October updates

Our field trip out to Julian was a fun-filled family day- G really enjoyed herself, and Joy was very content the whole time. "Miss Gina" and "Rowdy Ryan" added a theatrical flair to the hands on activities the kids participated in- sluicing, sifting, panning for gold and stones; candle dipping, farm animal feeding and care, game playing, cider pressing and hay riding. Pictures to come as soon as I find the cord...

We were all covered in dust and so was our lunch!! I wore Joy in the sling for the first half of the day and nursed her freely amongst the happy homeschooling group we were with. Grace re-connected with a few friends but mostly enjoyed the experience with her daddy, sister and me.

My district manager called Friday, saying that I sufficiently impressed the DM I interviewed with and that they would be promoting me to ASM in 2 weeks- 2 months, depending on the needs of the stores in the district. I am so eager to find out where I will be and start settling into a bit of a regular routine. Although I do hope to get through the RMT training program as quickly as possible and get my own store in 6-8 months. We'll see what the universe has in store for me.

Shawn is still waiting to hear from WebVisible... he is very interested in this job. We pretty much ignored his birthday, poor guy. Things have just been rough and just like on my birthday it seemed better to just sorta get through it... sad, I know.

Joy is 9 months old today- boy is she getting big! Eating like a lumberjack and crawling all over the place. She loves her mama so much, and I wince every time she reaches for me as I crawl from the bed at 3:30 in the morning to go to work. I am just grateful that she has had this time with her daddy.

Grace's homeschool enrichment academy is having an open house on Sunday- I am excited to see what they have been learning, she had been enjoying it quite a bit and I am impressed with what I see her doing so far. She is in Spanish, guitar, wind ensemble, hip hop and tap- quite the little Rennaisance girl!!

It's here...

Tomorrow is the day I go for my "assessment"- I will be meeting with and hosting a coffee tasting for 2-3 upper level managers (store or district), I think. I have spent the last week preparing: memorizing the core purpose, mission statement and guiding principles; studying the "17 competencies"- a thorough list of the qualities expected of managers; creating a SARI (situation, action, result, interesting point) for the 9 that I was told to expect by my ASM. She ordered herself the interview book as soon as she became an assistant. It's cheating a bit, but I didn't ask for it- she pretty much pushed it on me- mostly it seems to show off her knowledge and position. She is quite proud of herself for becoming an ASM. Anyway at least we are getting along better now that I have chosen to just let her think she knows more than me about EVERYTHING.

The competencies are pretty much in line with the "soft skills" the development trainers (the team I was a part of at Option One Mortgage Corp's Training Department) focused on. Also they are remiscent of many of the "self-help" books I have read for sales skills- Carnegie, Robbins, Canfield, Covey, etc.

I feel pretty confident going into this- after having seen the performance level and general attitude of the ASM's at the stores I have worked at (did I mention I have now worked at 8 different stores?) I know that I am over-qualified for that position. I truly believe I am able and experienced enough to be a Store Manager- but the journey of "working my way up" is valuable and somewhat rewarding. If only it paid the bills...

I have seen many surprising things from the management partners at Starbucks and as hard as it is, I know that my ability to navigate the social stucture of this large organization is as important as my skills in serving customers.

"My popularity, my happiness and sense of worth depend to no small extent upon my skill in dealing with people." - Dale Carnegie

g is my little mermaid
Tiffany

Grace's 1st Grade Experience, etc

So far this year we have done a lot of in the moment, review, reading and math practice. She is still only 6 years old I keep reminding myself! She is enrolled in an enrichment program on Thursdays where she learns Spanish through play, guitar, clarinet, hip hop and tap. The kids bring a lunch and move between classes in the dance studio where the program is held. She loves it so far and is really learning a lot- she drew and labelled her guitar, made up her own song, tried out a flute, trumpet and recorder before settling on the clarinet and she is making friends!

I really want to get Joy in a baby signing class and both the girls in swim programs (Joy in a Mommy & Me so I can get in the water some too!) but I have been working 40 hours a week at Starbucks. I open the store at 4:30am 4 days a week and work a mid-shift on Saturdays. I got transferred to Fashion Island and have an interview planned for the end of the month for Assistant Manager... but... well I don't really want to get promoted! I want to cut back to 20 hours and be with my kids more!! Shawn has also been putting in a LOT of hours at OC Nissan and working really hard, doing well; making ok $, but it just isn't worth the hours if I still have to work towards management to provide that stable base.

Soooo... he talked them into allowing him to work less hours and we will see what happens- this week certainly went better. I was able to get more than 3-4 hours of sleep a day unlike the previous few weeks. Joy was sleeping well until we started this crazy schedule now she wakes up every couple of hours to nurse and she is teething so she can be quite a handful when you are barely conscious and trying to listen to a 6 year old with no front teeth sounding out letters.

Grace has been such a tremendous help, so thoughtful and considerate- making me sandwiches or warming me leftovers when I get home from work, so I can feed the baby. She often watches over Joy so I can do chores or even rest for a bit. I really like the little girl she is becoming. She has quite the fashion sense and she loves to design clothes for herself and Joy- maybe in the spring we'll put together a unit study around fashion design.

Life is back on TV. I like that.