About seven years ago, I started keeping a spiral notebook
full of recipes that I had tried and found successful. Many of these were my mom's recipes that she told me over the phone while I quickly scribbled them down. But the first recipe in the
book is a banana bread recipe that I only learned how to bake so that I could
subsequently teach a boy I liked how to bake it. You know, that recipe bought
me a ton of hours with aforementioned boy and it also turned into a favorite
treat I would make for friends of mine when they came to my place. So, that’s a
win-win situation folks and I know I wouldn’t still have the recipe, or the
memory, if I had not written it down.
What I love
about my spiral notebook is that it’s got enough room in it for notes, and
add-on notes, and any asides that I feel like including; or that my vegan-obsessed roommates decide to pen-in for me (thanks, Whitney). The above is my mom's peanut butter cookie. These are rich, buttery cookies which she's always made with JIFF, but you can use whatever pb you like,if you choose to try out the recipe.
2.) Staying with Starbucks for So Long
I worked for Starbucks for almost five years. Maybe you have a horror story about this company, I know I could turn mine into a horror story if I wanted to but looking back, I think it was a good experience. It was the
first coffee job I ever had and though at times I hated it, my time there is
something I’ve never regretted.
Starbucks
taught me to treat others with respect and dignity. I know I might sound like a
clone to some people, but some of the most extensive training that the managers
and supervisors at Starbucks get is not in coffee (obviously) but in interpersonal communication and people
management. Bosses there know how to motivate their baristas to get shit done,
and they know how to make people feel valued and not taken advantage of. That’s
probably one of the greatest keys to their success as a company, the fact that they genuinely seem to respect their partners. It's not the
caramel macchiato or chonga bagel that has made Starbucks the company that it is, it’s the fact that baristas at Starbucks are
really well taken care of. For nearly five years, my Starbucks schedule rarely interfered with my school schedule. I didn't realize how important or unusal that was until I got jobs at other places that didn't give a damn about the fact that I was a student. When I left Starbucks, I was surprised to find out just how much I had been spoiled. Most of the people I have worked under since Starbucks have not had the extensive people-managment training that's necessary for, you know, managing people. I didn't realize how much I would miss being treated like a human, and not a dispensable plebeian But hindsight is 20/20, isn't it?
That being
said, I’d like to say that the other huge thing Starbucks taught me was how to
work really freaking hard. After leaving the company, I would meet ex-partners in
different work situations everywhere I went and the one conversation I would have over
and over is how you can tell when somebody used to work for Starbucks. Why?
Because they work really freaking hard. Ex-partners are always some of my favorite
people to work with because there’s a certain work-ethic that’s been pounded
into them.
I’m glad I
stayed with Starbucks for as long as I did. It was a really key experience in developing me into the person I am today and I've never had any regrets about my time there.
3.) Being Brave Enough to Go Alone
In life, there will always be things that
you want to do that nobody else really cares to do with you. I learned this
lesson early because I was the only kid in my family who was truly dedicated to
building snowmen in the 2 inches of snow we would sometimes get in December.
What I learned was that if I wasn’t okay with doing it alone, then maybe I
would miss the chance to do it at all, and if I had to pick one from the two
options, going at it alone was always the better choice. Trips to the beach,
shows in Seattle, poetry readings and slams, prayer meetings, long train trips, new coffeehouses,
grungy-looking Thai places, you name it and chances are, at some point, I’ve
done it alone.
About a year ago, I had a guy come into my coffeehouse and he was really bummed out. There
was a concert going on that night with his favorite band and he really wanted to go to, but none of
his friends would go with him. When I suggested that he go alone, he bulked at
the idea and sort of looked at me like I was out of my mind. I'm always surprised at how many people I meet that share this guy's mindset. After he walked
away all I could think about was all the places that I so desperately wanted
someone with me, but because nobody was available, I elected to have the adventure by
myself and once I was off and going, I never regretted doing it. Being alone isn't always ideal, but sometimes it's healthy and allows you to experience the situation in a way that you would not have been able to if you had had company. And almost always it's better than not seeing something/experiencing something that you really needed/wanted to see. I love my friends, but what makes them so wonderful is that fact that we're all different and that means that sometimes they don't want to go where I'm going, but if I let that stop me from going then I would be limiting my own life, and that wouldn't be good. I'm glad I've been brave enough to go at it alone.
