Shooting for the moon...

It's been just a little over a month since my last post, and I think I can honestly say that my life is changing in (just about) every way! I'm sooooooo excited about some giant changes that are happening.

Let me give you the low down. First of all, Joe and I put an offer in on a place just up the Clearwater River from Lewiston and the offer's been accepted!!! So if all the paperwork goes through, we'll be moving from town to a beautiful piece of property right on the river, besides having a pond, a giant garden area, enough pasture for all those cute little goats and miniature donkeys I've been dreaming of having, plus a small vineyard. I dream big, when I dream!

Here's my vision of our new place:




And of course there's a long row to hoe to get to that vision, because the place actually looks like this:




I know the reality of the place is far from what my dream looks like, but I figure if I shoot high, I'll achieve more than if I resign myself to just dealing with things the way they are...

So, with this change, we'll be putting our current house in town up for sale, and probably within the next couple of weeks. I've been frantically trying to get all the main floor rooms painted and bought all new light fixtures and curtains, so we can update all the white and gold can track lighting and take down all the broken plastic window blinds. When I get done with this house, it's going to look like a spa! At least we'll get to enjoy it for a couple of months before we have to move!

And the third giant undertaking that I've dove headlong into is, I'm moving my business! I know, I know, it's a big bombshell I just dropped on you. I've put thousands and thousands of hours (literally) into setting up my Airstream on the lot in Moscow, it has been a heart wrenching decision to pull up anchor and move.

Here's the explanation in a nutshell: Business in Moscow has been steadily getting better and better from the first month I opened, but the growth increments have been small. By this time, now working on my second year open, I had been hoping to be able to afford a few more baristas to help me, so I wouldn't have to continue to put in 90 hours of work a week. After running the numbers, I still can't afford more help. Besides this fact, since I opened the stand, I moved out of town to Lewiston, so now I'm spending over an hour a day in the car driving back and forth, and over 400 dollars a month in gas.

Just two weeks ago, I got a call from my roaster telling me that the only coffee house in Lewiston was planning on closing in a month or two, and wondered if I'd be interested in taking it over. Such a tempting offer! Working closer to home, and not having all the coffee competition like there is in Moscow (5 espresso stands and 4 coffee houses, not counting 3 Starbucks and other espresso bars on campus), and having a larger population in Lewiston to draw from. So, I've decided to go for it!!! And then within the week, the current coffee house owner decided to shut down that week!

It's all been a bit of a whirlwind decision, but I think I've considered all the pros and cons, and the pros definitely outweigh all else.

Here's an exterior view of the building in Lewiston I'll be moving into. It was built in either 1903 or 05 by Wendell Hurlbut as the Commercial Trust Company Bank. He was an extrememly wealthy man and had all the finishes imported from Europe. Check out those marble pillars! I wonder how much those would cost to import these days?...




Here's a few photos of the space I took on the walk through on Wednesday. This is the interior side of the entrance door.
This floor is imported, glass tile from Europe somewhere. I'll have to find out the details.



This is the front of the space facing Main Street. It's a half step up above sidewalk level. Those huge sheets of glass for the front windows (notice one of them is rounded!) were imported from Europe back in 1903 also!


This is the door to one of the two vaults in the space. This one is in the kitchen area and will be used as storage... such a shame. And the other is out on customer floor space and will be transformed into a private sitting room with a couch and a couple tables!


And here is the view from the back of the main floor looking forward. As you can see there is much work to be done... All that furniture you see and clothing racks will be removed hopefully this weekend (there was a vintage clothing store in the back of the previous coffee house) and I can start repainting, pulling up carpet, refinishing the hardwood floors underneath, reconfiguring and adding to the bar,and putting up new lighting!!!



Everyone wish me luck and speed getting this place up and running... I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of April, at the latest, and I haven't even started yet!!! Yikes!!!