From the Waitress....

Tips for those who enjoy dining out:

When your waitress asks "are you ready to order?" don't say yes unless you are indeed completely ready to order.

When the person next to you orders water and you think you might want one too, don't wait til she comes back with your neighbor's water to order your own. Pretty sure that the pitcher/tap is in the same place and she'll just have to walk back there again.

Also, if you want a lemon, or ice, or prefer your H2O iceless, just specify. It's not that much extra work for you and saves her yet another trip.

Please refrain from asking for the list of salad dressings and side dishes multiple times at one table. It's listed in the menu, she always says it at least once, so just be a dear and listen when she's talking.

If the waitress says "Hello, how are you?" the polite response is "Hello. I'm well, how are you?" Not "I'd like a BLT and a diet coke. Oh and what side dishes do you have?"

Try ordering something that she suggests. She works there, you know. But never, and I repeat NEVER, say "you pick." That, my friend, is a horrible thing to do to a woman who already has enough things to balance besides trying to make sure she can read your mind and decide what you could possibly like to eat. You're an adult, you can pick your own meal, I'm sure.

If dining with children, make sure they get lids for their cups. And if you could corral all the crayons before you leave, you might just get yourself another crown in heaven.

Also, if dining with children, leave a sizable tip.

For that matter, leave a sizable tip any time you dine out. That girl is working her ass off trying to keep you happy, so cut her a break and say thank you in a way that she'll be able to use. Smiles are great too, but honestly she's a working girl and most likely needs to pay rent. Maybe she'll go to graduate school someday and end up being your therapist. Wouldn't you want her to be as well adjusted and as prepared as possible? Tipping that few extra dollars now is a small price to pay for her to keep her sanity.... who knows? In the future, she might help you keep yours.

to do lists.... oh how they multiply

Days pass faster than I ever thought they could. I have a few hours until the work week starts (my delayed version in which the weekend is comprised of Monday and Tuesday), and more weekend work left than I would like to shove into them. But, I have crossed a few things off my list (the list that keeps me feeling sane, whether or not I really am) such as:

make bed
email Mitchell re: Sr. Project
volunteer at The Friendship Center (where an old man told me that if he was my age we would be engaged right now. Such a proposal, eh?)
clean out purse

But best of all was that I finished Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott. So lovely. I highly recommend it.

Shalom.

A time for everything

In the quietness of my afternoon, I'm surprised again by joy and purpose. Sometimes my mornings, in their silence and stillness, are haunted by fear and doubt of the Giver's goodness. Even worse are the moments, lukewarm and bland, when I cannot or do not rejoice in this place, this time, these people, this love. But for today, Ecclesiastes allows me to see that purpose and purposelessness go hand in hand. For today, for right now, I will be at peace.

Tomorrow will come soon enough.

Quote of the day

"Remember, like the sparrow, you don't have to worry."
J.A.J.

Two things come to my mind tonight:

Facebook is seriously one of my worst habits. I spend more time there looking at old friends' profiles than I do actually conversing with said friends. That needs to change. (ok, so maybe it's not really one of my worst habits, it just sounded nice and dramatic... it still needs to change).


I hope to be the kind of woman who has lots of tea in her home - and is usually available for an hour conversation. I think that could possibly be my vocation. I'd rather that than 60 hours a week at the office....

And one more:
I am making bread tonight.

may morning musings

I'm missing something, and I haven't quite found out what it is. There's a hollowness here, despite the laughter I find living with five friends. I don't think we've worked out all the kinks of 141 Holly Ave. yet... sometimes I get discouraged and don't think we ever will, all of us with our wildly different ideas and perceptions of this Holly home. Dishes and trash and mail and rent - who knew these things could be so controversial and problematic? The stress level in this house is greater than I wish it. I do not know how to puncture that ever inflating balloon - you know, the one that no one talks about, but everyone feels. Is everyone happy living this way? "It will get better when Jess comes back," we all say it, but I don't know how much we really believe in Miss Vergini's powers of balance.

Santa Barbara is just an arms reach away, which means that I see the boy I love everyday (16 months today). And what is wrong with that? Minnesota is too far to go home to, but even when I did, I felt the failure of my lack of love in the anger and frustration of my parents. So maybe that $329 plane ticket really ought to go to some other deserving daughter, and not this one. Walking with some anxiety to work, crying or rejoicing on my way back, depending on my day, has saved some gas money. The emotional struggle puts me in daily contact with my fears of inadequacy. Sometimes I pray well... others I do not. But the day will come when I must conquer the teeter totter of my emotional and anxiety-filled self, and I hope that this summer (this day, today) will be the beginning of that journey.

What am I learning? I have no idea. But I did make a deposit of money that I earned all on my own. Baby steps toward adulthood, beginning with an ATM. And maybe, somewhere, Jesus will catch me and make me remember who He is.

love never fails.

I am grateful for the security of love. I look forward to the adventure - all the butterflies my stomach can handle. I enjoy the peace it brings to my daily walking from here to there. And I ache to see it grow so big that even my cup, the one that sometimes seems half empty, will overflow all over the floor.