Birthday Fun

It's official, I am no longer a teenager!  On Tuesday I turned 20 - where have all the years gone? Spending it away from home was certainly different, and a complete change from the previous two years which I spent in the comfort of my home in Devon with my mum and dad. This year my house mates spoiled me rotten, in Southampton.

It started with a drunken night out Sunday night, a free fish bowl at 90 degrees, £1 shots at Vodka Revs, a pointless taxi journey to Wahoo, and back again. We finally ended up in UNIT for a silent disco! I don't know if you've ever been to a silent disco but if not let me explain. Basically everyone wears headphones with a couple of different channels on and the music from the DJ plays through the headphones so everyone hears the same music only it's not out loud. The best bit is, if you take your headphones off all you can hear is the terrible drunken singing of all the people around you and the faint murmur of music. It's hilarious! It's safe to say Sunday night was a drunken one, which to be fair is the only way to be on your birthday night out.

                            Myself drinking wine before going out.

                            Myself, Kaylee and James at the silent disco.

  

 Monday night they took me for a meal at a Caribbean restaurant called Turtle Bay for a bit of jerk chicken - lush! Followed by a few more cocktails at Vodka Revolutions and then home with my pink helium balloons for the count down to midnight and then off to bed ready for an exciting day on my actual birthday which had all been kept secret. Before I headed to bed however, my housemates displayed my birthday presents on the cabinet in the living room, just to tempt me. They even told me to open something but I have always figured it isn't actually my birthday until I go to sleep and wake up the next morning, it might be midnight but it still feels like the same day, so off to bed I went.

 

                                           Birthday Presents!

                                            Birthday message on the mirror.

It was half past seven when I woke up with an excited feeling like you get when your a kid but you have to wait for your parents to get up before you can open your presents. In fact it actually was a bit like that, even my boyfriend didn't budge after I continuously poked him. Didn't he know he had to do everything I say on my birthday? After getting bored of poking I got up and made a cup of tea and before long I'd been joined by my lovely house mates. I honestly felt like a little kid as Kaylee handed me present at a time and everyone watched as I ripped excitedly in to the wrapping paper. I may be twenty but I certainly don't feel like it.

If there's one thing most people know about me is that since I was a baby I've had an obsession with cups of tea, I drink it all day every day and I go through milk like it's going out of fashion. Even as a baby my mum would fill my beaker with warm milky tea. When I started University my flat mates soon picked up on how much I drank the stuff every day and now that we are in the house myself and Emily are as bad as each other with the amount we go through. All this is in mind my house mates bought me a cute little tea pot, cups and saucers and leaf tea from Whittards! It's so cute! As well as this they gave me some chocolates, bath stuff from Lush and a scented candle. My boyfriend gave me Calvin Klein Perfume - Euphoria  and a gorgeous necklace. My parents bought a subscription for Company Magazine which is exciting, some pretty shabby chic hooks and they are bringing something else with them when they visit next week.  I was well and truly spoiled!

                                     My teapot and cups and saucers.

After a lush breakfast we caught the train to Brighton where we went vintage shopping in the lanes! Surprisingly I didn't buy very much while I was there but I had such a brilliant day. We had lunch at Wagamamas and a mocha with loads of cream at no other than Starbucks. When we'd had enough of walking around the shops we headed to the Pier and played a little in the arcade and went on a couple of rides one of which was the worst ghost train in the world but we found it pretty funny to be honest! After that we had doughnuts and watched a seagull literally take an ice cream out of a guys hand which amused us a little too much.

                                               Alex and I on the pier.

                                  Kaylee and I at the end of the pier.

                                   Alex and I at the end of the pier.

With a couple of hours to kill before our train we went to Vodka Revolutions for a couple of cocktails. Now call us light weights but as we headed towards the station we were definitely slightly drunk. The voices got loud, the conversation got ridiculous and any regard for the people around us was totally gone. I still don't really know how we came to the decision to buy McDonalds and two bottles of Rose wine for the journey home but it certainly made the journey go quickly and by the time we stepped of the train we were off our trolleys. With plans to head out as soon as we'd dropped our shopping home tiredness hit me and the thought of leaving the house again was not welcomed and therefore a nice cup of tea on the sofa with my Uni family rounded off a perfect birthday!

The Starbucks Experience

It's funny how before now Starbucks has just been a coffee shop to me, as I am sure it probably is just that to you, right? What else is there you can say about it, other than it sells good coffee and provides a relaxed welcoming atmosphere? That of course is true but it doesn't stop there...not even close.

Yes that's right, another Starbucks orientated blog and I'm sure there will be more to come. I have spent today on a Starbucks training course called The Starbucks Experience, I wasn't really sure what to expect and the fact that I was being picked up at 7.30am on a Saturday morning didn't bode well to be honest. The only place I wanted to be at that time of day was tucked up in bed, fast asleep. It turns out however, that today was incredibly interesting and inspiring and I learned a lot from it. It isn't until you get involved with a company, that you begin to understand it's size, it's policies, aims and it's position within society.

It goes without saying that Starbucks works superbly hard to ensure that each and every partner working in every store nationally and internationally is providing worldwide customer service. Meaning good service is never good enough, customer service at Starbucks is service that makes a difference in a customers day and allows them to remember it. You might be polite, happy and you may smile at every customer but Starbucks is about more than that, it's about striking up a conversation with a customer, asking them about their day, talking about the weather, the traffic, complimenting them on their hair etc. Something that's going to stick in their mind and going to make them want to come back to Starbucks because the staff made them feel special and like an individual rather than one of the people in the que.

Though enough about that, what I'm trying to get to is the work that Starbucks do that's beyond the stores but helps the stores run the way that they do. I mean, what is Starbucks without coffee? So where does coffee come from? Coffee is grown in three main regions, Latin America, Africa/Arabia and Asia Pacific. It grows on trees on farms and starts it's journey by looking a little bit like cherries, as you can see opposite:


As the worlds largest purchaser of Fair trade certified coffee, Starbucks ethically sources all of it's coffee. This basically means that the Starbucks looks after the farmers that it buys from ensuring they receive a fair amount for the coffee that they source. It is important to Starbucks that they build strong relationships with the farmers and help to promote the livelihoods of coffee farmers. This in turn ensures that the farms grow quality coffee for Starbucks and allows financial support if farmers are having to harvest early and sell their crops for less to local buyers due to having a shortage of funds. Starbucks are committed to giving back to the communities that they buy from to ensure a sustainable future. (Much more to this, another blog in the making - watch this space.)

One thing I learned very quickly about Starbucks is that they take great care of their partners. As an employee of Starbucks you receive constant support, benefits, rewards and opportunities which doesn't  come with all jobs. Starbucks aims to be a third place for it's customers after work and home but for it's partners it's their second and third place and for me I can definitely cope with that. As you might be able to tell even if I am not working I'm perfectly happy to chill out in the store with my laptop or with friends and I think that's what makes it such a brilliant place to work. I may only be a month in to my new job with the company and I may still have lots to learn but it's a brand new experience and a company that I am excited to be part of for the future.

Have you ever thought about the lives of the people that pass you in the street?

I'm sitting in Starbucks sipping my grande caramel coffee frappuccino with whipped cream (yes it's my day off but I clearly can't get enough of the place!) waiting to feel inspired to write something. Earlier today I was lying in bed with lots of ideas but I thought I would take my laptop in to town and chill out in Starbucks whilst I wrote. That was about 5 hours ago now, I'm sitting here watching the world go by with all my ideas from this morning, vanished. However, as I watch all the people pass by the window it's got me thinking about all the different people in the world. I don't know these people but they all have lives, they've been places, they've seen places and just because they mean nothing to me they have families and friends and lives full of different things.

Obvious right? The point I'm trying to make is that there are some extraordinary people in the world. Not just the ones that are famous and have done famous things for the world to know about but what about all the people that have fought in a war, saved someones life, given blood, donated an organ, survived a life threatening illness, raised money for a charity, flown out to underprivileged countries to help people that aren't as fortunate? What about all the nurses and doctors in the world that we don't know that are helping to save lives each and every day. For all I know the old lady with a pretty floral bag that had just walked past the window of Starbucks may have once upon a time saved a life or of had her life saved.

Have you ever thought that in a crowd of people there might be someone that you've met before but you'll never know or someone that grew up in the same town as you or maybe even someone that was born in the same hospital you were born in. Things like that must happen all the time but unless you have a reason to talk to these people you'll never know. It's like the saying goes "It's a small world." It's not, but sometimes you meet people that you share experiences with, I often find that. I often bump in to people that share mutual friends or something similar and often I use the phrase. If you think about it though, it's a silly phrase. The world is not at all small but it can often feel like it, especially when you are a long way from home and meet people that are from the same place as you.

There are so many people with a story to tell in this crazy old world so I think when someone has something to say it's worth listening because you never know what they have seen and what they have experienced. One day someone might open their mouth and say something which shocks you, pleases you or maybe even something that changes your life. Everyone has something to say.