Great Customer Service

One day at work, I gestured wildly (I guess) and my engagement ring shot straight off my finger and bounced along the floor with the pathetic tinny ting sound that expensive metals make.

It became quite clear that the question of whether or not my ring truly fit had been answered. This posed a whole new dilemma: finding the time off on a weekend where I could get down to Shane Co to get my ring re-sized.

As someone who works retail (who is nearly always scheduled on the weekends) and works a second job that also likes to have me work on the weekend, who is marrying someone with a Monday through Friday job, figuring out getting down to Walnut Creek (sorry we didn't stop in and say hi, Sarah) became quite the puzzle. Luckily the stars aligned and I was scheduled to only work at one job on Sunday, compared to Saturday when I worked both, and I was able to convince Steven to take us down to drop off my ring.

So, with an hour and a half drive there and back, Shane Co opening at noon, and me having to be at work at three, we set out for a nearly impossible task. But the stars aligned and even though we were late at leaving the house, stopped for breakfast, and battled traffic, we arrived as the doors were being opened.

We joined the crowd (because apparently a lot of people have jewelry emergencies on the weekend) and wandered inside. The place was lovely inside. It has a foyer! We wandered in and were immediately helped by a gentlemen. He asked what he could do for us, and I said I needed my ring re-sized because it had shot off my finger. I tried on a few different sizes and we agreed on a new one. Once we had finished he asked if I would like to see any bands next to it. 

Now, anyone who read my blog about poor customer service will understand why this simple question made me so happy. This salesman possessed the great skill of deduction. He saw me take the ring off a certain finger. Saw me arrive with a hovering gentleman (the only time I'll call Steven a gentleman) and he figured it was safe to assume that this ruby ring of mine was an engagement ring. The man helped me find the absolute perfect wedding band to sit next to my ring and listened to Steven's preferences and helped him pick a ring that makes him happy, too. I will be going back to Shane Co to purchase my wedding ring shortly and couldn't be happier with the service I received.

But now I face being without my ring for the next few days...

Living Together Part One

After dating for 1,673 days long distance (I used a website, I didn't just know that number off the top of my head...), Steven and I finally moved in together. Now, we've both had roommates before but this whole living with your significant other led to some new experiences for both of us. We've learned a lot. This will be a long running blog theme, so we'll only cover a few things each time.

Living Without Your Sisters 

As most everyone who knows me knows, I lived with at least one of my two sisters, if not both, a brother-in-law, or a curly-haired, witty girl, up until the moment I came back from China in June, 2014. A brief homage to roommates past:

2009

2012

2013

So, the first things I learned after moving in with Steven actually have nothing to do with him. It wasn't his presence that changed my living situation but the lack of Bry, Sarah, Alia, or David. Suddenly, my clothes weren't disappearing.

MINE!

Above we see Bry in a shirt that was definitely mine. And David, it was safe to assume at one time, could always be found in a minimum of one of my socks. Which he would then ruin with his man feet and claim them as his own.

Caught in the act!

Here we see Alia. That plaid jacket is mine.

WHY, BRY???

Here we see Bry, once again in my shirt!

DAVID, WHY???

Here we see David in my blonde wig.

I could go on but I'm tired of browsing pictures on Facebook. Anywho, living without roommates approximately my size has meant that nobody else can steal my clothes! (Almost entirely true, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures...) On to what I learned.

Finishing Things

Finishing things is a two part discovery. The first part to it is that Steven and I have very different taste sometimes. As I learned recently, Steven doesn't like marshmallows. At least not to the degree that I do. At work, we sold marshmallows to go with marshmallow shooters. Neither sold well, just like every year, so we had packs of marshmallows left over. After Christmas they were marked down so I bought three bags to put in my morning coffee. When I brought them home, that's when I discovered that Steven had no interest in the marshmallows.

Within a rather short period, I discovered that I had run out of marshmallows. And then it hit me: I HAD EATEN ALL OF THE MARSHMALLOWS. This led to me realizing that I would always finish all of the marshmallows (until we have kids and I'm forced to share). The same thing is going to occur for a lot of things. The boring gluten free cereal I get to eat will get finished all by me. The lactose free milk I have to drink will expire if I don't drink it quickly enough because Steven buys his own milk. The pickles will be finished by me because Steven hates pickles. I have no one to blame when I finish certain things.

Finishing Things

I made another nice discovery about finishing things. Without other girls in the apartment, all of my girly products are lasting so much longer. When I buy my BB cream it isn't being smeared across three girl's faces each morning. It lasts three times as long! Weirder still: When I got back from China all I wanted was a familiar shampoo and conditioner. During my very first shopping trip back in the United States, I was determined to buy Aussi shampoo and conditioner. When I found it in Target, the only size they had were the 29.7 oz bottles! I hated the idea of paying $8.99 a bottle just to wash my hair, but I bought them anyway. And since I've been the only one using them.... I haven't had to buy new shampoo or conditioner...  for six months. In fact, I'm running low on shampoo (FINALLY) but I still have a dozen or so showers of conditioner left. But that's okay because unless I buy Steven new stuff when he runs out: