Later Partner

In case the title confused you, Starbucks employees are all partners. I'm saying goodbye to my partners! Today was my last day at Starbucks. It was a bittersweet goodbye. It was a fun team at Pine Street and it treated me well, but now onto other business (I'll tell you about the new stuff soon. Just keep an eye out for a new post in a week or so. Did I just get you excited? It's like something big happening right before a commercial break or a season finale on TV).

I'll miss my partner friends. However, it's not goodbye, but a see you later. I mean I live in Seattle - it's not like I'm moving away! (that here is a hint of what's to come in that exciting next post). I got some beautiful dried flowers from the team as a goodbye...



Things I'll miss: partners/friends (duh), making awesome foam, drizzling caramel on caramel macchiatos, easy access to coffee (and saving dinero on lattes), free pound of coffee every week + discounts, cool customers, remembering each Monday I get tips, and some other things.

Things I won't miss: hurting myself on hot liquids or cheese, bumping into random things (oh wait, I do that at home anyway), waking up at 4am, clopens (that's a close and then an open shift), tired feet, taking out the trash, washing my hands every 2 minutes, dealing with crazies, and some other things.

I'll miss this cool apron, pins, recognition cards, and stuff. And Zachy-poo was supppper sweet and said I was Wonder Woman and gave me this MAC lipgloss (from Mac's Wonder Woman make-up line)...Awww.



I'll just have to visit (and be a customer).

Taking Care of Business

Josh will be taking care of business soon because I have some excellent news...Josh is employed! Woohoo! Yippee!

"Details, Heather, give me details," you say. "The details, huh? Well, alright."

Josh graduated from law school back in May of this year. You may think graduation is the end of the road, but oh no. There is still months of studying and testing. He studied long and hard through the summer for the big, evil law exam that took place at the end of July. Then there was...dun dun dun...the question: law or not law. Josh decided somewhere in between. Hence, the beginning of the job search.

As many of you may know, search for a job is like a job in itself. It takes a lot of effort and time. Resumes, cover letters, emails, web searches, networking, and that's just part of it. Josh has been working is rear off the past few months. Going back and forth mainly with Deloitte and similar firms on jobs close to law but not. For instance, words like security, privacy, contracts, and compliance pop up. Luckily, Josh had some friends and connections in the industry that were a huge help in getting a step in ("the door"). And he got there --  all the way in the door, past the entrance, and into the house.

This past week he got two offers. A blessing for sure! But a very tough decision too. Both great offers, both positions something he'd enjoy, and both generous. After a lot of thinking, pondering, talking, and more thinking, Josh made a decision. He's going back to Uncle D. Back into the Deloitte family.



What's the position? He's going to be a Senior Consultant working on reviewing contracts and some other stuff (ask him, he'll give you the details). The first year or so, there will be travel. Sigh. However, the travel may be fun...Bay Area (visiting time!), SoCal (home!), and Portland (old stomping grounds!).

When does it all start? The first day is after Thanksgiving on November 29th. First, however, we must celebrate with cupcakes (from Trophy Cupcake):



And now the work begins...

Hello Seattle

I'm alive! I'm connected! I'm in Seattle!

Sorry for the long delay in posts. Life had been, well, hectic lately. Time is flying. I can't believe it's mid-August. Josh and I have really had some big changes in the past 11 days.

Timeline Highlights:

• Thursday, 8/5 - The movers pack the truck


• Friday, 8/6 - Josh and I drive up to Seattle, and the movers unload


• Monday, 8/9 - My first day at work


• Tuesday, 8/10 - Don and Nada arrive to town


• Monday, 8/16 - Comcast finally & Internet/Cable Established


• Sunday, 8/15 - Dinner with Manuel and Katy

Things to Know:

• We live in West Queen Anne


• Our place is a four-unit complex on a hill


• Our new view is the Ballard Locks, a hill, and the sunset


• We're a 5-10 minute car drive or 20-30 minute bus ride to downtown


• We've had a range of weather since our arrival - rain, cloudy, hot (i.e. 90s), and pleasant


• Seattle is the Emerald City, and Washington the Evergreen State


• There is no dishwasher or garbage disposal in our house (booo!)

Now, some more recaps. I'm going to start with the sad, then launch into the happy...and then some more...

The Sad:

• Friends - It's tough being in a new city where you don't really know that many people. I miss my Eugene buddies. If you're reading this, I miss you!


• Ease of Commute - I'm definitely learning the city life - living an working in a city. Where you have to deal with traffic, hard parking (and paying for it), and can't get from one end of town to the other in 20 minutes.


• Froyo Situation - This is definitely sad. The frozen yogurt scene isn't quite wonderful. It's not totally void of froyo stores, but it's lacking. The best I've found thus far is Red Mango and a little store that has YoCream chocolate and vanilla. Luckily, both of these are near my store (nothing near home though). There is hope though, see "The Happy" section below.


• Taxes - Oregon had no sale tax, but Washington has probably one of the highest sale tax rates. I'm finding getting to the register to pay tough. Suddenly the price jumps up and what seemed reasonably priced (for a city) becomes a bit of a shocker.

The Happy:

• City - Ahh yes, the city. Besides the above, it's great. The benefits definitely out weigh "the sad" mentioned above. Finally, a Nordstorms, a Sephora (that's not inside a JC Pennies), actual malls, the retail is endless. Not to mention, good food, more activities, bigger airports, etc. Let's face it, just much more options.


• Views - All I have to say is that we live in a beautiful city. Wait, no. A gorgeous city. I don't think I'll get tired of looking at the city skyline and needle nor the ferries and nature. My new favorite sight, is the view from Kerry Park (which is only minutes from our home).


• New Camera - The photographer inside of me will soon be unleashed. The Browns were the nicest ever and gave me a new, very nifty camera - a Canon Digital Rebel (Don got a even niftier new camera, very professional). More pictures to come now! Get ready to be tired of all the pictures.


• Foodie - Yum. Mouth-watering. Drooling. Variety. These all describe the food. Some favorites (so far - much more to try): Zaw, Macrina Bakery, Tutta Bella, 5 Spot, Bricco, Hi-Life, and a past-favorite, The Counter. Yeah, for good food.


• Frozen Goodness - The froyo might not be ultra-plentiful, but the gelato and ice cream is delicious. Our two favorites are Molly Moons, and D'Ambrosio Gelato. There was also a gelato place downtown that my mom and I ran into on our search, so the frozen delights are here.

The B's (or Other Stuff, but all start with B):

• Bus - This is city life to the extreme. I am now having to use public transportation to work. The parking is tough to find and expensive to pay, so I've opted to take the bus to work. Now, Im learning to navigate the bus system. So far not too many blips, just took the express bus which pasted my stop on my commute home (Josh picked me up thank goodness). On the bright side, I just have to take one bus route (no stops or switches), and the 17. The bus does take longer, which means factoring in more time for commute (blah). However, I do get some monthly mulla from Uncle Bux (aka Starbucks) for the transportation troubles. I'm sure I'll have bus adventures to share in the future (the good, the bad, and the ugly).


• Browns - Shortly after our arrival, Josh's parents, Don and Nada, arrived. It was so great to have them here. They were former interior designers and were able to help setup the place so that we could fit everything (our new place is a wee bit smaller and no garage storage). They helped us unpack, shop, and get settled. We are so grateful for there assistance - the best soon-to-be-parent-in-laws ever. Not to mention, fabulous mani-pedi outing with Nada (my nails needed it)!


• Block Party - Our first community adventure. Queen Anne had a block party that we attended (it was free). Plus, our Eugene-law-friend, Katherine was there too. She lives in Queen Anne too (for now, she's moving). We got some shaved ice, watermelon, bubbles (yes, bubbles. They were handed out for kids, we count), and some community fun in the sun.


• Busy - Needless to say, I’ve been busy. I’ll do my best to keep up the posts though especially now that we have Internet.

I'm loving loving Seattle. Please visit! And my new address will be sent via email soon.

Bittersweet

Bittersweet. I used this when saying goodbye to a customer yesterday. I thought it very clever and witty, not mention perfect. In fact, the exact wording was, "...it's bittersweet, just like our chocolate." Great, right? Not just in the happy-sad context, but in the bittersweet chocolate. This chocolate relates to Starbucks, and my goodbye is to my customers and friends at Starbucks. Ha!

Enough of my cleverness, this post is about my last day at Valley River Center (VRC) Starbucks. Like I said, it was bittersweet. I've really grown to enjoy all of our regular customers. They all said such nice farewells. I even got a few hugs and promises of visits to my new store. On a side note, it's funny about there is a Pacific Northwest connection between Seattle, Portland, and Eugene. If you live in one, you generally have work, family, or friends in the other two. Many of my customers said they go up quite frequently. This made me smile because I've really enjoyed having regulars. Over the months, I've come to bond with them about early mornings, having to work, or other random stuff. They are like friends now!

The customers are great, but my co-worker are who I'll really miss. These guys are not just my co-workers, but my friends. They were patient training me, to work with everyday, and fun to hang out outside of work. Kim is my froyo buddy, Melinda is the Starbucks guru, I talk books with Julia, talk Germany with Justin, wedding with Sara, traveling with Ali, and Seattle with Colin. Lindsey is a rock-star singer. Annan started the same day as me (remember, I'm one number ahead of you!). And I have faith Jeri will find her younger, tall, fit man. These are just a few of the friends I've made at my time at VRC.

I was touched at the number of coworker friends that showed up for my happy hour shin-dig at the Rabbit Bistro yesterday evening too. I had such a great time hanging out with everyone one last time before my big move. Thanks guys (if it's you that is reading this right now).

Farewell VRC, Heather McHeatherington.



Picture 1: Kim, Ali, Me, Lindsey, and Jeri // Picture 2: Zia, Me, and Colin (the boss man) // And more pictures on my Flickr site too!

Another Notch on the Belt

The 18th of June marks the annual celebration of my birth. I had a great day and really appreciated all the efforts from my family and friends.

I started my day with ultimate relaxation. I slept in to my favorite 9am hour. Then I packed up a magazine and got myself a coffee and muffin at Full City (Josh had to study). Thanks to Josh, I headed of to The Pearl Spa for an 1-1/2 aromatherapy massage. It was incredibly nice. They even gave me a bottle of aroma oil to take home. She offers me 1 of 3 scents. She held them up and I ended up choosing basil.  I read somewhere that basil is good for stress (or something like along those lines).

After this heavenly morning, I headed home. I thought Josh would be at school studying all day, but he came home to study instead. Before it got to late, I popped online and chatted with my friend Caroline (in Germany) over iChat. Remember she's my twin - my German equivalent.

Josh and I decided to enjoy lunch out, so we tried out a new Italian restaurant in town called Osteriz Sfizio. I had some tasty chard-ricotta ravioli. It was a decent day out, so it was perfect sitting next to the window (a bit too chilly for outsides yet).

Fret not, I did get my wonderfully delicious frozen yogurt in the afternoon. I met up with my friend Kim at TCBY. Sadly they don't carry my favorite cookies 'n cream flavor, but I liked the chocolate peanut brittle flavor blended with some oreos (they call it a shiver).

I also got some fabulous gifts. I received a cute Timbuk2 messenger bag that fits my iPad perfectly. It will be great for Seattle when I commute around town in the rain. Not only that, but i also got some gift certificates to froyo (believe-it-or-not), movies, and Ann Taylor. This mean some more fun times ahead. Oh and got a cute top and a Seattle book. I feel so loved.

I ended the night with Josh and some friends at Chao Pra Ya Thai - Thai is the best!! And a pumpkin cookie for dessert at SweetLife.

What a day! And what a way to start my 28th year!

Thanks everyone for a great birthday!

(Sorry no pictures! Que horror! I'll try to get some somehow, someway).

The Graduate

Josh wasn't Dustin Hoffman this past weekend, but he was a graduate. An official graduate of the University of Oregon Law School. Three cheers! Hip Hip Hurray! Hip Hip Hurray! Hip Hip Hurray! For he's a jolly good fellow! And all that jazz.

Yes, we are all excited. Josh even got excited once finals were over. Graduation called for big time celebration. All the families convened to make this one dang special event. My parents and Josh's parents all flew up for the ceremonies and festivities. Although it rained, it did not rain on our parade (I really need to stop these pop culture references, huh? I think I'm so clever sometimes).

My mom was the first to arrive on Thursday late afternoon. Before we did the Josh-centric weekend, we took a few hours to have mother-daughter bonding time. Although my mom's flight was a few hours delayed, we managed to get our mani/pedi time. While we were indulging a bit, Josh's parents arrived. While my mom and I were bonding, Josh spent some parent-bonding time as well. Thursday dinner I took my mom on a Heather favorites spree - Yi Shen for dinner and TCBY for dessert. Then we did mini / pseudo shopping at the Dollar Tree. Thursday was just the beginning of the fun though.

Friday I had to work in the morning until 10:30am. That's no biggie though (plus I still have to bring in the big bucks - I refrained for saying SBux). We all gathered at our little place and headed out to a lunch in the wine country. I had made some lovely reservations at King Estate Winery. I had been there previously and it was quite enjoyable. This time wasn't quite the same. We look back and laugh, but our food took forever and it wasn't that tasty. However, we did get a free bottle of wine - not too shabby (and make some of us happier). The view was also nice.

After a ehh-lunch experience, we headed to Prince Puckler's to get ice cream (this place was revealed to Don Thursday night apparently and it was love at first bite). We breaked afterwards for some R&R (I have been getting up early a bunch lately and needing nap time). During nap time, my dad arrived too.

Friday dinner things continued and we headed to Humble Beagle. We all enjoyed our first celebratory meal (meaning everyone had now arrived). And this was also the first meal that both sets of parents were together and it went splendidly. Afterwards it was gift time. Josh got to open cards and gifts. I have to say my gift a hit. I just asked Josh as I was typing what his response was and he replied, "overjoyed!" The gift was a Fossil leather laptop briefcase. I also got it a set of ampersand bookends - very artsy and Josh loves ampersands. In addition, the parents got some generous gift certificates and the like. I think Josh felt very happy - see picture.

Saturday was the big day. We started with a hearty breakfast together at Midtown. Josh had to be at the ceremony location, The Hult Center, by 11:30am. We had a bit of time, so we did some roaming at the 5th Street Market. The ceremony began at 1pm. Nada took the lead and I was her trusty right-hand man on getting prime seating in the orchestra area. As the graduates progress to their designated seating, they walked right past our row. Josh almost tripped as we  yelled his name while passing us. Then he got mixed in the sea of jester-like hats below. I spend a large portion of the beginning seeking him out. I found in about the fourth from the right and 2-3 row up - Brown last name you know. A then B (yes, I can spell).

Yada yada yada at the ceremony. Some speaking and reasons why to love law and "go get the world" type stuff, then cheers and progression out. It was blur of photos and smiles, then we were off to the reception. We met some more law friends and ate the small cheese and fruits. Once the formalities were over, we headed to dinner at Red Agave.

It turned out that Josh's two law friends, Katherine and Anne, also reserved tables at Red Agave. We basically took over the restaurant. We all sung Happy Graduation to each of them (think the Birthday song but insert Graduation instead). Dinner was delicious and the drinks tasty - all very much enjoyed.

Saturday concludes the graduation celebration. Don and Nada headed back to Portland airport Sunday morning to head home. However, before driving up they stopped for a fabulous breakast at a place with superb servings: Valley River Starbucks. I'll write a post next on the photos and visits. My parents also joined the fun.

My parents weren't headed out until Monday morning, so Sunday was a low-key but fun day exploring Eugene. I had to work again that morning, but I was able to finish by noon. We ate some lunch, did a tiny hike with views and trees (classic Oregon), and then ended it all with a lovely dinner at Marche.

Oh, I surprised Josh with a graduation banner, balloons, and outside sign with "congrats grad" written everywhere. Cute, right?

Now that graduation is over, it's on the the next phase: the bar. Dun dun dun. Josh has a few days of freedom, but then it's back to the grind. Finishing the bar will require more celebrations, stay tuned.

For you to live some of the celebrations, I have some videos and pictures to share...

The Progression:



JW Brown JD from Nada Brown on Vimeo.

Getting the Degree:



Josh Law Graduation from Heather O'Neill on Vimeo.

And check out some pictures on Flickr.

Two Years Ago Today

Two years ago I was on a pre-Valentine's Day weekend trip to visit Josh. We were spending the weekend in Portland because it was cheaper to fly in than Eugene. Plus we could go out for a nice Valentines Day dinner in the city. On February 8th, we enjoyed a fine dinner at Wildwood, where I thought for certain if the "big question" was to happen, it would be there. It didn't happen, but it did just the next day on February 9th!

So two years ago today Josh proposed to me. Josh had been preparing for months and had a grand plan. The grand plan involved tricking me about stationary, actually getting stationary (just not what I expected), and a box with a big blue bow. You could say it was a joy.us event (chuckle chuckle). Ahhh two years ago today...

Josh just brought me flowers (awww). And for my readers, a picture of the engagement email we sent out:

Santa Claus Came To Town

Or should I say Josh and Heather came to town..two towns to be exact: Indio and Encinitas. Indio with the Browns and Encinitas with the O'Neills. Yup, both parents are now down in SoCal, so we were able to squeeze in the holiday with both families. Josh flew down a day before me since I had a work shift, but I followed shortly after and arrived at our first stop, the Browns, on Wednesday afternoon.

Christmas Part 1 - Brown's in Indio
As I was about to get off the plane at Palm Springs (after a tad bit of turbulence), I noticed we had to go outside once off the plane. Ick, outside, that means cold (or at least that's what my brain translates "outside" these days). However, to my delight I stepped out to a wonderfully warm and sunshiny day. Ahh, melt. Then to top it off, Don and Nada took us to froyo. And it gets better because the flavor was cookies 'n creme. Heaven! And that was the first of the Christmas joys.

The rest of Wednesday was a bit of this and that. We visited some of the Brown's family friends, the Harvey's. We also had dinner at Papa Dan's where Josh's childhood brother-friend (a friend that's like a brother), Kevin, is manager.

Christmas Eve began with some Nada-Heather time getting fabulous manis and pedis. It'd been far too long since my little feeties and handies got some love - too much coffee making, cleaning, and cold weather drying them out. They came out much energized, or at least however hands and feet can be energized.

After nails there was a whirl-wind of errands and Christmas prep time. Suddenly 4pm rolled around and we at the Christmas Eve service at the Southwest Community Church. I was happy to find that they sang multiple carols and the big finale was Silent Night with candles. There was a weird attempt at a skit with mountaineers on clouds acting as angels and some crazy electric guitar version of Carol of the Bells, but all-in-all a nice service.

After the service, we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at a seafood/steak restaurant called Pacifica. I had a lovely whitefish and a very tasty lemon drop. I even got to add to the the toast: "God bless us everyone." Then the Eve was tied up with some initial gift unwrapping with Aunt Ester back at the hacienda.

The sun shone in on Christmas morning and Santa had made a visit. We dove straight into our stockings where we all got various sorts of fun things - chocolates, notebooks, iTunes cards, and more. A quick break of the fast (aka breakfast) with some yummy multigrain pancakes. But not too long of a break because we were right back with unwrapping gifts from under the tree. Josh gave me a beautiful Tiffany heart necklace - woohoo, my first (and probably only) blue box! Side Note: I'm keeping the cute box. Also I got a super soft, warm vest and turtleneck from Don and Nada. Josh and I also received a nice set of pans for some fabulous cooking - perhaps a Food Network recipe.

We packed up and off we went over the desert and through the mountains (no river or woods, but sorta similar). The road lead us to the beach which brings us to...

Christmas Part 2 - O'Neill's in Encinitas
The minute we arrived, the O'Neill clan (aka mom, dad, and Lindsay) were ready and waiting. They held off all Christmas rituals until our arrival. They had the house prepared and food cooking for the big dinner feast at evening, so we got straight to the unwrapping (after a quick bite to eat). With the O'Neill tradition we started with the gifts under the tree. I must have been a good girl this year because I received all sorts of good stuff - rain boots, mittens, scarves, warm jacket, cozy PJs. Notice the list, they go right along this year's gift theme: warmth. Now I can say I'm all suited up for chilly weather. Additionally, I got a few tech things like an ear piece - Oregon is going to start the hands-free law in 2010. Josh got great stuff too. My gift to him was a nice, warm PJ set.

We had to go-go-go and move straight to stockings before the company arrived for dinner. The traditions were kept and we all sat in our usual places at the fireplace area and opened one gift at a time in a circle. More cute little stuff and goodies.

Starting around 3:30pm, the guests started to arrive. As tradition goes, we had a bunch of our family friends over for a big feast (our friends included the Hartleys and the Troglers). Before indulging in the xmas gluttony, we all sat around the tree and caught up on each others past year and holidays. We even opened some more gifts (I think my fingers should hurt from the unwrapping by this point - hehe, no complaining here though).

Dinner was fabulously delicious with roast turkey (very juicy), mashed pototoes, sweet potato casserole*, Brussels sprouts*, jello (my mom's famous jello with fruit), stuffing, and oh so much more. And don't forget dessert of pie, velvet pudding, chocolates, and cookies. (* = you may recall both dishes from my recipe collection & earlier posts).

And that wraps up (pun intended) yet another wonderful Christmas. Josh and I were blessed in that we were able to see both parents. I had such a great holiday, and to get somewhat mushy here, I feel like a very lucky person to be able to spend the holidays with those I love. I'm so glad I was able to get a few days to spend some quality time with the families - the perfect gift! This comes a bit belated now, but...Merry Christmas!

Christmas pictures are posted on my Flickr site - Check them out! Bonus pictures too from our walk on the beach the day-after-Christmas.

Xmas Tree

Party Hardy, Napa Style

AKA: Mom's 60th Birthday Napa Trip Extravaganza

I knew this weekend's trip to Napa to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday was not going to be a simple wine tasting affair the minute I received an email from my father. This email was a minute-to-minute itinerary of our trip with maps, reviews, and reservations - a 33 page document (and I'm not kidding). Usually this sort of itinerary is for our mega Europe trips and the itinerary is neatly organized into a white binder which we've all come to know as the bible. This was not in a white binder, but it was awful close especially considering we were gone for only 3 days.

It all began after my morning shift on Thursday. I dashed home, de-coffeed (I have to do this now b/c after work I smell like fresh brewed cup of coffee), and rushed to the Eugene Airport. I flew to Oakland with a stop-over in Portland. Actually, as I was waiting to take off on the Eugene to Portland segment, the flight attendant came up to me and asked if I worked at the Starbucks near the mall. Why yes I said. Well, they enjoyed a wonderful cup this morning from us. Too funny! I got good service on that portion of the trip. The rest of the trip went well, and I arrived to Oakland where I was picked up by Don & Sue Hartley and Pat Richardson. We all drove together to met up with the rest of the entourage already in Napa (or I should say, St Helena's). With us all there (albeit late in the evening), the celebrations began!

This celebration involved the gathering of family and friends (friends that are so close their family now really)--The Harleys, The Richardsons, The Troglers, and our little immediate O'Neill fam (we missed you Chicago fam!). The majority of us stayed together in a house that the Ink House B&B rents out for big parties like us, a place called the Carriage House. It's a very cute little B&B up in the St. Helena area.

But really the weekend was about two things: Mom/Jan and Wine. My mom was in high spirits the entire weekend (in fact, those of us in the B&B know from the singing from the shower) and the wine was plentiful. Now, I'm not a wine fanatic like some in the group, but we did taste some very fine wines. And how could we not? We visited practically all the wineries in the area, so we were bound to get some good ones. Here's the run down on the vineyards:

• Friday Wineries: Spottswood, Quixote, Cliff Lede, Vine Cliff, Robert Mondavi, Alpha Omega


• Saturday Wineries: Chappellet, Schramsberg Sparkling Winery, Duckhorn

We toured almost at each winery, so now we are all highly educated in the Napa wines and vines. We all thought it funny, and very accurate, when I called my dad Teacher's Pet. He was in his element--walking ahead with the winery's tour guide, asking questions (edging on interrogation), and giving his input. A classic pose is displayed on my Flickr site (fyi-I created an album for this trip). My mom was just happy drinking the wine and enjoying the company.

To go with the wine, we had some very tasty food. The big birthday dinner was at Auberge Du Soleil, a fancy restaurant. shmancy were you get courses and such. The other delicious meal was at a Don Giovannis, a nice Italian restaurant. A other fun spots were Taylor's Refresher, Dean and Deluccas, and the Model Bakery. Yum!

I think this was the first time I've spent in Napa were I tasted the wine and found some were my usual "hum" (as in, it's ok) was like more of a ohh, hmm (as in, actually not bad & might drink 1/2 a glass). My favorite was Quixote with it's neat architecture. It reminded me of Sintra, Portugal and a castle there with lots of color and interesting shapes. Others said it reminded them of Barcelona and Gaudi.

The end of our trip was a half day in SF before our flights. We did a quick stop at the Ferry Building. Then we did a mini walk at the Land's End & Cliff House area, which was beautiful as ever. And as we headed back to Oakland, I made a pit stop at Yumi. Heather Returns! It was heaven again (I haven't hyped it up in my mind, it's still just that good).

Spottswood Winery

Stuck in the Middle

Today didn't start off so great and it got worse by about 3:30pm. It started when I got to the gym and realized I'd forgotten my running shoes. I had to drive all the way back home and then back to the gym. Ugh. I got "over it" and after a decent workout decided to hit up the wonderful world of Target.

As I began driving to Target, I contemplated the route. Hmm, which way would be the quickest? After some contemplation, I decided on Jefferson to 11th which would bring me to straight to Target. Jefferson was a BAD choice.

As I was sitting at a red light in traffic (it's a busy street), cheering with my Christmas music, I was suddenly jerking back-and-forth. It was like everything went into slow motion as I saw myself/car headed into the car ahead of me. Crash, bang, boom! I was now a victim; a victim stuck in the middle of a 3 car accident. Since nobody really knew what to do, I took the "lead" on directing people to exchange info and whatnot (and my iPhone came in handy - took pics of licenses, cars, and such). The guy that hit me was younger and apparently not watching ahead and didn't see the cars stopped ahead. I guess he was waiving to some girl on the sidewalk (ha -awkward for him).  Sadly for me, he was going pretty fast when he hit so now my neck hurts a bit. Fingers crossed I'm not to achy for work tomorrow. <insert sorry-for-Heather sigh here>

Anyhoo, the day did end well. Josh took me to my favorite Thai place, Target (yes, got there at last), and then TCBY for froyo (Yes, I eat it even though it's 30s to 40s outside now. The trick is to eat it at the store where it's warmer, go in the car with the heater cranked up). To wrap up the day, I took a nice, hot bath. What a day!!

P.S. The good news: nobody got seriously hurt (and my car just needs some body work on the front & back...)

Jumping for Joy!

Great news today...I just landed a new job here in Eugene today! And, as the title indicates, I did in fact jump for joy. I will be Eugene's newest barista at Starbucks! I'm super excited and it's something totally different than my past job experiences--not a behind the desk job, but a serve people coffee job. The gig starts on Monday where I meet with my new boss and talk shifts, training, and whatnot. Then on to coffee making! The espresso machine Josh gave me for my birthday this year will soon be brewing a much better cup than my current attempts (that or it won't be making anything since I'll be sick of coffee by the end of the day - hehe).

Someday perhaps I'll be able to get coffee to look like this beautiful cup I had recently in Vancouver...

End to Email

Okay, so it's not really the end of email. How could I ever stop emailing, seriously? I'm one of those people that feels the need to check email at any chance. Must. Check. Email. Now. Sad but true.

Anyway, that's not what I'm saying here. It's more of the end of email from a employment perspective. I started with Acxiom (which was then known as Digital Impact) back in January 2005 and my last day was August 31st, 2009. That's a whooping 4.67 years with Acxiom. It was a great company and I was given many opportunities to grow and learn (i.e. 4 different positions). It's really too bad it couldn't work out & allow me to stay on in the remote capacity permanently, but that's HR policy for you I suppose. I was glad I was able to work the summer from home to help with the transition and move up to Oregon. I will miss working with all my friends, but I'll just have to visit often.

Now I'm adjusting to life with no work. It was weird, but kinda nice. The best part is I can do things I've been meaning to do FOREVER like start a blog for one. Not to mention I can sleep in! Now the quest for the next job begins...

Acxiom Recruiting at SCU Career Fair