Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Sum-Sum-Summer Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's summery edition of the Hodgepodge! Answer the questions on your own blog, then add your link to that post at the end of mine. Here we go-


1. What summer activity most takes you back to your own childhood?

Swimming in an outdoor pool. I still love to swim, still love the sense of freedom I feel when I'm underwater. And if my sisters are with me watch out! We may still act like big little kids when we're together in a pool, even though we're all grown up. I don't get to swim outside nearly often enough these days.  

2. What's your favorite summer smell?

Coppertone. Although the other day hubs and I were driving home and smelled charcoal burning on someone's BBQ grill. That scent is a close second.   

3. It's beach season in the US of A...so, how do you feel about sand?

Love it! I love the beach, love the way my toes feel in it, love the view when I'm plopped in a lounge chair on it. Must make that happen sometime this summer. 

4. Sun tea, SunChips, sunflower seeds, Capri Sun, Sunny Delight, Sun-Maid raisins, sun-dried tomatoes...your favorite food or beverage with sun in its name?

If I'm choosing I'll say sun-dried tomatoes. I have a fantastic dip made with sun-dried tomatoes that's a cinch to put together and is always gobbled up. Whenever I make it for someone new I'm asked for the recipe, and people are always surprised it's not complicated. It tastes like it could be complicated. 

5. What's your favorite way to cool off on a hot summer day?

See #1. I love a pool. Or a lake/river/ocean but especially a pool. We don't have daily access to any of that here in the wilds of northwestern NJ, so on super hot days I have to settle for air conditioning. 

6. Share a favorite song with the word sun or sunshine in it's title.

Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles.  There were so many to choose from, but this one always makes my heart feel lighter. I especially love to hear it played at the end of a long cold winter, or if we've been dealing with something that finally works itself out.  Hello wedding date. 

7. Tell us about a time when you had an exceedingly good or a truly awful customer service experience. If it was awful, did you report it? Ever go back there again?

I'm not sure if this was due entirely to awful customer service or if it was also partly cultural, but it happened back when we lived in the UK. My girls and I were doing a little window shopping at our local 'mall', and spied a cute, very simple, T-shirt style sundress on a mannequin in the front of the store. It wasn't in the window, it was on a mannequin on the actual sales floor. 

Daughter1 said she liked it so we popped in for a try-on. Easier said than done! There were none in her size on the rack, but I noted the one on the mannequin was her size. Rather than just pulling it off and leaving a bare model, I told my daughter to go ask the sales girl if she had another or could get that one for us.  

No she could not. Ha! 

Gracious, such ridiculousness. First she said, 'Let me ask the girl in charge of dressing the mannequins.' We're talking H & M here, not Harrods and the dress cost just £10. A second later she came back and said, and I quote, 

'The dresser said she just ironed that one. If she hadn't just ironed it and put it on the model she'd take it off and let you have it, but she just ironed it.' um, okay? Let me insert here for the record, had we purchased this dress that would have been the last time it saw an iron. It was a wrinkle free knit. 

She followed this up by saying, 'She says you can come back tomorrow and she'll take it off then.'

But not today? Now? While I'm standing here with cash? In your store? Apparently not. We all kind of stood there scratching our heads. It felt like there was something obvious we were missing, but we never could figure it out. I finally found my voice and said, 'Isn't the reason you put something on a mannequin in the front of the store to draw customers in and hope they buy?' We laughed about that for a long time. 

Did we go back? Of course...it was H & M. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

We've got ourselves an official date people.

I cannot begin to tell you what it has taken to get here, but we have a wedding date. Written on our calendar. In ink. Whoohoo!



A few have asked, but I'm leaving some things purposely vague, either to allow the bride herself to share, or for privacy reasons. The important thing is we have a date and it's official! Here comes the sun!





34 comments:

  1. yay for having a date! I reckon S will make a beautiful bride.

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  2. That shopping experience sounds really odd!!
    And congrats on setting a date....I can understand the privacy issue...I'm big on privacy. But...after the fact, I'm sure you'll share wedding photos...right?!!!!!

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  3. We picked the same song....LOVE the Beatles!! And YAY for a wedding date--I just love weddings. :)

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  4. My goodness, that's the craziest 'poor customer service' story I've ever heard! The nerve of some people!
    Congrats on 'having a wedding date'. I know that's a big relief for everyone :) Three years ago, today, we 'married off' our last 'baby'...

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  5. That has to be a HUGE load off everybody's mind! You're a better person than I, I don't think I would have gone in the store again.

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  6. Hooray for the wedding date! That's half the battle. You need to post the sun-dried tomato dip recipe, please. Please? Thanks for another great Hodgepodge!!

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  7. Please note...I am not the last to link up today! Woot woot!! Yay for having the date...sooo excited for you! I love being friends with you!

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  8. Woohoo! on a wedding date. I think we may have a date set. That is the most rudest and craziest customer service I have ever heard of.

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  9. Oh, and I am right there with you on #3!!

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  10. First, yeah for having a wedding date! You don't have to tell me when…but is it before or after my Lauren's (April 25th)? I'm guessing before since they are moving west. I also LOVE "Here Comes the Sun"…. I believe it's really a George Harrison song.

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  11. Yay! a date! I love that Beatles song.

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  12. Your going to have to share the sun-dried tomato recipe sometime! That is a great song choice. What a story at H&M. That is very exciting about the date for the wedding.....it's official!

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  13. Woo Hoo a date!!!!
    Mmmmm Coppertone, takes you right back!
    Here Comes the Sun is a Beatles song on Abby Road, written by George Harrison, sorry Marla!

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  14. A date! Let the countdown BEGIN!!!! :)

    I love that Beatle's song... I've got it stuck in my head now too...

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  15. Your customer service story left me scratching my head, too! Love "Here Comes the Sun"...it's definitely a feel-good song! So excited to hear that you have a wedding date! Just one more thing to mark off the list!

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  16. Love your customer service story. My daughter actually gets more of her clothes off a mannequin because they usually use the smallest size in the store and she is tiny.

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  17. So many love the smell of suntan lotion...lol. I would LOVE the recipe for the sun-dried tomato dip! YAY on the date...it's a big thing off the check list! Enjoy your day

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  18. Um yes, do please share the sun-dried tomato dip! And re: your customer service story, as one who used to work for Gymboree, I say oh good grief... I'd strip down the mannequins if need be! Seriously...

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  19. You made me think of a summer sound from my childhood - an old wood screen door slamming shut. There is a place in northern Michigan that has these old screen doors and I just love the memories it brings :-)

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  20. So glad you have a wedding date! We do too, and our son has only been engaged for 5 days. :) We have way fewer logistical challenges than you do. So exciting!!

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  21. Yay!! Now, you can begin planning in earnest for that Big Day! She will no doubt be one of the most radiant brides because she is already a radiant fiance'. Look at that face and adoration in her eyes! Enjoyed your customer service answer and I too am scratching my head, but know that mentality could exhibit itself on any given day where I live.

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  22. I picked the same song! Truly the first one off my head.
    It drives me crazy when stores wont take clothes off the mannequin.

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  23. So happy for your family! Weddings are crazy, wild, and oh, so much fun!

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  24. Yay! 'we' have a date! So exciting!

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  25. Hooray! Now you have a deadline to get everything done. hahaha I'm so happy for your family. Blessings for your daughter and new son-in-law.

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  26. So happy for y'all, having a date set. Planning a wedding can be stressful but it can also be a really blessed time. Praying you are blessed, not stressed. :)

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  27. The employees of some stores must think everyone goes there every day, just like they do. What a story. If only every employee got to profit-share, we'd see a lot more naked mannequins! Glad you finally got a wedding date set.

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  28. Loved your post and this weeks questions! Such fun. =) That sun dried tomato dip sounds fantastic. The run in with the saleslady is just craziness. Can't believe they would want to lose a sale over an ironing job. LOL Congrats on setting the wedding date. =) Fun times. Blessings and Sunshine, Valerie

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  29. Swimming for me too!

    Really?!? They wouldn't sell it? Weird!

    Glad you have a date. Have fun planning!!

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  30. I love the smell of meat grilling on a grill. It is a wonderful smell of summer. Also, I don't get the dress thing. I thought that the customer comes first and that people are in business to get product out of the store. Very peculiar!

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  31. Great questions. I love summer. Congrats on getting a date. I just love weddings.

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  32. Yay for a date!!! I remember how hard that first major decision was... It seemed like there were 600 things to take into account and in some ways choosing one date over another was in some ways choosing one guest/bridal party member over another! Our younger daughter ended up skipping her senior class trip in order for her sister to have the date that worked for everyone else... A sacrifice Katy still brings up she was so grateful!

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  33. Oh yes. The thought of Coppertone also brings to mind the cute little girl on their billboard ads.
    Your shopping experience sounds very strange.
    Congratulations on the wedding date. Your life will definitely be on the fast track now.

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