Fun in the sun

I am having a blast here in LA with my sister! So far, I have:

• Been to the beach
• Eaten fish tacos
• Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
• Spent more than enough time in traffic on the freeway
• Seen the "Hollywood" sign
• Cruised the streets of downtown LA
• Seen the entrance to Paramount Studios
• Been to Mann's Chinese Theatre
• Gotten a photo with my hand in Cary Grant's hand print (my very favorite old time actor)
• Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
• Been to the Kodak Theatre
• Seen my fair share of strange characters
• Had a lot of fun with the Biola admissions staff
• Told my infamous toenail story to a room full of people, and given a bag of Chex Mix to Andrea's boss, who loves the toenail story
• Missed Mike and Kaitlyn
• Eaten at some fun little restaurants, and had the BEST bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich EVER
• Sat outside at Biola's coffee shop for an entire morning, sipping coffee, enjoying the cool California breeze, and checking email
• Enjoyed my time catching up with Andrea
  
• Did I mention missing Mike and Kaitlyn?
  

My conference officially starts in a few hours and I'm looking forward to networking with other PR/marketing/communications professionals from Christian colleges. I know I will learn a lot - I seriously hope my head doesn't explode because of all the information - and pray that I'll be able to take one or two really great ideas and implement them when I return to the office.

I know the next two days will be great and I don't want to wish them away, but seriously, I can't wait for Saturday when I get to fly home and see Mike and Kaitlyn!

Freebies from Chipotle

I wanted to give an update on the guacamole incident I had at Chipotle and give them props for their great customer service.

I emailed them to recount my conversation, and the next day I received an email response which had been copied to about ten more people who work at Chipotle. The woman who responded did a great job of acknowledging the situation and apologizing for my strange experience, and offered to send me a coupon for a free entree.

The next day I got a call from the manager of the Chipotle store, also apologizing for my experience and offering me a free burrito the next time I stopped in. I went in on Friday to take her up on her offer, and not only did she give me a free burrito (with guacamole, of course) she also gave me free chips and a drink.

Woohoo! It definitely pays to (nicely) give feedback!

Wax on, wax off

By the time this post is up, I will be on a plane to California to attend a conference. This is pretty amazing, considering the budget cuts that have been made and the fact that most of the departments at my college had their conference/travel budgets slashed to zero.

The other amazing part is it is being held at Biola University (located outside of Los Angeles), which just happens to be where my sister Andrea works. Woohoo! I get to stay with her for the week and am going out a day early to hang out with her.

Last week it hit me that I really am going. To a professional conference. In Los Angeles.

As this reality sank in, I suddenly felt very Mid-Western. And a little frumpy. And more than a little mom-ish.

For three years things like painting my toenails and having perfectly groomed eyebrows have not been at the top of my priority list, and I felt a pannicked need to move them back to the top. How could I have let these kinds of things go? When did I fall into that mommy slump?

I've spent the rest of the week reevaluating my clothing and shoes and jewelry and purse and sunglasses and what ever else I could possibly find to be insecure about.

(It doesn't help that Aunt Flo was visiting and brought along more than enough hormones to skew my ability to rationally evaluate the situation.)

Yesterday I pulled out the nail polish and proceeded to paint my toenails. Kaitlyn, of course, walked in and wanted to know what I was doing. She proceeded to get in the way, and I suddenly remembered why painting my nails had gone to the bottom of the priority list.

Today I opened up the new waxing kit I picked up at the drug store earlier this week. My eyebrows and upper lip were in need of some attention.

Unfortunately, Kaitlyn was more than willing to provide me with plenty of attention as I tried to read the directions for melting the wax in the microwave. And melting the wax turned out to be much messier and more complicated than what the directions indicated.

After spilling wax on the kitchen floor and spending several minutes stirring/melting the sticky, gloppy mess, I proceeded to the bathroom for the next step.

I managed to do my upper lip and had started to get the wax spread around my eyebrows when Kaitlyn found me. She was being a little high maintenance, so there I was, trying to concentrate on finishing the job and keeping an almost-three-year-old from spilling the wax or grabbing the tweezers or getting into anything else destructive.

(In case you were wondering, this is not the ideal situation for practicing your multi-tasking abilities.)

I thought I had succeeded and was about to rip away one of the wax strips when I heard her say "uh-oh" and looked down to find a suction cup in the toilet. She seemed facinated by this, and I caught her arm just before she threw a second suction cup in. (The suction cups are ones that keep falling off our shower organizer.)

I took the suction cup away and turned around just in time to see her begin to reach her hand towards to the toilet.

"Oh no. No no no. NO. You do NOT need to get that out of there."

After convincing her that the suction cup would be okay (until I retrieved it later), and a discussion about how you never throw things in the toilet, and you never reach in the toilet, I finally was able to finish the waxing job.

I also realized why, like the nail polish, waxing is something that hasn't been at the top of the priority list.

Then I went out into the kitchen and had to have a discussion with Kaitlyn about why we don't reach into the trash and take things out.

I'll miss her, but I am looking forward to not having to deal with this kind of stuff for a whole week!

Some things just don't make sense

I have lots to blog about.

Charcoal.

Free burritos.

California.

But they all pale in importance to what I did today. I attended the viewing for a 23-year-old who died very suddenly on Saturday, while playing a video game.

I walked into the room and saw Kyle's precious wife, sitting on a stool by his casket, surrounded by her family, sobbing. No woman should ever become a widow at such a young age.

Not that there is ever a right age for someone to become a widow, but it seemed so out of context, so jolting, to see this beautiful woman who just a year and a half ago was a blushing bride and now is burying her husband.

I work with Kyle's mom, Mona. She took our family photos two years ago. She worked with my sister for many years. She is such a woman of God, a mother who I admire, and a huge prayer warrior. I don't talk to her very often, but when I do have the privilege of talking with her I always walk away feeling blessed.

I'm having a hard time with the fact that she has to bury her son.

Some things just don't make sense.

I guess that's why we have a big God.

In the midst of great sorrow over Kyle being so suddenly taken away, there has also been great joy. One of his friends started a Facebook group in his memory, and I've loved reading the stories and seeing the photos people have posted. Kyle was a great guy who embraced everyone, loved to have fun, and loved Jesus with all of his heart. That is evident in every story and photo shared.

I met Kyle one time, when he came into my office on campus. I remember thinking, Yep - he's definitely Mona's son. What a genuinely nice guy.

After reading all the stories about him, I find myself wishing I'd had the privilege of knowing him better.

I guess that's one more thing to look forward to about heaven.

If you think about it, please say a prayer for Kyle's wife, Chelsea; his parents, Joel and Mona; his siblings, Alyssa and Austin; and the rest of his extended family and friends.

Who's on first, trying to buy a burrito

On Monday I stopped at Chipotle to grab some lunch. It was only the third or fourth time I've eaten there and each time it's felt a little Soup Nazi-ish to me. As in, "I don't have time to act nice or explain the different salsa choices, or even tell you that I'm asking you about salsa, I'm just going to mumble off the four choices and expect that you will shout your answer to me as quickly and efficiently as possible and if you don't know exactly what you want by the time I'm done mumbling then please don't even bother to order and move out of the way for those customers who know the drill and are willing to follow it to a T."

Or maybe I just happen to go there during PMS weeks and am super sensitive this?

Anyway, I have to share Monday's conversation with the Chipotle worker because it felt like a strange, guacamole-themed version of "Who's on First." I had ordered a "Burrito! Vegetarian!" from the first guy, who then passed it off to the girl with whom I was about to have a very confusing encounter.

She mumbled the salsa options exactly as I described above, then looked at me annoyingly while I paused to comprehend what she had just asked me before I said, "Oh, uh, fresh tomato."

Chipotle Worker: Sour cream?

Me: Yes.

CW: Cheese?

Me: Yes.

CW: Anything else?

Me: Um, no.

CW: [proceeding to roll up my burrito]

Me: [realizing that I didn't see her put guacamole on it] Oh, wait. Does it come with guacamole?

CW: Yes. [pauses the rolling, gives me a blank stare]

Me: Oh - did you already put it on?

CW: No. [stare that is 50% blank, 25% annoyed, 25% teen attitude]

Me: Um, ok, [thinking maybe it comes on the side?] does it come on the side, or do you put it inside?

CW: It goes inside. [looking at me like I have three heads]

Me: But you didn't put any in it?

CW: No. Most people don't want it.

Me: Ok, well, I want the guacamole. [Thinking: am I really having this conversation?]

CW: [acting like I'm a real problem customer] I don't put it on unless people ask because most people don't want it.

Me: Doesn't it come automatically? I mean, the sign says -

CW: [looking at me like I've now sprouted orange parking cones on top of my three heads, and huffing like I am the most demanding customer she has ever had the displeasure of dealing with] Yeah, but most people don't want it so that's why I didn't put any on.

Me: Well, I didn't ask for it because the sign says it comes on the vegetarian burrito.

CW: Yes, but most people don't want it. So I leave it off unless you ask for it.

Me: [Thinking: It seems that you're the one asking for it. Also thinking: NO GUAC FOR YOU!]

Am I missing something? Am I stupid for assuming that, since the sign said it would come with guacamole, I wouldn't have to ask specifically for it?

The burrito was very good, and I relished every bite of my hard-earned guacamole. I guess all's well that ends well. (And next time I'll know to ask.)

Linking Up

Here are some miscellaneous (and interesting, at least to me) links that I've found in the past week...

What do onions have to do with the Kingdom of God? Here is a great devotional by Pastor Ryan @ This is Reverb.

Making movies and memories - a fun (and funny) summertime post by Melanie @ Big Mama.

Newsweek article, Mothering As A Spectator Sport, written by Lenore Skenazy from Free-Range Kids, a new-to-me blog. Interesting food for thought.

A wedding is not a marriage, by Carrien at She Laughs at the Days. I found the marriage article at Blissfully Domestic, and just visited Carrien's blog today for the first time. If you think about it, please pray for her as she had a miscarriage this week. I look forward to visiting her blog in the future - she is a great writer.