Much like New Years, Valentines Day has long been one of those holidays that comes with great expectations, but very often can fall short of what you know it could be.  Knowing that, Posies Cafe and our florist, Solabee Flowers, have joined forces to make this Valentines Day as lovely as we’ve always envisioned it to be.

This Saturday & Sunday we will have a corner of the shop dedicated to Valentines Day gifts.  We will have handmade lockets, darling cookies, and beautiful bouquets (posies) made by Solabee Flowers available for sale.  Sunday morning we will even be offering a special Valentines Day brunch of crepes and mimosas!  Come feel the love in the air.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:

Since I haven’t heard back from “C” or “Charlotte”, I can only assume it was a spammed email… and while I’ve been laughing at myself all day for responding so seriously to something that wasn’t even real, it did get me thinking about two things: blog posts and the way we say things.

I couldn’t agree more with “Charlotte” that my blog posts maybe aren’t as interesting as they used to be, and I’ve been feeling guilty about it for months.  What I wrote was true, though, that sometimes the criticisms make you feel that complacency or generic posts are maybe the safest route to take.  Interestingly, what has always inspired my previous “interesting” posts were issues that I felt needed a voice, or deserved sharing or giving a critic a different perspective.  So thank you, pretend critic, for getting me thinking about writing again.

The second thing this comment made me think about is the way we say things, or, more specifically, the phrasing, “Don’t take this the wrong way…”  Here’s a thought: Tell people the “right way” rather than putting the onus on them to not take it the “wrong way.”  People who have something to lose go to great efforts to say things the “right way” so that there is no misinterpretation of what they are trying to convey. Critics tend to come across as unkind because they have little to lose in being a critic, but in reflecting on this, I think the reality is that they aren’t so unkind as they are lazy.  It’s easy to say everything you’re thinking as you think it and not care about the person on the other end and how they might interpret it.  It’s hard to think through what you want to say, care about how it will be received, and then share it in the clearest way possible in order to get the outcome you originally intended.

So, “Charlotte,” maybe next time you could take a few more minutes to write your comment and say something like, “I really enjoy your writing style, and found posts x, y and z to be some of your best.  Any chance you could write more posts like these?”

I digress…

Jessie

UPDATE:

This comment may have been spam… but I can’t tell because she signed her initial.  I get lots of generic spam, but in case this is real, I responded.

————–

Today I received the following comment on our website, and wanted to post it on the main blog page along with my response.  I would like everyone to read through this and then please share your thoughts re: blog posts.

Jessie

—————————–

Comment:
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I think your overall ideas are fine but you might want to put a little more thought into your next posts. I say this becuase it seems like your writing style has gone downhill a bit as opposed to your previous posts. – C.

————————–

Hi Charlotte,

Thanks for writing.  While it’s hard not to take what you said the wrong way (almost a guarantee when you write “don’t take this the wrong way”), I know my posts probably aren’t as interesting as they used to be, or maybe as well-written.  What’s funny, though, is that nobody ever tells me the things they like that I post, only the things they don’t like.  That’s something I’m discovering is hard when being in the public eye right now… I get lots of feedback on posting things that are too personal, or too controversial, or in this case, too uninteresting, and then I find myself in a loop of apologies for everything because I don’t want anyone to be disappointed in the product I’m putting out there.  I’m not the type that’s able to say, Here’s what I’ve got, take it or leave it – and then feel confident that I’ll still succeed in what I’m doing.  I’m very aware that what I’m doing relies on the public liking it, so with so much feedback of what not to do, it makes you want to just play it safe and do nothing at all (or at all that interesting).

While part of the issue is that I’m tired of being controversial, the other part is that it takes a lot of time to run this business, and sadly, posting to our blog has been put on back burner while I try and keep us afloat through the construction that has taken place over the last three months in front of our shop, as well as what is the slowest time of the year in the coffee industry (January/February).  However, if what you (and others) are saying is that you were more interested in Posies when you felt you had more of an inside track to what was happening behind the scenes or in my mind, so be it.  I love writing, and if I knew others felt more connected to us with my old ways, I’m happy to go back, or maybe to a blend of what’s been suggested to me.

I’d appreciate your thoughts, and if you don’t mind, will be posting this to our blog for public feedback.

PS: Oddly enough, I’ve responded to every post I’ve ever received asking for suggestions of how to do better, and not a single person has ever written back to me.  I hope you write back.

–
Jessie Burke

You may have seen them over the weekend happily training (or poor Anthony in his trial by fire training on Saturday), excited to be learning something new and getting to know our regulars’ drinks by heart.  So now it’s time for formal introductions! In alphabetical order we have…

Anthony Fox: Anthony is father to 7-year-old Journey, and he and his family are fellow Kenton residents.  He is an experienced barista having worked at many well-known coffee shops in Portland (Urban Grind, Blend), has lived in Thailand, and is currently in school on track to study International Law.

Keri Phillips: Keri teaches English at an area Washington college, and a former Starbucks barista.  She recently moved to Portland from Oklahoma, and wooed us with her daily patronage, her sense of humor, and her sweet midwestern sincerity.  She play indoor soccer, has a masters in rhetoric, and likes long walks on the beach (actually, I’m not sure about that last one).

Kristin Armstrong: Kristin came to us by way of a friend of mine – Jennifer Burlingame – who Kristin used to nanny for.  Kristin has traveled and studied overseas extensively, is fluent in French, and in her spare time was a barista in college.  She was a nanny for several years post-academia, and continues to nanny two days a week.  She is an avid cyclist, and volunteers at SCRAP and the Food Co-Op.

Laura Wilcox: Laura came to us out of the blue when a friend of hers (that works at Coffee House 5) heard we had an opening.  She is originally from South Dakota where she was a barista at a coffee cart (her favorite job to date), and is currently a student of biology at PSU.  Like Katie, Laura was a collegiate athlete as a competitive swimmer during her first two years of college.  She hopes to teach high school biology and be one of those teachers that “actually makes a difference in the lives of students.” (Though secretly she hopes to open her own coffee shop)

So there you have it! The newest additions to the Posies team! Make sure to stop in and say hi, and if you have a drink they should memorize, let them know – they’re eager to get into the swing of things.

As many of you know, we’ve started regularly scheduled activities during the day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  And on occasion we’ve booked some great evening shows (Mnemonic last month, Aram, Ms. Michael Jodell, and on and on).  With so much great attendance, we really started focusing our efforts on scheduling more shows and events.  So…

Starting next week we will have a children’s activity every weekday morning at 10am, and starting in January we’ll have a regularly scheduled evening show Tuesday nights and weekends.  The morning schedule is as follows:

Mondays: Live music with Mr. Ben

Tuesdays: Teeny Tiny Storytime Theater with Ms. Yvonne

Wednesdays: Story time with Judi

Thursdays: Live music with Mr. Ben

Fridays: Teeny Tiny Storytime Theater with Ms. Yvonne

The evenings schedule will be:

Tuesdays: 8pm Songwriters Roundtable (see this link for details: http://endhits.portlandmercury.com/endhits/archives/2009/12/17/posies-cafe-to-host-all-star-open-mic-night)

Fridays or Saturdays: 7pm Live music (*Mnemonic is booked again for Feb. 27th!)

And our usual weekend favorites:

Saturdays: 8am – 12pm Buttermilk biscuits

Sundays: 8am – 12pm Breakfast Wraps (they’re back!)
Hope to see you all at many of these events! We love seeing your smiling faces.

Jessie

Late Tuesday (12/22) afternoon I got a call that they wanted to pour our sidewalk on Wednesday, and we had two choices: 1) remove our ramp, pour everything, and be open for business with a new sidewalk on Thursday when we open, or 2) pour up to our ramp, get a makeshift landing, then pour the rest after the new year.

In short, I opted to get construction away from my shop as soon as possible by closing for a day and getting it all done.  So although I know it’s inconvenient, bright and early Thursday you can walk on sidewalk again to get inside, and even sit at an outdoor table if you’d like.

See you then,

Jessie

Hire a professional barista for your next meeting, party, dinner or wedding.

Our team of experienced baristas that own and operate Posies Cafe would like to expand our offerings to all of you for private events. We believe there are many people who strive to offer their guests a memorable experience with every element of their event, and would appreciate being able to add to that experience the quality of coffee served, and surprise their guests with the option of specialty espresso drinks too.

Our team comes fully equipped with espresso machine, espresso beans, flavored syrups and sauces, milk, drip coffee, cups and condiments. We can also customize a package to make your event perfect.

Feel free to call or email to discuss your special event, and how we might be of service to you.

posiescafe@gmail.com
971-404-9673

Posies holiday hours are as follows:

Christmas Eve: Open regular hours
Christmas Day: CLOSED

New Year’s Eve: Open regular hours
New Year’s Day: Open regular hours (with a Hangover Special)

As much as I love seeing the progress with the streetscape, and think the crew is doing a fantastic job moving things along mostly efficiently and quickly, the twinge of concern I had with the crew coming to our block was warranted. We’ve had delays on our block caused by the electric utility moving their utility equipment a month later than planned, and further delays were caused by the vaults on our block that access the tunnel system underneath of Kenton, and an approved method for capping them holding things up.

During these delays, our access bridge has been moved a couple of times, jackhammers, and giant backhoes, throwing people off that may have just gotten used to the old ramp system, or those folks that may not want to trek over a make-shift bridge through the noise just for a cup of coffee in the morning. Needless to say, it is not really the atmosphere most folks are going for.

All of this brings me to a few changes that need to be made now that construction has officially made an impact on foot traffic… with the exception of evenings that we host events (such as 3rd Thursday, music performances, parties, etc.), we will be shortening hours through the winter.

Winter Hours:

Monday – Friday: 6:30am – 6pm
Saturday: 7:30am – 6pm
Sunday: 7:30am – 6pm

Please know these are temporary changes that we’ve just had to make in order to get Posies through this time of extenuating circumstances, but all activities in the mornings will stay the same, and evening activities will keep us open until 9pm, so keep an eye on our activity schedule on Facebook and Twitter, as well as right here on our blog.

Upcoming events include:

Monday, 12/14: Nutrition Consult Over Coffee 7pm
Thursday, 12/17: Third Thursday Art Walk 6pm – 9pm
Tuesday, 1/5/10: Songwriters Roundtable 7pm – 9pm

You can also reserve Posies Cafe for private parties, or hire us to cater meetings or events! Call or email for details.

Please feel free to get in touch with me if you have an questions, comments or concerns, and I welcome your ideas on how to best get through this crazy construction with our heads above water.

Jessie

JJ was the owner of Wrapped with Love – our provider of wonderful wraps made from the heart. After a rough couple of weeks with family crises, raising a child as a single mother, and reflecting on her personal goals, JJ has decided to stop pursuing her wrap business and change career course.

She’ll be with us for the next week using up the rest of her ingredients, and in the meantime, if you see her, let her know you loved her stuff.

Jessie

Ben called me early this morning to let me know that his little brother, David, was in a car accident late last night. David is ok, but Ben needed to be with him today. As such, we won’t have biscuits today.

He should be back as usual next Saturday from 8am-12pm.