Still Snowing... on April 20th

It snows, then melts. Hails, then snows, then rains, then melts. Then it's sunny and hailing.

Right now it's snowing tiny flakes and dissipating once it hits the ground. I don't know what is going on with our weather, but it's throwing us for a loop! Last week it was spring, now it's January again. We ate beef stew last night for dinner when we should have had steaks on the BBQ.

The pink and white cherry blossoms in the front yard are a beautiful juxtaposition behind the falling snowflakes. When I create my next Japanese Garden, I will definitely take snow into account. Snow transforms a Japanese Garden.

Here is an article about our out of season weather, that was in the Seattle Times today.

Photos of a 13-month-Old

I love this shot. It's the ultimate little kid in diapers with a sippy cup photo. When D wants a "drink of water" she sits on the floor and kind of points to her cup up on the counter top. She has started signing for drink, but does it half heartedly. She also baby-signs for "eat".

I had to get these shades for D just because I could. She is getting used to them. She mostly likes the Velcro strap.

At our house there is always a rush when the fridge, pantry and any cupboard or drawer (for that matter) is open. We rush to take out what we need before D investigates the situation and D rushes to see what mischief she can make before the door closes. She won't do this forever, so I had to take this shot for the scrap book... and the blog.

The is so much other stuff going on right now it's sad that I don't have the time to blog. I'm trying to kick a cold, which I managed to share with nanny B and D.

I'm still trying to send out my press releases for The Con... business (I don't want my personal blog to show up when someone Googles the name).

There is just so much to do starting a business it's over whelming. I have stacks of To Do lists.

But of course it's all fun and I'm working with great people and I have cool, ultra fun clients.

Time for bed.

I Want to Open a Coffee House

You know what? I think I want to open a coffee house.

Every couple years it comes up. I know how to make a kick ass coffee house. I know what I would want it to look like, smell like, I know how I want to the chairs arranged, I know the colors on the wall, how it could be decorated and even how the parking lot should go.

Sure, I'm a little busy now with my new business and my 13 month old angel and sure in another 5 years I'll have another kid and an exploding concierge service, but with a little help from some people who are dedicated to experiences with coffee and great community meeting spaces, it could happen. I'm not trying to put anyone out of business, I just want to make the best coffee house I can.

Two questions:
How the heck am I going to make it a profitable venture? It's just beans and water!
What should I name it?

The location is Redmond. The building will be a new "cottage" style structure with a deck on two sides. We'll have a cute little awning. We'll have a conference room that can be used as a meeting or study space or people can hold scrap booking parties (shout out to Trotto), or book club meetings or children's story times, we can have monthly book exchange parties... maybe the main shop part will have a baby proof space with children's toys... free Internet.

Of course the subject of food is paramount. Providing insanely awesome foods could be my mom's brain candy for the next few years. She would be a kick ass caterer. And of course Mister Brody and Mister B would be my bean connoisseurs. They have already begun their search far and wide for the perfect beans and of course the perfect way to serve delicious coffee.

I wonder if I could get a liqueur license and serve evening coffee and wine after 5pm. That would be interesting. Wouldn't it be great to settle in at a cozy coffee shop with a nice baileys and a magazine?

We would also grind coffee in-house so the whole place would have the authentic aroma of cafe nectar and freshly baked goods.

Names:
The Coffee Solution
Super Awesome Cafe, (Dude!)
Must Have Coffee
Coffee Stop
Another Cafe
Church of Coffee
Coffee Bungalow
Wonderland Cafe
The Coffee Cottage

I love feed back! What do you guys think? Does anyone want to run it?