The Fresh Ride » sharing coffee http://thefreshride.com/blog coffee secrets & caffeinated adventures from inside the world of lizzy's fresh coffee Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:19:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Rainy Day http://thefreshride.com/blog/2008/10/03/rainy-day/ http://thefreshride.com/blog/2008/10/03/rainy-day/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:43:13 +0000 Administrator http://thefreshride.com/blog/?p=252 [...]]]> One of my favorite things to do is to host parties and gatherings. I love the feel of a room full of people talking and laughing. I love giggling until my eyes water and my belly aches in pain and I’m gasping for breath. I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to being a hostess, I have to admit, because I’ve been cast out of the kitchen for years now by my uber-chef husband who’s taken over the cooking since our son came along. He figured that someone had to do the cooking, and someone had to deal with the poopy crying thing, so he’d take the cooking. Now days, I’m knee deep in 3rd grade math while my husband is preparing dinner, trying to explain how one is to count change back when something is purchased. I’m a little annoyed that this is even being studied, because, first, the chance that actual bills and coins will still be tendered by the time my kid has his first minimum wage job is unlikely, and secondly, the cash register will tell him how much change the customer is supposed to get. If that doesn’t work, use a calculator, or if that doesn’t work, use your cell phone to call someone with a calculator, or heck, but then I’m sure the customer can walk out the door and the RFID in the exit will automatically bill the entire cart directly to his or her Visa.

Anyway, being more or less kicked out of the culinary action of a dinner party has left me in charge of what I call the three Ds: That’s drinks, decorations, and dessert. Today I got to indulge in drink making to my heart’s content, because my coffee roasting shop was filled with a giggling, talkative crowd, gabbing about everything from hair products, to the vice-presidential debate last night. I was on the espresso machine making one cappuccino after another (which I might say had about a 90% “good foam” success rate, which is not a bad rate for simulteaneous talking and foaming). I informed everyone that if they talked to me while I made their drink that it would take twice as long to get their beverage. I think this may be due to my uncontrollable need to flap my hands around as I talk. It’s genetic, I’m sure of it. People didn’t seem to care much about the speed, though, so I had some wonderful chats with some people I’d never met before.

This group happened to know each other pretty well, as they are the local masters swim club that swims together 5 days a week. Many of them regularly spend a few minutes after practice sharing a cup of coffee at the clubhouse. Today, I invited them over here, although I’m not myself a swimmer (something about staring at a tiled blue line while going back and forth trying not to suck water into my lungs every time I gasp for air just doesn’t work for me. It could also be related to my flapping hands issue—I’ll have to research that). I can see how much fun they have together, though, and loved being in the midst of this joyous crowd who seemed to relish in the simple pleasure of hanging out and sharing laughs.

It must be the slightly rainy day today, or this morning’s unexpected phone calls from a couple of missed friends that got me thinking about this, but I find that so many people just don’t make the effort to visit, call or make simple connections with others. We get so busy that we delay the phone call or email invitation. People make the lamest excuses, like thinking their home is too messy to have visitors, or they feel weird about inviting someone over who they don’t know very well. I think that’s crap, honestly. You’re really not that busy, and no one cares if your house is messy, and you don’t have to make a Food Network masterpiece. If you have friends who care about the mess in your house, or the quality of your meal, they suck. Find new friends.

I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I realized today that this is the biggest joy of the business I’m in. I love that a simple invitation, with a simple little drink of coffee and milk can bring people together and fill us up more than anything else we may choose to do, this week or any other. I’m one lucky girl.
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