Someone please enlighten me...

In the past year or so, I have heard from many people that Facebook is "so much better than MySpace", and as much as I have tried to embrace this comparison, I don't quite get it. When I log into Facebook, I am bombarded by...well, STUFF. Lots of words, random invitations, "Add THIS Application", take THIS quiz (but you have to invite 10 people to do it), and random notifications like "Harry and Joe became friends and then gave each other Good Karma." And WHAT is a poke anyway??? Is this a friendly thing, or does it mean I did something wrong??? So...needless to say, every time I attempt to peek in on Facebook, I feel very much overloaded. Now, I know that MySpace is far from perfect, and I'm open to the possibility that maybe Facebook is a lot better than I realize and I'm just not going about the right way...hence my title:-) Give me some enlightenment! Leave a comment and say which one you prefer and why. Or, if you find them both a waste of time and prefer neither, you can say that too:-) And finally, if it's Facebook you truly like better, do your best to help me see the light!

I gotta have more whip!!!

I think everyone should work retail at some point in their life...even if it's only for a month or so. It often gives you front row seat to a glimpse into society and human nature; at least that's how I sometimes felt during my time working at Starbucks. Sometimes I liked what I saw, but other times, it honestly made me cringe. I have an example for both.

One afternoon, I was working the drive-thru window, and a woman who had been through the line returned with her Frappuccino, requesting that we put more whip cream on it. Yes...the issue was not that we had forgotten the whip, but that we had not whipped the drink to her liking, which was adding it until we were almost sure it was going to burst out of the plastic domed lid. This woman informed us that the whip cream was a vital part of the Frappucinno and to not have a sufficient amount could really put wreck your day. Now, I would have been amused had she been joking around or being sarcastic, but folks, she was dead serious; her face and voice made it plain. A white substance that comes from cows and is aerated with sugar had the power to make or break this woman's day. Yikes. At first I was disgusted at such flimsy absurdity, but after dwelling on it for awhile, compassion crept in. Maybe this woman did not lead a happy or fulfilling life, and getting a Frappucinno was something that she truly looked forward to, and she wanted it to be perfect. It may sound silly, but let me tell you that in the course of my work so far, I have come across many people whose lives are in shambles and they truly do find joy in the minute things... they HAVE to. It's their only source of it. So, in retrospect, if I had that afternoon to live over again, I probably would have whipped that woman's cup to the brim with a much better attitude...and offered to drizzle it with chocolate as well:-)

Remember the part about sometimes liking what you see? I've got a prime example. It was a typically busy morning in drive-thru; cars lined up like crazy. I'm at the window ringing up a customer, and they suddenly said, "Hey, I accidently cut off the guy in the car behind me, and I feel kind of bad about it. Can I pay for his drink too?" I was temporarily dumbfounded, and in a good way. This person did not even know that guy behind them, yet they obviously recognized that they mattered and wished to acknowledge that. Wow. And I got the aforementioned "front row seat" to see the expression on the next guy's face when I told him his drink had been paid for by a stranger. Sure enough, his face mirrored my own earlier: shocked and dumbfounded. Frozen with his debit card in mid-pass. But get this...once the shock faded, he said, "Well heck, I'll get the person behind me then." He continued the cycle, which ended up lasting for 6 more cars!!! One of the best shifts ever, in my opinion.

It's getting late. May the Lord bless your weeks!

Alive and Well

Megan Elliott, at your service!:-) I must say that dating is great, engagement is exciting, but marriage rocks! Josh and I are very happy and doing well. I want to thank everyone for all your prayers for us, as well as the support you've continually shown. The Lord gave us a beautiful (and suprisingly warm!) November day for our wedding, and we honestly had so much fun! We also had a blast in Hawaii; PERFECT hoenymoon spot, in my opinion. Unfortunately, in the mayhem of packing and planning, we BOTH forgot our digital cameras and had to buy disposable ones for the trip. Oops. So no Hawaii pictures to post; you'll just have to trust me that it was good:-)

In other news, Josh has completed his masters degree in engineering, and preparing to take the big FE exam in April. He is still working the same job he got back in July, and is very happy there. They seem to be happy with him as well:-) I have completed my coursework at Marylhurst, and am now right in the middle of my full time music therapy internship, which lasts until the beginning of July. I love it, because I finally get to actually DO it, and apply what I learned, as opposed to just one practicum a week. Right now, I am working at 11 different sites and learning like a mad woman:-) It definitely had it's stressful days, but the satisfaction of the work FAR outweighs difficulty. I definitely feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do; it's a great feeling.

SO....it's definitely busy times in the Elliott household right now! We are really looking forward to the summer and the opportunity to play outside and maybe take a few trips. The big one in the works is a trip to Yellowstone National Park over Labor Day weekend (a long way away, I know). Yellowstone is Josh's favorite spot in the world so far, and he spent several vacations there as a kid, since he grew up in Utah and it was only about 5 hours away. He is very excited to show it to me:-)

I will do my best to update this blog more regularly, especially since life has finally gotten back to a more steady pace. But for now...have a wonderful Easter tomorrow! God bless.