This vs. That

This (being the Fairview Heights, IL Olive Garden & life in general):
We're settling in to our new life here in St. Louis with ease (mostly) and excitement (usually). We are loving that we live in the city in which an All-Star game is going to be played! Walking to the stadium is an awesome aspect. It's going to be a super fun week with Fanfest and the big Game (which we hope to go to if we can find people selling tickets for under $60) and we just love how the city bustles right now. There's hope here- hope for a job I can walk to (TGIFriday's is looking promising and somehow, they make more than we make at Olive Garden), and hope for a city adventure.

As far as Olive Garden goes- what a change from what we're used to! There is sidework here. Servers do what the bussers did back at our old OG- we refill ice, glasses, restock refrigerators, check sections, COUNT OUR SUGARS....I kid you not. We have to count our sugars. 12 of each kind but 10 of splenda. Ridiculous! I found that detail amusing until I got really sick of it...on my second night. However, to make up for this, bussers don't expect us to pre-bus our tables, and even clean our very last table of the night. Love that! Our managers are more laid back, not nearly as stressed, and the clientel seems to be of a higher class. Most of my tips have been above 20% and it's rare that I'll get anything lower. Love that!

All in all, we've been fitting in well. It's really fun when other servers figure out that Pete and I are "together"- they get really excited and start saying, "Oh you two are so cute!" for the rest of the night. I had forgotten that we went through that little phase at our Springfield Olive Garden as well. I've been teasing Pete lately about, when we first meet people, they always say to us, "Ok, now you're Pete...and your name is..."- they look at me and draw a blank. "Liz. It's Liz." I say. But we assume it's because Pete is a tall beast and I'm just normal. :)

We miss our friends with a passion. Sitting on our rooftop tonight, with our legs dangling in the pool, we agreed that we wished Adam, Ashley, Callie, and Ben were with us. That would have been simply lovely. I noticed two girls with a bottle of wine between them, talking like old friends, taking in the view, and I longed for Ashley and Callie. Minus the wine and plus some daquiris, that could have been us. I also wished for those two when I was soaking up the sun today- a favorite pasttime among us.

Pete just informed me that within 50 years, the world will have hit a peak and will lose a ton of our technology. Bye-bye to internet, and we're all going to go back a hundred years. He really thinks that. I just wanted to document here in case it happens, and he can say, "I told you so." But then again, if all that's true, this won't be here for him to say that. So nevermind. Welcome to the dialogue of the Keizer's- can I just point out that as I am writing this, this tall beast of mine is sitting next to me, eating dry romaince lettuce, thinking these thoughts about the internet and relaying them to me.

Gotta love that!