I had a dream last night that someone I know (or I knew in my dream, but I don’t know who are they are now), we going to be raising pigs and I was explaining to him that he needs to crop the ears….snip the tails…maybe castrate the pigs.  See Mom and Dad…4H has come in handy.

Oh, and I worked in a donut shop (but I might have had a high position, like manager) and we JUST opened the window and there was a HUGE line and all of the donuts that we had in the case were day-old donuts (if you are reading this, we DO NOT EVER sell day-old bagels at Mazál!) and we were absolutely scrambling in the kitchen to make fresh donuts because people were asking for plain donuts, which we didn’t have.  So we FINALLY got the donuts done and then there was no line at all.  It was stressful.

Anywho, HELLO!  And Happy Monday.  I am writing to you at 10:08 am on Monday morning in July- how it’s possible that it’s July, I don’t know.  Actually, a month from today, if all goes as planned (which I would say, there is a 60/40 chance it will happen), I will be on a flight from Madrid to Dallas (Yee-haw!) and then Dallas to Newark.  It will be happening right now! I am currently still in pajamas, drinking an iced coffee, and listening to the washing machine timer go off because I had to rewash the dish towels that I washed last night and then forgot in the washer all night.  I ended up staying up til around 11 last night watching a documentary on Netflix, but when I went to bed, I fell asleep IMMEDIATELY, like the kind of sleep where you don’t remember even closing your eyes, and the towels were long forgotten.  And since it’s so warm here, there were nice and steamy this morning when I opened up the washer.

On the work front, things are going well- this weekend was insanely busy.

Yes, I have a huge forhead and I’m proud of it!!  

When groups of people came in, they came in the moment when we were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off and I felt a little panicky and worried the whole day.  I still feel anxious right now because I always wonder what people think of us, but I do try to remind myself that the way that I portray us is not necessarily the way people perceive us.  So when I feel like everything is a disaster, that is not really actually how people see us.  Actually yesterday, after the first round of tables came in (when we had just opened), there were 10 people waiting to be served (and they all ordered semi-complicated things) and the phone was ringing and people were walking in the buy bagels and kitchen was a complete MESS and Luis was still working on bagels and I was pan-ick-ing.  But we got everything done and everyone got their food and afterwards, when I was making my rounds asking people how everything was, I asked a table of 4 people and we were chatting about how things have been going for us and I told them that brunch is great, but it can be stressful because we are a small cafe and I told them I worry that people can FEEL the stress and they were like “omg not at all!!!” and they told me we hide the stress very well, which made me feel better. 

These sandwiches were very popular all weekend.

Ways we can completely reduce the stress: 1) have the bagels 100% finished by the time we open the doors.  Bonus: make sure the kitchen is completely cleaned up before opening.  2) have egg and omelette mixtures done and in the fridge before we open, so we just need to cook them.  3) have our “brunch bagels” already set aside so when people come in, we know what is available and what’s not.  4) when we run out, we run out, and that’s it.  Stop being so worried about selling out too early.  5) get new (used) refrigerators.  Things to work on!

On the social front, Luis and I saw friends (the same group) twice last week.

That’s probably more than we have seen people in the last 6 months…haha.  We went out on Thursday for drinks and tapas with his university friends and then we saw them again at one of their houses since they invited us to swim and then we went to dinner.  I think I’m a little bit like a cat when it comes to water…I prefer NOT to get in (felt the same when I was a lifeguard, lol), but I jumped in on Saturday because I have been wishing for a pool for many many weeks.  I’m planning to go to the pool with a friend or alone tomorrow and I. can’t. wait.  On Friday night, I came home, answered my emails, and immediately went right back out to have myself a little picnic in the grass.  I found a shady spot, brought a beer and some tortilla chips, and had a ball.

Alrighty, time to get the ball rolling on the day.  I have emails to check, orders to make, budgets to square away, Instagram to post, and a nap to take.  Busy day! See you all next week…maybe.

p.s. that’s my challah made into a fancy sandwich at a fancy hotel.  😉

p.p.s And here is that awesome cake I made, up close:

p.p.p s Oh and lastly, pancakes I made last week (I burned them a little):

p.p.p.p.s I got a new phone! which is why all of the photos have that watermark at the bottom, but I have now figured out how to get rid of it.

p.p.p.p.p.s this time four years ago, I was in Budapest.

This time three years ago, I was in Italy (Florence, to be exact and this photo was taken after we spent the afternoon riding a motorcycle (really a scooter). 

This time two years ago, I was working with CIEE in Madrid.  We went to Granada.  This is at the Alhambra.

And when that was over, I was in Portugal.  Lagos to be exact.

I’m not going to say that that woman’s a$$ ruined my photo, but …. 

 This time last year, I was in Santiago, Chile with CIEE and not happy about it.