Monday 21 October 2013

Southern Hospitality (in the form of BBQ)

This week we went to a BBQ restaurant (Randy's Bar B Que) that was north of Charlotte. I felt out of place as a Northern city girl amongst lots of southern accents (I like the accent.) and sweet tea. (there is way less accent and way more transplant people nearer to Charlotte, it is interesting.) The people were really nice. We walked in, were greeted and told to sit wherever we wanted. The waitress was friendly, attentive and quick as she helped people get their food. The food came out so quickly that it startled me. (pork, red vinegar based coleslaw, and hush puppies) There were three sauces to choose from, a tomatoey one called Lexington served warm, a vinegar based one, and a thicker sweet and smokey sauce. Yum!

The food was great and we were stuffed. Then a man walked by as he was delivering fried pork rinds (something I am okay with having never tried). He stopped by our table to say thanks for coming and he appreciated that we were there. It was sweet. We told him that we enjoyed the food and had heard about the place, so we thought we'd check it out. When he found out that it was our first time there, he decided that we needed to be given banana pudding. Oh man, as if we weren't stuffed enough but it was delicious. The waitress came by a little later and saw that we had the pudding. She smiled, laughed and asked if he had given it to us, as apparently, he likes to do that. It was a good time.  

Sunday 29 September 2013

A Towel and Bottle of Water



I got to stay at a nice hotel earlier this week. I enjoyed it. One day I went for a run. When I got back, one of the three doormen (three seems like a lot) asked if I wanted a bottle of water and a towel after my run. Yes! Then I got confused because he moved away like he was going to get it. I didn't know he was serious when he asked. I almost said no so that he would not have to go wherever to get it, but after I asked if he was serious, I was ushered into a side door, then handed a bottle of water and a towel. Wow. I felt special. The hotel even gave me a map that they had made to direct you to the greenway path. That day I was a little bummed that that was the only run that I was going to be able to do that week. 

Sometimes it's nice to get pampered. It is good to feel special. A bottle of water and a towel after a run, enjoyable. 

I wonder what I can do or actually do to make people feel special like that. It is simple and does not have to be planned or intense or difficult.

Tuesday 17 September 2013

The Pool, Cake and the Internet




Work has started and it is good to be there and to meet new people. It is good to be around people during the day again for my extroverted self. I spent a lot of time grocery shopping, running new routes, running errands, researching things in the area and reading by/in the pool last week before my job started. It was lovely and I miss the relaxing afternoons. I got a good tan and read a lot of my book. I bought the Steve Jobs book a few years ago thinking that it would be interesting to read. However, it is a large book, five hundred and some pages. Whoa. But, guess who has less than 100 pages left?! 

I had a few more days off than I expected. Also, we unpacked the apartment in less time than anticipated. Both of those things meant that I had some leisure time. That was hard for me at first, I thought that I should be doing productive things and almost felt guilty. I gave myself a pep talk (on the way to the pool) to enjoy it, as how many times in life do you have 5 days with some stuff to do, but not a whole lot? Silly that I needed the pep talk, but it proved effective and the days were lovely. 

Today I learned the importance of typing correctly when making a password. I set up a new router and a clever password. (clever as in I thought it was entertaining, not overly secure I'm sure.) Then I told Ryan the password, he thought I was a big dork for what I made it but then it told him that he was typing it incorrectly. Upon further investigation, I had typed it wrong myself. Ooops. I thought it was funny. (surfingthewebw0w in case you're curious)

Last weekend, I got to make a cake. I made a carrot cake. I really enjoy baking and making food in general. It is temporary and delicious art and a good time of worship through creating. When I was making the cake, I was remembering other times that I had made the cake. There were great times in England (where I had first googled the recipe). There were great people I got to share the cake with there. Then I made it several times in Madison, I can remember a few easters that I made it for dear people there. (carrot cake because of the easter bunny :)) And now I made it for my husband's birthday. Fun to look back at life. Interesting to remember past good times and reflect on the goodness in this season too. Come soon if you want a piece!


Tuesday 10 September 2013

Getting Adjusted



My tea the other night had the saying "live in your strength." I liked it a lot. Living in your strength is living in God first, as he is our strength. I also think that as we grow closer to God, he helps us to be more ourselves and there is a great strength in that. We discover the things that we are good at and/or are passionate about and have freedom to pursue them. A few years ago, I spent time in England, it taught me more about who I am. It also helped me to like myself more because it was more genuine, plus I discovered traits that I did not know I had. Living as yourself is a very good thing to do. 

I like discovering new places. It is funny the things that we notice though. For example, here are some first impressions of the Charlotte area and in general:

The are a lot of trees (even downtown).

You see cars often parked facing the wrong way on the side of the road. I don't know why. 

People are very chatting here. I like it. We went to the grocery store. There was wine sampling and the lady told us that we made the end of her shift great because she spent a long time talking to us and recommending restaurants. 

Cardboard is hard to recycle. The recycling at our apartment says paper only. (I saw someone with cardboard, so I may try it.) I saved a few boxes that we had so that I could take them somewhere to recycle. Because I was going to Whole Foods today, I thought I would take it there. I was looking at the choices of the bins to put it in: 
Option 1: trash
Option 2: plastic or glass
Option 3: compost
Hmmmm. 
A gentleman who worked there was trying to be helpful and kept telling to put it in the trash. He told me many times "you can't recycle that, put it in the trash." "but it's cardboard sir, you can recycle it." In the end, which much guilt in my heart, I put it in the trash. He looked at me and repeated himself so many time, I felt bad because he was trying to be helpful and followed his instruction. 

New appliances can be tricky. We submitted a maintenance request that had to do with our fridge twice. Time one they needed to fix the ice maker in the freezer. I have no clue what they did, but there is ice so that was successful. Time two, the request was about the drawer that you put lunch meat in. It was hard to open. I got home to a note from the maintenance people, pull it down first, then out, it is a lock. I figured it was something easy but am a little confused by the need to lock the turkey and cheese. 

I have discovered places to run to and parks. And apple picking! I have also discovered that I can pop popcorn, yum!

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Moving Time

Yesterday we drove to North Carolina, and now we live there. Whoa. Moving towns is interesting, exciting thinking of the new adventure, sad leaving what was home. I had an good way to put it, "if you are not sad to leave a place, why were you still there?"

Leaving Madison was difficult. It is a great city, so many good things to do, and great food to eat. Plus, we have fabulous friends in Madison.

When I left England, it was very hard too. I cried on the plane on the way back to the states. Madison turned out to be a great move. I fell in love with the city quickly. I also met so many great people along the way. For a while in Madison, I thought that I would leave it. I lived like that too to some extent (hesitant to commit to things). Then I had a change of heart and decided that it was better to live in the moment and commit to people, live well in the place, and see what happens. Two years after that, I am moving. Committing to being in a place helps you to live there better. It may not be forever (as moving happens) but it is better than being only halfway there.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Different Skills


I was on LinkedIn the other day and had to laugh. I looked through the skills listed on other people's profiles and they were drastically different than mine. It made me laugh and acknowledge (celebrate) people are all unique and have different skills and passions to offer. Some people have lots of schools that they have attended, books or papers written, letters after their name, many jobs in their jobs experience, and skills listen that sound very serious (coding, excel, saving babies from burning buildings). At first, it made me feel shallow or in experienced seeing my skills in comparison. Then I paused... smiled.. and thought that my skills do a great job of representing me and my passions. The skills that I listed are mostly about people, helping people to success, training, challenging, encouraging and growing them.  It is also neat to see how I have grown in those skills in the last five years.

So if you need computer coding, excel spreadsheet creation or a 1000 page paper on something serious, do not come to me. I am thankful for people who are good at that stuff. I called my 401k company yesterday and the guy was really helpful in explaining differences in funds, in Roth vs. not, and in how to navigate the site. He was incredibly savvy without making me feel dumb. It was excellent.

If you want to know how to grow or be trained, if you want a coffee chat, a dinner party, or some encouragement or creative thinking, then I am the gal.

It is good that we can all be so different.