4 1/2 years with the green apron

Hard to believe, but it's been four-and-a-half years since I started working at Starbucks. I've barely ever lived in one city for that long at a time (and definitely have never gone that length of time without changing houses/apartments), yet here I've worked for this company for 54 whole months. Granted, I've worked at 5 different stores (one of them twice) in 4 different states and 5 different cities, but still. It's been good. Obviously the flexibility/transferability of this job has been a huge blessing with all of my moves. Also, I've met so many wonderful and fun people that I've been privileged to work with over the years, many of whom I consider friends, and I've had so many great experiences in each of these places. So, in commemoration of this "anniversary" of sorts, here are some photos from the three stores where I've been the longest: Archer Road in Gainesville (26 months altogether), North Park in Chicago (12 months) and Holleman/Texas (10 months and counting). I also worked at City Place in West Palm Beach for my first two months or so and in Alcoa, TN for about two months in 2008.

Archer Rd Part 1 (June 2006 - May 2007)

Chicago (June 2007 - June 2008)

Archer Rd Part 2 (October 2008 - November 2009)

Texas & Holleman (a.k.a. "The Happiest Place on Earth" - December 2009 - ??)

off-the-clock fun with coworkers

fun and tasty creations, courtesy of coworkers

(except for the whipped cream/caramel drizzle. That was me.)

Miscellaneous tidbits from my Starbucks experiences that are emerging from my oh-so-tired brain (and therefore are really quite random and probably not that interesting):

* Three of the eight managers I've had over the years at the various stores have been named Robert. Two of them even look alike.

* Consistently favorite drink: caramel macchiato

* Favorite coffee: Sumatra

* Store with highest percentage of amazing customers: Archer Rd

* Memorable quote, even years later: "It is what it is!" -- Gina D. (Thank you, that was brilliant.) :)

* Least favorite product: matcha powder. gross.

* Favorite Starbucks romance: Ryan and Gina :)

* Coworkers who most frequently made me roll my eyes: Tim and Leslie

* Coworker who's played the "meanest" trick on me: Sir Robert of the Green Shirt

* Best cup-decorator and caramel-designer ever: Aja

* Store with the least amount of drama: Texas & Holleman

* Another random fact: I didn't get my first brand-new Starbucks apron until I was in my third year (see above photo)

* Store with the best/worst tips: City Place/Texas & Holleman

* Store where I've been given the most nicknames: Texas & Holleman

* Most-recently-discovered yummy flavor combination: cinnamon dolce with pumpkin spice (Aja's ingenious idea!)

* Store where I've clopened the most: Texas & Holleman

* Store where I had the most consistent schedule: Archer (opens!)

* Store closest to where I lived: North Park

* Store where I have sustained the strangest injuries: Texas & Holleman

* Favorite Starbucks pastry: cinnamon swirl coffee cake (and the chocolate chip cookie. warmed up.)

* Favorite drink to make: iced caramel macchiato

* Least favorite drink to make: green tea latte (and at Christmas, eggnog latte)

* Favorite Starbucks utensil name: spoodle

* Newest store I've worked at: North Park (helped open it!)

* Oldest store I've worked at: Texas & Holleman

Edit (4/4/11): Texas & Holleman may have now bumped Archer out of its first-place position for best customers, most likely because so many of my customers are now people from my amazing church... And my current pastry addiction is the cranberry orange scone. Exciting, yeah?

Of klutziness and caramel frappuccinos

I am an utter klutz. If there is something in the general vicinity of my feet, you can be fairly sure I'll trip on it. If anything has the potential to be spilled, it's almost guaranteed that I'll do just that. All items with which I come into contact that are the least bit hazardous will undoubtedly leave me scratched, bruised, or in some other way injured.

It's nearly inevitable these days, and I'm not really sure why. You'd think that accident-proneness would be something you'd grow out of as you age; instead, in my case, I seem to be growing more and more into it. I really don't remember being a klutz when I was younger, but there is no questioning the fact that I am one now. And my klutziness tends to lead to such funny/ridiculous/strange mishaps, too -- ones that you wouldn't hardly think possible, yet, because they happen to me, are hardly surprising.

Such as the frappuccino incident of last week... I work at Starbucks, and last Wednesday, about an hour before close, we got really busy. There were only two of us working, and I had a line of about 15 drinks on my bar (with a line of customers to the door who were still waiting to order). Needless to say, I was trying to move as quickly as possible to get all those drinks made and all the customers happily back out the door. All was going surprisingly smoothly...until I came to one particular caramel frappuccino that, though seemingly innocent, was actually a little fiend in sweet, sticky disguise. Ok, so, that may be a bit dramatic, but still. Beware of the Caramel.

Anyway. Back to my story. After putting all of the ingredients for this particular frappuccino into the blender pitcher, as I was reaching for the lid, I somehow managed to splash the pre-blended frappuccino up my nose, across my face, and into my ear (where I could feel it trickling down and puddling). Gross. And ridiculous. I mean, seriously; who in the world manages to spill something in their ear? Clearly, I am a very "talented" klutz.

However, I didn't have time to reflect on the incident at the time, as I still needed to blend that particular frappuccino (minus the portion that was in my ear) and knock out the rest of the drinks on my bar. Which I did, and to my immense relief, there were no further mishaps during the remainder of the night.

When I got home, though, I could still feel the sloshing of the frappuccino in my ear, so I decided to try to rinse it out with eardrops. Didn't work. Nor did my subsequent attempts with Qtips, rubbing alcohol, water, and more eardrops. So for the next nearly-48 hours, I had a very plugged-up ear, out of which I could hear very little. Most of the time it felt like it just needed to pop, like when you're on an airplane. But no amount of yawning or chewing gum achieved this, either. I felt like I was hearing everything from inside a tunnel, which was rather disorienting and incredibly distracting. All this because of a silly frappuccino.

Finally, Friday night, my pseudo-uncle, who is a doctor, looked at my ear and discovered that there was quite a simple solution to my dilemma: all he had to do was flush my ear out with a syringe of warm water. Such a relief; within moments, my ear felt normal again, and it was amazing how clear everything sounded! Though this was a bit of an anti-climactic ending to my ridiculous "injury", I was (and am) so very glad to have that over and done! If nothing else, I've certainly gained from this experience a deeper appreciation for my sense of hearing, a wariness of frappuccinos, and, perhaps, a greater realization of the ridiculous possibilities that come with being a klutz. All I can do is shake my head and laugh. Oh, Beth...

Life lessons

I had a terrible day Friday; one of those oh-so-fun days when every little thing at work seemed to go wrong and when I felt like I just plain couldn't do anything right. I was (kindly) informed of several things that I should've done differently/better, I dropped everything I picked up, spilled everything I touched, and just couldn't quite get it together the entire day. Several miscommunications early on in the day added to my confusion and left me feeling frustrated and lacking control. To complete this downward spiral, I then took my negative emotions out on a friend. All in all, I was a horrid mess of negativity, and, though I knew that I needed to take every thought captive to obey Christ (rather than letting every little thing nearly leave me in tears), I still chose to dwell on my mistakes and frustrations. I just couldn't "let myself off the hook" for things not going smoothly. Because, along with over-thinking everything (which I blame on the engineer "gene" that runs on both sides of my family) . . .

. . . I am by nature a people-pleaser and a perfectionist and have always struggled with trying to live up to certain expectations which, a lot of the time, are probably self-imposed more than anything. When I fail to meet these expectations, then, I make myself miserable because I feel like I've let everyone down. Rather than finding my security in Christ and in the fact that I belong to Him, I look to people for affirmation and try to measure up to what I perceive their expectations to be. You'd think that I've been a Christian long enough to know better than this, but clearly this is something God is still working on with me.

Friday night as I was thinking back through my day and realizing how poorly I'd handled things, God started to connect the dots for me and to show me that such days can be valuable life lessons, if only I would quit being so self-absorbed and focusing on how bad I felt about things. Interestingly enough, several aspects of the awfulness which was Friday relate directly to topics that were discussed earlier in the week at both a women's meeting I went to at church and then at my Bible study a few days later: that of finding security in Christ, focusing on that which is pleasing to Him, and learning from mistakes but not dwelling there.

First of all, my worth is found in Christ, and I am complete in Him; I don't need to (nor should I) base my identity on what other people think or say about me. I love this quote from Elisabeth Elliot: "Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don't need to search any further for security." And as John Piper points out, "God made us who we are so we could make known who He is. . .The meaning of our identity is that the excellency of God be seen in us." Therefore, what does it matter what other people think about me? Ultimately, it makes no difference whether or not anyone thinks I'm nice or pretty or can carry on a decent conversation; what matters is that in everything I say and do, I reflect Christ and bring glory to His name. I ought to echo Paul's statement in his letter to the Galatians: "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant."

Second, my thoughts need to be on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable -- these are the things on which I should focus, NOT on my frustrations or hurts or the faults of myself or others. Although there is a time and a place to deal with such things and to respond in a way that is pleasing to God, so often further problems could be avoided if I would remember all that God has done for me:

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will ponder all Your work;

and meditate on Your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

Psalm 77:11-13

Thirdly, and similarly, I cannot let myself dwell on my mistakes. When it is an issue of sin, I need to repent and, as appropriate, make amends, but I must not wallow in guilt. It is for freedom that Christ has set me free! In His incomprehensible love and mercy, Christ has forgiven me and remembers my sins no more. If He doesn't continue beating me over the head with reminders of my sins, who am I to dwell there? So, whether my failure is a sin or if it is merely an expectation that I didn't meet, I accomplish nothing by reminding myself over and over of how horrible I am. L.M. Montgomery wisely said, "We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us."

So, those are some of the lessons that I think God is trying to teach me out of my miserable Friday (likely there are more that I haven't realized yet). He truly does cause all things to work together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose; how amazing is it that He uses even the messes I make to teach me more about Himself and (if I learn these lessons) to make me more like Him! May I "grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." 2 Peter 3: 18

21-30

(1-10) (11-20)

21. Encouraging cards (of both the electronic and the paper variety) from dear friends, and unexpected but encouraging phone calls

22. Our very own wireless internet at our apartment (no more huddling by the window trying to catch the one non-password-protected network near our building!); seriously, it is a beautiful thing to be able to sit at my desk and type this!

23. French-pressed Anniversary Blend

24. A lovely Sunday afternoon of cookies and movie-watching with Paul, Everly, and Birdie.

25. My rearranged (and currently quite clean) room; there's just something therapeutic about changing the layout of my room from time to time (yes, I am strange).

26. Prayers of friends, and their patience with me in all of my emotional ups and downs

27. Surviving (andsurprisinglymostlyenjoying) week one of (sort of) being a shift supervisor at work

28. The anticipation of new-to-me old books coming soon in the mail, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string (how fun is that!)

29. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him." (Lamentations 3:22-24)

30. 23 years with my wonderful, selfless, giving, loving, amazing, beautiful, godly, incredible mother, who is now in heaven with Jesus

Of beauty and enjoyment (part 1)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Sabrina and Everly and I have been doing a book study this summer on Elisabeth Elliot's Discipline: The Glad Surrender. This sort-of-weekly time of discussion, laughter, tears, and sharing our lives with each other has been so wonderful, so special, and so very edifying. Though we frequently drift off topic (some weeks more than others, depending on what crazy circumstances are going on at that time -- and trust me, there have been many this summer!), we also have had many good conversations that have arisen from the multitude of wisdom that EE shares in her book.

Yesterday, we talked about "The Discipline of Possessions", one aspect of which is that

Things are given to us to enjoy for awhile. Nothing has done more damage to the Christian view of life than the hideous notion that those who are truly spiritual have lost all interest in the world and its beauties. The Bible says, "God . . . endows us richly with all things to enjoy." It also says, "Do not set your hearts on the godless world or anything in it." It is altogether fitting and proper that we should enjoy things made for us to enjoy. What is not fitting or proper is that we should set our hearts on them. Temporal things must be treated as temporal things -- received, given thanks for, offered back, but enjoyed.

Interestingly enough, this topic is one that I've been pondering fairly frequently over the last few months as God has provided so many opportunities for me to rejoice in the "simple pleasures" of life. From glorious sunsets, silly moments with dear friends, and beautifully foamy soy cappuccinos to midnight excursions to play on the swings at the park, spontaneous hugs, and the delight in reading a good book -- all these things are gifts from God, given to me for enjoyment and that I may, in response, praise Him. He is so good, so kind and so loving; daily (and, were I to open my eyes and pay attention, even moment by moment) He graciously gives me so many reasons to rejoice in Him. And how magnificent it is to rejoice in Him! After all, as the Westminster Catechism states, the chief end of man (that is, our reason for being) is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Now, I have to admit that all too often I take His gifts for granted and fail to acknowledge His hand in providing them; furthermore, I have to be careful not to get so caught up in the gift, whatever it may be, that I am more in awe of it than I am of its Giver (that would be idolatry).

On that note, though, I must rather abruptly end this particular post with a "to be continued", as I am rapidly running out of time before I need to be at work. So, until next time! :)

Burlap Bibles

I really do have another post "waiting in the wings," and hopefully I will have time to finish it up and post it later, but in the meantime, I want to let anyone that might actually be reading this know about Burlap Bibles. Burlap Bibles is the ministry that God has given to one of my friends to get a quality and readable Bible in the hands of anyone who requests one, no matter where in the world they live*. This aspect of the ministry has been ongoing for about a year (I think?), and though he has done no advertising to promote his free Bibles website, he has had a decent response. My friend has not always known where he would get the money to be able to send these Bibles, but yet, God has always provided. Now, this ministry is growing:

"Through this process I have developed a passion for getting the Word to the nations and I feel that it is time to expand this ministry. I would love to be able to start advertising my site to compete with the non-Christian sites out there. I would love to be able to help the Gideons International fill hospitals around the world with the message of Jesus Christ. I would love to help Wycliffe Bible Translators make sure that there is a Bible in every tongue. I know from experience that if God wants this to succeed He will provide a way, so I started looking for ways."

At this point, my friend was inspired by TOMS shoes with the whole concept of "buy one, give one," but he wanted the Bibles that he sends to be unique in such a way "that would connect the people buying the Bibles with the people receiving the free Bibles." It was then that the idea of Burlap Bibles began: he would use burlap coffee bags to make covers for the Bibles.

"Not only is there the symbolism associated with sackcloth (I.e. mourning, humility, supplication) but coffee is a global commodity that comes primarily from the poorest regions on Earth. There is a lot of variance in coffee bags, making each Burlap Bible unique and the bags are recycled into something beautiful, artistic, and useful instead of being thrown out!"

The result is this:
An English Standard Version Bible, with a hand-crafted burlap coffee bag cover. I don't know about you, but I am super excited about this ministry, and I greatly admire the passion behind it. No matter where this goes, no matter how many people this reaches, I am convinced that God will use this ministry for His glory and to plant seeds in the lives of believers and unbelievers alike.

*Except for Nigeria or Indonesia; he cannot ship to these countries.