Rain, is that you???

Yesterday morning I had to go to a part time staff meeting at The Container Store and we walked out and it was raining!!! I have mixed feelings because it's supposed to be fall which means white puffy clouds, brisk mornings, and colorful trees... Am I right? However, it was absolutely glorious to go to bed last night with the windows closed and wake up in a dark and cool room. How could I not spend an extra hour snuggling underneath my warm comforter! I'm sure like all weather that this is just a fluke!
I finished my first week of training at The Container Store, hooray! I have never received this much training for any job and I still have more! I admit, my brain was done by the end. I have learned a lot but still have way more to learn. Mostly product awareness at this point. I use the term awareness instead of knowledge because we aren't so concerned with being able to tell the customer everything we know about a certain product. However, when someone needs a paper tray that holds "tabloid" size paper, I do need to know if we even carry that. This is a true situation and the answer is no, we do not carry anything to hold tabloid size paper. In fact, I didn't even know what that was until I came across that customer. I think a few more 6:00AM merchandise processing shifts will help me be more aware of what we have and where it is! I also have to say that I'm very impressed by The Container Stores business, sales, and moral ethics. I've worked a couple retail jobs where they either don't care what you do at all or they mentally/emotionally abuse you for not performing and then don't give you tools to use to improve. The Container Store is almost fool proof! First off, I've been having a mental war over this but people come to our store to buy things. My first retail job was the exact opposite. People didn't want to buy the product but at The Container Store they really buy stuff! Our sales goals are outrageous and we're beating them almost every day! I'm so mind blown over this simple concept. Second, not only does that sort of make my job easier but even if it didn't this company gives you all the tools you need to sell. This ultimately makes the sales process easier but I have to practice at it because we're creating a genuine shopping experience for our customers. We're supposed to connect with people and offer solutions for multiple things not just one thing. We're not really supposed to ask, "How can I help you?" rather "Are we working on the office today?" Just more personable. I have to say, I'm out of practice. But it will become easier.
Adam is plugging along working away! He worked a trade last week which meant neither of us were home much. By Thursday we were both in desperate need for time together! I actually got a surprise on my car after work, can anyone guess?? A taco!!! Haha Ok sounds weird but he knew I would be hungry so he got me a taco from Taco Bell and left it on my wind shield with a note saying, "I love you" on it. As I approached my car I thought I got a ticket or something. Very sweet husband. He also took me to dinner at a Greek restaurant which was pretty good. I think we'll take Mom and Dad Nunez there when they visit in a week! We're excited to see them and we have almost their whole stay planned!
However, they won't be staying with us in our house! We got totally screwed on our closing. Our loan coordinator did a terrible job of communicating with us and didn't seem to know his job very well because all the paperwork was pulled together a approved AFTER the last minute! I guess he was supposed to send our approved paperwork to the escrow company two days before our close date (9/16) so we could sign, they could review, and we would get our keys on Friday. Our paperwork ended up getting approved and e-mailed to escrow on Friday (close date) and then the woman at the escrow company didn't understand how to open up the page to access the documents. She had to receive them by 3:00PM in order for them to be ready to signed on Tuesday. Well, she didn't answer any phone calls or e-mails to receive directions on how to open the docs. Now, we're waiting in the dark till Monday to see how much longer this is going to take. To top it off, our loan coordinator had the audacity to say that he thinks this was all done in a timely manner. Does he realize we had a 90 day escrow??? He's sending us a customer satisfaction survey and needless to say it's going to have a long letter attached about how someone should never say something like that when buyers are going to be closing almost a week late from their close date after a 90 day escrow. Given all the work that needs to be done in the house we ended up pushing our move out date from our apartment to later in October to give us more time. We're disappointed because we should be working on our house right now so we can move in and enjoy our home. We're hoping now that it's in the hands of the escrow company that things will run smoother but we're not holding our breath!
Well, if you're still reading thank you for listening to my rant! Happy Day to you!

10 Years Ago...

I was just thinking on my way home tonight that ten years ago I didn't even know what the World Trade Centers were. I remember getting ready for school (freshman year of high school) and my parents having the news on and asking, "Where is this?" thinking that this was another country. When they told me New York City I was kind of taken back because I was probably old enough to know what the World Trade Centers were yet I was clueless. Fast forward to now and I think of how much America has changed and sort of moved on from 9/11. I know I don't think about it often... Last night Adam and I were visiting some friends and we watched the documentary "9/11". I honestly thought I would have nightmares later because of some of the horrific realities of the film. It was also hard because it is from the firefighters point-of-view. I could not imagine Adam running into a 100+ story building knowing he probably won't come out alive. All of those service men and women were so brave! I don't know if I could be that brave. I admit, I can be almost cowardly at times. I just pray that something like that never happens again and my husband and family never have to endure that.
On a lighter happier note, Friday was Adam's birthday! Since I wasn't allowed to get him a Birthday present I decided to pamper him for the day! I started by making him a "gourmet" breakfast of ham and cheese frittata, chocolate chip pancakes, and chicken sausage. Then he got to play some video games and we went to the gym. Then we went to lunch at a bar in North West Portland and had pizza and beer for lunch followed by a trip to Powell's Book Store for some reading and people watching. After that we headed over to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to watch a film at the OMNIMAX Dome IMAX theater. We saw "Tornado Alley" which was really cool! Then we ended the evening at Soho Asian Fusion for some sushi and sake. One of the highlights of the day is that I drove him everywhere! I really like for Adam to drive so it was a treat for him to get chauffeured around town. He also got to come home and play more video games. I think he had a good day :o)
So far this we has already started with my first day of work at The Container Store (Hooray!) and celebratory dinner at Pambiche, a delicious Cuban restaurant. Adam is working and reportedly got to watched a fly over on the roof of his station. Tomorrow he's off but I work 9-5 and the rest of the week is looking a lot like Christina working while Adam's home. He's working his regular days but he'll be home alone because I have training this week! Then Friday hopefully closing on our house!!! Celebrating the busiest week of this year!!!