Bad retail and good retail

Something you don't think about very often: one retail job is not like the other. Yes, they definitely all have bad hours, long shifts, annoying customers, etc. But some stores are places people WANT to be, and some stores are places people do NOT want to be. For example: Hallmark. If you're going to Hallmark, probably 90% of the time it's because you are celebrating a birthday, holiday, wedding, etc. There's that 10% that you're getting a sympathy card or just have to get an obligatory gift, but usually you're pretty happy to be at Hallmark. Then there are auto parts stores. There, probably 90% of people are disgruntled because their battery died and they need a new one, or they have to replace their spark plugs, etc. There are the 10% of people that just need some air freshener or some new car wash soap, but in general people are probably not thrilled about having to fix their car, even if it's just regular maintenance. Somewhere like Target is probably more blended: maybe 25% of people are going to get some new fun clothes or a new CD, 50% of people just need some new laundry detergent and are pretty neutral, and 25% of people are there because they're sick and need some cold medicine or whatever. Just an interesting thought.

Dust overnight?

Yesterday Geoff and I were dining out and it was late in the evening. A waitress was putting glasses out on a table near us and I said "oh, looks like they're getting ready for tomorrow". Geoff said "If they're getting ready for tomorrow, she should put those glasses upside down so dust doesn't get in them!" I laughed. Dust overnight?!? I think it's ridiculous (not that dust couldn't get in them overnight, but I wouldn't worry about it one way or the other for one night). What do you think?

A good and a bad

Haven't felt much like blogging lately, not sure why. I definitely owe you an update on our weekend at Oma and Opa's, and my shower/bachelorette party this weekend. Both were a blast!

Just today I discovered that gmail trashed 2 / 3 comments on the Raw Celery Disease post! Odd. They were fun to read... too bad I didn't get to read them when they were actually written. And why 1 of them wasn't trashed, I dunno. ESPECIALLY since Blogger and Google are friends!

I just cleaned off my desk with desk cleaner. It was nasty. I need to do a big desk cleaning – like major overhaul. Go through all of my papers I’ve been accumulating for 3 years, file them or toss them, clean off everything, put up new pictures, etc! I have all of these pictures from graduation, senior week, etc. I need to move on. Freak.

On a positive note: I have finally gotten to a point where I love running again and it doesn’t kill me to run for 10 minutes at a time. YAY!

(I can run for more than 10 minutes. It just seemed like I was at the point of 10 minutes = death for much longer than I should have been).

Raw celery disease

Have I blogged about this before? I get what I call "raw celery disease" when I eat raw celery. It feels like what I think heartburn feels like... an odd pain in my esophagus. I wouldn't call it a burning, but it just HURTS. Pressing on it or rubbing it can sometimes help. Here is what I find on the internet in my self-diagnosis process:

- eat raw celery to help stop heartburn (umm... not so much!)
- from wiki, raw celery can sometimes cause numbness in the mouth and tongue (no, this is the esophagus / chest area)
- raw celery can cause an allergy, but the allergen doesn't go away when cooked (not me either, cooked celery seems okay)
- raw celery can be helpful in alcoholism (just interesting)

There is NOTHING on raw celery pain in the esophagus. What the heck?!

And it's July.

Hello dear friends. Last Thursday was fun... we went out to dinner with our friends Kendra and Beau, then over to their house where the guys played poker with some of Beau's friends and Kendra and I talked. We are already planning our "couple's weekend" for this winter! Kendra and Beau have done it the last two years. They rent a beach house and invite 3 or 4 couples to come and hang out. We went last year and it was a blast! This weekend Geoff and I had "date night in" on Friday - he cooked lasagna and we watched Breach. Not a bad movie, and our first $1 movie from the Redbox! Saturday I woke up and went to the gym, then I went downtown and had brunch with Kristie, then shopping and sitting out at the park. Such a fun day! After that Geoff and I looked at some condos and townhouses. As fun as it would be to buy something that would be more space-appropriate for us and also newer with a more modern kitchen and pre-wired and stuff... it would just be dumb. Honestly. We have fabulous roommates that are fun to live with and provide an additional source of income, plus I just refinanced in December because we both committed to living here for the next 4 years at least. Obviously refinancing doesn't absolutely commit us, and I can think of a couple of reasons we would consider moving, but just to live in a new place is not one of them! It was very fun to look at though. This was our favorite one... we looked at a few other developments as well, one in a VERY nice area of town, but the quality of building didn't seem to be as good, which was a big dealbreaker. They didn't even have linen closets upstairs... and I am VERY particular about storage space! Plus in the Marin (the one linked above) instead of the bedroom 1 / study downstairs, you could have more garage space, which Geoff would LOVE! He'd have a shop area which would be great for him, and I'd love it too because it'd be great for storage. Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and then we went to Russell St. BBQ. Saturday night I had a very vivid dream that the Devil was attacking me, that I won't go into here for fear of freaking people out. Sunday morning I went to church, then I did some laundry and cleaning at home. Sunday evening Geoff and I went for a run together which was a blast and then we went to a very nice dinner with his parents! They took us out to a really great restaurant, and we got to talk about all sorts of stuff. They are having an engagement party for us on July 21 and they asked all about what food, music, flowers, etc. that we want. We are so thankful they are having this party for us and we are grateful for whatever they want to do. We also talked about wedding plans and they offered to very generously help us financially and otherwise with much of the wedding! We were so surprised and blessed by their offers. It was a great evening.

This is not to discount all that my parents are doing as well for the wedding. They have so graciously agreed to host the reception at their house (well, our Dallas reception... we are still going to have an Oregon party at a later time!!), and my mom has spent much of her summer making invitations, announcements, etc. for our wedding. They have provided so much for us and we are very thankful. We are incredibly blessed to both have such wonderful parents that we have grown up having a good relationship with and that we continue to have a good relationship with - and not just me with my parents and him with his... it goes both ways!

Oh, I forgot I wasn't going to talk much about my wedding on my blog. I suck. Monday I went to the gym until 7. Our teacher, Emily, was back from maternity leave and we had a GREAT workout! She looked incredible for just having had a baby 3 months ago! After that I went home and could tell something was wrong with Geoff... turns out he has to work a double shift on July 4th, which means he works until 8:30. He was so upset! Plus his friends were going to see Transformers and had an extra ticket, but he didn't think he'd be able to go because we were supposed to go to Portland Running Company to get him new shoes. I told him to go on ahead, and he did and was very thankful! He had a great time at the movie and I had fun making a lamb recipe that I saw on Rachael Ray. It turned out pretty well! Today I have my Remicade and then we'll just eat leftovers for dinner.