I love my Husband

I saw this picture floating around on Facebook and I had to share.

#1. I love squirrels - I am an Alpha Gamm, so, that's a no brainer.

#2. I love this picture and the caption.

I seriously have the sweetest husband in the world.

He is the one person who:

Can make me feel better

I want to share all of my hopes and dreams with

I want to grow old with

Can understand my quirks and love me for them

Shares my humor

Wants me to be successful and happy

Loves me just for me (alright, I stole that line from Darius Rucker, but you get the picture)

I am so grateful for this man!

He makes me heart smile!

Workshop in Cincinnati

I had a whirlwind weekend in Cincinnati, more affectionately know as "Cinci"

I woke up on Friday morning, had breakfast, got ready and packed my toiletries.

I called a cab and was driven straight to the airport. 

I went through security, sat down at my gate and watched an ABC.Go show while I waited for my flight.

I got on the plane, headed for Chicago. I did some work, on a presentation, and watched some shows.

We landed in Chicago and I had some time to spare, so I sat down at an airport restaurant and ate dinner, even though it was about 3pm PST...

My friend Lindsay has been raving about this Chicago popcorn, and I saw a shop for it, so I decided to get some - lets just say, I was not disappointed!

The popcorn is a mix of Carmel Corn & Cheddar Corn - mmm mmm, good!

Also, the toilets in Chicago have plastic seat covers that rotate around...

Is it polite or the "right" thing to do after you go to put a clean one on?

ha!

Whats the protocol??

I got on the plane from Chicago to Cinci, deboarded and went to the curb to grab a taxi.

Taking a cab from the airport is interesting because you pay before you get in the cab. You tell them where you are going, they tell you the rate and you pay.

I liked that because there is no room for "taking advantage" (!!)

I made it to the hotel around 10pm local time - yeah...I  lost the entire day! My flight from LAX was at 11:40am and I landed at 9:30pm!

Ouch!

I skyped with the hubster and then went to sleep - which was hard because by the time I was ready to sleep, my body thought it was 9pm!

I woke up on Saturday, had the most amazing Ricotta pancakes at the hotel restaurant, and headed for set up at 8am.

The event start at 10 and went a little over on time, to about 1pm.

We cleaned up, and went to lunch before heading to the airport.

We made it to the airport in time to charge our phones and sit for a few minutes.

We were on the 5pm flight out of Cinci, Dallas Bound.

We landed in Dallas with few minutes to spare - I grabbed a FroYo and we boarded the plane to LAX.

We landed in LA at around 9:00pm (our flight out of Dallas was delayed)

We stopped at TJ's and got a frozen pizza brought it home, ate it and watched some TV - I was pooped, to say the least!

In the span of less than 24 hours, I was in CA, IL, KY, OHH & TX - Talk about exhausted!

It was fun, made a new friend at work and got to rack up some air miles, Credit Card points and eat the most delicious popcorn!!

Happy Monday to all!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 53

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: Can I just call you Jane?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

????????????????

(My Mind) Me: Sure, Dick.

(My Mind) Customer: My name isn't Dick?

(My Mind) Me: Well, mine isn't Jane.

Only in a perfect world... ha!

<fortunately, as you now read this...I am in my new position! yahoooo!!>

LAJC Pumpkin Carving 2012

When I moved to LA, I decided to get involved with the LA Junior Circle for my college Sorority.

I have met the most amazing women through this organization and I am so grateful to be part of such a wonderful group of women!

The first event that I attended was Pumpkin Carving, and that was one year ago, so I was excited to host the pumpkin carving event this year!

We had it as a potluck theme, so everyone brought their own pumpkins and then a dish.

We sure had quite the spread of food!

(And drinks)

A great turn out! And we even had a new-to-LA Alpha Gamm sister join us too!

We had such a great time carving and chatting!

The Alpha Gamma Delta Pumpkin!

I made a witch! It looked great lit up!

My Favorite Girly, Lindsay!

My awesome pumpkin!

Sisterhood really is amazing, full of love, life and spirit!

I had a great afternoon with these ladies!

Check out how I roasted the pumpkin seeds!

More than excited...

I have been working in customer service for over a year now. 

It is fun, exhausting, silly, frustrating, comical

Everything under the sun,

Ever emotion out there, I have felt while working in this position.

I have worked very hard over the last year.

To show that I am determined.

To show that I am a hard worker.

To show that I can handle more responsibility.

To show that I want more responsibility.

I have been the go-to for most projects that have come through our department, because I am a go-getter.

I want to prove that I am dependable.

In this position, I have traveled around the state and the country.

I have been yelled at.

I have been a callers therapist.

I have been moved into a different role.

I have spoken to interesting people, with interesting stories.

It is now time for me to move on!

Yes, that is right, move on!

No more silly Customer Service or eServices stories...
(Ok, well you will get a few more, because I have a few that are scheduled)

You wanna know why?

Because I have been promoted!!

Yes, you read that right!

It is my time to shine!

To prove myself to a new boss!

To learn the new ropes!

Today is my last day, and I am only working 1/2 day and I start my new job on Monday!

This day is bittersweet.

I am scared!

I am grateful!

I am nervous!

I am relieved!

I am soooo excited!!

Cheers to a Happy Friday and a Relaxing Weekend!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 52

I have recently come to realize that I have a crazy name...

Ok, I have always knows..

Well, I realized it in college..

Ok, tangent..

The fact that I have a hard to pronounce/understand/hear/say/spell name is very prevalent right now because I am in Customer Service and am constantly saying my name and everyone is constantly mispronouncing it or giving me new names...

I just got this one:

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: What was that? I didn't get that?

Me: Laaaa Taache

Customer: La Tache? Ugh, You guys these days with these names

What?

What is that supposed to mean?

Sheesh!

Jewelry

Today, I am not wearing my watch or earings!

I feel completely, utterly naked!

I never understand how I can forget to put these items on...

It is part of my daily ritual? 

What happened differently this morning?!

oops

#firstworldproblems

Does this happen to anyone else?

What is your piece of jewelry that if you forget to put it on you feel totally lost and your day can't be the same as it would have been if you were fully dressed?

DIY Lotion

On my Friday off, my great friend and I pampered ourselves!

A new nail spa opened up near my house, so we tested it out and got pedicures!

(First time for her! I have converted her)

Then we walked over to Trader Joe's and got some snacks and Coconut Oil for our DIY Lotion Making!

This is super easy!!

(inspiration)

I have never used Coconut Oil before.

First - it comes in a jar...what?

Second - when I opened the jar it was a solid...

Yes, the oil was solid...ha!

I guess I was a coconut oil virgin ;-)

I scooped out about 1/2 of the jar into my handy-dandy red kitchen aid and then put the splash guard attachment on and whipped it on high until it was fluffy.

While it was whipping, we added a couple of drops of lavender essential oil and after about 5 -6  minutes we tested it out.

The heat from our hands when we got some on our fingers turned the "lotion" very oily and it still smelled very much like coconut.

We ended up adding more coconut oil and a lot more lavender. 

Then we scooped it out of the mixer and put it in saved jars.

This is very oily. 

The scent is very soothing, it still has a powerful coconut fragrance to it and a hint of lavender.

Rich says I smell like a tropical princess! 

ha!

(brownie points for him!)

I think that I will mainly use this right before I got to sleep on my hands and feet.

This was super easy and it is definitely nice to know exactly what is going in to the product that I put on my skin!

Thursday Night =My Friday Night

Every few months, I do not work Friday so I can work the Saturday shift.

It can be nice to have a week day off to get some errands done, or to just have a nice break from the normal work week.

Last weekend was that for me.

Which means I have 2 Friday nights and no Saturday Nights during the week ;-)

It was rainy and gloomy in 'always sunny' LA and it was a rough day

Thursday was a rough day, so I texted Rich and asked him if we could have a quiet evening in.

He was more than on board!

We made soup, rented Inception (to watch again) from Redbox, lit all of the candles and snuggled on the couch with some wine!

It was a perfect Friday Thursday Night!

(Soup Recipe here)

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 51

Me: This is La Tache, how can I help you?

Customer: I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.

Me: Laaaaaa Taaachhhee

Customer: Oh, well they left the "a" of it!?

Me: ....?

Customer: I usually hear that name Latosha (Or however you spell it! I wouldn't know because it isn't my name!)

Are you for real?
Sheesh...

Smiling is Good for Your Teeth Food Blog!

Good Morning All,

Merry Monday!

I have created a new blog for all of our Food, Recipe and Restaurant adventures!

Check it out and enjoy!

A Day in the Life: Education Services Day 9

A customer wasn't able to get signed in to his account, so our automatic system sent him an email with a temporary password. He emailed us to let us know that it wasn't working, so I reset the password to 123 and then explained to him how to change the password once he signed in.

This is the reply I got:

"Thanks for the 123, since you think I am such a idiot, but your "svk30471" pass word did not work. "

<Speechless>

Yes that is what I said...{insert air quotes} "you're an idiot..."

Why on earth would you go there?

Ugh..people..

Sheesh...

Veggie Menu (Week 11)

 Monday: Hot & Sour Soup

I wasn't feeling all that great, so my sweet hubster went down to get me some yummy soup!

I am so lucky!

Tuesday: Grilled Vegetarian Paella with Basil-Tomato Slaw

This was really tasty! 

It definitely took a long time though...

Of this recipe, I didn't use fennel, but I used all of the rest of the veggies listed and for the "slaw" I didn't have Chinese Black Vinegar. (I did add about a teaspoon of soy sauce, though.)

I only used 2 cups of rice and there was a ton leftover! 

Wednesday: Leftover night...

Leftover Polenta from last week, Hot & Sour soup and Veg Paella!

We ate a lot...

This was a short week...
More recipes to come next week!

Happy October

Happy October!

May October bring you lots of Treats and the patients for lots of Tricks!