Welcome, Spring!

Bright yellow jasmine makes even a grey day sunny.
~ Click to enlarge image. ~
(You are welcome to use this image as a *personal* screensaver.)

Today was cold and grey and rainy and windswept.  Yet….

Happy Valentine's Day!

A small Valentine gift for all our friends, clients, colleagues, and followers.  Remember to add chocolate -- or whatever sweetness brings you joy!

Best advice we ever heard when feeling forlorn and forgotten on Valentine's Day, "Be your own Valentine!"  So, stop your scoffing and sniveling and Snap Out Of It!  You are beloved and lovable, don't doubt it for a moment.  Treat yourself well and others will, too!

Joy to the World!

Photo & design by Gitanajava Productions LLC, ©2014

To all our family, friends, and colleagues,

We wish you a joyous 2014!

At first glance, "Joy to the World" may seem futile when even the high holidays aren't exempt from grim and dreary headlines.  But joy is not jolliness, or happiness -- it is not a glib and ephemeral emotion.  It is not dependent on circumstances being perfect or on your life being well-ordered and secure.

Joy is deep, unreasonable stuff.  It is illogical.  Joy is born from an iron-willed determination.

Like the fountain in the photo above, we pray your 2014 will overflow with blessings, benedictions, serenity in the midst of chaos, and the moxie to choose joy.

This past year has been, hmmm...interesting.  You've heard the saying, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"?  We lived it, learned it (again!), and hit plenty of speed bumps along the way.  Our deepest thanks, regards, love, and respect for all of you, our cherished friends and colleagues, who kept the faith with us through the ups/downs, highs and lows.  Amigas y amigos, you rock! :-*

Happy Easter to All Our Java Pals!

From darkness, Light.  From despair, Hope.  Do the Happy Dance, because we have a new beginning!

With both its somber rituals and its light-hearted frivolities, Easter refreshes me and reminds me again of my "life raft" scripture:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Rejoice!

The Coffeehouse Blues

Gitanajava = Gypsy Loves Coffee

(The original Rajah Coffee label was designed by Henri Meunier, 1897,

find it at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rajah-coffee-ad-1897-henri-meunier.jpg)

(This post was originally written, published, and distributed under the title The Coffee Canticle in December 2008.  Although the coffeehouse in question has long since passed on to the celestial heights, the thoughts and sentiments about what remain the same.)


Starbucks #6262, alias Lower Greenville Starbucks, officially closed 2 PM, Friday 19th December 2008.  Even before the farewell party ended at 6 PM, the guerrillas from Starbucks HQ arrived.  While the corpus delicti was still warm, they began taping sheets of brown butcher paper across the windows:  pulling the shroud tight.


When is a cup of coffee more than a cup of coffee?  What recombinant DNA transforms a mere java joint into a legend?

Happy All Hallow's Eve, Everyone!

To see original image & download as your holiday wallpaper, go to
http://tiny.cc/Spoooky

See you on the patio - boo!

In Pursuit of Defining Yourself...

Senorita La Tinta, a/k/a Miss Inky, taking her photo opp

I was not looking for anything remotely like Ken Robert's essay when I stumbled across it in one of those blessed web serendipity moments.  La, la, la, la-lah, I was skipping along the 'net path, gathering posies, en route to some somber research for a client.

For we RPISH* entrepreneurs and contrarian thinkers wrestling the challenges inherent to re-structuring ourselves and our work, the scant few minutes it will take to read "We’re So Ashamed of Changing (This Is Why We’re Crazy)" at Ken Robert's blog, Mildly Creative, will be minutes well spent In Pursuit of Defining Yourself.

While you're there, check out KR's self-description, too.  If Ken's blog is food for thought, his About page is the whipped cream and cherry on top.  Read and ponder, Unicorns, read and ponder!

Appearing Soon at a Theatre Near You

In a day or two, in consideration of that whole re-structuring topic, we will return with some ponders.  Stay tuned!


*RPISH = Round Peg In A Square Hole

See you on the patio!

Don't Be Afraid of the Kid in You!

I don't care what anybody says, I like the Teletubbies.  I also dig Schnuffelbunny.  I'm a happy subscriber of Peter Rabbit and the rest of his posse, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Squirrel Nutkin, and Hunca Munca.

I've never needed an excuse to enjoy a retreat to childhood joys and fantasies -- when I was up to my eyeballs in the nightclub business and then later, music management, marketing and distribution, it was a welcome relief to arrive home in the pre-dawn hours, just in time for the local broadcast of Teletubbies.  Just the same, I'd like to thank my niece and nephew in Germany for sharing the welcome news of their soon-to-come baby.  If I need it, I have a cover story for why I'm singing the Schnuffelbunny song.

When you find yourself mired in cynicsm and the weariness of grown-up responsibilities, sing the Schnuffelbunny song to yourself, my friend.  It'll do you good.

See you on the patio!