Working

I have a job!

Okay, not a "real" job, but I will be making money on my breaks from school. And the place is awesome. It's called the Fair World Marketplace, and it's a fair trade store. Fair trade means that everyone who produces goods sold in the store is from an area of poverty, typically a third-world country, but is paid a livable wage for his/her goods. It also means equal opportunities for women, who produce many of the crafts, and healthy working conditions, which is not otherwise guaranteed by the livable wage part.

(For more info on fair trade, and specifically this store, go to http://fairworldmarketplace.com/.

I didn't really mention this as a goal, but considering I am a literature major at a liberal arts school, it is not likely that I will have job offers straight out of college. And this kind of work - while it is retail, which makes me nervous - is at least something I can believe in.

I'm sure this will be an unusual occurrence, but...Goal achieved before I even mentioned it!

The only downside is, I am once again working at a private business, which means that in this economy there is no guarantee that this winter job will turn into a summer job. The store has been open for six years, but things are looking down lately. Hopefully an awesome Christmas season will raise store profits, but right now it is 11:44 am and I've been here at the store since 10, with zero customers so far. (I was trained yesterday and I'm on my own all weekend because the owner is at a Fair Trade conference in Boston and every other employee - of which there are about 3, I think - is either sick or busy.)

As far as the cooking goal goes, I just packed a cardboard box full of ingredients, cookbooks, measuring cups, and oreos (who knows) for my future baking projects at school. Yay!