Roll

Tonight I attended my first ever Roller Derby match? bout? I think they're called bouts. Well anyway, my friend Angel had joined the Charlotte Roller Girls a while back and this was their first home event of the season. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was crazy! So many people! So much cheering!

Angel is the purple blur at the bottom of the picture there

Also, at the event were Angel's husband Will (who works at Trader Joe's with me), son Tyler and some of our other friends.

(My friend Chris and Tyler posing)


Who's ready for some Roller Derby?

and yes, that would be Will giving his own son bunny ears

Donate! It's Child's Play!

Hey there! Christmas is soon upon us and if you're like me, you'll do a fair bit of your shopping online. (I talked about this last year, but it's important enough to me to bring up again.)

One of my favorite things about Christmas shopping on Amazon.com is how easy they make donating to Child's Play Charity. Check it out!

Here's a basic overview of what Child's Play does: "With the help of hospital staff, we’ve set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. Imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays... Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year."

I've been blessed in my life with a job I enjoy (most of the time) that pays me enough to take care of my own needs and still have more left over to give away. Whether you want to think of it as tithing or just giving back, if you're thinking about making a donation this holiday season, please consider Child's Play.

All the hospitals affiliated with Child's Play have wish lists saved on amazon.com. Just looking at this year's list from Univ of Iowa Children's Hospital, there are items as simple as a $3 box of crayons, all the way up to a $300 Xbox, with lots of choices in between.

Ok, I'm done on my soap box.

I will soon return to my regularly scheduled programming... aka food pictures and random stories!

Decorate the Store

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Hopefully you spent the day with good food and good friends and family. Of course while you were feasting and relaxing, I was working... Woohoo! Don't feel bad though, there were multiple food deliveries throughout the day so I still ate my fill of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes and more turkey.

In one day we (the store's artist and myself) had to bring down all the Fall and Thanksgiving themed decorations at the store and change it over into "winter holiday" mode. Because calling it Christmas decorations may offend someone. And we can't offend anyone. Of course.

In all honesty I'd really been looking forward to getting this done. Not just because it's nice to have it all completed, but also because we kept our plans top secret from the rest of the store.



We even covered up the doors all day while we worked.

I wish now that we had taken "before" pictures so you could see what the store had looked like. We changed just about every display and decoration.

Ok, that's enough rambling, you really just want to see the pictures, don't you? I recommend clicking the actual picture if you want to see the details of each.

As you approach the store:



The first display:



The entry way:



The next display:



On top of the cooler case:





Display number... 3?



Next:



The corner that isn't quite finished:



The Demo Station:



Did I tell you my cracker assortment joke?



Wine displays:




Front office:



Front displays:





The last? display:




Ok, I maybe lost track, but I think that's all of them. Also, a couple of ends didn't have the product available yet, so there are still some pictures that I'll try and get up in the next week or so.

I think it was time well spent. What do you think?

Eat German nachos

While the rest of the working world dreads Mondays, I love them. Why? because Monday is my Friday!

Huh?

Since I work in a Grocery store, which is of course busiest over the weekend, I take my days off in the middle of the work week. My weekend is Tuesday/Wednesday.

It took me a little while to get used to, but now I love it! When I go out running errands I don't run into traffic or lines. When I go to movies, there's often only a handful of other people there. And last, but not least, The Flying Saucer has Monday night Pint night! With some 80 or so different beers on tap and all of them being $2.75, it's the perfect place to end a long week.

The fact that you can get food like this doesn't hurt:

What sort of heart stopping deliciousness is that?

It's a soft pretzel smothered in swiss cheese and sliced Usinger's bratwurst! (Before you freak out, I didn't eat the whole thing. I would like my heart to continue beating, thank you very much!) I ate just over half of it and it was delicious. Sort of the German equivalent of nachos, don't you think?

Make a mess

Ok, so I know I should set the good example at work. I know I should be neat and organized as I go. But sometimes it's just so satisfying to get on a roll and make a mess...

oops.

Bake

Aah fall weather... 72 and breezy. Ok, so maybe my definition of fall weather has changed a bit since moving to North Carolina. But believe me, if you lived here all summer, you'd be loving the drop to mid 70's too.

As much as I love the new cooler weather (and having bonfire plans for later tonight!) it has also deceived me; deceived me into thinking I can bake. For as long as I can remember my attempts at baking have gone slightly awry. I don't get it. Everything I bake turns out tasty, but the wrong consistency.

exhibit a:

These should be raspberry muffins. I either added too many raspberries or not enough something else. I can't tell. All I know is that they've completely fallen apart. Getting them out of their baking cups was quite the challenge.

This is the remnants of the 12th muffin. Disaster. What else can I say.

I guess I'll have to just stick to cooking. That I can do.

Stare

Chicken tacos at Salsaritas - $6
Sitting outside to eat lunch after a ridiculous morning at work... pretty darn awesome
Being started at through the table while you eat... kind of creepy

Oh pup pup. You're so bizarre. And adorable when you're begging for chicken taco.

explain why I don't blog more

I mean to post things. I really do. But then I have weeks like this where:

I work 12p to 10p, but really stay til 1245a to work on reorganizing the back room and we find out at the last minute that the first mate has to stay overnight with the register computer technician guy (So he's going to have worked 12p to 5a).

Go back in at 530a the next day to open, work till 11a. Go home and nap so I can go back in at 5p and close the office for the first mate who will likely be spending tomorrow passed out after his all nighter.

But no worries! I don't have to work Friday til 8a. In theory I'll sleep from about 11p to 7a tomorrow night. HA!

So sorry that sometimes I forget to blog. I'm kind of preoccupied with sleeping. or something like that. it's usually all a blur.

Snack

This is my new favorite snack food*:

Snyder's Hot Buffalo Wing pretzel bits mixed in with the Buttermilk Ranch bits. The Buffalo bits have a good flavor but not too much heat and the Ranch bits add a good contrast. You should probably try it. I blame Bret from work for getting me hooked on this combo in the first place.

*Yes I'm blogging about this at 830a because I'm also eating some at 830a. Don't judge me or my eating habits :D

laugh

As I meandered through the wild forest of the internets this afternoon I stumbled upon a post I somehow missed on one of my favorite "nerd" blogs. Chris Hardwick apparently ran Harry Potter SNAPS challenge. He was looking for the best Harry Potter insult/one liners. I didn't go through the full list, but his list of favorites was more than enough to have me laughing out loud. (Be warned some are definitely a bit inappropriate)