New Ways

Months ago someone I knew from social media introduced me to the exciting word of freebie products! This is how I found the AMAZING Influenster!

If you enjoy free things you will love this. Influenster.com

The product I recently received was the full line of L’ORÉAL Oil Hair Treatment

I am one of the many many people who have psoriasis. I however have it in my hair, so this makes finding the right hair products difficult. L’Oréal does a very good job of maintaining the dry skin but not the best treatment.

I do think the product could have more perfume in it to smell better. But I understand the benefits of having very little.

Adventures of Cat and Cat

Everyone, meet Mr. Kitty!
We couldn’t  help ourselves we had to get our hands on a baby, even if he has fur!

As explained in earlier posts, Trace and myself are REALLY not ready for children. Yeah,we like the idea but it’s  not in the cards for us any time soon.
Nevertheless, we still felt an empty space in our hearts and this sweet little fella filled it up.

People always tell me that I don’t post anything about my him on social media and what not. So, here it is! Enjoy the kitten spam!

He really likes to take baths suprisingly

He really enjoys taking baths

I hope you had enough kitten spam to hold you over. He is seriously the most special thing in our lives and I’m so thankful for the last 3 months with the best kitten out there.

This semester I decided to take a few classes at college that were strictly electives and had no relation to the major I wanted. And if you are one of the few people who actually keep up with my blog you may know I have no major. At least not anymore.

Any who, I enrolled in a creative writing class and I am completely in love. I’ve begun to look at things in a whole new light and see the greatness that creativity can hold.

With that being said I would like to share my “Micro Fiction” with the world and officially publish it as my own. While also getting a little feedback. So, here we go….

And yes, I did think of Sebastian Kidd from Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries. I have no shame.

“You’re never going to believe how perfect he is, Nicole!” Tori says smiling through the phone as she answered.

“Tori…”

“Yeah, Nikki. Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can hear you. But Tori I have something to tell you. I think Sebastian is married.”

Baffled by what she has just heard, Tori can’t believe her best friend would tell her something like that.

“No, you’re wrong. And I really don’t appreciate you making stuff up just because you can’t get a date for yourself” Tori screamed through the phone. Hanging up as the last venomous word escaped her mouth.

Looking in the bathroom mirror Victoria gathered her composure and marched her way back to her perfect date, in the perfect restaurant, with the most perfect man she had ever seen. As she walked up to Sebastian he smiled a smile that could capture any woman’s heart.

“So, sweetheart do you want desert?” Sebastian asks in a deep sexy voice.

Tori being almost star-struck took a moment to answer. “Uhh.. No, no I’m fine.” Immediately wishing she would have said yes so that they could spend more time together.

Sebastian got up from his chair and helped Victoria put her jacket on.

Closing her eyes Victoria enjoyed every moment that his hands touched her body and longed for more.

As they began their walk out of the restaurant Victoria couldn’t help but be haunted by her friends words on the phone. How could someone so perfect not be in a relationship?

As the thought crossed her mind Sebastian stopped by a doorstep.

“Would you like to come in?”

Not making a sound Tori kisses Sebastian and slowly pushes him into the doorway.

Seeming like seconds later she felt her body fall onto a bed and Sebastian crawl onto her.

Despite the perfectness of the moment Victoria couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming instinct to open her eyes. Her eye caught something shining in the doorway connected to a silhouette of person to small to be a man.

The Marrying Type

I never imagined I’d be the “type” of girl to get married young. And if that sounds judgmental and presumptuous, you’re right. I was judgmental and presumptuous about college and high school girls wearing engagement rings, or people making life-long commitments before their 25th birthdays. I think my exact opinion was: “Pssssshh” with a somewhat disgusted look, probably rolling my eyes. And if I wasn’t currently married I would hold those same opinions.

And that’s a majority opinion in his country, in this decade. While it used to be normal and expected for young women to settle down and get married before the ink dried on their high school diplomas (and in some subcultures, that’s still the case), mainstream society has taken a major shift. Young wives are widely assumed to be old-fashioned, anti-feminist, super religious, ignorantly inexperienced, destined for divorce—usually all of the above. This new societal stereotype is everywhere from whispery gossip to TV plots. A “smart and educated young lady” knows better.

I just want to throw out there that I’m not really any of those things. In fact i do snarl my nose at those ideas. I am not old-fashioned, I am not anti-feminist, I have different religious beliefs, maybe I’m a little ignorant, but in no way do I believe my marriage is destined for divorce. In fact, the numbers show that if you marry a high school sweetheart your marriage lasts longer!

I would so much rather combined our lives when there is no baggage to come with it. Don’t get me wrong, Trace and I both have our little Wal-Mart sack full of baggage, but it’s far from a suitcase. We both have separate pasts. We didn’t “save ourselves” for marriage. Yes, we have the highschool sweetheart storyline. But in a way, we didn’t. We didn’t start our relationship until the beginning of our senior year. He’s my first and only adult relationship, so all of that grown-up intamacy—the shared apartment and food and memorable traveling adventures—is something I’ve only shared with him and him alone. I didn’t spend a bulk of my life with someone else; how could I? I was off the market by 19 years old. All of our baggage is checked together.

I didn’t wait a decade for “The One,” like on Sex and the City, nor did I wait for a magical time when my stars aligned. If I would have spent years planning and dreaming up the perfect wedding and marriage and husband and life, I would have been severely disappointed. Instead, I went along with life, choosing to be—and stay—in love. We had an extremely small wedding, with no complications. And truth be told, I wouldn’t change it now that I have realized how much money really is worth. I don’t expect Trace to do huge things for me on birthdays or holidays and would I have waited I would have. The fact that we’re 20 with no money has made me appreciate the true beauty in being married and sharing a life full of love and laughter.

Major Change

Why is it that society pressures young people to make a decision about what they want to do with their life while they are so young? It drives me crazy. Especially, since I have been in college for over 2 years and still have no idea what I want to do with my life.

Trace and I both have been going to college for over 2 years now. And we both just knew we wanted to be teacher for the rest of our working lives. Until we did observation hours. And I hated it. Yup, that’s right, I hate it. I can’t really speak for Trace, even though I usually do, but he hated it too! I just knew by the 3^rd time I went to observe a class that I would never make it.

I guess being in high school I just glorified the position of being a teacher and said that I could do that too. If you’re a teacher and you’re reading this, than bless your soul because you have a hard job. I mean it.

So, here I am to tell the world; I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Yes, I am frightened. Yes, I realize I’m hopelessly wandering through college with no major at all. All I can say for myself is at least I am here and I have made it thus far.

But, if anyone has an idea of what they think I should do with my life please let me know because I don’t want to be a server forever. I mean really, who wants that?

Trace on the other hand has done a total 360 and has decided to keep going to school and get an engineering degree. Who would have thought I married such an ambitious man? I’m not complaining because I still have big hopes in becoming a trophy wife!

 

 

Reason #5302 Why You Should Tip

When you come to a table at Olive Garden the server you have is essentially paying to take the table. We, as servers, realize how many people don’t understand this concept. We also realize not everyone has been lucky enough to work in the service industry. So, here I am to tell you everything you didn’t realize.

From the moment you sit your self down the server you have has to pay a portion of their sales to someone else who is working with them.

At Olive Garden when you buy appetizers and deserts the company takes a portion of the sales and gives it to the bus boy to clean the table.

At Olive Garden when you buy ANY drink that comes from the bar like chocolate milk, smoothies, alcoholic beverages, ect. they take a portion of the sales and give it to the bartender.

The company does this because for whatever reason they think the customer will actually tip more when they buy these items. Crazy, I know! But regardless they continue to do this. Most of the time there isn’t a whole lot to complain about. There are however the tables who will buy appetizers, entrees, bar drinks, and deserts and literally leave no tip at all. Servers always hope these people get flat tires on the way home.

Not every company does the tip outs like Olive Garden. I know that places like Applebee’s, Outback and such the servers actually bus their own tables so they usually don’t tip out to anyone. And then there are places like On the Border where servers have to tip out to hosts and food runners.

So, please I beg of you, next time you go out to eat leave something!

And remember,  If you can’t afford to tip, don’t go out to eat. Simple as it gets.

FREE SALAD? I Wish.

If you ask anyone who regularly comes to Olive Garden their reasons behind doing so the number one and two reasons would be for the salad and bread sticks.

I’ve worked at Olive Garden since the end of last March and the one thing I truly can not get over is the stupidity of some people. Have you ever went to ANY  restaurant and gotten something free without a coupon? Yeah, me either. With that being said, why are so many guests coming to OG  and expecting free salad?

Don’t worry you guys, I’m here to clear things up for EVERYONE!

Salad and bread isn’t like chips and salsa. Yes, the bread is complimentary. Tons of dining establishments have free rolls or other bread products with meals. And, no, you have to pay if you are only having salad.

SOOOOO many people come to Olive Garden and think if they get water and salad they will get to leave without paying a dime. The hardest thing to explain to people as a server is that you actually get a salad with the purchase of a meal.

I can’t tell you how many times I have told guests that they have a choice between soup or salad. And their response is “Well, soup I guess. Since salad just comes to the table!”. Ugh, no. Sorry, Charlie.

Just because the commercials show soup and salad on the table doesn’t mean that’s what your table will look like.

Now that you know I hope the next time you come to OG you don’t embarrass yourself by thinking salad just comes to the table.

How Married Life Really Is – 3 Months In

The never-ending question for all newly weds when you see someone you know is “How’s married life?”, and it could not be a more complicated question.

Of course you’re really not supposed to tell the truth. You’re supposed to say marriage is magical and beautiful, which at some points it can be.– I don’t know about how it is for anyone else but for me the first thing that comes to mind when I try to describe my last 3 months of marriage isn’t all that sweet. It may just be my comical nature but living with Trace Pee has been something else.

Marriage is letting the other use the bathroom first when you both have to take a huge dump.

That’s honestly the most raw, truthful thing I can say about marriage.

In all reality it isn’t that bad. But in the same sense it is. My marriage is still super young and I don’t know anything about it. But what I can tell you is that marriage is fun.

Trace ALWAYS has me rollin’! Living with him is like living with my own personal comedian.

Here are some other marriage truths that go beyond holding in dumps for the love of your life and are more in tune to things more relatable to other people.

• Last week Trace baked me cookies because I shaved my legs
• Trace pulled his shirt over his head, laid down and kicked his feet for about 4 solid minutes. All over the Steelers losing to the Ravens in the wild card game.
• Marriage is doing small things like laundry and washing dishes and expecting a round of applause.
• Sharing one vehicle because someone got a little curb happy and popped a tire
• We constantly are watching movies because we’re to broke for satellite or wi-fi

Marriage for Trace and I is so much different that that of others. I don’t say that just because I think we’re hot shit but because we are seriously around each other 90% of the time. And we actually enjoy it. We never really bother each other or get on each others nerves. It’s just a constant laugh between the two of us.

Oh Baby!

“So, when are you two going to have a baby?”

This is the question I have been asked way to many times in the barely 3 months that Trace and I have been married.

I just want to start off by saying I love babies. I mean, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t. But honestly I couldn’t imagine my life being responsible for another human. Of course this decision isn’t truly all mine. Trace and I have had to have long talks about what we want out of life, which is something all people thinking about spending their lives together need to do.

Any who, Trace and I have decided to wait to have kids for many, many reasons.

1. We aren’t financially stable. Granted Trace and I run and go and do a lot of things and spend a bundle of money along the way. We aren’t ready to give up the things we want so that we can bring another human into the world.
2. We have a plan. I know things don’t always go as planned but it still doesn’t hurt to map things out. Our plan is to wait until we are out of college with our teaching degrees and have worked at least one year in a school before we even start trying to put little pees in the world.
3. We are still young. I’m nineteen, Trace is twenty. Granted people have kids at 16 these days but I want to enjoy my youth while I can. Trace and I both want to travel and see the world and it’s kind of difficult to do that while lugging around a toddler.
4. I think people need to spend time together after they get married to enjoy one another before they have children. Now, this is just my thoughts on it but why would you want to spend years/months dating or being engaged just to turn around after you have gotten married and have kids. You will never have time with just you and your husband for at least 18 years. And that’s if you only have one child.

My first response to the question of children for Trace and I is always a rather dramatic “NOOOOOOO” I will say that sometimes when we are around our friends who have little babies I often have to remind myself that I do in fact want to wait.

If anyone has ever spend a lot of time around Trace and I though it isn’t hard to tell we seriously love babies. That’s pretty much one of the main things we look forward to in our lives together. Trace has more baby fever than I do if that is even possible. And we honestly can’t wait to have little ones when the time comes.

Server not servant

I just want to start off by saying I love my job. But, like any other job there are things about my job that aren’t that great. –For those of you who don’t know, I work at Olive Garden.

There are very few people that I have personally waited on that I have truly gotten heated with. Last week I met one of those people.

As many know, Olive Garden has amazing soups. These soups are in-house made in large batches. Then all the ingredients are thrown into a heat warmer until needed for tables. Great, we all understand how making soups work. With that being said please don’t ask to have something taken out of your soup! This particular day we did 100 people an hour for four hours. We were so slammed I could barely keep up. Then I had a table of 3 who after being greeted had the nerve to tell me I had to pick out the little pieces of spinach in her soup or else she refused to eat it. Honestly, servers don’t care if you eat or not. If you don’t like how something is made, get something else.

I don’t think people who haven’t worked in a big restaurant realize how big of a hassle it is to change things that are on the menu. Sure, changing one pasta to another is fine but when it comes to substituting one thing for another it can get tricky.

While I’m on the subject of things servers hate I would like to go ahead and address a few more issues I think people don’t understand.

I am not a dog.
I think I speak for all servers when I say that we like to be addressed by appropriate terms and gestures.

I honestly can’t stand people snapping at me or shaking their drinks. I’m not a dog or a servant and if you like those fingers you should seriously watch how you use them.

If a server isn’t being attentive to you and your table don’t take it personally. In all reality there are A LOT of little things we have to do to ensure the guest experience to be the best. And I’m not just saying that either.

Unlike other restaurants where drinks are usually the only thing that is refillable, at Olive Garden everything is refillable. Drinks, soups, salads, breadsticks. There is even a few weeks out of the year that pasta is even refillable. Working at Olive Garden is like playing a game of whack a mole, and the server is constantly running between stations.

Being a server is a special kind of job. It requires a lot of patience and a lot of attention to detail, because at the end of the day, you are dealing with people more than you are food, and people can be really, really stupid. No really.

It wouldn’t be a real server rant if tipping wasn’t mentioned once, right? Be nice and tip well, especially if service was good. This doesn’t mean that you have to leave an enormous tip all the time. Seriously though at least 20% is great. And I understand some people can’t do math well because I am also one of those people. So, here’s the trick. You can count it out on your fingers. One dollar for every five dollars spent on the meal. Easy. No server will ever bitch about that.

Just remember next time you go out to eat, don’t be a douche to your server and give them the tip they deserve.