Not A Dreamer

My decision is made!

I will not be reopening my old café.

I am relieved. No more sitting on the fence. No more hesitation. I cannot stand hesitation, and I’ve been doing nothing but just that! Since I moved to this town four years ago.

For the past four years, there has not been a day that passed by, without the thought of recreating the old café legacy crossing my mind! The years I had my café, were the happiest ones of my life! So I can understand my constant yearning.

Then, when my sister, communicated to me very passionately, her own understanding of my situation! I decided to finally give it a serious thought!

Unfortunately_or maybe fortunately_ reality said: this isn’t a wise decision at this time! And after studying the target market, demographics, SWOT analysis results etc..! I concluded, this little town isn’t my ideal location for business! If I was still in the city, it would have been a different story! But I’m here! In this town 30 minute away! And I’ll be pretending if I am to declare: I understand how little businesses make it here! We have two high end restaurants that city people drive all the way for! They are doing well. The rest?! Not that great!

A café isn’t a restaurant. A café in this area, will not make it on coffee alone! I had to start adding gelato and sandwiches to the menu! And soon I was looking into more and more items to add! My heart was no longer excited! My heart will weep while serving your children sticky gelato before smiling again while making your latte! I love gelato! Don’t get me wrong! I know how to make a crazy Affogato! And I have! But beyond making Affogato, I have zero interest in gelato! There’s no dosing the perfect espresso shot, dialling in the perfect grind, or counting the seconds it takes, to make that espresso shot the best one you’ve ever tasted! Basically, scoop a blob of gelato, here you go enjoy. That’s it. No creativity! No pride in producing something very special.

So, here I am!

No to opening a café! But…yes to introducing Nitro Coffee as an addition to my current coffee business.

I am excited! And I honestly rarely get excited unless you are taking me out for dinner or..a drink!

And if you really would like to know other reasons for me being happy about my decision, I will say: This decision means I’ll continue to find time to write, bake delicious colourful French Macarons, do some art, talk to the deer, hangout with the birds in the forest, create weird stuff on nights when creativity strikes…etc etc

Life is too short. Giving back to my community is great! And I will continue to do so in other ways But, in the end it’s my decision to proceed with a shop or ..not.

Author: Kat

I used to work as a graphic designer, until one day I was tragically and blissfully hit by two colliding meteors! One caused my falling in love with the world of coffee! And the other resulted in me falling out of love with the not so wonderful and nearly suffocating office culture! I left the glamour of the design world, and opened up my little café! Those were the best years of my life! I say ‘were’, because (wait! May be another time! But please do ask me if you ‘must’ know and can’t sleep tonight unless I tell you!) For the past three years, I have been living in a pyramid shape house in a middle of a green forest in the summer; a green forest buried underneath lots - I mean LOTS - of snow in the winter. I used to ‘think I still do ;)’ love the city! With its buzzing energy! I love to travel and seeing different food and coffee scenes...preferably alone! visiting ‘quirky and unusual’ places! I do not love visiting museums, hugely commercialized areas, malls and landmarks! I love old and full of heritage ‘anything’! I also love, to sit in a busy coffeeshop ‘reading quietly’ and not talking! Talking exhausts me most of the time! Watching the world unfold.. and thinking ...never does!

41 thoughts on “Not A Dreamer”

  4. You are a dreamer, Kat. You are nothing if not a dreamer. Keep writing, seeking, creating, letting your inner self out. Keep discovering, unfolding, becoming. it is a beautiful thing to witness you. In perhaps a separate note to you, I’ll share some of my thoughts and experiences on insecurities … lol … I am a master of them, or they are a master of me. We do work together very, very closely, every day, all the time!

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  5. At the same time this doesn’t mean an end completely. Four years from now you might be living elsewhere. Trust me, you’re living in Eugene, Oregon you’re having a different conversation.

    You never know what the future brings. I’m happy with your decision. You took business smarts over emotion and that is the bottom line. Some many businesses fail because the operator got it all backwards.

    Do not delete your dream entirely. Place it in a nice safe folder and if that day comes where you locate to a town where it could happen, dust it off and give your dream a serious thought.

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      1. You have a lot of passion in your voice and I know running your very own coffee house is something you love. By holding back and waiting for the right moment you’re showing a lot of business smarts. That says so much about you.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I do mail yes. I also deliver bulk and individual to the city which is about 35 min drive from where I am :)! I don’t visit or chat. I’m just the coffee post lady 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      8. Oh dear. I will check. But, I seriously want to send you my coffee to try regardless of business practices I’m not supposed to step over. Life is too short, and I am curious of how my coffee will taste to ‘you’ my friend on WP 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      12. It’s more about having a WP friend taste my coffee hahaha just for kicks!

        Send me your address Angela! But only if you wish. I hate complicated stuff. So here’s the deal:
        If one day you feel you are still curious about the coffee, send address and I’ll ship samples.
        If you decide this is complicated and annoying, I apologize and I’ll live forever thankful you even showed interest.
        🌸♥️

        Liked by 1 person

      13. Haha! I’m definitely interested. I love coffee and especially enjoy when it’s roasted by a friend (I only know one other person who roasts and I love his coffee and his shop). I’ll email you!

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Yet you are still a dreamer even though your post title says Not A Dreamer. This says it all: “This decision means I’ll continue to find time to write, bake delicious colourful French Macarons, do some art, talk to the deer, hangout with the birds in the forest, create weird stuff on nights when creativity strikes…etc etc”. All the things you mentioned here are your dreams and so you still remain a dreamer, a dream-maker, where you yourself, as our Catalan pro-independence leader Muriel Casals said: “We are the dream”. Each one of us is the dream.

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    1. As much as I’m in love with your vision Marta, and as much as I wish that was truly me! The reality is, I am a woman to whom, even next year, is far future! I’m a realist. I live for today. My feet seem to always be on the ground.

      It’s a bizarre contradiction! I can ‘imagine’ things and my mind is capable of creating endless ‘ideas’, in fact, my mind thrives on coming up with ideas everywhere and at every chance, but that’s different from being a dreamer!

      A dreamer, usually says ‘one day, I am going to do this, be in such and such place..etc’. I can’t seem to be able to do that. I’m ‘right here’ and all about the now.
      Does this make sense?! I don’t know…

      I respect your Catalonia dream Marta. It is something that obviously drives you and your fellow Catalonians who dream of independence! I can understand that.

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      1. Thank you. I so appreciate your respect and undestanding for the Catalan pro-independence movement. I think Catalonia will be free in a few years’ time, from 5 to 10 years; we cannot know nor exactly predict. We will be free from this current Spanish authoritarian regime that still carries post-Francoist traits as the evidence of our political prisoners and exiles plus the farce of the trial show. And that will happen not only because of us, Catalan dreamers, but basically because the Spanish state will entirely collapse and so all the peoples that live in the Iberian peninsula will be free out of necessity. To live or to drown. It has to with historical cycles. This video is telling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zymhIgWpMs

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      3. Thank you, Kat. You have two of the best qualities any person should have: you listen to others and you respect them in their diversity of being and opinions. Thus you understand well enough the concept of equity, which is aiming at equality of rights, duties and opportunities among human beings while respecting their differences. In doing so you spread real love and kindness. I really like your blog, full of beautiful stories and personal experiences. In many ways we are so similar, balloons full of dreams and imagination, but with a thick rope tied to earth. In this state we try to seek balance between what fills our heart and what is realistic.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Thank you for ‘your’ wonderful understanding Marta! It’s inherent in us as humans, to have different opinions and ideas! So how could I not respect people who have different ideas than mine! I realize this is a broad subject, but if the motive behind the idea or opinion is good, I’m good too 🙂

        You have a gift of getting others to talk and reflect Marta. I love that.

        Love and sunshine to you.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. You are always welcome kindly. Love and sunshine to you too! And thank you so much again for checking out my friend Mario’s novel. Like you he is so talented. 🌈☀🌿💞

        Liked by 1 person

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