Woo-Hoo! We officially went back to school this week and we survived. This is cause to celebrate and relish the coming weekend and all that it holds!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, wherever you may be. x
P.S. I have no idea who these party animals are, but I think it’s a HOOT! that they’ve packed their cocktails in what appears to be a large pickle or jam jar for a backseat libation.
{Image Found // Pinned HERE}
This morning brought our glorious Easter break to a close. It was back to school for Mr. Michie. I don’t think I was ready for that. We’ve had a wonderful “staycation” just the two of us. Getting things done around the house, cooking together, watching movies, listening to music and doing some school work here and there. It has been so nice to just move to our own beat.
But this morning the alarm went off at five and just like that, the carriage turned back to a pumpkin. It’s cool this morning and damp. I tended our little garden while Mr. Michie made coffee. Among a few things we had gotten at the nursery was a mixed pack of ranunculus, so other than a red and a pink that were already starting to bloom, I didn’t know what we would get. The buds are beginning to fill out on the other plants and it looks like we have a few white and yellow flowers in there. So the garden is starting to feel very “Spring” like and very colourful.
After kissing Mr. Michie goodbye this morning, I sat down for five minutes with my cup of coffee to read the news and plan my day. I decided to live on the wild side and hit the shuffle button on my music. Neil Young’s “Down By The River”, was the first thing to come on and considering this is one of my favourite Neil Young songs, I’m gonna take this as a sign, that it’s gonna be a good day!
Back to school today. I don’t think I’m ready. Nevertheless, here we go…
Newport Beach, California, student Lenore Reday crossing the street and kinda looking like she “can turn the world on with her smile.”
We have been on a whirlwind trip this summer. I can’t believe it’s over! Back to reality this morning. I don’t think I’m ready.
{Image found HERE}
I couldn’t sleep a wink last night, I just lay there thinking of all the things I needed to do first thing in the morning and then on my way to work and then my list for my first day back to work, once I got in school. At some point my head was going to start spinning and I was going to spew green. I finally took a deep breath and closed my eyes not long before 4am only to hear the alarm go off an hour later.
I don’t think I was ready to go back to work, but are you ever? I have been having too much fun with Mr. Michie while on Christmas Vacation. Well, onwards and upwards!
Party Girls, 1983
Today, completes our first back to school week. It has been busy, hectic, I’ve had a lot of catching up to do with colleagues and students, a fair bit of running around and unpacking deliveries and prepping studio spaces for the new year with brand new materials. We’ve not slowly got back in to the swing of things, instead, we’ve dove right in. I kinda like it like that.
The 5am wake-up has made me very excited for tomorrow morning as I am turning the alarm OFF! Tonight we are getting gussied up and going on our first back to school date night of the year to see the Virginia Woolf exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I love that they have late nights on Thursdays and Fridays, it is always a treat to visit on these evenings, especially in the winter, when it gets dark early, there is something magical about being in a museum at night.
After the exhibition, we are heading out somewhere for delicious food, I think Five Guys french fries might be calling my name, but we’ll see.
Here’s to the weekend, long may it last!
{1983 Party Girls found HERE}
Today is the first day of school. I don’t think I’m ready! Nevertheless, here we go!!!!
{Image found via Flickr: 2nd grade class at Emerson School, May 12, 1957}
It was an early rise this morning as we head off to school for our first day after Fall Break. Mr. Michie made a pot of coffee, I worked on some breakfast (peanut butter toast) and we had a few minutes just to us this morning. The first day back is always a long one. So, here’s to a good day that flies by, so I can come home and snuggle with Mr. Michie.
To celebrate our first official week back at school, Mr Michie and I planned a Friday night date in London. He came to pick me up at my new school and after getting to meet and chat with my new colleagues at the staff barbeque we headed back into central London for cheeseburgers at Five Guys.
By the time we left the party at school and got back over to Covent Garden it was about 8:30 and there was still a huge line of people waiting outside Five Guys to get in. We only had to wait about 10 minutes, it didn’t matter it was worth the wait!!
When we made it to the front of the line, the manager in charge for the evening (or, the gentleman who we think was the manager, unfortunately we were not able to get his name) told us he would bring us downstairs to order, the only hitch was they we had to come back up to collect our food. No problem!
So, off we went and proceeded to order, this is when things started to go a little hairy. Their credit card machine had gone down earlier in the day and unbeknownst to them had not come back online downstairs. Our server was very apologetic, extremely smiley and was working very hard to try and rectify the problem. One of his colleagues came over to try and help and at this time the gentleman we believe to be the manager came to help as well.
Now, we continued to smile, because 1) we are pretty easy going and 2) we were going to eat Five Guys cheeseburgers, so it would all come out in the wash! Well we waited for a good five minutes while they attempted to fix the machine, we apologized for not having any cash on us and smiled at the people waiting in line behind us for holding up the works. We continued to wait a little longer and it was at this point that the gentleman we believe to be the manager printed out our receipt and told us that dinner was on the house!
We immediately protested and said, “No, way!”, that is not how we work, but he insisted and very graciously took care of us. I stayed downstairs as that is where we like to sit and Mr. Michie headed back up to get our food and they must have rushed us through because by the time he was at the counter our dinner was ready. He thanked the gentleman again who was helping us and we were lucky enough to catch him again on the way out to give our thanks for his fantastic business service, but again, since they are such a busy place we didn’t get the guys name! We wanted it, so we could tell Five Guys what a great job he did.
Now, my husband is British, so I feel I can say this, but you rarely get that kind of service in England. There is no way that if this situation happened elsewhere would they be smiling at us, apologize for any inconvenience and then comp our meal, if anything in another restaurant if this happened they would have said, “Sorry!”, closed the till and told us to go back upstairs to order. It is that great level of service along with the delicious food that Five Guys offers that makes us want to eat there.
So, thank you Five Guys for your wonderful business etiquette something that rarely exists inside of chain corporation these days (you have not forgotten your humble beginnings) and thank you for your delicious cheeseburgers, which made our back to school date night a lot of FUN!
Although, I had been in last week, learning the ropes, this was the first official week back for everyone at my new school. This afternoon we will celebrate with a staff barbeque and then Mr. Michie is coming to meet me and sweep me off to dinner somewhere nice to celebrate the first official school week for both of us.
I still can’t believe that I am working in such a marvelous place, what a lucky girl I am!
Here’s to the weekend!
{Image: It’s Better Than Bad}