Last Day.

I remember the first drink I made myself  when I was first hired at Kaladi Brothers.

And I remember the last drink I made myself, the same natural vanilla English toffee latte, because that day was today.

It's been six years since I first began pulling shots and socializing with customers.

Six years of new faces, new policies, and many beverages being drunk.

It still hasn't really sunk in that I'm done there, for I've said so in the past; however this time, I know that it's officially time to wrap up this chapter and begin a new one.

It's official now that I'm assistant manager at brew@602. I've slowly begun my responsibilities as a part of the 602 team, and I have to say, it's getting rather exciting.

But as with most changes in life, it's bittersweet. It's a family at Kaladis, and I'll miss my coworkers, my customers, and the familiarity of that café I had grown so much in.

But I also know that it's time for me to move forward, to take what I've learned those six years at Kaladis and apply it into helping my family open this new business.

I know that this new endeavor will push me out of my comfort zone (it’s already done so a LOT), but I look forward to the process of growing, as stressful as it is at times. 

It may be my last day at Kaladi Brothers Coffee, but it’s my first day at brew@602 and there’s a latte work to be done... 

I even received flowers from my most loyal customers, my mom and dad...

Beauty: For the Heart, Not Just the Eyes.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Okay, maybe it wasn't stormy, but it was dark, and it carried over into the morning, especially prevalent as I made my lonely drive to the coffee shop at 5am.

It was during my toasty commute listening to One Direction (such a young one at heart), that I noticed something stirring in the sky.

There in front of me were those famous Alaskan northern lights.

It took my breath away. It was faint in color, just a soft green hue, but it was moving ever so slightly and I just felt so humbled and lucky to have been able to see such a sight so early in the morning, when everyone else lie fast asleep.

So I'm telling a customer about this, right? Sharing my delight at seeing these lights, and the guy kinda shrugs and goes "Eh, I'm over it."

What what what?

I asked him to explain, and he proceeded to tell me that they're just kind of blah after all these years. The color isn't that great, they're faint, and you become used to seeing them. They're just not that beautiful compared to other parts of the state.

I couldn't believe his response. Granted, he was completely entitled to his opinion, but it's interesting how I had a completely different experience than he. 

Which had me thinking: could we imagine that beauty itself doesn't necessarily have to conform to society's idea of perfection? To me, beauty isn't just about looks. It's about how it makes us feel, what sensations are extracted from something that isn't just in what we see.

Beauty to me has always come from within, these unexplainable qualities that aren't necessarily visible to the eye.

Yes, maybe the northern lights weren't as brilliant in color as the lights in the north, but they made me feel something inside: nostalgia, peace, and this impression of awestruck. That made more of an impact on my heart, as opposed to just my eyes.

Imagine how different our perceptions of "beauty" would be if we stopped obsessing with looks and focused instead on how they made us feel?

How many little things would we notice then? What new things would we deem beautiful?

I'm certainly in love with looking at things in a different light.

Or in this case, a different "northern" light.

I hope you can feel my inner joy at all this fresh pow!