I'm Not Dead

Wow, how long has it been?! I've been incredibly busy. Not only did I have an insane workload last semester, I'm now in summer school. Still, I'm planning well in advance for my Halloween party! My fall semester is going to be crazier than the last (Physical chemistry, chemical analysis, biophysics, and all their labs. Yikes! I would say pray for me but I'm an aspiring scientist ;P )

I already have this year's theme ready and it's....

EVIL CARNIVAL!!

Yeah, that's right! Evil clowns, hall of mirrors, cotton candy.... that's the plan. I've already been garage saling for some items and have started on my costume. My eyelids can barely stay open right now, so I'll leave it at that. Just expect a couple of updates about the costume I'm making and the awesome garage sale items I've found, plus I'm going to be posting about music, decorations, crafts, and other carnival party goodies.

Calorie Calculator from Fitness Magazine

Hi, everyone! Bumming about as usual and trying to get back into my fitness routine. My university just fixed up their gym really nice so I've been weight training, running on the elliptical, and so on. Ends up, I found this website to give you a calorie count for the day. This tells you specifically how much carbs, proteins, and fat you'll need to eat in order for you to maintain your current weight. You don't even need to sign up to use this calculator. Sweet!

Give it a shot here to see how much you should be eating: Fitness Magazine's Calorie Calculator

Alice in Wonderland Halloween Party! Results

Wow, it's taken me this long to finally post the results of my efforts! I ended up being under budget. Hurray! And kept the entire party under $100. This was mostly due to my secret shopping and home-crafting of many of the decorations. Food ended up costing me a pretty penny and was a majority of the expenses, as I predicted. Anyway, everyone had fun! Here are some pictures of the decorations!

 

Makin' the red velvet cupcakes! They were divine. 

 

This is my costume, fully completed. Looks pretty good, right? You can also see some of the kitchen decorations in the background. Every room had a theme, and this one's was the Red Queen's Castle. So there were card houses, card suits, hearts, and lots of red!

I made the popcorn bags out of red paper bags and cut the tops off in jags. I then carved a stamp out of a potato in the shape of skulls and hearts. On the kitchen table, for the center piece, I made a card house and scattered heart-shaped, red confetti all over.

The dining room's theme was the Mad Hatter Tea Party.

 On the table I placed tea cups, mismatched, with napkins and teapots. There are perfume and nail polish bottles on the table that have "Drink Me!" written on them. To the right of the bottles is a giant pill I found at my university to advertise some drug. It has "Eat me!" written on it. The book is a book on etiquette I had in my library. I put it out there, too. 

 This is my center piece. It is my giant, homemade hat with a teapot I found from the Goodwill. There is a fishing lure sticking out the spout. A rat I found from the dollar store hides behind the hat. 

 This is another craft I made out of an old children's book about rabbits. It's supposed to look like it's flying. There'll be a better example later. If you're interested in how to make this, check out the book The Repurposed Library.

When guests enter the house, they enter the forest. Here are the butterflies and mushrooms. I had some dead sticks and garlands scattered about to make it seem more foresty. 

Close up of my paper-mache mushrooms. I have a tutorial on how to make these here. 

 For a terrible surprise during the scavenger hunt, I placed a bunch of mannequins in the basement :3 I got these off a friend's coworker whose best friend died. Phew, hope you caught up with that.

The family room's theme was whimsical and surrealism. 

 Couldn't resist hahaha

 

 Click pictures to enlarge. This is my moon. I made the clouds by wrapping them in discount fabric I bought at a garage sale. The moon is simply cut from cardboard and painted with acrylics. 

 

This is what it looked like at the party. Best part was, the night of the party, the moon was a waning crescent like the one I made. Totally unplanned. ;)

And that was that! Everyone had a blast and it was a lot of fun to make. Hope I've given everyone some ideas for their own Alice party!

Party City Coupon - 25% Off

Here's a Party City coupon I was sent in the mail for 25% all Halloween items! The only limit is that it cannot already be on sale if you use the coupon. Coupon can be used online or in a store.

Print out the coupon here: Party City Coupon
Online coupon code: PCXHR3

Coupon will expire after tomorrow!

Working at Panera Bread - Pros and Cons

Well, this is the last stretch, people. I'm quitting my part-time job at Panera Bread to work a couple hours a week as a writing tutor at my university. I just couldn't keep up with all the work, and when I asked for less hours, I didn't get them. So I gave them my note of resignation earlier this week. I'm a little sad, but also a little happy to go. To help job-searchers who are considering a position at Panera Bread, here is a list of pros and cons about working there:

Pros-- (let's start off on a happy note, shall we?)

• Safe work environment: There are tons of posters around my workplace that tell you who to contact in case you ever feel you're in an uncomfortable situation. Given that at my last work, the environment was extremely racist and I felt sexually harassed at times, this is a plus.
• Regular customers: There are regular customers that you will get to know. Talking to them is a lot of fun and they can be really helpful for those damn MindShare surveys.
• Great benefits: Even part-time employees can get benefits.
• Employee discount: The employee discount at my work was 65%. That's a hell of a lot. You have to use the discount around your workshift, though. If you want to use your discount outside of work, you have to apply for an employee certificate that will get you 50% off any corporate store. You can give these certificates to friends and family as gifts.
• Food: The food's pretty good, but there are definitely some unhealthy items you'll want to avoid.
• Clothing: Aprons are washed for you every day. All you need to worry about is your polo and pants. 
• People: There are mostly young people working at Panera. We'll get into why in the cons, but everyone is really nice and friendly.
• Environment: You'll work indoors, only occasionally going outside for trash or umbrellas. The store doesn't smell like greasy, fast-food since there are no deep-fryers. I never passed out once when I worked here, but I did faint several times at Portillo's and I think it was because of the fryers.
• Great training: You'll get paid for your training AND there will be plenty of it. They have a beginners course called Planet Bread where you get to sample some of the food, and they also have a website that takes you through all the things you'll need to know.
• Good pay: The pay is pretty good. I got paid above minimum wage at my work, and there are opportunities for raises during certain times of the year.
• Breaks: Panera actually gives you the legal break time of thirty minutes for every five hours you work. Some places will make you sign your rights away (like my job at Portillo's) and you'll be stuck working ridiculously long shifts with almost no breaks. 

Cons--

• Really fast-paced environment: Count on taking a good, three-hour nap after every one of your shifts, especially if you're working in the morning. You'll never have a break and you'll be constantly running around trying to get all your side-work done. Only younger people work here because it's ridiculously busy all the goddamn time; they're the only ones who can keep up with it.
• Order Procedure: The system is pretty decent for filling out orders, but you'll lose your voice at least ten times. I guarantee it. This is because you have to practically interrogate the customers when they order. Here is a typical scenario with someone just trying to order a bagel: 
 

"Hi! How are you today? Do you have a Panera card? You don't? Would you like a Panera card? No? Okay, what can I get for you? A bagel? Which bagel? Would you like that sliced and toasted? Any cream cheese? Would you like a drink with that? What size of drink? Is that for here or to go? Anything else I can get for you?" 

And then lunch is even worse: "Hi! How are you today? Do you have your MyPanera card? Would you like one? What can I get for you? Is that a going to be a U-Pick-2? It is? Okay, what soup would you like? Would you like bread, chips, or an apple with that? Anything to drink? Would you like a bakery item for ninety-nine cents? Would you like that bakery item on a plate for here or in a bag to go? Is the rest of the order for here? Anything else? May I have a name for the order please? Now I'm going to read back your entire order." Every single transaction will be like this. Every, single one. That adds up. And if they change their mind on getting something, like a bakery item, it's a pain in the ass to reorganize their order. It's a bit complicated to explain, but  if you work as a cashier here, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

• Food: Yes, the food is good, which is a pro. But the food is also really unhealthy for you. You need to learn how to eat right here, and be careful what you order all the time.
• Hours: If you ask for time off, there's a chance you won't actually get it.  
• Restrictions Due to Rigorous Procedures: Most of this is in place due to health concerns, but some of it is ridiculous. I got yelled at once because I reorganized the bakery to improve our productivity. All I did was move some forks and knives to the other register so that cashier wouldn't have to run back and forth all the time. It wasn't dangerous, it wasn't in the way, it just wasn't "how things are done." Yet....
• Contradictory Instructions: No one knows what they really should be doing. Always just listen to the general manager. I've gotten so many different answers/orders from managers that are completely different than what another manager said. This is probably at every job, but it's also here. They only end up shooting themselves in the foot.
• Shifts: You'll always be held over your shift. When they say on your schedule you'll be out by 1:30, they actually mean, "We'll be pulling your drawer out at 1:30. You'll actually get out around 2:00 or 2:30." You'll never get out on time unless it's really slow, which is rare.

As you can see, it's a fairly nice place to work, even with all the cons. I really did enjoy working here, but I got really tired after my shifts and I wasn't getting the hours I wanted. Because of that, I've decided to quit. But I do encourage those who think they can handle the challenge to give Panera a shot. It really is a decent company to work for.