Happy Weekend!

The weekend is something that I find so hard to take advantage of properly. I want to fit in fun things, but I also want to get rest. If I rest too much, it cuts into the fun time. If I don't get enough rest, I'm too grumpy to enjoy the fun time. Most people probably don't over think this weekend business quite like I do, but I think what we would all agree on, is that weekends go by WAY too fast.

After working all kinds of crazy hours in Sacramento, I was definitely excited for the weekend. In March, before we left for California, Aaron and I had taken a financial class through our church. The class was called Financial Peace University, and was created by New York Times Best Selling Author, Dave Ramsey. The class encourages people to eliminate debt in their lives, and assign every dollar that comes into your household a name before the month even begins. Aaron and I became very intense about paying down our debts. This in turn, caused us to cut back on going out, or purchasing little treats for ourselves. But after a long week, we decided to reward ourselves for all our hard work.

On Saturday, we went and saw the movie "Couples Retreat." I don't remember how long it had been since the last time we went out to a movie theatre, but tickets in California were $11.50 each! Thank goodness the movie was so hysterical, it allowed me to forgive the price... a little bit. This movie was the perfect treat for us, because we have couple friends that matched up to the characters almost perfectly. It made the movie that much better, and helped us to really enjoy a restful Saturday, outside of our studio hotel room.

Life is All About Attitude.

I'm sure when you think back throughout your life; there are individuals that stick out. They usually stick out because of a great sense of humor, an ability to find the fun in any situation, or maybe because when you needed someone to listen, they did just that. California is definitely the melting pot for all different kinds of people, but Aaron and I were truly blessed to meet a person whose attitude about life is something to be envious of.

Most of us go through our daily activities and life in general with ease. There are bumps along the way, but it's how we react to those annoyances that show our true character. Vinesh, our co-worker and new friend, is someone with amazing character.

Every time that I would see him, he always had a positive attitude. This was even after the day that the receiving clerk told him, "I'm not racist, but... what my friends call people like you is..." too inappropriate to write on my blog. He would tell the story over and over again, laughing, and adding new details, like how the receiving clerk then shared that he enjoyed hunting and owned a gun collection.

He kept a positive attitude the day him and Aaron got stopped at the weigh scales and had to be searched, he made a joke about it and said, "It's because they think I'm a terrorist." When he got pulled over going from California to Nevada and was cited for not having a travel log when he was driving a budget rental truck, he was disappointed, but still all smiles and jokes.

Vinesh is definitely one of the most positive people I know. There were so many things that were said to him and actions taken against him that I think were unjust, but he kept smiling. He is a person we will never forget, and are so happy to call our friend.

What's in a name?

A lot of people grow up with nicknames. Usually the name is a shorter version of their birth given name, but in some cases it is a name based on their personality. I was never a nickname kind of person growing up. My mom called me "Scoot", "Scooter", or "Tara Beara", but for the most part nothing really stuck. After four hours of sleep, followed by a 16 hour work day, followed by interrupted sleep, I guess my creative juices were flowing.

After J and I were done working the Sacramento area the second day, we were called to attend a staff meeting at the local Chevy's. We were running a little behind from the couple of stores that we had hit that morning, and when we arrived, everyone else was waiting for us. The conversations naturally went towards sales, and who was going to be the top sales rep that quarter.

Aaron had been the top sales rep in Washington for three consecutive quarters before we went down to California. As part of his recognition, they gave him a Superman action figure to put in his truck. This got me thinking. Our most expensive product that we brought into stores, until pine nuts were introduced that is, was pecans. So, I told the boys that they weren't in my league, they were merely "Cashew Cowboys," but I was the "Pecan Princess," and when I sold the most product by the end of the quarter, I didn't want a Superman figurine, I wanted a crown.

When you are working a position in life that isn't necessarily your dream career or job, you have to find ways to own it, and make it fun. And thus, the "Pecan Princess" was born.

Consistency... Kind of.

Seeing as that I started my career in the customer service industry as a seasonal GAP sales associate, I think I have a pretty good handle on excellent customer service, and what that should look like. I can still remember to this day what GAP looked at as an excellent service provider; they were friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and quick. The fact that I remember this further proves that GAP Inc. really does have its own sub-culture. Anyways, this past May, I experienced my first Hilton Garden Inn. The HGI is definitely the GAP of the hotel industry... Or so I thought.

The first HGI that we stayed at was in Milpitas, CA. I was impressed. Good room size, excellent restaurant, great location, and wonderful front desk people. The next HGI that we stayed at was in Napa, CA. First of all, it's in beautiful wine country, so it already gets one gold star. When it came to accommodations, it was practically identical to that of the Milpitas location. I loved that. In between, we had stayed at what we thought was going to be an "Old Navy" type of hotel, but ended up being more like a "Value Village." So, the consistency of the HGI provided me with a great sense of comfort.

Fast forwarding to October... We had been staying at multiple Extended Stay locations. The first one was awesome. The second one, not so much. Since we were staying up in the Sacramento area for a second night, Aaron decided to book ourselves and J, a room at the HGI in Elk Grove, Ca. Mind you, this is the same one that thought I was a crazy girl. However, I love the consistency of the HGI, and therefore, would admit that I may have seemed a little crazy the night prior, and appreciate that the front desk person was merely taking precautions for the guests. After two nights with a lack of, or interrupted sleep, I now blame the front desk person for not knowing how to execute his job properly.

I know that for most people, 11:00pm really isn't all that late. But when you get up for work at 3:30am most mornings, and just got done working a 16 hour day, 11:00pm is quite late. In fact, 11:00pm is a time in which I had already been sleeping for almost two hours, and was in my REM cycle.

Since we weren't originally staying at the Elk Grove HGI for two consecutive nights, the night shift person whom we had dealt with the night previously, thought it important to call our room at 11:00pm to make sure that we were actually staying there. Once we didn't answer the phone, they sent up the bus boy to make sure that we were in our room. Seriously? All I could think, was that something must be super important if they wanted to get a hold of us that badly, so I had Aaron call back down to the front desk. The front desk person's reason for trying so hard to get a hold of us was that he wanted to make sure no one was abusing our credit card, and booking a night on it that wasn't actually us. This was a very kind gesture on his part, but couldn't it have waited until the morning!?! I was thinking this out of my grumpy, sleep deprived mind. But really.

I still love the consistency of the Hilton Garden Inn. I love that they have sleep number mattresses you can adjust on either side. I love that they make some pretty yummy breakfast crepes. I love that they have decent sized flat screen TVs, and Neutrogena bathroom products. But when it comes to customer service, sometimes the best people to hire are not the ones with the hotel management degree, but they are the ones with a good head on their shoulders, and a little common sense. I'm just saying.

Going Nuts Over Nuts!

When I worked in corporate retail, I was brought into stores that were having visits and asked to fold their jean wall and t-shirt tables. I folded each area to perfection, and once 2am hit, I went home. I was promoted in corporate retail, because I was well-rounded, and had an amazing attention to detail. Nine years later, I am in NorCal, applying all the same qualities to the bulk nut and dried fruit business.

After the briefest four hours of sleep in my life, I met J at 5:00am at our first store. Because we wanted to get eight stores done in two days, and most stores end their receiving hours around noon, we decided to drive to five stores the first day, drop product, and then go back and clean each store. Cleaning one store, depending on the number of bulk bins that it has, takes two or more hours. Since we wanted to service five stores, we were looking at a minimum of a ten hour day right off the bat.

The nerve racking part about going to each store, was that most of them had never been maintained when it comes to cleanliness. When we went to clean the bulk bins at the store level, we were only allowed to use corporate approved cleaning products, and our secret nut oil removing weapon... rubbing alcohol. One of the stores we went to that day actually had moths growing inside the bulk bins. Yummy. We had to put a lot of elbow grease into the stores that day, and sixteen hours later, plus Aaron stopping back at one of our stores for us, we still had to complete three more stores the following day.

At least we got to go rest our pretty heads at the always consistent, Hilton Garden Inn.

Oh rental car, how I loathe thee...

The first time I ever rented a car was in Philadelphia when I was nineteen years old. I know what you're thinking, "Isn't the minimum age 25 to rent a car from most companies?" The answer to that is yes. But when two cute girls approach you, one with an awesome fake, age limitations become a non-issue.

While we were in California, I rented quite a few vehicles for the business. Delivery trucks had been ordered, but were taking longer than expected, and product needed to make its way into stores. Originally, we rented one box truck, and one Saturn Vue. I drove the box truck around for a couple of days, and we loaded up the Vue for the driver working the San Jose area.

After Aaron had been working up in the Sacramento/Reno/Lake Tahoe area for only a day, I got the call that they needed more product up there. Because J, one of the other drivers, was responsible for the lower Sacramento area, we decided that I would take over the Vue for the next couple of days, drive extra product up to the boys, and would meet J up there to clean all the stores in the area that she hadn't made it to yet. This was a fantastic game plan.

After working my area all day on Wednesday, I loaded up the Vue with product for the boys. The mid-sized SUV was so weighed down, that I would have probably popped a wheelie driving out of the parking lot if I wasn't on a downhill slope. Needless to say, I picked up some items from the hotel, and headed out towards Sacramento.

I didn't know the exact location I was driving to when I got on the freeway. Aaron had not decided on a hotel yet, but it would be somewhere in Sacramento, we figured by the time I got close he would be settled, and let me know. I was chatting with my mom for a while, when I noticed that my battery on my cell phone was starting to get low, so I found my car charger and plugged it into the rental car's power outlet. Around this same time, Aaron called to let me know the hotel and exit to take. Then, my cell phone beeped the 'low battery' beep. I looked at the car charger and noticed that it wasn't lit up. I looked for another outlet, but had no luck. Awesome. I don't know where I am, and now my only form of communication and navigation is dying. Since my mom was still on the phone, I asked her to Google the location Aaron had given me. She read me the basic directions and I made notes, just in case my phone didn't make it all the way. We hung up so that I could save battery, and I continued on.

My phone died. A two hour drive turned into a four hour drive. My mom, bless her heart, had given me directions to the wrong Hilton Garden Inn. I got off the freeway in the UC Davis area about four times, trying to get back to the freeway I thought I was supposed to be on. I was near meltdown, when I finally saw the exit that Aaron had told me to take three hours prior. I didn't get to the hotel until 11:00pm, and when I got there, the hotel clerk thought I was some crazy girl, and wouldn't give me a key, or let me go up to the room until he talked to Aaron. When I finally got to sleep that night, I had to wake up four hours later.

Oh Saturn Vue rental car, how I loathe thee and your non-working power outlet.

Tune in!

I remember riding with my parents over to Ocean Shores for the weekend when I was younger; I always knew when we were getting close, because the radio station would become all static. When that happened they would pop in my cassette tape of Ritchie Valens, and we would sing "La Bamba." Three non-Spanish speaking Americans rocking out to "La Bamba," now that's comical.

Nowadays, when the radio station turns to static, I either press seek, pop in a CD, or hook up my ipod. The ipod is convenient, because I know that I am going to hear a selection that I previously chose for myself, and will most likely enjoy. Because my job in California entailed hours of driving from location to location, I would sometimes opt for the more fun method of music selection, which is pressing the seek button.

A lot of the radio stations in Cali are the same as in Washington, just a few clicks of the dial away from each other. When I didn't feel like seeking, this was very nice, because I at least knew the genre to expect. However, I loved when I would press seek, and land on an oldie that would bring back fun memories of my mom driving my sis and I around, belting out lyrics I was never corrected on.

Pressing the seek button in California is like roulette. Some days the radio stations would be playing awesome songs, and other times it would stop on a song I loved the beat of, but would soon realize the lyrics were in Spanish. The awesome thing now is, after taking three years of Spanish in high school, I can at least catch a few phrases!

Everything is scarier in the dark!

When I was eighteen and drove down to SoCal with my friend Meagan, Dad armed me with some pretty serious pepper spray, while Mom armed me with a AAA membership. As you go through life, the importances of some things stick with you, while others simply do not.

After being in the NorCal region for a little over a month, we had four established drivers with routes, and two independent distributors (one being in Hawaii). A fifth route driver had just been brought on to cover the Sacramento/Reno/Lake Tahoe area, and Aaron was responsible for getting him trained. Sacramento was a little over two hours away from our hometel in Dublin, and Reno/Lake Tahoe was approximately 5 hours from there. Needless to say, Aaron would not be returning to our crazy hometel for a couple of days. I solicited for someone to come and stay with me, but had no takers. With no pepper spray, no AAA membership, and no one staying with me, I had to rely on my trusty guard dog. Right.

Aaron left at 1:00am to head to Sacramento and begin training. He would usually have taken Sugar out to do her thing before we left for work, but that responsibility now fell on me. If we were in Washington, I would simply open the back door, tell her to go potty, and when I saw her back at the door, I would let her in. They have pretty serious leash laws in California, and we were on the second floor, so there I am at 4:00am with Sugar leashed up, doing her thing. Until something scared her and she started bolting for the hotel door. Up until that point, I was feeling pretty secure. I have never seen Sugar act that way. No barking, just sprinting for the door. At this point I was a little scared.

I put Sugar back in the room and headed down to our car. I practically jogged to the car and hopped in. I continued the rest of my day a little jumpy, hoping I wouldn't freak myself out when it was night time again. Because everything is a little scarier when it is dark outside.