As I sat at the drive through, I handed my debit card to the barista (as I have done many times before), and awaited my coffee and my receipt. Instead, I was embarassingly informed that my card was declined four times. Yep, declined. I was incedulous, to say the least, because I had just been paid, and there was well more than the $5 required in my account. After paying for my purchase with a different card, I hurried to the office and called the bank.

Once I finally got through to Bank of America's customer service line, I was informed that my card was turned off because I was part of a "mass compromise," and a letter would be mailed to me; my new card, it seems, was mailed to my original bank branch without my knowledge, and had been sitting there for the better part of two weeks. Nice. The nice customer service lady informed me that the police had simply called and provided the bank with accounts that may have been stolen and needed to be turned off. This would have been all fine and dandy if they had informed me that they were turning my card off. Instead, the letter telling me that the card was beind deactivated was attached to the new cards; the same cards that were mailed without my knowledge to the bank branch. UGH.

To make matters worse, they cut off my hubby's card too -- his new cards should be at our house sometime soon, we think, but the customer service people don't seem to know, nor are they willing to give us more information. Nice...

Lesson learned: the key to good customer service is to communicate with the customer. Let them know what is going on with their account before it is rudely cut off... or before it sends your customers in a panic thinking that their accounts have been drained. Yep, simple communication would have made me a much happier customer!

Where the Pets Go?!

I am the proud owner of two fantail goldfish. They're pretty low maintenance, nice to look at, and sometimes entertaining. I recently cleaned out the fish tank and discovered that I was in need of some supplies to keep the tank in tip-top condition. So, I ventured to the nearest chain pet supply store at the mall to grab a few items. As I was standing in the back of the store looking at the different options on the shelf, I noticed something moving by my foot. Not just any something... oh no, it was a big fat roach skittering across the floor, coming out from it's hiding place right underneath the shelf I was looking at. To say that I was grossed out would be a little bit of an understatement. My first instinct was to stomp on it and then run away completely grossed out.

But then, I had one little thought: "Is it really okay to kill an animal (okay, a roach) in a pet store, or is there something a little wrong about that?" Needless to say, I let the little critter live.

A little disconcerting, though was the response that I got from the completely appethetic worker at the check-out stand. I walked up quite calmly and stated that perhaps they should consider cleaning the fish section of the store, as there was a little roach friend who was making his home there. The checker looked at me blankly and said, "Uh, okay... did you find everything today?" Yeah... and then some!

Perhaps it's time for me to start shopping at the non-chain pet store down the street... at least I haven't encountered any roaches there yet!

Holiday Happenings

For the long Thanksgiving weekend, Lennie and I were fortunate enough to join some friends at a cabin in the mountains for some much needed rest, relaxation, and fun. We completely disconnected from the world -- after logging off of the computer at work on Wednesday afternoon, I stayed away from computers for over five days. Our cell service was spotty, so we were really cut off from the world. I loved it, as it's not often that I'm not a slave to my cell phone or the computer.

We joined our friends and their family on Wednesday evening after a pleasant drive over Snoqualmie Pass. The night was punctuated by the kids making pies in the kitchen while the rest of us lounged and chatted. Thursday brought a bevy of people (over 20 people joined us throughout the day), cooking, and walking by the lake. It was wonderful and overwhelming all at the same time. The family welcomed us in with open arms, and it was fun to learn more about one another.

I attempted to teach the girls how to knit, which they seemed to enjoy. Hopefully they're on their way to successful knit scarves -- we'll see!

Friday brought drizzle and clouds, so we made our way in to Suncadia Lodge to try to take the kids ice skating. Unfortunately, we got to the rink too late, so we explored town for a little bit, and we ran into an old friend at a local coffee shop. I had the opportunity to catch up with her after not seeing her for over a year. What a fun surprise!

On Saturday, Lennie was fortunate enough to go out quading with our friends. He came back a little sweaty, but with a huge smile on his face. I suspect that it was the highlight of his weekend, but haven't confirmed it. After a great pasta dinner, we packed up the cars and went back to Suncadia for a night of ice skating. The trees were adorned with festive lights and Christmas music hummed in the background. It was warm out, even when we weren't standing by the fire, which made for a great evening out.

We packed up and traveled home on today, stopping at the outlet mall on the way home to score a few new items.

For me, the best part of every Thanksgiving weekend is putting up the decorations. So, despite our miserable colds and fatigue, we put up the tree. It's twinkling in the corner as I type this, and I can't help but smile as I look around the house at the different decorations. We've got snowmen by the front door, stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and I'm ready to greet the holiday season.

So there you are, you're now up with the holiday happenings around our home. I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday weekend too, and that this message finds all of you healthy and happy.

Yay!

It's the best time of year: Dreyer's Apple Pie ice cream is back. I have searched high and low (literally) for weeks for this wonderful delight, and today, I finally found it. One lonely carton of Apple Pie ice cream awaited me in the Safeway frozen foods section, and now it sits in my freezer. I have been anticipating the first bite all afternoon... yum!


Welcome back Dreyer's Apple Pie ice cream, oh how I've missed you! :-)

Selling the Car

So, we've decided that it's time to part ways with my vehicle... seems that we have the opportunity to take over a car that Lennie actually fits in, so we're going to take the plunge. Know anyone who wants a great car in the Seattle area? Let me know. Here's the nitty-gritty details:

1990 Acura Legend Coupe
Sporty commuter vehicle in good condition.

Price $2,200 (obo)
Mileage 155,000
Year 1990
Make Acura
Model Legend
Body Style Coupe
Transmission Automatic
Drive Front-wheel drive
Engine V6
Exterior Color Beige/champagne
Interior Color Beige
VIN Provided Upon Request

Features/Options:
- Air conditioning
- AM/FM stereo
- Single CD player
- Multi CD player
- Cruise control
- Power steering
- Power windows
- Power door locks
- Power seats
- Leather seats
- Moon roof
- Anti-lock brakes (ABS)

Other Special Features:
- Driver-side airbag

Well maintained and economical -- perfect for commuters or young drivers. "Sport" gears for highway driving, moonroof to enjoy sunny Seattle days. Comfortable leather bucket seats will make long drives a treat.

Roomy trunk is perfect for shopping sprees at Costco or for storing your sports gear after a big game.

After-market Kenwood CD system includes single CD player with removable face and a remote control up front, 6-disc changer in trunk. Instruction manuals included for your convenience.

Check out photos and my snazzy ad on Craigslist.

Weekend Wanderings, Customer Service, and More

We enjoyed a blissfully relaxing weekend, lounging around the house, doing laundry, napping, and generally being mellow. On Saturday night, we trekked up to Everett and Mill Creek for Mindy's birthday bash. It was fun to reconnect with old friends, while meeting new people too. Our annual trip to McCabe's dance club was nice, although the upstairs DJ definitely missed the mark. Oh well, it was still fun.

This weekend brought a mysterious mishap with our laundry, which led to us replacing clothing that was less than a week old. UGH. Needless to say, we had to do some additional shopping this afternoon. I have never seen such crazy customer service in one day in my life. We experienced salespeople who didn't seem to care that we wanted to check-out, let alone had entered the store. When we did finally get someone to check our items out at one women's clothing store, we couldn't get the woman to honor our discount -- despite the fact that we met the terms and conditions on the 25% off coupon. I wasn't in the mood to argue or push the issue too far, but if she had simply said "Gosh, I wish that I could help you with this coupon." instead of "Huh, it won't take it, too bad!" it would have been a different situation.

While out shopping, we decided to stop at a reputable restaurant chain and eat a nice but quick dinner. The waitress was nice enough, but didn't seem to fully understand why I was completely repulsed when we discovered a short hair on Lennie's dinner plate towards the end of the meal... and the hair was not the color of anything that would have come from us. Yuck-o. She was nice enough, but I don't think that we'll be going back any time soon... or ever for that matter.

At the end of our shopping trek, we stopped at Target to pick up a small album and a few other personal hygiene items. Just a quick trip to my favorite store. When we went to check-out, I was horrified as the clerk began commenting on the personal items that we had purchased, including very personal details about his life and our choices from the store. It's a good thing that I can be generally happy-go-lucky, but I can't imagine a worse check-out experience, especially if I embarassed easily. Yikes. Lennie had to return to Target this evening to pick up another album, and he did have a short conversation with the manager about the situation. Hopefully some additional sensitivity training will occur, so that others don't have to experience what we did.

So, my question of the weekend is this: is customer service dead? When did it become acceptable to act like it's an inconvenience to service your customers? Is it ever okay to comment on the personal items that people are purchasing? (Hint: the answer to this one is no in my book). Why do we allow people to give us shoddy service? And what can we do to find the happy medium between "royal" treatment where people are bending over backwards for our service, and the space where you feel like you have to beg to do simple tasks like check out at a store or not have people invade your personal life with inappropriate chitchat at the cash register?

In other (happier) news, we finally finished populating our wedding albums, and the professional photo album is being delivered this week. With over 450 photos, we definitely have the day covered. However, if you're out there in Internet-land reading this, and you have photos of our wedding, please send them. We can't wait to see the photos that you took too.

Economic Stimulation Vacuum

Today, Lennie and I concentrated on treating ourselves, as well as running errends and clearing the clutter out of our house. I had purchased some vacuum storage bags, which worked well (despite a few false starts), and saved us a multitude of space. I cleaned out my closet and dresser drawers, purging my wardrobe of two garbage bags worth of Goodwill donations. Go team.

In keeping our house clean and/or livable, we have struggled with vacuuming. For the most part, we say "yeah, let's vacuum today," but we never get around to it. So, we decided to participate in some economic stimulation, and broke down and purchased the iRobot Roomba.

This machine is quite possibly one of the best frivolous purchases that I have ever made in my life! The Roomba careened it's way through our condo after being charged up, sucking up dirt and retracing it's path again and again to be sure that everything was clean. Not only is it practical (hello, who likes doing housework?!), but it's really entertaining to watch. Oh, Roomba, where have you been all of my life?

Nuts For Wasabi Nuts

I was recently introduced to the Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Sauce almonds, and I have to say, they rock. Usually, I'm not a fan of wasabi or spicy foods, but these little almonds hit the spot. In fact, I purchased my very own can of the almonds at the store this morning as a snack for my new desk, and I can't tell you how great these little nuts are -- they're spicy and satisfying all at the same time. I think you should try them too... :-)

New Shoes

I had the greatest day today, and I attribute a lot of it to my new shoes (and possibly short-timers syndrome, but who knows?!). You see, I bought a cool pair of new kicks last weekend at the Nordstrom Rack, and I actually think that they're cool. They're Nike sneakers that are light on my feet and actually make me a little bouncy. And how can you not feel happy when you have great shoes on that make you want to skip around?

Coincidentally, I've had the New Shoes song by Paolo Nutini running though my head today too:

Hey, I put some new shoes on,
And suddenly everything is right,
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling,
It so inviting,
Oh, short on money,
But long on time,
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine,
And I'm running late,
And I dont need an excuse,
'cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes.

I love my new kicks. I'm so excited about them that I've included a photo here too:


You might have to trust me when I say that these shoes make my feet look really cute. :-)

Hustle & Bustle

So, the holidays are here. I've got my iPod hooked up playing my massive Christmas music collection in my office (who knew that a girl could own so many holiday CDs!), and the air has a crisp chill to it. Downtown streets are overflowing with holiday shoppers (and browsers), the Macy's star is lit up (I love that tradition!), and there are lights everywhere you look. Does it get any better than this? I think not!

I'm very excited to report that I finally have a replacement Rodney Reindeer for my Hallmark collection... he's back friends, and now available at your local Hallmark shop. My two (why do I have two?!) female reindeer will no longer be lonely. Yay!

Bring on the holiday cheer!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love the start of Christmas season. The air is crisp (and sometimes downright cold), the leaves are all changing in the trees, and the holiday lights and decor is going up around the town. Yesterday, I was preparing to cross the street from the bus tunnel, and I noticed the finer details on Santa's headquarters at Nordstrom -- including fake snow on the eaves of the temporary sidewalk HQ. I love it! And today, oh today, I noticed that the Nutcrackers have invaded the downtown sidewalks.... I love it! (Check out the Nutcrackers online.)

One week left until I get to put the tree up and trim the house festively! Yippeee! Time seems to have gotten away from me (where did this year go?), but I'm excited about the start of the holiday season. Bring it on!

Weekend Wanderings

Early this weekend, Lennie and I outlined a plan of action, including items like paint the bathrooms, do laundry, get new cell phones, finish our wedding album order, try a new church event, and go to the gym. I'm pleased to report that we have completed most of these tasks... we just didn't make it to the gym, big surprise. I'm exhausted as I type this, but I'm pleased that we we got as much accomplished this weekend as we had set out to do.

I "heart" Costco. Earlier this week, we stopped by the T-Mobile store in search of our new cell phones. After an unsuccessful high pressure sales incident, we left without any new phones to "think about" our options. We both fell in love with the new Blackberry Pearl phones, and decided to purchase them this weekend for the sale price of $149 each at the T-Mobile store. On a lark, we stopped at Costco just before going back to the T-Mobile store. It's a good thing that we did, too! Membership truly has it's priviledges with Costco, as we purchased the identical T-Mobile phones for $30 each, plus our activation fees were waived and we were able to sign up for our two-year plans on the spot. In total, I think that Costco saved us $300 this weekend on our new cell phones. Costco, I love you!

Perhaps on another post, I'll tell you why November 14th will be my last day with Sprint. I'm still too angry with them today to even vent about it on my blog right now... argh! Darn lack of customer service!

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. The bathrooms need another coat of paint, but that was to be expected. They look really good though, if I do say so myself!

Staple, Staple, Staple!

Okay, so I'm really not a fan of Jack in the Box. In fact, I haven't eaten at a Jack in the Box willingly since the Seattle-area e coli outbreak nearly 15 years ago. That's half my lifetime, friends, so as you can see, I'm not a fan.

However, lately their marketing has permeated my brain. As I was stapling a document at work yesterday, I found myself thinking "Staple! Staple! Staple!" (Get out of my brain, Jack! Get out!) Just like the cheerleader in the commercial. So, I must share this great work of marketing magic with all of you:



"Copy, copy, copy...." oy vey!

My Big Pet Peeve: Follow-up

So, I broke down and bought a mocha on my way to work this morning. Lent is over, but I had not stepped back into my coffee habit until today. I was tired, and I needed it. (And it was good, but not as good as I remembered it, frankly.)

However, I will say that the Seattle's Best Coffee clerk that took my order is lucky that I was tired, because I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind. You may remember my post a few weeks back titled "My Big Pet Peeve." Well, seems that this clerk, who is at least 6 years younger than me, decided to call me every pet name under the sun including "honey," "sweetie," and "darlin'" in the span of three minutes. OH, and all of these names came AFTER she had gotten my name with my order. Seems that all of her colleagues could call me by name ("Here's your drink, KermitFan, have a great day!"), but a mere 15 seconds after she had gotten my name, I was still "sweetie," "darlin'," and "sugar."

Dargh! I'm fighting back against pet names next time! :-)

Rave: MyJewelrybox.com

So my friend Honeybee turned me on to a new Web site, and so far I'm impressed: MyJewelrybox.com. I ordered a gift through this site last night, and the next morning I received a telephone call verifying the shipping address on my order and confirming that I placed the order. Within ten minutes of that conversation, I received an e-mail stating that my order had been approved and that I would receive a shipping confirmation within the next twenty four hours. An hour later, I had a shipping confirmation e-mail complete with a tracking URL. I can't wait to see the order on my doorstep! Stay tuned!

Customer Service

I read a blog post today from Service Untitled about the value of being insistent in customer service. He took a really interesting view of customer service -- from the service provider's perspective. That is to say that he talked about the value of being insistent in giving great customer service to your customers, even when they are not demanding it.

I had a similar experience to the one mentioned in the Service Untitled blog. Last week, I had the pleasure of organizing dinner for ~18 of my coworkers at Buca di Beppo. Since dinner is served there family style, I coordinated with the waiter to place the food and drink orders. I was particularly looking forward to the order of eggplant parmesean that was on the list. Keeping a special space on my plate for the eggplant, I anxiously awaited the eggplant to be passed down to our section of the table. It never came. In fact, it never arrived at the table. Satisfied, but a little saddened, I mentioned it to the waiter as he prepared to clear the table. (If we didn't receive it, I simply wanted to make sure that we weren't billed for it.) The waiter took it a step further for me -- and insisted on giving great customer service -- and delivered a special order of eggplant parmesean to me with the to go boxes... on the house. I not only left satisfied, but I'm definitely a fan and will be going back. (Besides that, the two nights of eggplant parmesean dinners for Lennie & I was wonderful!)

Do you have customer service experiences to report like this too? I'm all ears!

More Wedding Progress!!!

I'm very happy to report that we can check bridesmaids dresses off of the "wedding to do" list.

I'm even happier to report that Costco delivered our invitations today. We ordered them a mere four days ago and UPS attempted to deliver them to me yesterday. Talk about great customer service and delivery! I can't wait to get home and check them out!

Now if only I could find a great florist that's within my budget... any recommendations, friends?