Around the end of October, Southgate Coins is always bustling with events. We have the turn of the season, Halloween right around the corner, and of course, our boss Marie’s birthday. This year, we were happy to have out-of-town guests visiting, along with many sweet treats to enjoy during the celebration. Read on to find out how Marie’s special day went!
With every birthday celebration, we always make sure that we decorate the desk of the person we’re honoring. This year, Nicole and I (Maya) stayed late to make sure that all the flags, banners, and signs were out for Marie to see when she arrived first thing the next morning. To top everything off, Rusty put a beautiful wicker floral basket filled with pink, baby roses and assorted house plants on her desk.
As the workday progressed, we were bombarded with customers! Two of our favorite customers (and C4OA members), Tony and Mary Ann Arnold, arrived bright and early to wish Marie a happy birthday. And, like always, they came bearing gifts. This time, they surprised Marie with a gorgeous jade pendant, which had cranes made from spun-silver on the front. They also brought Marie a birthday cake, which Akimi will tell you about below.
While the Arnolds were here, we continued to have other guests drop by in honor of Marie. We even had a special friend of the store call to sing her happy birthday.
Around 4:00pm, Elaine and Nicole, who were not scheduled to work, snuck in to kick off Marie’s party. Once we got them in place, we had three separate groups of customers enter the store, so the birthday celebration that was supposed to start at 4:00pm was delayed until 4:40pm! Like Rusty says, “business comes first!”
When the customers left, Rusty blasted birthday music over the loudspeakers. This time, he’d bought a special Carole King CD just for Marie. When Marie entered the back of the store, she finally saw Nicole and Elaine, and we sat her down for the gift-giving ceremony.
We always try to put thought into the gifts we give each other. This year, the girls gave Marie a cinnamon-cider reed-diffuser set, a beautiful, heavy, red and black sweater, and a orange-red-brick-colored throw. As a special touch, Akimi presented Marie with hand-made earrings. Marie love everything she pulled out of the gift bag!
Now, here’s Akimi to give you the run-down on all the yummy goodies that were in store for Marie on her special day:
Hello everyone! Today was one of the special days for us at Southgate Coins, Marie’s birthday. As Maya mentioned above, when she and I (Akimi) opened the store, C4OA members Tony and Mary Ann Arnold came by and gave a beautiful, white birthday photo cake with an image of Marie holding her three puppies. It had raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting that they had specially made for Marie. Marie was very surprised.
Around the store, we have a universal formula: Birthdays = Fun, and we celebrate them big-time! This is my third time celebrating a coworker’s birthday, and it never gets old. We all gathered and waited for the birthday cake to come out, and to everyone’s surprise, Rusty presented Marie with a special, boysenberry birthday pie. This was on top of the Arnold’s cake and a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies and chocolate truffle-stuffed chocolate cookie dough!
It was my first time to try this Marie Callender’s boysenberry pie with the traditional scoop of French Vanilla ice cream. Boysenberry pie is the best!!! Maya and I also tried for the first time a macaroon that was dipped in dark chocolate. It had a very different texture, but it was delicious! As you can tell, Marie received a lifetime supply of sugar for her birthday this year, and we all got a taste!
Thanks, Akimi. Well, you can never do enough for the boss who treats you the way Marie treats us. Celebrating her birthday is just one small way that we all are able to show our appreciation.
From all of us, happy birthday, Marie. We hope you enjoy your presents!
Maya and Akimi