Here in the power of Christ I stand.

Disclaimer: This blog might be a little scatterbrained, as it's 1234a (make a wish) and I can't sleep. (That might not be quite so bad save that I plan to be at work by 6a. Ah, well.)

It's been almost three weeks, eh? What's happened in that time ....

One of the most exciting events was a visit to my store by my regional director (Traci), the eight district managers in her area (Bakersfield to half of Fresno), and a human resources partner on a Wednesday morning two weeks ago. We found out two days before, cleaned our butts off, and had an awesome visit. I received several compliments from the visiting DMs, Traci, and Autumn (my DM) about the friendliness and legendary service of my partners and was absolutely bursting with pride by the time they left. We worked so hard to be ready for them, but it's also indicative of our store in general. My partners are some pretty incredible people who care about their customers, each other, and their store. I am blessed to know them as people and as coworkers. Yay, Team #10660!

To celebrate such our awesomeness, I got the store a cake. There's a picture on my phone, but I can't figure out how to send it to the comp. Oh well. It was good cake. :)

Last Thursday, I met Pat and Becca at school for the final Fresno State jazz concert. Man, I'm not the biggest jazz fan, but I love Fresno State's jazz ensembles. And it was nice to be there to see the graduating seniors. Another era moving on to bigger and better things. And I got to officially meet Dr. Caldwell so now I can have a conversation with him when he comes into my store without feeling like a total stalker.

General family news:
1. Grandma has been out of the hospital for a while and is en route to Oklahoma via Hesperia, California.
2. Grammie's knee surgery went very well, and she's feeling pretty good.
3. Travis might be promoted pretty soon!
4. Abbey only has two weeks of the semester left -- one week of school, one week of finals -- then she and Matt will be on their way out to California. The week of May 17, all the Cochran kids will be invading Exeter, wooooo.
5. Giada won't be getting a sister for a least a bit longer. We were supposed to adopt a kitten from a friend of a friend, but they all died. :(

Church has been really good. Last Monday, I went to what ended up being the last meeting of an open women's life group. There, I met a girl, Crystal, who invited me to be part of a small group she and some friends are putting together. It's funny -- when I get out of the way and let God be God, He always exceeds my hopes. I pray to meet someone who might potentially become a friend; He speaks to my through Scripture, connects me instantly to friendly people (who doesn't love Starbucks), and gives me a future with that potential friend I asked for. There's a line from a song we sang in church today: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him / How I've proven Him o'er and o'er. At first, I felt sacreligious: How can I prove Jesus; He is infinitely wiser than me. But I came to realize its true meaning: Time and time again, I give Jesus opportunities to save/bless/forgive/love me because I'm His human creation. My inadequacies highlight His abundances. Isn't it amazing that He can turn everything to His glory?

Coming up this week (besides a women's life group social tomorrow night) is work, work, work. Saturday, I have plans to have lunch with Jenn. Looking into the future, May is an exciting month: Matt is graduating; Abbey will be home; Mother's Day; I'm going to road trip up to SF to see Ozma with Ryan (!); Sex and the City movie premiere. For all you ladies, Becca and I are planning a girls night out on May 30 -- the more, the merrier! Just let me know if you're interested.

One last thing: I finally bit the bullet and canceled my Comcast subscription. This means that, as of Tuesday, I'll no longer have internet access at home so don't expect any quick responses to email, MySpace, etc. If you want to get a hold of me in a timely fashion, call the cell. Otherwise, I'll be checking email, etc. once or twice a week from the library or the laptop at a Starbucks. Yay for one less bill and more free time to read (especially since I did an awful thing and spent $75 at Borders last week ....).

Love you all.

Even more undignified than this.

Hello, hello, all in Blog Land. Hope this post finds you well. Several bits of news and somesuch to share:

Vacation was great. Mom, Aunt Chuckie, and I ate copious amounts of amazing egg custard, watched Lost, I read several books, Mom and Aunt Chuckie gardened, we all shopped out our ears. Between the Gap Outlet, Nordstrom Rack, and Ross, I picked up several dresses and shirts, a pair of jeans, six (six!) pairs of shoes, and a couple of skirts. Friday morning, I woke up feeling light-headed and dizzy so I never made it to the beach, but it was still a relaxing way to spend four days away from home.

Easter morning, I still felt weird and not well enough to drive so Mom, Dad, and Grandma came to Fresno for delicious Easter brunch at the Fresno Breakfast House. It was nice to have them come to see me and meant a lot that my family was willing to make the drive just so we could spend the holiday together. Plus, I got to share a Fresno favorite with them; if you're ever in town and dying for the best omelet ever, hit up Bullard and West! Plus, there's a Starbucks next door. :)

Time back at work has been just that -- work. Starbucks launches an awesome new coffee tomorrow, Pike Place Roast, that will be our all-the-time coffee from now on. We've also changed brewing standards to be able to provide the best cup of brewed coffee possible, and to train partners about everything involved, we had a store meeting last Thursday -- always a challenge to be prepared. There have been some other stressful situations going on as well, but I'm hoping that things will calm down just a tad after this week.

As for the rest of life, I haven't been up to much. When I come home from work, I'm usually too tired to want to do anything else. But this week is yielding plans: coffee or lunch with Tess on Wednesday, movie with Jake on Sunday. Plus lots of errands and cleaning to do.

Also exciting this week: New episodes of The Office! Grey's Anatomy doesn't start for another week or two so I'll actually be able to watch this Thursday night. If you don't already love The Office, do yourself a favor and tune in -- 9p on NBC.

Well, since I don't have much to report, I'll be on my way. WAIT -- how could I forget!??! Wonderful, wonderful news: Adele is now a proud momma! Her beautiful baby boy joined us Sunday evening at a whopping 9lbs, 3oz. Want to see how adorable he is? Check out Joshua Emerson Karoly at Adele's blog: http://merrilykarolys.blogspot.com/. Congratulations and good job, Del!

One parting thought: If your Subconscious makes you dream about your ex, it's at least really satisfying for him to have a glorious mullet. :)

And that's that.