Well April blew by without us updating this blog at all. Thus breaking my goal of posting once per month. I have no idea where the month went. But I can't remember doing much critical thinking during April, so I can spare you some random deep thoughts about nothing and just provide some general updates.
The Trio
Growing Up
Liam has been doing great! He's sitting up now and playing with his toys by himself for a few minutes at a time. He's laughing a lot, sleeping well at night and will pretty much hang out with anyone. We were pretty sure he was allergic to everything including oxygen for a while, but after a visit to the allergist where they pricked him with 13 potential allergens it turns out he's not allergic to much. He also made his first big trip back to my 'hometown' of Joplin, Missouri. He got to meet his great G-G-Ma, great grandpa, uncle Jamie and aunt Staci, and one of his great aunts and uncles and a cousin who has the same name as him. It was a good time, but you can't help but feel like a bad parent when you're strapping your kid in a carseat for 8-9 hours straight.
Having fun with dad.
Sitting up all by myself and playing with huge blocks.
Not sure what is going on here actually.
Sportin the new hat mom picked up for me. I prefer to have it in my mouth.
Cracking up with my cousin Lanie.
How sweet is that?
Growing Old
Courtney and I have both had birthdays since we last wrote. She's now only a year away from 30! Luckily, I have one more year to prepare for that. We gave each other great weekends of fun. Mine included dinner at one of Nashville's best steakhouses and tickets to RENT. Courtney's included dinner at a great local restaurant, a manicure, pedicure and barbeque with her family. I also managed to survive having all 4 of my wisdom teeth taken out. I'm not going to lie, it pretty much sucks. But the part I thought would be the worst, being artificially put to sleep, ended up being the best part.
Saying 'Goodbye' to remembering 50 passwords
We are both about to be finished (for now) with corporate America. Courtney's last day at Tractor Supply Company is May 30 and my last day with my agency is May 29. We are looking forward to starting our "work all the time, $0/year salary with no benefits" job. Actually, there are many benefits to being with Liam more and feeling like were going to be doing something that we are meant to do. Somehow going against the grain of what society seems to 'expect' from you is appealing too. Although something we would not do if we weren't sure that we were asked to do it.
Ugly Mugs
Construction
Lots of people have been asking about the status of the coffeshop and looking for pictures. For a while we have been waiting for things to happen on the construction side that were triggering many more things. They are starting to happen. Just this past week we got a floor. Our expectation is to be opening around the first of July. Here is a few pics of the space. Just wait until you see the 'after' pictures.
That is our space. The big opening on the right is where a garage door has gone in, and the small opening in the middle is where our front door is. The windows on the left will have bar seating at them looking out the window.
A pretty good shot of the inside of the space. You can see the garage door on the left and front door right in the middle.
Courtney making me an espresso. She is standing pretty much right where she will be when she is really making it!
The Doves
We had the opportunity to cater the green room at the Dove awards a couple of weeks ago. We served coffee and tea to to the crew and talent for two days. This was very cool. It was our first public appearance as a business and I think we made a good first impression. We met some very cool people and were very fortunate to have the opportunity. I hope we have more of them!
Our setup at the Dove Awards. We served regular and decaf coffee and 3 kinds of loose leaf tea.
Our first day serving people together. We were excited.
The banner we hung at the Doves trying to get our name out there.
That is our logo scrolling across the TV during the telecast of the Doves. No one probably saw it, but I don't care you who are that is cool.
Contact
We now have the beginnings of a website and myspace page up for Ugly mugs. Here are the links:
www.uglymugsnashville.com
www.myspace.com/uglymugsmusic - if you're into the myspace thing, hook up with us on there. It will be a great place to see what's going on at the shop once we're open.
We'll be back soon with updates on life and the continued progress on the shop. And hopefully, when Courtney will be home more, she can blog again. At least then we can all read something worth while.
