A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 12

I got a creepy caller....

Me: {Introduced myself & the company}

Customer: "La Tache? That is a really pretty name..."

Me: Thank you, how can I help you today?

The customer had some questions that I couldn't answer and he wasn't a subscriber, so I told him to call back.

Customer: How much do you spend on advertising and marketing?

Me: Honestly, I am not sure, probably a lot...

He asked me a few more questions...

Customer: So, La Tache, how old are you?

Me: Um, how old do you think I am? {I didn't ask in a flirty way at all - I didn't want to tell him!}

Customer: Well, when you answered the phone - you have a very nice, sweet and young voice but when I asked you about how much you spend on your advertising and you got annoyed, your annoyed voice sounds very motherly and mature, so, um...Maybe 26?

Me: Good guess. Have a nice day! Bye!

What a creeper!

Fortunately that is the only creeper I've gotten so far, aside from the heavy breathers....ha!!

I hope you all are having a great day!

Science Lesson

This is what was in my lunch yesterday...

You learn something new every day ;-)

{I hate to say that I didn't even see this...

I got home and Rich asked me how my "flash card" was

And I looked at him, very, confused

I headed straight to my lunch bag and there it was!

I feel terrible....

lets just say I am going to turn my lunch bag inside out from now on so I don't miss anything!}

Thanksgiving Recap

On Wednesday Night we prepped 

We Chopped, Diced & Sliced

Took out the China

Set the Table

Picked up around the house

Cleaned the house

Roasted Chestnuts!

Chestnuts roasting in an oven...we don't have a place for a fire...

Set the tables with our lovely China! Excuse the used up candle sticks!

Our Super full fridge!

The topping to the yams on the left, the chestnuts on the right 

On Thursday Morning we got up, Rich took our friends to the airport and I made the stuffing.

Rich got back and we got the turkey all ready

Rich taking out the neck & giblets...just saying that makes it sound soo gross...

I really didn't cook very much in advance...

I didn't want anything to be cold or taste 'reheated'

Most of the food was prepared before hand and then popped into the oven at the last minute

So the last part of the preparation and cooking {about last 2 hours} before dinner was served was super busy!

The turkey was beautiful! All 9lbs of it...

from left to right: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, yams!

 When we were getting out all of our china the night before Thanksgiving we came to find out that we never got a gravy boat...

So we used the creamer dish... ha!

Rich did an awesome job carving the turkey!

Sooo tasty!

These: I would absolutely make these again!

Yummy! That provided like 5 nights of leftovers...ha!

Our beautiful China...

Overall, Thanksgiving was great!

I set off the smoke alarm once because when I was basting the turkey, I may have spilled a little bit in the oven... ha!

It was hilarious because we heard like 5 other alarms go off as we sat down and ate dinner!

Gotta love overly sensitive alarms in huge university owned apartment buildings...

I hope you all had a Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

The Artist Trailer

How classy is this?

If only we could dress like this again...

Gorgeous!

Blog Makeover & 25 Facts about me!

Hello Blog Makeover! 

Thank you Brea from Utterly Chaotic Designs

Linking up with Erin over at Living in Yellow

one.
I am terrified of  being alone in public bathrooms...I think they are the perfect scary movie location and I don't want to be part of that...

two.
This is my first Thanksgiving without my mom - and I'm nervous

three.
I can touch my nose with my tongue

four.
I think that baths are romantic

five.
I find my husband to be the most attractive man - I fell in love with his smile before I even met him

six.
I love to wear high heel shoes

seven.
I turn into a little girl around my grampie {grandpa} and I am 24!

eight.
I would do anything for any one of my friends

nine.
I don't really like to drive, but I'd rather be the driver than the passenger

ten.
I don't like to run, and I want to run a marathon next summer

eleven.
I love pickles...I could eat them all day, every day

twelve.
I secretly hope my husband gets into Law School on the East Coast so we can experience something new

thirteen.
I was in a sorority in college, and I am proud of it

fourteen.
I hate being in the dark

fifteen.
I love to shop, and recently, the closest I have come to shopping is at the grocery store

sixteen.
I never know what to get my dad for his birthday and I never know what to get my parents for Christmas

seventeen.
I am addicted to chap stick

eighteen.
I love my job. I may have crazy people and some funny stories. After all of that is said and done, the nice customers make waking up in the morning worth it

nineteen.
I don't like to eat Italian food at restaurants - it never tastes the way my Italian family makes it

twenty.
My thought process: the more the merrier

twenty-one.
I want to work with a non-profit organization

twenty-two.
I studied Marketing in College, I wish I was in more of a Marketing role now

twenty-three.
I want to live in a foreign country

twenty-four.
I want to learn the stock market and how to invest successfully

twenty-five.

I am positive, optimistic and I love to smile!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Thanksgiving Feast!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow?!

This is my first Thanksgiving without my mom :-( 

I know that I will miss her and I also know that I am so excited to celebrate my first holiday as a wife with my handsome husband!

This day could not be any slower...

I just want to get home and start roasting chestnuts, pealing yams and chopping and dicing veggies!

Our Thanksgiving Dinner Menu:

Cranberry & Orange Relish

None for Rich of course...the fruit hater...

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Herb Butter Roast Turkey

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Focaccia Stuffing with Sausage & Chestnuts

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Hard Cider Gravy

{using white wine}

image

Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Parmesan

{we are actually using yams, not sweet potatoes...}

image

Green Beans with Bacon Vinaigrette

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Brie and Chive Biscuits

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I am not in charge of dessert...Rich's cousin is bringing that!

We will drink lots of wine - champagne for me :-) 

And just have a blast!

One of the things I am most excited for....

Using our wedding China! 

Ahh!!

I knew we got it all for a reason! 

:-)

Oh...and spending time with family and friends, too...

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 11

People can be just plain crazy…

Customer: Can you tell me, do you publish your papers on Monday?

Me: Well…may I have your last name and zip code? 

{Basically, most of our papers are delivered Tuesday through Saturday with our “Monday Special” delivered on Saturday. However, if you live in certain areas where we don’t have a lot of carriers the papers can be delayed so I didn’t want to say anything to push this customer over the edge.)

Customer: Answer my question and then I will give you my account information

Me: Ok, so our Monday edition is delivered on Saturday, based on your location, and it gives the information from the market close on Friday.

Customer: Do you publish on Fridays?

Me: Yes, and the information if from the market close on Thursday.

Customer: So why did I not get my paper today?

Me: I don’t know, Sir, I don’t have your account in front of me

So the Customer gives me his information and I pull up his account. I look through it:

Me: You had a two-week trial that expired yesterday, that is why you didn’t get your paper today.

Customer: Well, cancel everything because I wasn’t notified

Me: Ok, have a nice day.

What do you mean you weren't notified?!
ha!

UGH! People are so silly sometimes! 

It's Monday!

I had an interesting weekend...

I got Friday off so I could work on Saturday- I will do this about every 8 weeks unless I take on more shifts to work overtime- it's nice to have the option!

So on Friday, I woke up to take a friend to the airport, got lost on the way home because I was trying to avoid 405 traffic, which in the end I would much rather have done than go an hour out of my driving to Torrence...yes you herd me right...Torrence!

I got back on the right track and went to the store to make Chicken Tikka Masala as requested by my sweet husband and since it was my day off, I wanted to bake! I never bake-I'm not very good at it! I don't like to measure...ha!

I got home, called the insurance company to figure out some bills and then went for a short run.

Came back.

Got to cooking and baking!

This is the marinade for the Chicken Tikka Masala - how gorgeous are all of the colors?!

I made Pumpkin Cream Cookies

Oh my gosh they are so delicious!

{Recipe to come}

On Saturday I had to work, so I went to work.

It was relatively quiet, which was nice!

Saturday night I got home and Rich and I got ready to go to Santa Monica for the tree lighting ceremony.

There were a ton of people! 

We had a lot of fun!

The tree in the Santa Monica Mall before it was lit!

The lit tree!

So pretty!

My Sweet husband and I celebrating our first holiday season together as a married couple :-) 

We went home and watched some Cheers and then went to sleep!

On Sunday we got up and ran errands

I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving!

It's all happening so fast! This is so surreal!

 This is the epitome of the holiday season is the Williams Sonoma Panettone

It is a little pricey but it is totally worth it!

Cut a slice, butter it, then put it in the toaster oven

Welcome heaven in your mouth!

This morning I had to get ready by candle light because our bathroom light burned out...

Pasta alla Carbonara

Pasta alla Carbonara

We get the Williams Sonoma catalog and while we can't afford the items in the catalog, we can make the recipes that are pictured!

Oh my gosh...I saw this and just had to make it!

image

So good and so simple....

Well, we actually made the pasta but you don't have to do that :-)

You can find the recipe here

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese

2TBLS of EVOO

6oz of diced pancetta (or bacon)

Salt

1lb of spaghetti pasta

Pepper

Rich is in charge of making the noodles

Whole Foods didn't have pancetta

So we had to just buy bacon - it was tasty just the same :-)

So dice up the bacon, or pancetta

How delicious does that spaghetti look?!

He is doing such a great job!

Cook the Bacon

Boil the noodles and then add the noodles to the bacon with 1/2c of the starchy water.

Whisk together the eggs and cheese and add 1/2c starchy water to the mixer.

Add the eggs, cheese and water to the pasta and bacon

Voila!

This dinner is delicious and easy with very few ingredients - my fave!

Buon Appetito!

How cool is this?!

Now, that is talent!

Happy Friday!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 10

Fortunately, I didn't get this call - my coworker did and I listened to the whole thing and then heard the customer side after the call was over...

Basically, a customer called to accuse the paper carrier of stealing his bike out of his open garage.

Mind you, he gets his paper delivered at like 6 in the morning so its dark outside. We were prompting the customer to get more information...

He said that his garage door was open, 2 weeks ago, and he has asked around to see if anyone saw what happened and he has concluded that it was the carrier who delivers our paper. What?! He says that his neighbor saw the carrier drive into his driveway and that must have meant that he stole his bike out of his garage - it absolutely could not have meant that the carrier needed to pull in to drop the paper on the door step: no! nor could it have meant that the carrier needed a place to pull in to turn around: absolutely not!

How can a person full heartedly accuse someone of that after 2 weeks of deliberating?

Oh well....

...of course we will look into it but that seems pretty far fetched to me...

Pre Chopped Garlic

I have been watching a lot of Food Network and on one of the show I saw the most amazing thing - pre chopped garlic!

We use so much garlic every day and if we could only have it already chopped and all ready to go it would save so much time and garlic-y fingers!

So, what I did was, I peeled like 2 heads of garlic, put it in the food processor and added a little olive oil and processed the garlic until it was finely chopped/minced.

I got this cute little jar at Cost Plus World Market for $0.99 and voila! I have ready made chopped garlic!

Have a garlic-y rest of your day :-)

{I found out that you don't want to keep garlic for too long in the fridge because a lot of bacteria can grow in it...ew! So if you do this, make sure you make enough for a couple of days and discard after a week! I don't want anyone getting sick!}

Hello Weekend!

Today is my Friday

...well, maybe you wouldn't call it that because I get tomorrow off so I can work on Saturday...

I am excited to have a whole day to myself.

It will be a La Tache day.

I am going to make a yummy dinner and maybe bake something

I will bake something

I just can't decide what!

With the holidays there are just so many options!

And while working Saturday is not ideal, Rich and I have a date night planned...

Tree Lighting in Santa Monica

Maybe a movie

Dinner & Drinks

This weekend we are also:

Picking our menu for Thanksgiving and deciding on our Christmas Card

Our first Holiday Card!

I am so excited!!

So...

Sunday we are getting ready, shopping, decorating, cleaning anything and everything under the sun for Thanksgiving!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is 1 week from today?!

Happy Thursday!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 9

I totally forgot about this customer/experience...

....Until they called again

Picture this...

It is my first day on the phones on my own. I have 2 weeks of training, listening, typing, talking and doing all of the above at the same time.

I get to work...

...I'm sweating

...I'm worried

...I'm nervous

...I don't want to be there!

The last call of the day goes a little something like this...

Me: {Introduction}

The customer is irate because they won something at a money show and didn't get what they won...

Me: What is your last name and zip code?

Customer: {gives me their last name}

Me: What is your zip code, Sir?

Customer: First of all, I am not a "Sir"

Me: Oh, I am sorry, we don't have a very good connection...

Oh! My! Gosh!

She really sounded like a man...

...I felt so bad!

I am sure that I turned bright red

I apologized profusely

I died a little bit

I laughed a little bit

This was not a good way to start off a call...

This woman was rude, not patient, cranky

...on the bright side: she kept me at work for 30 extra minutes so I got some overtime....

I get it, but let's be real...

This is a newspaper...

Why are you so cranky?

I hope none of your mistake and woman for a man today :-)

11/11/11

This is the theme song for today!

And this is my sister and brother in law!

Have any of your heard this song? (you may have heard it during a Cigna Health Care commercial)

Aren't they talented??

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 8

A gentleman called and during our conversation I had to spell something using the phonetic alphabet.

After I did so, he asked me how I knew all of that and I told him that I know because my husband in a Marine and he used to quiz me {no joke!}

So we went about the call and at the end the customer said:

"And tell your husband: Thank you"

I almost burst into tears!

I am such a baby! :-)

Thank you to all of our Military Men out there!!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Birthday to the USMC

Happy Happy Birthday!

You have been a huge part of my adult life thus far.

Thank you for taking care of my husband.

I pray every day for the men and women abroad and for their families.

Come home safely

please

Lancôme

So, I wanted to do a post on this because I absolutely love, love, love Lancôme.

When I was selling Mary Kay {ha! I know...} one of the things that I remember and that stuck with me, is that you should use face care products from the same line. They are made/created to work with each other, so in the long run it will be better for your skin.

And you want to take good care of your skin to avoid wrinkles and keep your skin looking young!

Unfortunately, I could not buy everything at once, and I don't have everything that I want because it is kind of expensive... So everything I have has been accumulated over time :-)

Items listed from Left to Right

Creme Radiance 

I love this because I don't have to use a lot and it really lathers! And I don't even need makeup remover, this stuff takes it right off!

BienFait Aqua Vital

This stuff is so light and I use a lot of moisturizer, I hate having dry skin!

Hypnôse Doll Lashes

This is their newest mascara. I like it....to be totally honest this is the mascara that I love

Teint Idole Ultra

This is the foundation I have used since, well, forever

Skin Illuminating Sheer Loose Powder

I have had this for a while, I don't really use the loose powder - they don't even have it on their site anymore!

Color Design 

Colors: Glamorize, Kitten Heel, Flower, Lava

My eye shadows look a little different than the ones on the site...

Dual Finish - Versatile Powder

This is my most recent addition to my collection, I like this and I keep it in my purse

Le Lipstique

Color: Fraichelle - Dusty Rosey - Peach

This is the color I wore for my wedding, I have since fallen in love with wearing lip liner & lipstick!

L'Absolu Nu

Color: Rose Veil

I also wore this for my wedding. I love it!

La Laque Fever

Color: Rose Macaroon

I also wore this for the wedding. It is so pretty even by itself!

Next I want to get the eye liners, eye pencils, bronzer & maybe some brushes

We will see what Santa brings me this year :-)

Real Weddings & What If's

Our Wedding was featured online at Real Weddings Magazine!

Check it out here & here!

Super exciting!!

I have seen this on a few blogs and thought that the questions were interesting so I thought I'd give it a try!

What if I were to get pregnant? 

I would not be too excited about it at first. we are not in a place to start having children, not for a while.

What if I could have any job in  the world? 

I would work for a non-profit organization, doing anything and everything.

Anyone know of one in LA? ha!

What if I had a day to myself?I would pamper myself.

I'd get a manicure, pedicure & a massage  

What if I could get married all over again? 

I am not totally sure how to interpret this question...

We had a blast at our wedding, definitely the best party/celebration ever but it was stressful to plan.

I think that if we were to get married again, it would be at a winery with a small group of our close family and friends.

We had the big party - definitely would want to have a smaller one :-)

What if I could live anywhere in the U.S.? 

All money aside...San Francisco. It is the best city, the most beautiful cityWhat, if I were to have more children? 

I don't have any right now, and we want to keep it that way...

What if I could have any talent in the world? 

I would love to be an artist

What if you met me in real life? 

I would ask you very person details about your life. Not to be rude or nosey...I am just curious. You would do most of the talking and I would ask your lots of questions and I would listen, really listen to your answers, because I care.

What if I went back to school?  

I would get an MBA

What if money weren't an object?

I would travel the world and get involved with every charity there ever was :-)

What if I could meet one celebrity? 

I would pee my pants if I met Celine Dion - seriously

I cried when I saw her in concert

Tears of joy, of course :-)

What if I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life?

It would be Banana Republic

I love all of their clothes!

What if I could choose an animal/pet?

Between you and I, I wouldn't

Between my husband and I, we would get a husky or a malamute :-)

What if I could go on a trip right now? 

I would go to New York for New Years

What if I had to choose between a house cleaner and a professional chef? 

Definitely a house cleaner. 

I love to cook. 

If I didn't have to clean another day in my life, I would be a happy girl :-)

What if I had the option to get plastic surgery?I wouldn't, I am too afraid of any and all complications....

I've thought about Laser Eye Surgery and I am too afraid I'd go blind...

Got to Love Penguins!

Too cute!

Happy Wednesday!

A Day in the Life: Customer Service Volume 7

Some people are just plain crazy

We have some awesome customers whom I am more than happy to help

Then we have the so so ones who are boring, they talk in the same tone the entire call and there is no life in their voice

We have ones that are silly and have no clue what they are talking about

We have some who are young

While most are old

Some who are technologically savvy

Some who don't even know if the computer is turned on

Every day, I talk to at least 1 person in each of these groups...

Mostly they are the old ones who can't hear you and have never looked at a computer screen but have paid for a 3 year subscription to the newspaper on line

Who knows...

{back information for this to make sense: We have a daily print and a weekly print. The Daily print is 5 days a week and the Weekly print is only the Monday edition of the paper}

A woman called, on a Monday. I asked for her information and puller up her account to find that she is a weekly print subscriber.

I asked her how I could help her.

She said she wanted to put her account on a vacation hold.

I told her that I could hold the upcoming Monday edition for her and asked her when she wanted to resume her subscription.

The rest of our Conversation:

Customer: {Obviously annoyed} {Insert deep sigh} "You can't do it sooner than that?"

Me: "Well ma'am, the subscription you currently have only allows your the Monday paper. Today is Monday and you got your paper today...so your next paper is this coming Monday which I can have held for you...Wait, I don't understand your question?" 

Customer: "{insert deep sigh} Ugh, I guess that is fine..."

I processed the vacation for her and the rest of the call was fine :-) Fortunately!

What? 

Can anyone shed some light on what this woman was asking me for?!

ha!

So silly!

Fun with our Phones Monday (Volume1)

Some of these are from 2 weeks ago....
I still want to share :-)

Pedicure before Shmu's big day!

The beautiful Bride

Only in Tennessee will you have an all blue car with Diamonds on the windows...

Rich took me to a "punkin patch"

Happy Halloween and Almost Nevember!

It's Scarf Season!

 This weekend, we went down to San Diego to wish farewell to our great friend Nick.
Nick, Jarrod & Rich met on Rich's last MEU Deployment and we have all become great friends.
Nick is deploying next week and wanted to see him before he left!

On our way to SD - Jarrod pulled off my windshield wiper...

Sevilla - Tapas Bar in SD with our favorites!

We said it was Nick's Bday...

Rich won't eat fruit - it was a fruity dessert...

Live Spanish Music at Sevilla

The Shout House

My handsome husband

There is a Butt on this cup...

Our service members!

My handsome husband

Profeta

Profeta to-go - Rich was studying and I couldn't leave him out...

Happy Monday!!