Day 23.

She's back. My goodness, she's back and it's a good thing too. My manager didn't look at me all morning. He walked around fawning over her while she drank her no whip non-fat milk soy latte and never even touched the boysenberry souffles I was so proud of. And she smiled at him when she left.
I thought he was going to faint.

Total mistakes: 11
Total customers: 89

Hello. That's like a new record. Maybe Miss no whip non-fat milk soy latte is good luck for me too. There's a good possibility.
My luck will run out soon enough though. We introduce a new drink at the end of the month. It's supposed to be some crazy peach blossom shaken iced tea with a shot of espresso in it. But so far it tastes ridiculously gross. And we can't back out of it because we already went public on the chalkboard and customers have been talking about it for weeks. I hate anticipation. Some night baristo thought it would be a good idea for him to get all creative two weeks ago. I thought he would be fired. Good thing for him the manager only found out about it today.
Yep. Today. The day she came back.
That's one lucky night baristo.
We're going to have a busy weekend, that much I can tell you. And that night baristo is so going to be at my place helping. Because Jack and Sullivan and I are not fixing his little creative endeavor all by ourselves.
I think his name is Patrick.

Jack was supposed to come over for dinner. Sullivan has some kind of Coffee Convention the manager asked him to go on. I was planning on making fried chicken, but then Jack called ten minutes ago and said he needs to watch his Grandmother. So now we're doing Chinese take-out and he told me there is a 99.9% chance she's going to want to braid my hair.
The odds are not in my favour.

Note to self: Remember to ask Jack about Patrick. He probably knows him. Jack knows everyone.

I'm thinking something comfortable tonight. I just got these vintage leather flats that feel like I'm not even wearing shoes. I'll probably wear those.
I'll save my forest green peep toes for tomorrow. Sullivan likes when I wear green. He says it brings the freckles on my feet out. He likes the freckles on my feet. And besides, they'll look just brilliant with that navy skirt I bought. I'll do blocked colors. Just basics. Simple. I feel a need for simplicity lately.
But that's probably because I spend hours trying to make peach tea and espresso marry.
xo, Delia.

Day 22.

Jack and I walked into the shop together this morning carrying so many raspberry cheesecakes. Because I have a certified kitchen, the manager is always making me take home the berries for baked goods and drinks. It's possibly one of the top perks of my job. Next to the little white aprons. Sullivan whipped out the BEST raspberry tartlettes too last night. I think the 3 of us ate about 17 of them while watching movies. And they were gone from the goods-case in about 20 minutes from when we opened. I was a bit distraught. I honestly loved those things too much.
But when I got home there was a little pink box on my apartment doorstep. It was filled with tartlettes. Sullivan. I fall more in love with him everyday.

Total mistakes: 21
Total customers: 76

Brilliant. I did make a huge blunder this morning though. It ended with a cheesecake on a lady's lap. Thank goodness it was the hippie woman. The one who always orders hemp milk in her coffee even though we don't have hemp milk. She laughed it off and said something about karma. Then Jack gave her free vegan blueberry muffins and we were good.

Lila came in earlier. She had to drop off a delivery of pies on her way to college. Her hair was an absolute wreck. A mess of gingerbread curls and snarls. And there was fingernail polish all over her wrists. "Grandma did it," she said sheepishly. She and her brother stared at my shocked face. Jack stifled a laugh. "You should see my hair after grandma does it."
Jack helped Lila clean up a bit before she had to go to her screenwriting class. He was a wonder. She looked like she walked out of Vogue or something when he was done with her. I traded shoes with her too. She was wearing some blue heels that hurt her feet. My boots are a bit more comfortable than point-toed pumps. And I figured I could make it a few hours in those then she could a whole day. They did look nice with my red dress too.

Tomorrow Miss no whip, non-fat milk, soy latte comes back. I am so excited. I can't even say it. I think the manager is too. He called me this morning and told me to take home the boxes of boysenberries in the back room and make souffles. Boysenberry souffles.
I have never made a souffle.
Than he told me to take all the extra raspberry cheesecakes to the homeless shelter and gave me enough money to buy 79 ramekins and 40 dozen eggs.

I've been in my kitchen for 4 hours now trying to get this souffle thing right. I think I finally did. But my red dress is covered in boysenberries. And my hair probably looks worse than Lila's did this morning. And I can't find my yellow pumps, so I'm probably going to have to wear the uncomfortable blue heels.
Sullivan is taking me out to dinner in 12 minutes.
I have to change my dress, fix my hair, look for those shoes, and pull 9 more souffles out of the oven.

I can totally do that.
xo, Delia.

Day 21.

Finally back to normal. Isn't that something? I call waking up at 4AM normal. How insane. But I love my opening shift. I love it. Because then I know exactly where the raspberries are.
Jack was praying again today. But it was different this morning. He's usually so happy and joyful and kneeling with a smile on his face. I found him crying when I walked in. He looked crushed. Broken almost. Weeping and asking his "Father" to work everything out. Flat on his face. I was stunned. All I could do was stare at my purple flats with the little white bows embroidered on them until he was finished. And when he was, he wiped his eyes, gave me a hug, and got to work.
I will never understand Jack.

Total mistakes: 32
Total customers: 76

You probably think that those are gorgeous numbers, but the truth is, I screwed up so bad today. We had a special on raspberry turtledove mochas with extra chocolate, and because I am such a ditz sometimes, I ended up giving extraextraextraextra chocolate. The only way to explain it is this.
People were bringing back their drinks because half of the cup was filled with chocolate syrup.
I don't even know what I was doing. I guess I was distracted at the syrup pump. Like 16 times. Which is highly improbable but it happened nonetheless. I have no excuse.
Okay.
So I have been having chocolate withdrawls for a while. I decided to have a fast from the stuff. I started it a couple days ago. I work with chocolate everyday. It kills me. And maybe I thought if I got rid of it faster, it wouldn't be so tempting. Or maybe I just wanted to give the people what I couldn't have. I don't know.
All I know is, it made Jack laugh so hard.
And finally I just gave up and he and I had to drink 16 half chocolate syrup mochas by ourselves. There went my fast. But I don't really care. I saw a box of Swedish chocolates in Sullivan's car yesterday, and I'm pretty sure they're not for him. So I would've broken it anyway sooner or later. Probably tonight. Because he and I are going out.

I met Damien today too. He came in with his wife. I think she's supposed to be the peacekeeper, because the brothers didn't fight. At least Jack didn't. He was so sweet to them. He even gave them free coffee. And Marilynn(That's the wife) got extra organic whipped cream just because she asked. All Damien did was mope and mumble things about Alpine Retirement Home and stupid younger siblings and too many shots of espresso. He is really handsome. But the frown on his face pretty much cancels even the dimples he has. And he shows no affection for Jack. I don't even know how Jack can say he loves him. Or even how Lila can. The man acts like someone is pulling off each one of his fingernails with pliers all the time. It's insufferable.
But he had really nice shoes too.
Besides looks and taste in footwear, he and Jack have nothing in common whatsoever though.

Marilynn was nice.

Jack and I went back to my place with 4 crates of raspberries after our shift ended. He's actually in the kitchen now. I think he's still a bit upset about this whole day. He's humming some sad song. He never hums sad songs. Maybe I should tell Sullivan to cancel our date tonight and we can all eat pancakes and watch romantic movies till we fall asleep on each other. I don't want Jack to go home and pray for hours in his bedroom. I can already see him doing that. And besides, Lila has their Grandma tonight anyway.
Sullivan will be here in 20 minutes.
I need to find my hand-knitted slippers. I always watch movies in those slippers. And then maybe Jack and I will run to pick up a couple romantic comedies, and probably a war movie just for Sullivan, and some eggs. I don't have any eggs in my fridge.

Tomorrow I open again. I'm thinking my leather laced-up army style boots. The ones that always get mud on the soles and track it in everywhere.
xo, Delia.

Day 20.

Thursday. Well, it was Thursday. Unfortunately now it's Friday.
Sullivan and I had the craziest night.
We got into the shop pretty late. I don't even know how the other evening crews do it. It's madness. I thought it would be slow. But honestly, it was a faster pace. I was almost pulling my hair out. Especially being with Sullivan. Sometimes he is so behind.
We both ran counter and made drinks.

Total mistakes: 43
Total customers: 117

I thought I was going to die. I should not have worn those plum suede high heeled boots. My feet are killing me.
At first it was only businessmen heading off to catch their flights at the airport. They would traipse in and all of them would ask for the same exact thing. "Small drip coffee please." We ran out of drip coffee in the first 2 hours. Sullivan had to get 5 more pots going. And it was lucky he did. Because at 12:48PM a bus pulled up outside in the parking lot across the street, and in about 4 minutes, our little shop was filled with a whole lot of smelly, sweaty guys.
It was a High School wrestling team on their way home from an away game.
48 wrestlers. 4 coaches. 1 water-boy. 2 medical men. And 1 bus driver.
I never thought so many men could want so many girly drinks.
And I never thought I would get hit on so many times in 57 minutes.
One of them tried to kiss me.
Sullivan and I practically collapsed on each other when the last kid walked out the door carrying 4(!) large chocolate turtledoves with extra whip.
We peeled off our aprons and cleaned up most of the aftermath and then we sleepily took off to find at Jack at the tent meeting.

It was huge. There was 100s of people. Singing all together out of little white books. And then some man would randomly get up at the oddest times and shout as loud as he could from the stage. People were crying the whole entire time. And I have to admit, I was kind of jealous. Their faces were glowing. There were tears dripping all over their cheeks, and they were so
happy.
We found Jack in the front row(of course). On his knees, barefoot, praying with some 12 year old boy. Sullivan acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. He just stood there and waited for Jack to finish up. When he did, the boy jumped to his feet and ran through the tent yelling "AMEN!" Over and over again. And Jack looked at us with the brightest smile I have ever seen.
"How much longer do you want to stay?" Sullivan asked.
"30 minutes?" Jack pleaded.
"20," Sullivan said.
"Okay."
And we did. We stood there with Jack for 23 more minutes and listened to the yelling man and sang the songs and clapped our hands and then we all drove home together. With the bicycle strapped to the top of the car.
I never noticed but last night. Sullivan has a bike rack on the top of his car just for Jack.
I think I fell more in love with him because of it.

I'm just going to say right now, I adore my Thursdays with Sullivan.
But I never want to close the shop again.

note to self: if you ever do, wear comfortable shoes. maybe slipper boots.

I'm so going to take a nap. And sleep this whole Friday away.
But that's a lie.
Sullivan is coming over to make me an early dinner and then we'll watch movies and I will go to sleep at 6PM.
What am I going to wear?
My little cream dress maybe. And maybe I will go put teabags on my eyes so they don't looks so tired.
Oh gosh. My hair is a
mess.

I don't even care.
Thank God for the weekend. And yes, I did just say that because I went to my first tent meeting.
xo, Delia.

Day 19.

Last Wednesday of 'Miss no whip, non-fat milk, soy latte' being on vacation. Thank the heavens. The Manager was an absolute grump today.
HE YELLED AT A CUSTOMER.
Flat out yelling right in his face. And all because the man was wondering if we could make the pumpkin spice chai tea even though it wasn't in season.
I ended up having Jack make him 3 of those teas for free. No need to lose a customer because your manager lost a crush for 3 weeks. Honestly.

Total mistakes: 34
Total customers: 65
Not too shabby.

Jack's still out of it. I talked with Sullivan about it on our date last night. He told me Jack and Lila's Grandmother isn't doing too well. So both of them are on end lately. I guess she lives with Jack. I had no idea. And there's some sort of fight between him and his older brother about whether to put her in a retirement home or not.
Jack works 4 days at the coffee shop out of the week.
He attends Church every Sunday, a Bible Study every Friday, and lately those absurd tent meetings that last all night.
He checks in on his little sister and helps her with college homework throughout the week.
He tutors 2 high school students 3 times every month.
And.
He takes care of his elderly Grandmother?

He is ridiculous.

And tonight he's going to another tent meeting. After arguing with his older brother at SliceMeLove.
I didn't know Jack had an older brother.
Lila told me all about him as she and Sullivan and I cut up 2 crates of fresh strawberries at my place(Talk about taking your work home with you).
His name is Damien. 29 years old. He works an office job from 9 to 5 almost everyday. He was completely against Jack moving out and taking their Grandmother. He hates what Lila is going to school for. He's married. Has 1 little girl. And is gorgeous.
I would know.
I saw a photograph.

Lila says she loves him. But you can tell it's more complicated than that. But Jack, it's obvious Jack adores him. Even thru all these fights. Jack is in love with Damien.
I'd have to meet the man to see if it's mutual.
And I get the feeling it's not.

Jack and Lila have this amazing schedule plan that works it out so that at all times, one of them is with their Grandmother. Or if not possible, they call their neighbor Darla, and as a last resort, Damien. Which doesn't happen very often, but has become more so as Lila's in school and the Manager has been messing with our schedules.
I feel bad. And I wish I could help them. At least Lila's pie shop is understanding and willing to give her sick days when she needs them...

Because Sullivan and I close tomorrow, and leave at 2 in the morning, we're going to pick Jack up at his tent meeting. I know we'll get wrangled into staying for a while. No matter how tired we are. But somebody does have to go get Jack. Lila has to watch the Grandmother. And him riding his bicycle home at such an ungodly hour doesn't sound too safe to me. I don't mind. I'm kind of interested what goes on in those meetings.
Why they attract so many people.
There has to be a good reason.
Who knows.
Maybe I'll find out while wearing my plum suede high heel boots.

xo, Delia.

Day 18.

A good Tuesday. The shop wasn't very busy in the morning. And Jack and I were both pretty tired. So that was lucky. He had his eyes half closed almost the whole day. He's been looking tireder and tireder lately. And I can't figure out why. I should probably talk with Sullivan about it. Or Lila.

Total mistakes: 13
Total customers: 42
It was a good day.
I didn't even work counter too. I was making the drinks. And Jack made half those mistakes. Honestly. He did. Which is surprising.

I guess those tent meetings are going on all week long. But Jack didn't go last night. Which doesn't explain why he's tired. But he is going tonight. He actually just left.
That worries me.
We just went shopping at that Farmer's Market for 6 hours. And now he's going to a tent meeting? And we open again tomorrow? This is ridiculous.
Lila should keep a better eye on her brother.

But maybe I am just being overly-worried. Maybe I'm imagining it.

*Phonecall*

It was Sullivan. He wants to take me to dinner. At a cute new little restaurant downtown. I think that sounds perfect right about now. Just before bedtime date? Lovely.
Maybe he can explain what's been going on with Jack.

Where did my aqua pumps go?

xo, Delia.

Day 17.

Jack and I ended up coming in around lunchtime today.
I wore my hazel coloured moccasins.
I hate schedule changes. I like opening better than the midday shift. And Sullivan and I are supposed to close on Thursday. At 2 in the morning. Do we even get customers at 2 in the morning? Really.

My whole week feels off.
But I'm kind of glad to be back at work.
Even if the crate of raspberries was in the completely wrong place. And it took me an hour and a half to find them.

Jack was his hilarious self today.
He's all up in arms. Turns out they had a really 'inspiring' church service last night. A tent meeting. That went on for 6 hours.
No wonder Jack looks like he got no sleep.
But he was actually wide awake.
Which was good.
We had a sale this afternoon. Buy one get one half off. Lila was one of the first people thru the doors on our shift. She looked so cute. Wearing a pair of Jack's jeans and her curls crammed on top of her head with no thought whatsoever. (Lila has a lot of hair. Piles of it really.) She bought 50 cups of coffee. She couldn't decide between caramel swirl mochas or hot chocolate lattes with double shots. Then she headed down to the homeless shelter. I'm pretty sure the homeless drunk man wouldn't really care whether he got a fancy mocha or not. He probably just wants some coffee.
She is such a sweet girl.
Jack told me she spends a lot of time down at the homeless shelter and under the overpass. He said she has a project going on with them. Something about a documentary. She wants to go into film. And be a director.
That is adorable.

Total mistakes: 75
Total customers: 94
Busy-ness.

I hate when we have sales.
You know what, I am just in a crabby mood today. Really. I think it's because I came in in the afternoon instead of the morning. I'm jealous of the baristas who got to open. Opening on a sale day is superb. Working mid on a sale day...not so much.
And my whole week is messed up.
I just want to do something with Sullivan. Seriously. But he is gone. On some ridiculous shopping excursion 2 hours away. A little nearby town is having a weeklong flea market. Sullivan wanted to hit day 1. Jack and I will probably go tomorrow. We open, so we'll have plenty of time after that.

These moccasins are so comfortable.

xo, Delia.

EDIT: I feel bad. Sullivan came over tonight and he had bought me 3 new pairs of heels and a vintage dress. That fit perfectly. He knows me too well. And then he held my hand while I complained about my terrible day and how tired I was even though I had gotten up late.
"You look gorgeous," he said.
I wanted to cry. He is amazing.

Day 16.

Another brilliant day at the coffee shop. Seriously. Lila is so adorable. She brought her polaroid camera in this morning, and came to open with Jack and Sullivan and me. It was too cute. She took a picture of every customer that came in. Grabbed them around the waist and snapped a picture of their tired face next to her bright awake one.
She has a photo album made up of pictures of her and strangers. It's actually really good.
And I had no idea, but turns out, Jack taught her everything she knows about photography. He went to school for it. 2 years. Of art and photography. Imagine that. He's just full of never ending surprises.

Total mistakes: 58
Total customers: 79
Lila is so distracting.

This was such a good week. And not just because Lila brought the 3 of us a whole raspberry rhubarb pie this morning.
It really was.
Sullivan is taking me to the park tomorrow. We're supposed to feed ducks. And then he plans on going to the pie place where Lila works (SliceMeLove) for lunch.
I think that sounds perfect.
I need some Sullivan time.

Lately he's been quieter than usual. I found him just staring at Lila and me today. Playing with his fork in his pie. While Jack laughed one of his positively infectious loud laughs at some joke he'd just said.
(Jack and Lila have the most amusing sense of humors.)
Sullivan almost seemed sad. Distracted. I asked him if anything was wrong.
"No," he said. And smiled sweetly.
But he was still downcast.
Maybe it's because he and I still haven't been working well together. I love him, but there are days when I just want to strangle him. His communication in the coffee shop is so random. To concentrate, he's so quiet. There are no words going in my ears with the conversation of the customers. There's no one talking to me. So we both make iced lattes when there should only be one made. I leave the blueberries on he wrong counter and he doesn't ask where I put them. He just pretends he doesn't need them.
I want to fix this.
Maybe I should talk to Jack about it.
He and Sullivan work like they're the same person.
I won't lie.
I get jealous of that.

I want to work perfect with my boyfriend.
Now I should go to sleep. This gorgeous week's not over yet. And I'm so excited for tomorrow.
I'm thinking green knee high boots.

xo, Delia.

Day 15.

I can't write long. Sullivan is taking me out to Thai food so we can meet up with Jack and Lila(his little sister). In about 10 minutes.
Today was beautiful. I won't lie. Wednesdays aren't my favourites. But today was an exception. The manager didn't come in. He had some errands to run, and he left a message on the answering machine for Jack and me.
We ended up having to take inventory for him.
Gosh.
Inventory is so much fun.

I had no idea we had 16 cases of chocolate chips in the back room.

I wonder what that will lead to.

Total mistakes: 19
Total customers: 49
I am getting so good.
But I think it was mostly because I worked counter today. And Jack made the coffee.

I am blushing.
I make so many mistakes when I make the coffee.
I'm still surprised I haven't been fired yet...

I'm still wearing Jack's old worn Nikes right now. I stole them this morning and he told me to keep them on. I think he liked the look of them with my skinny jeans. And he said something about Sullivan loving those shoes.
So he went home to get ready(He didn't get a shower this morning). Barefoot. I thought it was cute. Watching him hop onto his bicycle barefoot. Wearing an 'I HEART GOD' tee shirt.

Sullivan is here.
Where is my sweater?
xo, Delia

Day 14.

Amazing.
That's what it felt like to wake up late. Late is now 8am. Sad, isn't it? But it did feel so
good.
So
amazing.

I loved it.

Sullivan came around 9:30ish and took me to breakfast. This incredible little pie place downtown. Jack's sister works there.
I didn't know Jack had a sister.
She's younger than him. And adorable. I absolutely love her. She dresses like she walked out of a magazine. Has the same hair as her older brother. GINGERBREAD. And she carries a polaroid camera around.
The first thing she said to me when Sullivan introduced us,
"Oh my gosh! I've been dying to meet you. You look so pretty. And I love your shoes! I love shoes too! Jack told me you like shoes. What size are you? We can share shoes!"
She said all that in about 14 seconds.
She talks a lot.
More than Jack I think.
And we are the same shoes size.
Funny, she shares her brother's shoes too.

Total mistakes: 32
Total customers: 43
Way less people come in in the afternoon.

Working in the afternoon was awkward at first. Frustrating almost. Everything wasn't in it's place. I'm so used to coming in and being able to set everything exactly where I want it. Or where Jack wants it. The measuring cups to the left on the counter. The strawberries in the bottom of the freezer. The ceramic mugs by the cash register.
Obviously the other baristas didn't get the memo this morning.
Who puts the soy milk in front of the whole?
Seriously?

But I am just being picky. And it's quite hard to not be picky when you're wearing those vintage grey suede high heels. With the butternut skirt.
(I love it when the outfits I plan the day before work out the day of.)

Tomorrow is manager day. 2nd Wednesday that the distracting angel will be gone. We'll see how this plays out.
And tomorrow Jack and I open. For once, I am so glad to be getting here at 5am. The whipped cream will be where I want it.
xo, Delia

Day 13.

Restart. Monday again. But just so you know, my schedule is different this week. Tomorrow I don't open with Jack. We come in later in the afternoon. And then leave around 7ish so the next two can come in and close up.
The coffee shop closes at 2 am.
I never want to close.

We went shopping later on. At another cute little vintage shop. It was quite the drive. But well worth it. And I think we stopped at at least 8 garage sales on the way there. But after a hard day making over a bazillion lattes(they were half price today), I deserved a new pair of heels. Or two.
Total mistakes: 49
Total customers: 70

Total shoes paid for: 5
Total shoes for free: 2

It was that amazing. Turns out the shop that Jack took us to, has boatloads of vintage shoes. Seriously. And they are all organized by the date they were received and their size. And if a pair has been on the shelf for over 6 months, they're free. That's how fast they usually go. No joke.
Jack was hilarious. He's pretty good friends with the owner from the looks of things. So he pulled some strings. And got me the pair of vintage pink tap shoes for free. Even though they'd only been on the shelf for 5 months and 22 days. I was so happy.
Sullivan was his adorable self. He and I went to get chinese take-out for dinner while Jack was in a heated conversation with some random guy on the street. About Jesus of course.
Sullivan and I ended up eating egg rolls and sweet&sour pork for 1 and 1/2 hours while sitting on the sidewalk. While Jack still listened calmly to the man who's face looked like a tomato because of some absurd doctrinal thing I didn't understand. Sullivan just pretended it was the most normal thing in ever. But I guess he would. He's been friends with Jack long enough.

It was a good day.
And tomorrow,
tomorrow I get to sleep in.
And then wear my new grey suede high heels. Quite possibly with my butternut coloured skirt.
And then Sullivan and I will go to dinner.
And then I will sleep.
Again.
Tomorrow will be a good day too.
xo, Delia

Day 12.

Sullivan took me to the coffee shop today. He picked me up outside my apartment. My hair a complete mess. Wearing a pair of ruined jeans and those cute mary janes I mentioned yesterday.
Sullivan kissed my nose.
And told me he loved me.
Then we went to make coffee.
For 7 hours.
BLISS.
(I love it when Sullivan is happy.)

We introduced 'raspberry mochas with triple whip' today. They are so much fun to make. And putting the red sprinkles or jimmies on top has to be my favourite part. Definitely. I know it's Jack's. He probably had more sprinkles in his hair than he put on the drinks though.
I have never seen a guy sprinkle their hair with jimmies and red sprinkles.
Except for today.
When Jack occasionally did it.
I asked him why.
"My hair looks really bad today," he told me.
"It's a food hazard." Sullivan said.
Jack threw a handful of jimmies at him. His hair did look pretty messy today.
"And red sprinkles will make your hair look nicer?" I said.
Jack sighed and frowned at the two of us. "It just makes you feel better about yourself." And then he poured a whole bottle of little red sprinkles on my head and the floor.
My hair had just gotten way messier.
"I bet you the health inspector walks in." said Sullivan.
But he didn't.
And neither did anymore customers for 38 minutes.
So for 19 minutes we had a fight with the red sprinkles and jimmies.
And then for 19 more minutes, we cleaned up our mess.

Let me just tell you, tonight, I washed my hair 4 times. And it still smells like whipped cream.

Total mistakes: 73
(Not counting the the fight.)
Total customers: 54

I should tell the blogging world though, I loved seeing Sullivan covered in rainbow coloured jimmies. And laughing with Jack. It was cute.
The only time I got mad and frustrated was when Jack stole my mary janes and filled them with sprinkles.
It was a good day.

Monday I'm thinking of going shoe shopping. So I'll probably wear something comfortable. My UGGs maybe. The knee high ones.

I am so glad the weekend is here.
xo, Delia.

Day 11.

It did rain today. Not surprising. Last night the sky was black black black and scattered with dark clouds. If you can tell that there are clouds in a pitch dark sky.
I walked to the coffee shop today. It's only 1 1/2 miles. Not too bad. And I won't lie. I did jump in a puddle or two on the way there. Who can resist playing around in rainboots? Not this girl.

I guess the sky was lying. Because I did not have a bad day. In fact, it was beautiful. Even though it was pouring.

The manager was a grouch. 'Miss no whip, non-fat milk, soy latte' is on vacation. In Hawaii. For 3 weeks. I think if I wasn't lucky, I would have been fired today.
Total mistakes: 69
Total customers: 35
That bad.
I ruined 17 mochas today.
But I also helped someone's love life.

That's right. I helped my manager, the man who has a crush on me. I helped him fall more in love with a woman I don't even really know.
For 3 hours I listened to him talk about her hair. Ugh. I think I almost died. But in the end, he didn't notice my mistakes.
And he gave me a $0.25 raise.
Score.
Nobody rained on my parade this morning.
And I think my manager no longer has a crush on me.

But that distracting angel is gone for 2 more Wednesdays.
More ugh.
If I have to hear about her hair for a single moment longer...


On another note, Jack and I went for a walk when we got off from work. Carrying dark roast coffee while it was raining cats and dogs. We sat underneath our umbrellas on the edge of a bridge and talked about Sullivan.
He and Jack have been best friends since they were 6 years old.
I love that.
I love spending time with Jack.
He makes me laugh so much.
And he loves Sullivan.
I think that's why I love Jack.
It feels good.
Sitting with him and just talking and laughing.
I think he's my best friend too now.

Perfect.

What say you to little brown mary-janes tomorrow?
I like.
TOMORROW IS SULLIVAN DAY.
xo, Delia

Day 10.

Pre-manager day. Gosh. I do not adore this day. I think it's the nerves about tomorrow.
When I walked in this morning, Jack was praying. Literally, on his knees praying. His hair a complete mess. Barefoot. A pair of Nike sneakers by his side. AND HE WAS PRAYING OUT LOUD.
I didn't startle him. He didn't even look at me. He prayed for 5 more minutes, and then he was up. Prepping the coffee pots and cracking jokes. He had me laughing in record time.

We talked about what we loved.
I love shoes.
Jack loves his Bible.
What we wanted to do.
I want to design clothing.
Jack wants to be a missionary.
And what matters to us.
Things matter to me.
People matter to Jack.
You can see where this was headed.

I felt so materialistic this morning.
Not a good feeling.

Than Sullivan came in to see me.
And I didn't feel very materialistic anymore. He was having a bad day. I wanted to make him happy. Jack made him happy in the end. But I would dare to say the extra whip, double chocolate cocoa I gave him helped. A little.
Or maybe it was just Jack's political commentary to the customer at the drive-thru window.
All I know is, Sullivan left happy.

Total mistakes: 53
Total customers: 53
So I was distracted. It's hard to concentrate on making lattes when someone's preaching at you.

I wore purple high heels with ribbons down the heels.
Did I mention Jack wore 'the Gospel' on his mouth?
And Sullivan wore a frown?

Tomorrow I'll go with my yellow wellies. The sky is cloudy.
xo, Delia

Day 9.

Early morning on the first day of the week. Sleepy. A good morning though. I worked counter. Called out drinks. I would say I prefer that, to making the drinks, but I don't. I like working with the coffee instead of just smelling it. But I don't make as many mistakes when I just stand and wear my apron and sequined gold flats as I do blending mochas and steeping chai tea.

Total mistakes: 31
Total customers: 67
You see why it was a good morning?

Jack was hilarious. He had bed-head. And tired eyes. Dark circles. I think he was out late last night. I asked him.
"Last night?" he said. "Wasn't it Sunday?"
I nodded.
"I was street preaching."
Did I mention I've just found out Jack is a 'zealous' Christian?

He is.

All of the Bible college students who wander in everyday know him. The preacher doesn't even have to order his drink. Jack knows it by heart. He comments in on the Bible Studies that happen once a week. And he has a 'LoveJesus' sign on the back of his bicycle.
I didn't know this till today.

We are sure to have some interesting conversations in the future. I won't get religious here, I won't say exactly what I believe, but I will tell you it's not as 'deep' as what Jack believes.
And Sullivan.
Sullivan doesn't even go to Church.
I find them an interesting pair.
Best friends.
The Bible-thumper and the atheist baristas.
And me.
In the middle.
About to wear a pair of slippers tomorrow because she's so tired.

We'll see.
xo, Delia.