Everything But the Kitchen Sink - 5

Some random thoughts from my day...

I don't understand why, when there is a perfectly wonderful, scenic bike route that precisely follows the road, bikers feel the need to ride in the gravelly, skinny shoulder.

In D.C., you have to watch out for bike messengers, here you have to be cognizant of everyone who wants to be Lance Armstrong.

Normally, I don't care, and I even find it Colorado-endearing to have bikers in their full-regalia flying along the side of the road.

But today, the biker who inspired this thought was weaving and causing cars to be extra cautious of his next move - intentional or not. I'm sorry, but wearing the requisite "bike gear" - spandex, a shirt that looks like you've got a sponsor, and a helmut - experienced biker does not make.

A girl came into the store today wearing a questionable outfit comprised of cropped pants, some random shirt and spiked heels. She looked pretty out of place in our laid-back environment here, and truth be told, I was pretty judgmental at first. It was all based on the fact she was wearing spiked heels, in a kitchen shop, on a Tuesday afternoon, for no apparent reason. Then I caught myself. I recalled that on some days *I* really want to wear spiked heels here for no apparent reason. It just doesn't fit the atmosphere here, but, by golly, sometimes I want to break that rule myself. So, I kept my thoughts in check and decided to admire her and not condemn her. You go girl! And besides, with what I was wearing today - green and white striped shirt, bright yellow pants and silver flats - I hardly think I am one to talk about fitting in. P.S. I love my yellow pants...

Roadside waterfalls: Have you ever been driving, particularly in the Colorado Rockies, and noticed the full-fledged waterfalls flowing down the rock beside the interstate and contemplated WHERE THAT WATER IS GOING?! Seriously. There is no creek, river, stream, or anything, for that matter, flowing along the road to direct that amount of water. It's like it comes from some magical stream above and disappears into a black hole at the base. I can't tell you how many times - since I was little - I have wanted to pull over and investigate just where that water is going. It's a total mystery. I guess I haven't done it for a couple reasons: first, I usually don't want to stop mid-hill going up a mountain, and second...I imagine I might be just as disappointed to learn where that water goes as I was when I found out how ships get inside bottles.

So I keep truckin'. But I am curious nonetheless.

A woman came in last week who bought a Vail Cooks for You cookbook - one I want very badly. She said her thing is to buy cookbooks from all the places she visits. I think this is great!! It's much better than the shot glasses I have collected since high school, but I guess this depends on perspective! I'm totally inspired and am totally going to steal her idea. How quaint!

I have eaten obnoxious amounts of Wheat Thins the past week. We have them sitting out almost every day at our food sample table and I have definitely been making a meal out of them. Oh, while we're on the subject of food obsessions, my new favorite sandwich is hummus and avocado on completely natural, whole wheat bread. I have had one every day for about a week now. Delicious. I'm sure I'll burn out on this soon.

That's all. Not many thoughts to share today...though I think some are quite deep! Haha.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink - 4

After much karaoke last night, and staying up to hang out with the Unintentional Camper for a bit, I needed some get-up-and-go this morning. We have mugs in the back we can use for coffee and tea. I was going to use one that had an oddly appealing picture on it of an overall-wearing rhino watering some giant flowers. Then I turned the cup over and saw it said in very large letters, "RHINOCORT A Nasal Spray." I chose a different mug. I just really didn't want to be the nasal spray girl at the register all day.

The banana chocolate pancakes I made for breakfast were quite delicious and fulfilling. And just what my wine and beer infested stomach was hoping for. Yum.

My Earl Grey tea is just what the doctor ordered right now! Feeling a little peppier.

Poor Unintentional Camper. He must be dying from exhaustion today after a long drive home.

BIG BIG news!!!! Carrie just told me her landlord is thrilled that she has someone to take over the apartment when she leaves!! It looks like I get to stay!! This is actually better than the fantasy I've had where someone walks into the kitchen store and asks me to house sit their billion dollar mountain home for the summer. When Carrie told me the news I had instant visions of me sipping tea and wine on the patio over looking the river right behind us. I actually jumped up and down at the store after we hung up.

Our manager has been using a ladder in the back room for some inventory stuff all day. It's right in the walkway to the gift wrap station, however, creating a rather precarious dilemma for me. With my luck there is no way I'm going to walk under it, so I've spent the day taking the long route through the store to the back room's back door.

I'm preparing an envelope to send and the address it's going to is apt. 304. This was my old apt. number in D.C.!

That's all for today.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink - 3

I didn't really think I'd have a lot of these posts because I really don't want to talk a lot of shop, kitchen shop, that is. But, since my responsibilities at the store have recently changed I will have a lot more time on my hands, and that means a lot more random thoughts.

Here are some from Tuesday.

I eat a TON of hummus. I eat it basically every day. That's not really that abnormal (for me anyway), but I just feel like I've really upped my intake since being here.

I copied some good recipes today from a cookbook called the Buttercup Bake Shop. It's somehow related to the Magnolia cookbook I commented on earlier. I can't wait to try out some of the cakes!

A few of the ladies at the store and I have started working on the Vail Daily's crossword as a group. It's so slow these days there's not a lot to do but take a crack at it. Crosswords frustrate me to no end. I really think they're something I should be very good at, but I'm not. I normally get annoyed and throw in the towel. My goal by the end of the summer is to finish one!

Staring out at the store from behind the register while writing my random kitchen shop thoughts reminds of Linds C.'s The Cubicle. I've still never seen those Linds!

We play the same music in the shop for DAYS on end. I finally changed it out today. The new mix? A blend of a bluegrass version of the Dixie Chicks, Mancini plays Mancini, The Best of Billy Joel - Disk 1, and something from an Italian restaurant.

I was telling one of the ladies about my garden in D.C. earlier. I'm really going to miss it! And the peony! I might have to start some garden updates with a guest blogger and fellow plot sharer Sean.

That's it for today. Slow.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink - 2

It's soooo slow now that the season has ended, and when I'm behind the register for most of the day I've discovered there is a lot of time for my mind to wander.

To things like...how much I LOVE toast. I mean love it. From the taste, to the crunch, to the smell, to just how light and cozy a piece of toast with a mug of tea is. It's interesting how a plain ol' piece of bread can take on a whole new persona, if you will.

This thought crossed my mind as I considered my lunch today. I packed a piece of bread with the hope of making toast at the store, but ironically we have no toasters in the back for us to do this with. I was very disappointed.

A couple came into the store today with one of those little frou frou poodle-esq dogs with a turquoise barrette holding its "bangs" back. The woman actually said they were trying to grow its "bangs" out so they could clip them back more often. I smiled outwardly, but was secretly disgusted. First of all, I do not like little dogs at all. And secondly, I do not believe a dog should be wearing hair clips, sweaters, booties, or any other sort of accessory but a collar.

I have a complex now about gift wrapping purchases at the store. This stems from one package I did for a customer that ended up looking like a seeing-impaired kindergartner wrapped it. I'm sorry, that's not very nice, but it is exactly what my gift looked like. It was a large Cuisinart thing that nearly didn't fit the size of paper we have. I actually had to re-wrap it because the first time looked worse than the second. I was so ashamed when I handed it to the woman. It was for a bridal shower and I could tell by the look on her face that she planned to rip the paper off when she got home and redo it. I have spent YEARS wrapping presents and simply don't know what went wrong here, but wrong it was.

I passed a Honeywagon on the way to work today. I agree with Tyler this is a funny name for our area's trash trucks. It kind of makes the thought of grimy, gross trash a little more pleasant!

Has anyone ever noticed that when counting a cash drawer the dime total will nine times out of ten have an $.80 in it?

I had a visitor today. The Unintentional Camper totally surprised me as I sat behind the register tagging knives. He was supposed to come over tomorrow for my birthday, but unfortunately, I found out today, will not be able to make it. So, he drove an hour out of his way today to deliver a bottle of champagne, the desire for which I had earlier expressed to him. How nice is that? His surprise visit made my afternoon, and tagging knives, much, much more pleasant. Thanks, UC!

Well, that about does it for random kitchen shop thoughts today.

Until next time!

Everything But the Kitchen Sink - 1

I've been at the register a lot since I've started my job last week. This is cool, I like interacting with the customers and stuff, but we're heading into a slow spot and there are definitely periods of...not a lot going on. So, one day I started noting some of my thoughts and observations as the time idled on. There may be more of these, so this post is Everything But the Kitchen Sink "1."

In my down time I've been reading cookbooks and copying recipes I want to try. My new love is At Home with Magnolia, which is just so darn cute! And the recipes look so great and easy (if not a little on the oily/buttery side, but that can be fixed).

I love the line in her introduction, "The greatest thing about having your own garden is being able to run out barefoot and pick a few ears of corn or a handful of green beans." Love it. And I'm sad I won't be in D.C. for mine, Jeff's and Sean's garden this year!

The other cookbook I have sitting out, but haven't opened yet is, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes. I think the cover is cute and rather funny/clever. I think this is a good cookbook to read because I imagine I'll get lots of questions from vacationers about high-altitude baking. I'm also curious to know if high-altitude is the culprit behind my Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe yielding cookies that were not so soft.

The past couple of days I've taken to having a cup of tea and a crepe for lunch at my favorite (aforementioned and linked to site) bookstore The Bookworm. Their menu is so fun! All their crepes are named after some literary work or reference, which is just adorable. Yesterday, I had The Odyssey and the day before...Choose Your Own Adventure. While I was sitting there a group of three ladies were having lunch and their knitting circle. They were having SO much fun and telling the funniest stories. I wanted to join them.

A guy, or I should say the only guy, I work with reminds me in looks and character of my good friend John H. in about 5-10 years. It's incredible.

The lady that does all of our table displays was here and let me tell you...she can make up a table that would put Rick A. to shame and perhaps make him weep.

Game on!