Cafe con Thanks

On occasion, I’ll stop at a little Cuban cafeteria right by the university on my way there in the mornings. I just walk up to the outdoor window to order my cafe con leche. I’ve been going there for a while and become friendly with Ani, the young girl who is the barista. She is so cute and has taken to starting to make my coffee when she sees me get out of my car. Man, I love that and she is always so cute and nice and asks me how I am, etc.

So for a while, I’d been wanting to do something/gift something nice for her since she told me a couple of months ago that she didn’t have any break over the summer, no vacation or down time, b/c she needed to work. Throughout our conversation, I learned that she works there at the cafe from 6:00am - 3:00pm, then she goes to school every night from 6:00 - 9:00. She can’t be more than 25 years old and I just wanted to give her a little something. I know her situation isn’t unique, but she is always a smiling face despite her situation and I really appreciate that/her. Simple pleasures, ya know?

My first thoughts were to get her a massage/spa gift certificate but of course I can’t afford that right now, so that brought me to option #2: make her a little spa something. Since it was the week before Thanksgiving, it seemed like the perfect time to do it. I put together this little token of my appreciation, a mini spa package. Here is how it was packaged (how much do I LOVE that I had a spa-themed bag and cute matching paper?!):



And here are the contents:



Cloth is Elvish Leaves (my fave)!