Photo by Clovis IV Photography.


OMG where the heck have I been??! Bad blogger! It’s true, I suck, BUT I blame love, and you can’t get mad at me for that, right?

Love. Love is a tricky mistress. But I digress. Let me tell you a story.

Jeremy and I met each other when we were both desperately lost. It’s true! Like a couple of cocked slingshots we were, both of us bursting with potential, ready to let fly if only we could find a direction worth flying towards. And together, with the help of one another, that’s what we’ve done.

I came first, though we’ve both been working on both of us from the very start. But primary and most pressing was sorting out my life, and getting me into graduate school. And I wouldn’t have done it – I literally would not be where I am today – without Jeremy’s encouragement and support. Every step of the way. I would not be in grad school, and I would not be able to stay in grad school, if it weren’t for Jeremy.

So once that was sorted out, our attention turned to him. From the earliest moments of our relationship – I mean just weeks in – we’d been doing these midnight brainstorming sessions. Sitting on the floor together, with a giant pad of paper, and all these colored pens, making lists. What do you want for your life? What are your dreams? Your secret desires? We were both so unhappy where we were and knew that we wanted to get somewhere else, but weren’t sure where to go or even how to start. And together we would figure it out. On giant pads of paper scrawled in a rainbow of color, spread out on the apartment floor in the middle of the night, we would whittle it down until we had a crystalline vision. And we were ready to fire.

That giant pad of paper. The very beginning.

Jeremy’s business is booze. Fine wine and spirits, to be exact. And he had been working in a position for the past eight years, which he absolutely hated. He loves the industry – loves the craftsmanship, the artistry and the culture surrounding wine and spirits. But his job – that particular job – was soul-crushing.

He dreamed of opening up a shop of his own, something unlike anything he’d seen before. A retail space completely devoted to the art of cocktail craftsmanship. A space for everyone to enjoy, from the amateur home mixer to the professional mixologist. He could see it so clearly!

So many pads of paper, and so many colored pens. So many nights spread out on the floor, thinking and dreaming. Frustration. Fear. The job he had was bad, but man – it paid well. And leaving all that behind? Is fucking scary.




^^ That picture means so much to me. It was taken on the day that was our turning point. On a very, very long walk. On the beach. Hours spent walking up and down the beach, me and him, just talking. We were at a breaking point. Not a break up point, but we needed to have a serious conversation about our lives, and what we wanted. And in that conversation it became very clear: Jeremy had to quit his job, no matter what.

Rebirth.

And it was literally less than one week later that we were walking down the street just a few blocks from our house, right in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara, and we passed a little corner shop with bars on the windows. And men were loading up a moving truck.

So we asked one of them – “What happened here?” And he told us, “This is my family’s building, and this was my grandmother’s shop. But it hasn’t been open for almost 10 years, and now we’re taking everything out.”

And so we asked.

“Will you be renting it out?”

Yes

“And how much?”

Affordable.

And after a pause he raised an eyebrow and asked, “So . . . are you interested?” And Jeremy and I just looked at each other. And we didn’t say anything at all.

Three days later Jeremy signed the lease. The next day, he quit his job. And one week later he was off.

Slingshot.

~~~

Well, that was 6 weeks ago, at the tail end of October. As soon as Jeremy’s job let him go, he was at that shop, working. Every day. Dawn to . . . well, way past dusk. 16 hour days. 18 hour days. The place was a wreck, I mean really a wreck. And he put SO MUCH work into it.

Our goal was to open for Black Friday, which gave us a little over 4 weeks to get the place whipped into shape. Completely overhauled, renovated, new flooring, new lighting, everything. Of course we also had to order inventory, we had to establish accounts, we had to get our licensing and all that awful paperwork. I had to become an expert in vintage glassware (not gonna lie, I watched all 6 seasons of Mad Men as research), and start professionally picking (I’m the official VP of vintage, which has turned out to be our biggest seller!). And all of this, mind you, while I’m still in graduate school, still taking a full load and teaching 4 times a week. Still a mom. Still all that other life stuff.

No illusions, this is 100% a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants, do-what-it-takes-to-make-it-work operation, all the way. Which is . . . exciting!

And here we are 6 weeks later. And wouldn’t you know it, but we own a shop! And it’s even open!

And I know you want pictures of the whole process, yes? So without further ado, the transformation of Still:

Pretty early on – maybe day 2? The place was freakin’ filthy. Here, he’d already taken down the garden lattice (yes, actual garden lattice) that was covering the mezzanine.


There’s some of that lattice . . .


Industrial carpet, commercial grey and green tiles. Both from the ’80s.




A break for green juice and shelling peanuts.



Late late night delirium . . .


And many, many trips to the hardware store. So much so that they know Waits by sight, and call him “Trouble”, and save the Transformer stickers especially for him. He’s such a little charmer, that one.




And we had countless picnics on the workspace floor, when Jeremy just couldn’t spare the time to come home for dinner. Waits and I would pack up a warm meal and bring it over to him, eating on an old blanket amidst the construction mess and power tools.







Floor before . . .


And after!



Jeremy built the register counter from reclaimed materials, and entirely from scratch. Because he is actually AMAZING.


Getting closer. Inventory! (And on the left you can see the display unit that Jeremy built: “floating” wine boxes set at an angle, to hold bar spoons, strainers, jiggers, etc. Ugh, my man is good.)


T – 2 days till opening. We had to work late into the night, that night, so we set Waits up with a little nest in the loft. Blankies, movies on the iPad, pizza delivery, and a whole carton of oat milk all to himself. He was seriously such a good sport through this whole thing!

~~~

And then, just like that, Thanksgiving had come and gone, and Black Friday had arrived. And it was all happening. WE WERE OPEN!!!

Photos by Clovis IV Photography.

~~~

It’s really hard to believe that this is all real. It happened so fast that we’ve hardly had time to stop and think. Overwhelming? Yes!

Exhibit A: the pic we took at the end of opening day:




And that about sums it up.

So please, wish us luck! This is truly Jeremy’s dream, manifested. And I am just so incredibly proud of him.

We have a website as well! Okay, so it’s just something we threw together ourselves (for now), and we’ll have something more exciting in the future (any designers out there??). But you can shop all our products, and learn what we’re about – so please check it out!

And with all that, I can now bid you adieu. I do hope to be back to some sort of semblance of regularly scheduled posting, but who the heck knows? Between a spirited 4 year old, graduate school, and a brand new business to build . . . well guys, I promise I will do my very best.

I love you guys! Happy Holidays!!

♥ ♥ ♥