No excuses (well, okay...a few...)

I did not get sucked up into a great vortex of swirling coffee beans, and disappear from the face of the earth. But it has been an amazing few months that have taken every ounce of energy that I've had...and then some. Laundry did not get done; weeds grew in the gardens; and a microwaved veggie burger was often dinner, I'm ashamed to say.

So what's happened? Well, we opened our coffee bar inside Zingo's supermarket on June 1. Wow...what a learning experience! And an exercise in patience and perseverance, with the mountains of hoops and hurdles we had to go through. And, at the EXACT same time, we moved from our cozy little roasterie to an 1,800 s.f. building in Wilmington. (Yes, for the neighbor who complained to the County that it smelled like coffee in our neighborhood...the air is now back to its usual mushroom compost aroma in the early morning hours.) AND, we were awarded "Best of Delaware, Critics Choice for coffee" and appeared in the July issue of Delaware Today magazine. So it's all been good. And busy. And we now have 8 employees. And that brings with it myriad paperwork, and payroll stuff, and filing that has threatened to take over my office.

And more exciting things are in the works. Soon, we hope, we will have a roaster installed inside Zingo's and people will be able to buy warm bags of their freshly roasted beans. We've been to the Fancy Food show again, and found some more really cool products, too. Oh, and as a postscript to my trip to Chicago, I did make it to the finalists round of the Women Entrepreneurs competition, and then received my very nice rejection letter. But that's ok. I really believe that there is the right time for everything, and this was just not my time. It was fun trying, nonetheless.

Chicago!!

What fun! I was selected by Country Living magazine to "pitch" my product in Chicago last weekend at the Women Entrepreneur event. From this experience, I learned that: 1) foil-wrapped and wire-tied bags of coffee do NOT look good to airport security personnel, 2) the nearest medical clinic to my hotel was a 6-block walk (and was my first visit once in town); and 3) it's really challenging to fit everything that I wanted to say into a mere three minute pitch.

Whether my pitch was successful, and whether our coffee will appear in the magazine, has yet to be decided. But the creative environment of the conference was phenomenal! I heard incredible stories from really inspiring entrepreneurs, including Anna Griffin, Heather Bailey, Tamara Monosoff...and so many more. 600 women from across the country came to be inspired, and the air seemed thick with creative energy.

Besides the event, it was just a great weekend to be in Chicago. The river was dyed green, the atmosphere was festive, and there seemed to be a coffee shop on every corner.

it's been three years exactly...

...since the car accident that started it all. Three years ago today I followed an ambulance to the hospital, really not knowing whether my husband was still alive.

I still occasionally fall back into the "what ifs." What if I'd not suggested that he take my car? (Would his truck have protected him better?) What if he hadn't stopped to buy flowers for me? What if he'd gotten to the intersection just a few seconds later? And I know from experience that the "what ifs" serve no purpose other than to make one crazy. So...I'm choosing to be thankful today for the good that has come from the accident. And knowing that God's timing is perfect, is it a coincidence that today, on this 3 year mark, we've gotten the "green light" to go ahead with a local in-store roasterie and coffee bar? How cool is that?? I'm 99.99999% sure that this would never have happened if not for the accident.

Tomorrow I will speak before a group in Wilmington, dragging out my "visual aid" from the basement...the grill from the front of our car. When I put it in the basement, I remember saying, "Some day there's going to be a happy ending to our story, and this can be a visual aid to the speeches I'm going to give." I think I was only half-serious when I said that, but a part of me did know, even then, that God was going to turn what happened to us into something good. So tomorrow I talk to a group of people about life-changing events.

"no ordinary joe"

...that's the title that the Wilmington News Journal gave the article on the front page of the Business section today...and they included Pike Creek Coffee Roasterie! The photo above was taken by News Journal photographer Carla Varisco-Williams; she and reporter Gary Haber paid us a visit last week. Such fun doing the interview, and the feedback has been great from local coffee lovers.

new book on Newark...

I have the perfect gift idea for my Dad, for his birthday...the newly-published book Histories of Newark 1758-2008, recently released by local Wallflowers Press. This book has an amazing amount of local history and photography...plus photos of about 5,000 Newark residents (including the three of us).

exciting things are in the works!

We are working on the details of our first retail location...and are really excited about the prospect of running an in-store coffee roasterie and coffee bar...plus selling fresh baked goods. There are already whispers and rumors around Pike Creek...some of them coming from a really observant veteran who was selling poppies at the store door on one of the days that we were having a meeting with our consultant. It's kind of funny...the next day I walked into the store carrying a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, and the veteran signaled me over to him and said in a low whisper, "Pretty soon you won't have to buy your coffee somewhere else. They're going to be having a Pike Creek Coffee bar in this store."

"I know," I said. "I'm the person who owns Pike Creek Coffee."

Other interesting things are happening, too. We just finished a morning of interviews and videography with the Wilmington News Journal, and have been told that we are going to be included in an article in the Business section of the paper on Monday, January 21. Can't wait 'til Monday!!

in memory of Virginia Stiles

Peter lost his beloved Aunt Ginny yesterday, after she waged a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. And while he's dealing with the loss, many of the good memories come back...in particular, her encouragement to him over the years, and her enthusiastic support of his new endeavors. She would have loved to know that Delaware Today magazine sent over a photographer to take our photo...for inclusion in a future issue, we were told...and she'd have gotten a kick out of this, too. She was never a coffee drinker, but a coffee milkshake...now that spoke her language!