"I overthought the title so this is it:)"

yep. I'm pretty out of this. Well it's been nearly 1 1/2 years since I last even logged into this blog. I made it to share my coffee adventures and different recipes and like many things I start, I get excited and then life gets into the way. Maybe this time will be different.

So where have I been? Not that anyone cares or that people will even see this, but more for me to formulate my thoughts into words and to do something other than scroll on my phone and take naps(I'm just being real.) Well much has changed since December 2020. We'll just go from there. I started my third semester of college when Covid was still major news and half of my classes were online. I had two more accounting classes that I was dreading but actually found them easier than 101. Strange. Never have I cried more during a class than I did in accounting. Only certain people will understand that pain. Oh well it's all behind me now! Of course I still was visiting all sorts of coffee shops with my friends as often as I could. Places like Orchard Coffee, Village Grind, and Methodical Coffee were some of the places I would visit and not blink an eye driving 30+ minutes for an overpriced oat latte and good conversations with friends. Ahhhhh, the good 'ole days when gas was a mere $1.70 I'd say? We didn't know how good we had it. That semester was a great one. I just feel like spring is better and goes by quicker. Summer is at the end!

Summer 2021. The biggest amount of change in the smallest amount of time. It's funny to me because I'll see pictures of myself before then, and although I don't look much different, I kinda feel like I'm a different person. In mostly good ways. First off, I got a new job. Long gone are the days of the chicken shack, frying frozen China chicken and repeating the same question over and over again. Before going to the beach in May 2021 I applied for my dream job. a job I had applied for many times before and gotten denied. I wasn't super hopeful, but after sending out 4 applications in one day I was desperate for something new. I sent the application, along with a very thoughtful ( and almost begging ) email explaining why I think I'd be good at the job. Sure enough, at the beach I received an email that I would have an interview when we got back from our trip. And now 13 months later you are looking at the "manager"( unofficial/ official title me and all my coworkers agree with ) of Openroad Coffee. My favorite coffee shop of all time, doing exactly what I love: make coffee. Now the first few months I couldn't get enough of it. I didn't care that I was waking up at 6 am. I was so excited to go to work. For the first time ever too. I learned how to do latte art very fast. The picture above was two weeks after starting.

Now I pour 7 stacked tulips and have ventured into swans! I am so proud of how far I have come!

As time went on I naturally started picking up more responsibilities, and when 80% of our staff quit in a 2 month time span I had no choice but to step up and help where needed. But with more responsibility comes more

problems falling into your lap, so things have got a bit rocky since. I truly love my job. I do. I love talking with customers and developing relationships with regulars. I love my coworkers more than they know. They are truly family. and of course I enjoy making coffee, although I don't drink it as often as I used to. Ya girl had to make the switch to decaf back in November because she was downing 6 shots in one drink and then wondered why she couldn't stop shaking when she went home to do school;) So the switch was made and I only drink caffeinated coffee at home or when I'm out places. I get too jittery at work lol. I hold most of the responsibilities at Openroad like managing our inventory, creating the staff schedule, managing our social medias, and sorting our tips, plus other small things. But like many things, it can be draining at times. Like this morning. I went out and took orders from 8 cars in our drive-thru, came back in to make all those drinks, to go back out and see another line completely around the buidling. Or the time I worked black friday by myself for 2 hours, only for my "help" to be a boy on his second day. That was exhausting. So it's not always super great. However, this job has taught me so much, and I can't wait to use what I learned in the future to start my own coffee shop! Until then I'll be working at Openroad and saving all that money from customers gracious tips to one day pay for the espresso machine to my own place. And to pay for gas. Everything always comes back to gas.

That same week I got the amazing news of getting my dream job that I had prayed for, God also decided to answer another prayer. Definitely wasn't ready for this one. It started with my friend having the craziest idea on a golf cart down at the beach. Then lead to texting, then to his adorable little Z3 overheating in the Zaxbys drive-thru my last week there, to mornings eating fried eggies and evenings watching the sunsets. That was kinda poetic and it didn't need to be. To all those people saying I'd be by myself for the rest of my life LOOK AT ME NOW! That was too harsh, but I'm not lying. Most people saw me being the type to always be by myself because I'm very mature and independent. And I am those things still. but with a boyfriend now. So last summer was quit a lot of change in a small amount of time. I grew in many ways and changed in many ways. That was the best summer of my life. And honestly the happiest I've ever been. The most content I have ever been.

I still bake a lot. My business has continued to grow which has sprouted some new ideas for the future. I am starting to venture into sourdough which I am so excited and also so intimidated by. My starter is named Velma and I'll bake my first loaf with her next week. Because I'm a young female entrepreneur I got the privilege of being featured and having my own online magazine articles. It was such an amazing, humbling experience. I continue to try new things and pray for the best when that bread goes into the oven.

My last year of college was a crazy one. I don't even want to talk about fall semester but I'll give a recap. First week of Algebra=tears. lots of tears. My boyfriend explained the concept of factoring 10x better than my teacher and dealt with all my breakdowns. Again, just the first week. I had 4 classes and two where kinda easier knock off classes I could spend a few hours a week on and still get A's. My boyfriend also started college and I was working this whole time as well so life was really busy. However I always look forward to September because the weather is perfect and it's also my birthday month. I planned all my exciting stuff for September this year. Then everything just smelled like metal. I didn't matter where I was in the house, what I wore, or what candle was in front of me. The weirdest experience. So I stayed home from work and school for two days because I also had a fever, and had my mom get me an overpriced but delicious lavender latte. Little did I know that would be the last coffee I would enjoy for a month. A week before my 19th birthday with all sorts of fun plans( and also the week of the most important algebra chapter of the entire semester) I got a positive covid test. I cried for two days. Nothing made me happy. I sat in my bed or on the couch for 10 days. Absolutely no taste. None. Zero. Nien. The first few days where physically draining. I had no energy, felt very weak. and had a mild cough. Luckily it didn't get much worse than that. Many others aren't as fortunate. But the lack of taste and smell killed me. I love food. I love coffee. I love flavor. Biting into peanut butter and just getting some sort of thick smooth paste is awful. I ate a lot of granola and avocado. I ate based off texture. Oh and I forgot how to spell my name for a day.,,, yea. My quarantine ended on my birthday, so I went to the learning center at my school and sat with those tutors all day until I caught up on all the math I had missed.

But that evening my mom planned this adorable surprise dinner in our garage for the four of us(since my dad had covid too we didn't all go out) and it was the cutest thing. The chicken tasted like air but the texture was nice. And the cute decorations made me smile. And then Jonathon popped out from beside the door. It went from honestly the saddest of birthdays to the best surprise because he told me it would probably be the following week before he saw me. Sneaky boi. He's had Covid twice so he was ok with coming over:) Never had I been more excited to go back to work, to talk to people that weren't my house neighbors or my dog, to see things more than the blue walls of my room. I was even excited to go back to school. And somehow through the missed classes, terrible brain fog, and difficultly of that math chapter, I got a 92 on the hardest test of the semester. The class average was below 80. So maybe rational expressions are easier with covid brain? Didn't feel like it but I'll except it. And yes, Covid fog is real. Very real. I don't think people realize how bad it is. I couldn't remember simple stuff. I would forget names so easily(and I'm great with names) and found I couldn't focus on anything. anythingggggg. Covid also made me severely depressed. I was sad because it was my birthday week and I also had non-birthday plans too, but it just really messed with my head. I didn't brush my hair for a week. I wore the same jacket everyday. Many times I would just eat lettuce for dinner because nothing had taste and lettuce was crunchy. My acne got terrible. Nothing anyone said really ever processed. Even after I was back into society, going to work and school and seeing people I still felt that. It was very heavy and draining. It took about a month for both my mind and body to recover from that. My taste started coming back after 3ish weeks. The first thing I remember smelling and actually realizing there was smell there was cinnamon. It was also one of the first flavors too.

One of the biggest things since December 2020 is..... I GRADUATED. Praise the Lord. I mean it. Spring semester was pretty chill. Lots of data and more math but I managed my schedule great. I also worked during my entire 2 1/2 years at SCC so I really learned how to balance work/school life. And we won't talk about how I failed my last final exam ever. I still had a B in the class. I was just happy I was done. I didn't think I would but I actually cried as we where walking out of the D wing of the Powers building onto the green listening to that same old graduation song, but I did. Just for a second, and my tears were replaced with sweat. It felt like it was 110 with those gowns on. Took a long shower after that. But I did it and that's all that matters. If I decide I want to start up this blog more again I'll do a whole post of my community college experience and post grad life (spoiler: it's not exciting).

If you read all this, hi. You are cool. You should drive yourself to Bruster's and get their dairy free ice cream they now have as a treat. Actually don't. Biden is still president. Gas is expensive. I wrote this because I'm itching to do something creative again. I've always been the visual type, so seeing my thoughts helps me sort them better, and sometimes other people want to see them too. Or not. I don't care. One thing that's changed about me since my last post in 2020 is I'm a whole lot less sensitive. Cuss me out. I'll continue with my day as normal. Unless I'm 0n my period and I'll cry when I see I don't have any Nutella to eat. Or if there's a spider in my car (iykyk). But I want to spend my time better this summer and I enjoy writing. Maybe I'll see you again, whether on my terms, or yours:)

chao!