vip open house!
Wow.
The open house was a huge success! I have no idea how many people came in total, but I would estimate between 60 and 70. There were people everywhere! Guesses were made; prizes were won; food was consumed; samples were sampled and coffee was purchased. I gave lots of hugs and said “Thank you” about a million and three times.
I got to meet a whole bunch of new people, and see some faces I haven’t seen in a long time… it was great. Some of my wonderful regular customers came (Thank you, Linda and Norma!), and one of my good customers gave me this gourmet chocolate cupcake with a pansy on top (her daughter was so cute– she was wearing a pink fuzzy bunny outfit, and when they came in and said hi, she said, “IT’S A CUPCAKE!!!” She was really excited to give it to me, which I thought was the cutest thing ever (Thanks, Stacy! It was delicious).
Kind and encouraging words were said about me, and I may or may not have cried a little bit… I’m sure you can see it all on YouTube as soon as all the footage is edited down into manageable bites and uploaded.
You guys, I am so humbled at all of the help and support everyone’s given me, and in light of that, I want to do kind of a personal shout out to the special people in my life that planned my open house, made it happen, and kept it running smoothly.
Tanna: Thank you so much for planning and pulling this thing together. I was just thinking it would be a bunch of people hanging out, but you made this an actual event, an actual big deal. Thank you for contacting people and taking care of the Facebook side, and coordinating all of the little details. I am beyond impressed with the level of excellence that you achieved with this event. Love you!
Becka: My lovely roommate, thanks so much for all of your hard work. I can’t believe you did as much as you did, working around your two work schedules! You’re crazy… but I love you. :) Thanks for the big things, like coordinating all of the hors d’oeuvres and hanging the lights, and all the little things, like making sure we had all the tools & tape & staples we needed.
Evan: Dear friend, by this time, I shouldn’t be amazed at how well you know me, but I have to say that I am. Thank you for mastering the ceremonies and for making sure that everything rang true to my personality. Yet again, I am floored by your generosity with your time, energy and resources… I love you.
Katy Oh!: Thank you so much for offering so much of your time to do whatever needed to be done. I am so blessed by your willingness to do whatever needed to be done, no matter how big or how small. Someday you need to move back here on a more permanent basis, not so that you can continue to do too much for me, but because I love ya. :)
Jolene: Wow… there aren’t really any words to describe how amazing the artwork turned out. I love that you had people who are dear to me each paint a canvas… It’s such a beautiful picture of friendship– everyone so different, and yet blending together to make a whole. Thank you for planning that and letting everyone use your paint! I love your stuff, almost as much as I love you.
Joel: Thanks for all your hard work in cleaning up. There were so many dishes to wash, rinse & sanitize, and you did them all. I appreciate you just rolling up your sleeves and getting to it. Love you, friend.
Steven: Thank you for driving all the way down here and working behind the camera all night. I really appreciate that you documented the night without being all up in my grill– I didn’t feel self-conscious about the camera at all, which is saying something (as you know!). I can’t wait to see the footage, since I couldn’t possibly have seen everything that was going on. I love you, my brother.
Michael: You are amazing. Thank you for being willing to do whatever we told you you were going to do (which changed constantly right up until like 20 minutes before it started, it seemed like), and for running the cash register. Thank you for helping me with the samples and brewing the coffee and dealing with the garbage and sweeping the floor and just generally being helpful beyond what most little brothers would be willing to be. I love you.
Grace: You will probably rue the day you told me you like being my slave-child. :) Thank you so much for rinsing stuff as I needed it and fetching and carrying and all of that stuff. You helped me so much in the days before with all the little things that needed to be cut and taped and tied and all that stuff… there is no way it would have all happenedwithout your help. I love you lots!
Daniel, Christin & Micaiah: I know you weren’t able to make it (and crap, I just remembered that I completely forgot to set up a webcam for you at any point during the night… whoops. You’ll have to catch it on YouTube when it goes up), but I wanted to say thank you for being excited for me. I know you would have come if you could have, and thanks for calling to wish me luck. I love you guys. (Nom on Micaiah’s cheeks for me!)
Mom and Dad: Thank you for your constant support. I am blessed to have parents who know about running their own business– I’m 100% positive I’m going to be asking for your opinion and advice about running this one! Thank you for the beautiful flowers and for always insisting on paying for your drinks. I love you both so much.
And finally, Nikki: Thank you so much for the last six years. I am blessed to have been able to work for and with you… I’ve learned so much about coffee, customer service, and business just by observing you at work. It is an honor and a privilege to be entrusted with the business you’ve built and all of your (our!) customers. Not many people can say this about their employer, but I love you, Nik.
That’s all for now… Next up (coming soon), a huge thank you to all of the businesses who provided food!
![1. "No man can tame the [hair]. It is a restless evil..." 2. "I am no man!!!" my morning in quotes.](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7223/7228541704_2cfa5a1317_t.jpg "1. \"No man can tame the [hair]. It is a restless evil...\" 2. \"I am no man!!!\" my morning in quotes.")
