Sunshine.

Yesterday was my first day at the Willis (Sears) tower Skydeck gift shop. I've been so pumped about my special ID badge. I guess I just feel a tiny bit powerful. There are 4 stores which the company operates in the tower. I trained yesterday at the gift shop on floor 103 (where the ledge, and observation area is), and I fell in love with the job. The view was inspiring. It was a clear sunny day in Chicago. The view from the gift shop is towards the east, so I caught myself gazing at Lake Michigan many times. Absolutely gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of the customers. It was so adorable when people would have me pick through the money in their hand to get the right amount for payment. Some of the customers' limited English was so cute. A new employee next to me asked a man how he was doing, and he asked if he found everything ok. The man replied in a darling accent, "No, thank you." He must be used to being offered more products at the register.

I've wanted to work for a cruise line for quite some time, but those types of jobs are hard to come by. While at Willis Tower, I realized that it was kind of like working on a cruise--without the warm sun and traveling. You briefly come into contact with tourists, do what you can to make their experience memorable, meet people from all over the world, and more.

It's kind of funny to practically be a tourist myself since not being very familiar with the Chicago area yet, and having people ask me how to get to places. I have to explain my newness to the area and direct them to another employee.

The other employees have been very welcoming and fun to be around! A perk of the job is that I can take people up to the Skydeck! Can't wait for my family to come for the performances and take them up there.

Today, I worked in the main store which is on the lower level. It's like the gift shops at Disney that traps you into walking through it to exit after the ride. I laughed at every comment made like, "Oooh....that's goood...making you walk through the store" or "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE ONLY WAY OUT!" Yep, both ends of the spectrum of attitudes were heard on the subject.

Back to yesterday--when I was getting my things out of my locker, a fellow employee asked, "Why are you so happy?" So I paused....thought about it...and replied, "Because that's how I am, I guess."

It got me thinking about the experiment that I've been doing this week. I absolutely do not want to be like a majority of people who have glum faces on their way to work everyday. I want to enjoy work, to have a positive attitude and spread a light-hearted air to the people that I come into contact with. Even though I would rather just sing for a living, it isn't possible at this point in time, so I want to make the most of it. Though I despise mornings, I force myself to smile and hum songs on the way to the train. While at work, I make myself think of how thankful that I am to have these jobs. I think of every positive aspect in the job and let negative incidents quickly leave my thoughts. It has been a delight so far!

The Mikado!

This week has been full of rehearsals! They have been grand and much work has been accomplished. Guess what! I was able to see my costume last night. We had costume fittings, and it was so much fun to take a look at them all. We are finally moving into our stage space this Sunday afternoon! We are all so excited. I've heard that the hall is absolutely gorgeous. Some of the cast members are picking up the set tomorrow from storage and delivering it to the stage. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend! I'm having to skip out due to an audition for Court Theatre! Yay!

Something very happy from today:

I am the proud owner of a Chicago Public Library Card. My first books that I checked out? Two books on Chicago and Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I have a confession. I didn't finish Mansfield Park....it got away from me as different things added to my schedule. Hopefully these books and the others on my "want to read" list will be conquered.

This past Tuesday, March 2, would have been my Dad's 54th birthday. Since I couldn't be with my family, I decided to make my own celebration of his life. I had intended on baking a birthday cake, but my eye caught a gluten/dairy/basically everything free brownie mix from Trader Joe's, so I purchased it. My apartment lacks a mixing bowl and a brownie pan, so I used a pot and a cake pan in their places! After realizing that I didn't have any eggs, I substituted a cup of Almond milk. My dark chocolate desires urged me to mix in 85% cacao chunks, and crushed up some of my cats cookies for a little more variety. They turned out to be extremely moist/gushy--but delicious! They are incredibly RICH. You can't tell that they are actually good from the picture below---and my lack of cooking/baking history doesn't scream their wonderfulness---but my roommate and her boyfriend didn't die when they ate them, and they said that they were yummy, so I'm guessing that they are edible to the rest of the public.

Everyone tells me that this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous----in the 40's. Being from NC I laugh it up, but I'm equally excited.

Hope yours is amazing.

TLE