Simon's

Went to Simon's for dinner last night with Les, Stacy, and Jared. Definitely one of, if not my favorite restaurant in Des Moines. Here are a few highlights from the evening:

*Name Game: The four of us decided to make guesses on our waiter's name. Matt, Tyler, Ben, and Bryan were the contenders. After giving our guesses, he informed us his name is, in fact, Hunter. Then we told him to guess our names - Les, Stacy and I were a little freaked out when he guessed our names correctly, only to find out that Jared had tipped him off on the sly - tricky.

*Baked Feta: We ordered this app the last time we went there and very much were looking forward to it again last night. Lucky for us, it did not disappoint.

*Dessert: Although they didn't have the chocolate cake, we were able to indulge in a chocolate torte and an oreo dessert - both very good.

*¡Pan! : We were given free loaves of bread to take home with us, to which we decided would be great for making French Toast.

*Vino: We told Hunter we were going to shut the place down and we did, with the assistance of about 5.5 bottles of wine. We ordered 3 bottles and Simon, the restaurant owner, brought us over about 2.5 more (on the house). Both Simon and Hunter pulled up chairs and we all chatted for a solid couple of hours.

It's not just the cozy and quaint atmosphere or the great food that makes this restaurant stand out to me. It's also the excellent and personable service you experience. Not only was our waiter friendly and never seemed too busy to respond to our sometimes ridiculous questions/comments, but the owner, Simon, is notorious for making the rounds to each table full of guests that patrons his restaurant. For him to not only allow us to stay way past closing time, but to also set down a few more bottles of wine for us and pull up a chair and enjoy a few glasses with us, is such a cool thing.

It was a great evening and I think it's safe to say we all enjoyed ourselves and look forward to our next visit.

Faithful Reminder

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a news program that featured a girl who had been in a terrible car accident. She had to fight for her life, and in the end, she won and lived to talk about it. One thing that was highlighted in this story was the amount of faith she had in God and how important her faith was to her.

She has a Bible verse - Matthew 25:23 written on several pieces of paper that are displayed throughout various areas of her room. "Well done, good and faithful servant." When asked why she has this up she said that when her judgment day comes, she hopes she'll meet God and he will say that very phrase to her.

I was moved by this and thought it was a great idea, so I decided to make a sign (a simplistic sign at that) of my own and tape it to my bathroom mirror. Why there? It's one of the last things I look at before leaving to go somewhere, so hopefully it will serve as a reminder to me to be the kind, loving Christian that I am called to be each and every day.

Yes I Can

I've always turned down the opportunity to parallel park, even if it means parking 2 blocks away from where I'm going. Why? I find it intimidating. I've had very little practice - I even managed to escape having to do it in Driver's Ed, due to my partner taking too long at doing it herself. Because of my lack of experience, I have very little confidence in the parallel parking area. I tried to escape the opportunity once again on Saturday, but it didn't work. After the run that morning, JW and I headed downtown to check out "No Room At the Inn", which was an exhibit featuring different nativity scenes. I informed him of my "rule" as we spotted a free spot that would require parallel parking, but he was not having it. Instead, he positively reassured me that I could do it. Thanks to his excellent coaching, I parallel parked the shit out of my car in 3 smooth steps. I was beaming with excitement and pride. (it's the little things in life)

3rd Place Finish

Saturday morning JW and I ran in the CITA WSR 4 mile trail run. I cannot say it was the most organized race I've ever ran in, but the run itself was a lot of fun. It was my first trail run and I hope it won't be my last. We ran it in a little over 33 minutes - not overly impressive but we weren't really pushing it. The path was pretty narrow and made passing difficult. Despite the mediocre time, I managed to get 3rd place (out of about 10 girls) and scored this sweet trophy of sorts.

Appreciation and Validation

As the end of year draws near, so starts the busiest part of the year at work. Yesterday about an hour before I was scheduled to leave, I was notified that we landed a big account that I'd been working on and it needed to hit the books for November. So I settled into my cubicle, knowing it'd be a while. 3 hours and 15 minutes past quittin' time, it was completed.

I walked into work this morning, feeling like it hadn't been that long ago when I had left, and sat down at my computer, feeling less than excited to be there. However, my day turned around quickly when I saw I had an email from one of the underwriting managers, thanking me for the work I'd done on this account. "We often get to celebrate over here the success of getting a big account, but the truth is it wouldn't be possible without you and all your efforts." I felt immediate validation.

A couple hours went by and I saw I had an email from another underwriting manager. She, too, thanked me for staying late to get the account issued.

And as if that weren't enough, in the late afternoon I got yet another email. "I understand you played a big part in helping us win this account. Thank you for staying late to get this on the books. I appreciate all the work you did." I didn't recognize the name so I looked her up - turns out, she is the AVP of Sales. Whoa, big time. How cool is it that someone from upper management took time out of her busy schedule to send me, a lowly "rater", a thank-you email?! I was more than impressed.

This probably seems hardly blog-worthy, but in the "rater" world, to say this rarely happens is an understatement. To get 3 emails from different levels of management in the same day on one account speaks volumes to me. I know it seems so simple and it only took them a mere 2 minutes to compose such a note, but it means a lot. Feeling appreciated for what you do can do wonders for your engagement.

I marked today down as a good day at work, worthy of a gold star.

The Thrill

Old Navy vinyl pants circa 2001, paired with an oversized hoodie that's 2 sizes too big + Hy-Vee Chinese take-out + reruns of the Office = how I spent my Monday night.

It's okay to be jealous.

What Made the Difference

What do these 3 three things have in common?

They all contributed to my good day.

As I was rounding the corner to enter cubicle land this morning, I was less than excited. However, upon reaching my desk I found the Glee Christmas album laying next to my keyboard and it immediately put a smile on my face. Can't wait until next weekend to listen to it! (must get through Thanksgiving first) Thanks again Sarah!

I was also excited to get out my iPod this morning because I downloaded the new Girl Talk album last night. It made the first one hour, 11 minutes, and 51 seconds of my day fun, as I, of course, had a little dance party in my cubicle.

And last but certainly not least, this afternoon L called me and said, "You need to come downstairs to your lobby right now." As I approached the stairwell and saw her with Starbucks in her hand, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. It was a great surprise and definitely got me through the afternoon. Thank you L! I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and taking time out of your busy day to deliver me a cup (the holiday cup, no less) of deliciousness!