4 Diamonds and a Graduation

Love is celebrating the accomplishments of some pretty awesome people.
WE have to start with my 360 peeps. This has been a big secret for a while, but Friday, we finally got to share with the world that the 360 is now officially a 4-Diamond restaurant. We got a visit from the AAA inspectors and have been waiting patiently for our corporate office to arrange a press release so that we could share the good news with everybody. Friday was the day!! I was so proud of Bowser. On a day when we saw the ABSOLUTE worst in some people, he absolutely shined as GM. He did a great job. Chef, Josh and Kristy didn't do so bad either. Aren't they cute in their little photo? They've been working at this for a long time and it's a big excitement for us all. So proud of them!
Continuing the celebration, we had a birthday party for Lena, Happy Mother's Day to Grandma, and a big Graduation shin-dig for Melanie today. I can't believe my little cousin is old enough to graduate! She is definitely the prettiest of the Tittles, so sweet, and an awesome cousin. I'm so proud of her! It was fun. We had a big Tittle throw-down, complete with lots of cake, gossip, food, fun and of course, FAMILY. Here are a few of the pics from the day. Love to all!

Love is Wa-Hoos and Singing with George.
I thought Grandma was incredibly excited to see me Saturday. She lit up when I walked through the door. I was feeling pretty high on myself until I realized the true joy and excitement lay in the fact that I had a case of Yoo-hoos in hand. "You brought me some Wa-Hoos!" she exclaimed. She'd been rationing like we were in the Great Depression because she was getting low. (Note: Low to her was only having about 8-10 in the fridge.) SO I restocked her and once again assured her, I wouldn't let her run out. I purchased a Sam's card just for this reason.... buying Wa-Hoos in bulk. Gran wasn't up for visiting Aunt Wilma, so i once again recruited George to go with me. We had a hilariously good Saturday morning together. He was in charge of the radio and we sang LOUDLY all the way to town and back. We also stopped for pizza and took Grandma 2 hotdogs. It was fun. :0)

Bubblegum and Chocolate

Love is a nice surprise and a planned surprise... sort of.
Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. This morning, I walked into a nice little surprise. Studley (aka Joe Saling, our Area Director of Marketing) had snuck (is that even a word? maybe it should be sneeked... either way, you get the point) into our office at some point during the night last night and left me a present. He knows me so well. M&Ms and gum are really all I need to make me happy in life. He's fantastic. I'll deal with crazy photo shoots all day long for that guy.
The next pic is the one I tried to tell you about yesterday. Chef's drawing of the dish is on the bottom. Josh's in on the top left. I'm assuming you can figure out from here which one was mine.
Finally, the top is Jessie's birthday. She goes nuts for chocolate. SO, for her special day, I made her chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate chunks, and chocolate icing and sprinkles. She was elated. Chef and Jim joined me in the celebration.
And the biggest newstory - Coach Holladay joined me for lunch. He was in town, so we had a nice afternoon chat. Best part by far. Happy Wednesday! :0)

3 of the Best..

Love is a thankful crew, a Chef that has your back, and listening mindless chatter, loving every minute of it.

I got the sweetest card from our 360 crew today. I made them a 4-Diamond cake and they, in return, after completely devouring it, all signed a cute little thank you card for me. IT was great. It was also hand delivered by these guys - Brian and Chris. LOVE them. They are without a doubt 2 of the best. The other is my bestie, Chef. He is on a daily basis, my buffer. He keeps me sane, keeps me from knocking the general public's heads off, and keeps any and everyone from hurting me. Love that guy. I also thoroughly enjoy listening to him and Josh Quick plan menus. It truly is amazing to hear the two of them bounce ideas off each other. For starters, they are hilarious, but secondly, they are both so stinking smart at all things food, it almost sounds as though they are speaking another language. If you've never heard it, you won't get it. But trust me, it's fun. :0)