Keeping Up With AmyLouLa

Farewell, Montvue Starbucks

 

I love you all and miss you already. We will keep in touch!

One Year At The Bux!

 

Today is my one-year anniversary working at Starbucks in Knoxville! I can't believe a year has gone by. It's flown, I swear. I love my job as much now as I did when I first started working there. I work with some of the best people I've ever met, people I will remain friends with always.

Which leads me to my next topic: Today is also my last day at Starbucks in Knoxville.

I am leaving Knoxville, hopefully temporarily, to move back to the West Palm Beach area. I am going to be staying with my Uncle Tommy for a while. The cats (Oscar, Zander and Zoe) are coming with me, since I don't know how long I am staying. My old boss was able to get me in touch with her old boss, and I start at the Starbucks on Worth Avenue a week from today. 

I am not going to go into detail here, since it's a private issue and it would be rude to post when nothing is certain. Suffice it to say that B and I are still together. I just felt like it was necessary to say something about my change of venue, since I am not going to stop blogging and some explanation for why pictures of East Tennessee are replaced with pictures of South Florida seemed appropriate!

My mother and Pam are driving up to help me pack up the car for the drive south. We leave Sunday morning. I probably won't blog anything of any import again until I am settled at Uncle Tommy's. Meanwhile, have a wonderful weekend and see you on the blog again soon!

Everything's Abloom

 

All of East Tennessee is awash in fluffy white and pink blooms. Gorgeous!

Ah, Tulips

 

I'm afraid it's been pretty evident that I've sorta missed my goal for blogging every day. I feel really bad about that, but I'm trying to keep it up and get better. I've not been in much of a mood to blog lately. That, coupled with B and P being home, tripled with the computer being in the shop... well, enough excuses.

I WILL try better to post every day again. It might just be photos for a while. Writing just seems a bit beyond me. Or maybe I'm just spending so much time writing cover letters and resumes that I'm fresh out of ideas. Who knows. But, the job search, life and blogging go on. I hope Spring is springing in your neck of the woods.

Have You Done Yours Yet?

 

The Human Barometer

It's that time again. Spring in Tennessee, AKA, the allergy capital of the East. This means that I, along with thousands of others, are suffering from seasonal allergies. The change in weather has given me a horrendous head cold, twice in 3 weeks. Yuck. I think it may have turned into a sinus infection, since I can't bend over without pain. Time to see the doctor? You bet.

I've always had trouble with my allergies. I call myself the Human Barometer because I am so sensitive to changing barometric pressure that I literally get dizzy when the weather changes. Again, yuck. The choice is keeping my allergies under control with drugs (OTC Zyrtec) and hoping that the sinus swelling stays down, or having a very delicate operation to remove a polyp on my sphenoid sinus (one that's not easy to get to). I choose drugs.

And so I suffer along with thousands of others, and we bemoan our fate. However, may I just say how worth it it is? I mean, come on! It's spring! In East Tennessee! And you'll see what I mean when I start posting the pictures.

Funny, Yet Not Really

 

Living in east Tennessee, and, more to the point, rural east Tennessee, has me seeing some weird things sometimes. Like chickens in the Walgreens parking lot and horses staring at me at railroad crossings. I like to share some of these oddities with you, my readers.

This is what the picture above conveys. It's just one more little piece of weirdness from our little hamlet.

I have to go to the dump. We don't have trash service out by us. You people who get to leave your trash by your curb to mysteriously disappear on certain days? I envy you. I get to haul mine to a small lot with dumpsters and a scary hillbilly scrounging up scrap beer cans for extra money. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

But you want to know the really weird thing? I have a favorite dumpster. Let's examine that for a moment, shall we?

I have a favorite dumpster.

Huh.

The picture above is what makes "my" dumpster special. This little, decaying bumper sticker stuck on the side of what is ultimately a tin can is what makes my dumpster mine. Mine is the one with the meth sticker. Now, I know there's nothing funny about meth or addiction. But the sticker... the sticker is kinda funny. I mean, in the skull, there's a small hole where the nose should be, which makes it look kind of like a clown. Right? A scary skull-like clown with red and yellow colors in the background. And yet, I go to this dumpster when I go to the dump.

Sigh. I am even scaring myself now.

Spring Forward

I don't know about you, but I love that the time change is sooner in the spring. Although, I wish it would happen on a night when I didn't work late and have to open early(ish) the next morning. I hate losing that hour of sleep when I can't sleep in in the morning. But, worse things could happen, right? I am, however, really looking forward to more daylight at the end of the day. I get done with work on Sunday at 7:30, and I'm gonna love having it feel like 6:30. Woo hoo, happy spring!

Got Job?

I know it probably seems odd to wax poetic about my job at Starbucks one day and then say that I'm looking for another job the next. My boss and co-workers at the Bux know that I either want to get into management at Starbucks as fast as possible (unlikely considering the glut of highly talented and under-employed manager types in the corporation already) or find a better paying day job and keep on at Starbucks part-time. It's been a year since I lost my advertising gig, and we've been living (barely) on basically one salary (not mine). It's time for me to get a job with more immediate earning potential. 

So, my dear readers, I'm reaching out to you. Do you know of or have a lead for me in the Knoxville-area professional world? My background is diverse, from publishing (editing, proofreading, some page layout, project management) to advertising (project management) to design (account executive). I'm open to all possibilities. I'm thinking my best bet will be something administrative.

Give me a holler, will ya, if you know of something?

Pushing The Bux

You know I love my job. Starbucks continues to be an awesome place to work. I like to share the love and give my customers the skinny on new things the Bux is doing for their customers. One of the best things right now is the Rewards program.

If you visit Starbucks more than once a week, you need to get yourself a gift card, register it online, keep reloading it and use it to buy your drinks. Seriously. It's free to register your card, and it costs nothing to keep it up, other than loading it with more money to spend on more drinks. You'll get free extra syrup, soy and drinks. The more you use your card, the more points you accrue and the more free shtuff you get. That's the first and best piece of advice I have for you.

Next, starting tomorrow, we are offing a new Bold Pick every week. If you come in just once a week and buy a tall cup of the bold brew, make sure you ask for a sticker. This promotion runs for 8 weeks, with a new bold coffee to try every week. If you try all 8 and collect all 8 stickers (there's a sheet you can use to track the coffees and place your stickers), YOU GET A FREE POUND OF COFFEE.

Yes, you heard me right. A FREE. POUND. Of COFFEE.

And last but not least, tomorrow is also the launch of a terrific new drink: the Dark Cherry Mocha. Now, I'm not a huge fan of cherry and chocolate. But this drink... this drink got it right. I HIGHLY recommend it. It tastes just like a cherry cordial. Only better. Because I don't like cherry cordials, but I like this drink. We'll probably be sampling it tomorrow, so if you stop by your Starbucks, give it a try.

And that's all the Starbucks I'm going to push on you tonight. Now, go have some caffeine!