• The First Other Lena I Ever Met

    A trademark of the work I do at starbucks is my disturbing ability to not only remember people’s orders (or incorrectly remember the exact same order for a person every. single. time.) but to also remember their names. And often with my customers, I strike up conversations regarding their names, our lives, or something random from that…


  • Raccoon: 1 – Lena: 0

    Backstory: Last Christmas, my mom gave me ‘Brandy Chocolates’ as a stocking-stuffer present, thinking I would love alcoholic chocolate. She was wrong. Brandy has never been a favorite of mine, so after eating one chocolate I decided I was going to give them away to my friend at school who loves Brandy. Fast forward nine…


  • My Homeless Adventure

    As some of the people who talked to me a few months ago know, in anticipation for my European adventure, …


  • “Where’d Your Name Come From?”

    A few days ago at work, one of the customers looked at my name tag and asked, “Your name is so interesting, where did it come from? Were you named after someone?”


  • Every family has a list of famed stories which are told at every social event. And for my parents, the time I was three years old and unintentionally threatened my father’s life has definitely made that list.