At Starbucks!

Some days are full of unexpected surprises! After library story time, Lillian and I drove to Turlock to visit our favorite consignment store. On the way there, we stopped at a Starbucks where I ordered a London Fog (Earl Grey tea w/ half water, half milk and a shot of vanilla). We waited patiently for a few minutes, not a long time, but the barista felt bad that we had to wait 'so long' and gave us our drink for free! I was also showered with complements regarding how cute Lillian is :) I'll be a returning customer - guaranteed! Anyway, we go to our favorite consignment store and we found a couple of REALLY cute holiday dresses that we just HAD to get! It rarely happens that I find something so cute there, so I left very happy with my bargain! On the way home, Lillian snuggled up to her bunny and fell quietly asleep and stayed asleep when we got home for another hour, which is nearly unheard of!! Yay for me! SO, (story gets better - keep reading!) after her nap, we packed up the car with a dinner I had made for our friend, Zoe, who just had a baby girl and headed down the hill. I was feeling a little stressed, so before heading for the I-5 onramp toward Stockton (where Zoe lives), I decided to grab a chamomile tea at our local Starbucks (returning customer indeed!). After giving the barista my order, I pulled up to the courtesy trash can to dispose of my empty Starbucks cup from earlier in the day... that's when I heard this 'click-click-click' sound coming from my car! I then noticed all of the lights on my dash were on and the engine was cutting out!! Luckily, the car in front of me had just pulled forward and I had just enough time and engine power to coast forward (while hollering out my window to the barista, "my car's gunna die!') into a parking spot... where it did... die... I thought to myself, "how lucky I am that this happened at Starbucks and not while driving down I-5!!" Feeling terribly rude, I walked over to the drive through window and explained what happened. Feeling bad for me, the barista gave me my tea for free! That's two free drinks at Starbucks on this surprising day! Non only did she give me my tea for free, but she game out to see how I was doing a little while later and offered to get me a water :) She was super nice and made me feel better given my circumstance. AAA got there within ten minutes and, after loading the car seat and Lillian into the big yellow truck, towed my car to a local automotive repair shop where I found out that the problem was a busted alternator. "Sometimes the prices on these alternators even surprises me!" says the automotive repair guy...ggggrrreeeeaaaaat! Woe is me! ANYWAY, Keith met me at the auto repair shop where we transferred the car seat and dinner into his car. We quickly got back on the road to deliver our dinner in time for, well, dinner! Two hours later we were watching Lillian's gymnastics practice! FEW!!! What a crazy weird day full of surprises!