New Brunch at Copelands of New Orleans

As well as being a full time student I also work at Copeland’s of New Orleans Restaurant in Rogers, Arkansas. I have worked there for four years and it has been an amazing place to work. We have wonderful food, staff, and guests who dine with us! On Sunday mornings we have offered a brunch menu as well as our lunch and dinner menus; yet today we began something new and exciting! A buffet!

The new buffet will be every Sunday morning from 10am-3pm; which extends our previous brunch time by an hour. We still have our regular Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner menus but the buffet offers some new things to include: Prime Rib, Honey Spiral Ham, Boiled Shrimp (peel em and eat em), Breakfast Bar, Lunch Bar, Soups Salads and Dessert!

From a designer’s viewpoint I was very skeptical over the past few weeks about some key issues that arose when I found out we were adding the buffet on Sunday mornings. Not to spill the beans to the public but behind the scenes of all restaurants there are some things that become stressful when we are busy. The alarms sounded in my mind about circulation.  Traffic during the busy times with the additional traffic from people moving to and from the buffet and their seats is one of the main concerns I had. I know that during the original design of a space a certain percentage of square feet is added to an initial square footage to allow for circulation. Some spaces only need circulation for the employees but due to the space being used by both staff and guests the amount of space for circulation is increased. With the addition of the buffet to a restaurant design that only included space allotment for seating and circulation in the dining area, I was also concerned with where the food for the buffet would be placed.

As the day began this morning my concerns for how the buffet might cause issues were for the most part alleviated. The placement of the food in the dining room only minimally changed our table arrangements and actually forced us to open the banquet room to larger parties to allow for additional seating. There was certainly an increased amount of traffic from guests moving around the restaurant but on the side of the waitress/ waiter we were moving to and from the tables with plates less which helped keep congestion to a minimum. All in all guests seemed to enjoy the buffet very much. It allowed them to sample things and combine some breakfast items and some lunch items to create their meal.

I encourage each of you to come and try our new buffet on Sunday mornings. The experience is a higher class buffet combined with the wonderful Copeland’s atmosphere. Also check out the Copeland’s facebook page @ Copeland's Rogers Ar, to keep up with the happenings of our restaurant.

VERDEVERTICAL

While working on my online portfolio last week I was doing a lot of looking around at other portfolios on carbonmade, the webcite I designed my portfolio with. I came across one portfolio of work done by the company VERDEVERTICAL. I went through every picture on their cite I was so inspired by it. Verdevertical is a factory in Mexico that specializes in vertical gardens! This company aims to create vertical gardens, or living walls, to provide the public the opportunity to be in contact with nature as much as possible.

 “Taking into account that the loss of green areas in the cities is a practically irreversible process, VERDEVERTICAL proposes to improve the environment, the quality of life and the urban landscape, through coating of nature in the constructed vertical surfaces” (found in the portfolio for the company)

Their goal is for their product to make an impact on “us”, the inhabitants of space, and that we will seek and desire to have more of our spaces designed with the services they are specialized in. Honestly everyone loves when winter ends, the sun begins to feel warm on our skin, and the grass and trees become green again.  Seeing plants and nature is symbolic of life and new growth and very energizing to the human spirit. Spring is the time that everyone seems to come alive again going about with a little more pep in their step. Imagine how it would be to have nature full and luscious in the middle of the city, no more having to leave for the country to find it. The idea of having more and more green space around us whether it is on the ground of the earth, the wall of a restaurant, or the roof of a building is inspiring!  

All of their pictures were copyrighted so I was unable to show anymore than what I did on my blog, but I highly encourage you to check out their portfolio at: http://verdevertical.carbonmade.com/. And get inspired!

what I did on my 2nd snow day of this week

I made an ONLINE PORTFOLIO! I have been working on my digital portfolio and then came across a carbonmade portfolio and I was very inspired. I decided to put my other portfolio on the back burner and create this portfolio.  I still plan to add some things as I finish documenting. Take a look...and let me know what you think!

amartindesign.carbonmade.com

building a mission

In one of my classes we talked about goals and mission statements today. At first, when I read the chapter a few things grabbed my attention but I sort of blew off actually writting out my goals and mission statement like the book suggested. Then in class we were assigned to do so. Joke on me. BUT to my suprise when I sat down to write this tonight, it actually made me think a lot and I took it very seriously. I found that after jotting down some notes I felt inspired and had an uplifted attitude as I composed the sentences.

After doing some research on how to write one I learned that you should not write one over night. For the sake of the assignment I was required to, but now that i've found an interest in this I plan to keep up with it. Some of the tips said to keep it in a place where you can view it often to remind you of the things you are supposed to stand for and to remind you of what you once thought was important. Advice also suggested to revist your goals and statement every so often to update it and to see where you have come since your last written items.

Here is a quote from Stephen Covey's Community site that discusses goals and mission statements. Stephen Covey is the author of the popular book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, a book suggested by my text book for class that I am going to purchase and read for myself.

"Your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life."

(https://www.stephencovey.com/mission-statements.php)

Here is my statement that I wrote tonight...

To steer myself down a path that I, and my family, can be proud of. To be hardworking and a leader to not only my friends, family, and coworkers, but to also be a positive influence on those I only meet in passing. To live with a thirst for knowledge, and the strength to resist temptation no matter the form it presents itself. And make decisions with both integrity and love, to therefore live without regret.

I advise those of you who have not written out goals in your life or a mission statement to do a little bit of research to get inspired and then to try writting some things for yourselves. 

SNOW bright BUT not light :(

While being cooped up in my apartment over this last week of SNOW SNOW SNOW in Northwest Arkansas I have become extremely aware of how much light and lighting can affect one’s mood and productiveness. Usually when I am home it’s for lunch or at night near time for bed, but this week I had A LOT of spare time to do school work and reading. Yes I had a lot of time but as much as I wanted to, getting things done was next to impossible. In my apartment I have few sources of natural light; two windows, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. I also have few sources of artificial light; in the living room and kitchen there is only one overhead light/fan combo in each space and one small spot light over the sink. Trying to work in these conditions just put me in a dull lazy mood. There was very little light making me just want to go to sleep, even with the window open the amount of light coming in mid day is just not sufficient for reading or tasks.



My apartment kitchen-bad lighting.



“THE LIGHTING IN A WORKPLACE can influence the occupants in many ways. At the most basic level, the lighting will determine what can be seen and, hence, how quickly and easily visual work can be done. Lighting can also affect the occupants' health--in extreme cases through tissue damage, or, more generally, through eyestrain. It is important for the safety and health practitioner to be able to identify what constitutes good and bad lighting and to have some idea of how bad lighting might be made good.”  -Publication: Safety & Health Practitioner (The)

I have always known because I have been taught in school how important lighting is, but now I have conscientiously experienced the effects of it. One day last week we actually had school for a few hours in the morning. I had two classes and then because it started snowing again my third was cancelled. While I was at school I was energized and very motivated to work and get things done. The lighting in the class rooms were good, and the snow outside even provide a lot of light outside because of how reflective it was. After classes I came home and walking into my apartment felt like walking into a cave even with all the lights on. I began doing some school work and e-mails, soon to find myself just feeling so blah and wishing I was in the library where the is an abundance of light! I wish the lighting design in my apartment was as bright as the SNOW outside!

http://www.home-style-choices.com/home-lighting-design.html

The lighting in this kitchen is very adequate. It has some under cabinet lights very critical tasks, there is general lighting from the can lights in the ceiling, and there is ambient lighting via the pendants over the island.

What’s the lighting like at your home?