Gucci taste on a Goodwill budget

So, today was the primary election for Mayor. There were 3 candidates and the primary was to narrow it down to two. Well, I got eliminated.

I understand why, I mean, I’m the youngest, many people in town don’t know me very well and I have no political experience (from looking at Washington you wouldn’t know that even mattered, though, right?).

I’m not heartbroken or crushed, and it’s not like I don’t have anything else to do with my time (see previous post entitled “My Busy-ness”). I may run again in the future, I don’t know. I will definitely run for City Council first next time and get my foot in the door at the ground level. I probably should have done that this time (or so says my brother Jeff, my non-paid campaign manager

I can tell you one thing, no one loves this town more than I do. This won’t prevent me from working tirelessly to maintain its reputation as the best place to live that I have ever seen. If anything, it will spur me on to work harder to do my part.

And P.S…. voter turnout was HORRIBLE! Only 105 of the registered voters (I imagine there are at least 250 here in Norwich) turned out to vote. That is pretty representative across the board, I know, but come on people!

This weekend has been non-stop “Coffee Shop”. I worked in there several hours yesterday painting and cleaning (the former proprietor still has some of her equipment and supplies in there) and generally making the place “mine”. We painted the walls a cinnamon brown (it’s almost terra cotta) with white trim. I put a second coat on the trim tonight but I’m afraid it will need a third. Mom and Dad came over today and helped us take all the chair cushions off so we can reupholster them (I think we’re going to do 18 total), hang mini-blinds and move stuff. They (and Chad) are such a big help. I will be so glad when all I have to worry about are customers and what to serve them!

Chad has been sick the past few days but managed to preach this morning. Tonight we had our monthly Singing so he didn’t have to do a sermon…which is good because I don’t know if his voice would have held out. He is such a trooper and never gets sick, so I knew when he made his own doctor’s appointment on Thursday that he was feeling pretty bad. Diagnosis = sinusitis.

I just wanted to give an update on the coffee shop. Hopefully we will be open around the first of March. I hope all is well with my faithful readers.

The story of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak has really caught my attention. She is the one who drove from Houston to Orlando in order to kidnap her fantasy man’s girlfriend, in an attempt to derail their relationship.
And… she wore adult diapers during her trek so she wouldn’t have to stop and use the restroom, and risk losing precious time…something not many of us would consider doing on our cross-country travels.

What I kept thinking about was the gravity of her situation and what she stood to lose…yet she still got in the car and did it. Becoming an astronaut is not a position where you post your resume on Monster.com and a recruiter calls you in for an interview. Nowak studied many years, logged over 1500 hours as a test pilot on 30 different kinds of aircraft, and basically spent her whole life preparing for the position she was in at NASA.

I find this story to be equal parts sadness and hilarity. Did such a high-profile person as Nowak really think she could get away with this? She was married, had three kids…she would definitely be missed. But the question begs, “Did she even care if she got away with it or not?”

One time I heard a relationship guru (probably someone on Oprah…I love Oprah) say that when a person cheats, even once, it means that they are saying that their current relationship is “worth losing”. Nowak must have felt that her marriage, children, and possibly hard sought-after NASA career were worth losing in order to have the chance to gain the affections of one man, if even for a short time.

Yet, how many times do we risk our relationship with God (substantially more important than a marriage, career, or children) in order to gain the “affections” of the world for a time?

I really feel like I’m out of my element sometimes, but I’m usually pretty good about acting like I know what I’m doing until I actually get the hang of it.

Running a coffeehouse is going to be quite a learning experience. Some of my questions lately (and Google has answered most of them) have been: “Do you have to use espresso beans/roast coffee to make espresso?” (Google seems to think so) “How much is a ’shot’ of flavored syrup?” (Google says a standard shot glassful) GoodNESS I am lost.

Not to mention that I am pretty picky when it comes to what I like about coffee. I pretty much like very few things about it, to be honest. I don’t like black coffee. I don’t like lattes. I don’t like espresso. I don’t like cappuccino (except for the sugary French Vanilla ones out of the gas station machines).

I do, however, like Mochas (with chocolate and caramel, and Cool Whip). I like hot chocolate. You see my dilemma.

Another thing I do love, though, is coffee drinkers. Coffee enthusiasts. Coffee aficionados. I think there’s something inherently sensitive, or deep, about people who get excited over coffee. I guess it would compare to wine aficionados, or cigar enthusiasts. I think I have the potential to be a coffee lover.

The only thing that makes my job difficult is that I don’t know if the espresso I’m making (or lattes, or cappuccinos) tastes good (or tastes like it’s supposed to), because I don’t like it in the first place. Anyone willing to be my guinea pig?