The Good Morning Lady

I commute by public transportation twice a week from the Bronx to lower Manhattan.

It's typical to have a long commute when anyone is working in Manhattan and my commute is no exception.

It takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to work:
I start on an express bus (the stop is 4 blocks from my house) and it takes me from the Bronx to Manhattan. I get off the bus (at 23rd street) and walk a block to the subway. I ride the train 4 stops and then exit, walk up 4 flights of stairs out of the train station and finally 2 blocks to the store.

I wake up very early and am at the bus stop at 7am (which is early to me). I sometimes sleep or pray on the bus, because its the longest and most comfortable part of my journey.

As I take the final steps of my journey and I come up the last flight of stairs to be above ground, I'm met every time with a smiling older Chinese lady. She has a huge smile and yells out "GOOD MORNING". She is one of the people who hand out a free NY paper. Most of them don't say a word and are grumpy. They hand the paper to you and look away - its their job.

Now the Chinese lady isn't required have to say a word, but her morning cheer is sincere and contagious. I walk away smiling too and encouraged to pass it on. I'm really not the most outgoing person in the morning. A lot of people aren't.

Say Good Morning, whether they say it back or not. Initiate a smile, a word of kindness and go beyond your comfort zone, whether you feel its deserving or not. It goes a longer way than we'll ever realize!

Make someone's day. It could mean the world to them!

Appliance Sales Diva

Sometimes at the Appliance store, they send me to visit clients at their work place. I visit designers who buy their all their kitchen appliances for their clients from us and also have appliances that belong to us displayed in their showrooms. Its alot of fun stepping out into the city, seeing parts of the city I would not normally see and have a glimpse into the world of high end kitchen design. I also have the opportunity to meet people and build relationships. I'm almost always asked why I'm part time and it gives me the opportunity to talk about my ministry in the Bronx at UHM.

When I'm out, I introduce new products from various manufacturers that they might want to consider in their upcoming client designs. I give them the scoop on the latest and coolest appliances that have become available, so they can be up with the trends.

Last Monday, I visited NYKB (New York Kitchen and Bath). There I met my new friend, Ted - who is the marketing director for NYKB. I'll let the rest speak for itself. I'm now part of the NYKB blog and officially an appliance sales diva. Who would've thought I would grow up and become a diva??

Click here: NYKB

My Little Angels

At the Harvest Center, one of the things I do is work in the After School program. This is my 5th year being involved in this program.
The children, who are 1st-4th graders, come to us straight from school for two hours. There we tutor them in their academic subjects, teach them a bible lesson and then break into small groups to do homework.
Yesterday, I was elated because in my small group for homework time (which usually is the most difficult), I had perfect children! Yes, it was amazing..... they didn't complain, paid attention, didn't mind being corrected, completed everything and if they didn't understand, their attempts to understand were met with the ability understand! Wow. I had to brag. This is a big deal!
I gave them tickets (rewards for their behavior).
Then later on after the children went home, one of the tutors took me aside. My group wasn't so well behaved after all. I had to step out of the room for a minute. Yes, just only a minute. When I was away, one of the girls started making fun of the girl across from her. They had to be disciplined. This burst my bubble. We had such a good day, so productive and smooth.
Oh well. I'm still going to remember this day as a perfect day!