Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Love & Gratitude
We have assembled an amazing team here at Hall of Records. Everyone has been working their butts off lately to get all the tiny details in order for us to open. It feels more like a family than anything else. Whether they are going to be an official "employee" or not doesn't even matter. The hard work, dedicated and massive amounts of love that have gone in to this project fills my heart with overflowing gratitude. I can't wait to open and the whole world (or at least SE Portland) can see what our labor of love has created.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
And so it begins...
... the multi-day process of putting down the floor.
But I must say, it's beautiful!!!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Business Partner Couples
Being business partners and as well as being a couple has done amazing things for Justin and I's relationship. Being able to plan and dream and have goals together has strengthened and laid a great foundation for our life together. Not surprisingly, we are automatically drawn to other couples who are in the same boat as us; being both business partners and life partners.
We met with Alli and Evan of the Little Red Bike Cafe over a year ago and were immediately drawn to them because of the parallels in our location scouting stories as well as the fact that they are a business owning couple. We are also drawn to the owners of Cartola, Kit and Simone, for the same reasons and the fact that Kit is a big record digger. Unfortunately, we don't get to see them nearly enough, as being business owners makes all of us insanely busy.
But this brings me to our newest couple/business partner friends Jeremy and Keegan who own Crossroads Used Collectibles in Beaverton. They buy and sell used records, comic books, cds, movies, books and tapes. Jeremy offered to put a crate of our records for sale at his shop and I went down there the other day to refresh our collection. I was surprised to see that our crate was placed right on the counter next to the cash register for everyone to see!
Look how cute they are! I highly recommend stopping in, saying hi and perusing their fine collections!
We met with Alli and Evan of the Little Red Bike Cafe over a year ago and were immediately drawn to them because of the parallels in our location scouting stories as well as the fact that they are a business owning couple. We are also drawn to the owners of Cartola, Kit and Simone, for the same reasons and the fact that Kit is a big record digger. Unfortunately, we don't get to see them nearly enough, as being business owners makes all of us insanely busy.
But this brings me to our newest couple/business partner friends Jeremy and Keegan who own Crossroads Used Collectibles in Beaverton. They buy and sell used records, comic books, cds, movies, books and tapes. Jeremy offered to put a crate of our records for sale at his shop and I went down there the other day to refresh our collection. I was surprised to see that our crate was placed right on the counter next to the cash register for everyone to see!
Look how cute they are! I highly recommend stopping in, saying hi and perusing their fine collections!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Fruits of Our Labor
Pretty much everything in the store besides the artwork and records we have made or are making ourselves. This week Dameian worked laboriously making the vinyl bins while I have been working on the trim, paint, detail work and bar/counter tops. Justin has been sick in bed with the flu the past few days. :(
But the bins are turning out marvelously!
We also hung our very first piece of art (if you call it that). It was a gift from our soon to be employee, Edgar.
But the bins are turning out marvelously!
We also hung our very first piece of art (if you call it that). It was a gift from our soon to be employee, Edgar.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Headway & Challenges
We've been making a lot of headway at the store and I'm hoping to have pictures up soon. This week has been a challenge due to outside circumstances. I've been hired by the Matt Dishman Pool (Portland Parks and Rec) to create a diving program to add to their swimming lesson program. Springboard diving is one of my true passions and natural highs and I am ecstatic to teach kids in Portland how to dive. But the last two weekends I've had swim instructor training all weekend long so I feel like I'm being pulled in multiple directions.
On top of this, my Mac's hard drive crashed and I lost about a months worth of work. I have to re-create three business plans for my clients because I hadn't backed up their stuff in a while. Boo. Lesson learned. Quickbooks also decided it wasn't going to add up anything correctly when I re-installed the program. So now even though all of my receipts, credit card statements and QB records match, the totals are still not matching. Talk about making you want to pull your hair out. I think I'll be on the phone with Intuit for a while today.
Despite all this, I still go to work at the store every day. And every day we're getting closer and closer. We'll probably be done with construction and ready for inspection in about two or three weeks. Only problem is that we have to wait for Wayne to be done with construction as well and it's probably going to take him longer. I'm guessing we'll be all ready to go in a few weeks but be waiting on inspections and the health department.
May 15th is Justin's birthday and is also the day we were aiming for being our grand opening. We're thinking that even if we can't officially open or make food then we're still going to have a party at the store for Justin's birthday. We just may have to bring in some catered food or something. We need to work out the details but we'll keep all of you posted!!!
On top of this, my Mac's hard drive crashed and I lost about a months worth of work. I have to re-create three business plans for my clients because I hadn't backed up their stuff in a while. Boo. Lesson learned. Quickbooks also decided it wasn't going to add up anything correctly when I re-installed the program. So now even though all of my receipts, credit card statements and QB records match, the totals are still not matching. Talk about making you want to pull your hair out. I think I'll be on the phone with Intuit for a while today.
Despite all this, I still go to work at the store every day. And every day we're getting closer and closer. We'll probably be done with construction and ready for inspection in about two or three weeks. Only problem is that we have to wait for Wayne to be done with construction as well and it's probably going to take him longer. I'm guessing we'll be all ready to go in a few weeks but be waiting on inspections and the health department.
May 15th is Justin's birthday and is also the day we were aiming for being our grand opening. We're thinking that even if we can't officially open or make food then we're still going to have a party at the store for Justin's birthday. We just may have to bring in some catered food or something. We need to work out the details but we'll keep all of you posted!!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Update!
I was going to start off this post saying that it's been a slow couple of days but then I realized that a lot of things actually happened. The flooring got dropped off Friday but ultimately we decided we needed to wait to put it in until the bar was built.
Last week the city told Wayne he would need to do seismic upgrades to the building if he wanted to change the occupancy to put a recording studio in the back. So he was all ready to scrap the occupancy change because it'd require like $300,000 worth of upgrades, sprinkler systems and earthquake retrofitting. So he called the guy to say, thanks but no thanks and the guy at the City pretty much told him not to give up yet and that he'd get what he wants if he just sticks it out a little longer. So now we're back at square one, waiting on the occupancy change.
But on a positive note, we have (unofficially) hired our third employee. He is a bartender, restaurant manager, DJ and vinyl fanatic named Edgar. So just like Reid, he's the total package and has all the qualities we're looking for. Plus he's a super cool guy.
It's still TBD whether we're going to hire a fourth or not. We originally were going to have one full time and three part timers, but Alli just informed us that she might want to be full time in which case we won't need to hire another person. But I like the flexibility of having another person for scheduling purposes, so we'll see.
I met with the payroll company and the workmans comp company and got all that squared away this week. I got an email from the POS/merchant services guy and he might have found us a deal on a slightly used POS system, so that could be cool. We also finished painting all the chairs and re-surfacing all the seats. "Re-surface" really means that we sprayed them with a vinyl and fabric spray paint to change the color.
I'm going to the City today to drop off our OLCC paperwork and get the green sign that goes in our window letting the neighborhood know that we have applied for a beer and wine license. We're also going to Home Depot to do a big lumber shop to get everything for the bar. We're on attempt #2 to make the bar top. The first time didn't turn out too well, but hey, now our friend John has some nice wood to use as planter boxes in his garden. All I can say is that the learning curve on this project has been huge but I am so grateful for the experience!
Last week the city told Wayne he would need to do seismic upgrades to the building if he wanted to change the occupancy to put a recording studio in the back. So he was all ready to scrap the occupancy change because it'd require like $300,000 worth of upgrades, sprinkler systems and earthquake retrofitting. So he called the guy to say, thanks but no thanks and the guy at the City pretty much told him not to give up yet and that he'd get what he wants if he just sticks it out a little longer. So now we're back at square one, waiting on the occupancy change.
But on a positive note, we have (unofficially) hired our third employee. He is a bartender, restaurant manager, DJ and vinyl fanatic named Edgar. So just like Reid, he's the total package and has all the qualities we're looking for. Plus he's a super cool guy.
It's still TBD whether we're going to hire a fourth or not. We originally were going to have one full time and three part timers, but Alli just informed us that she might want to be full time in which case we won't need to hire another person. But I like the flexibility of having another person for scheduling purposes, so we'll see.
I met with the payroll company and the workmans comp company and got all that squared away this week. I got an email from the POS/merchant services guy and he might have found us a deal on a slightly used POS system, so that could be cool. We also finished painting all the chairs and re-surfacing all the seats. "Re-surface" really means that we sprayed them with a vinyl and fabric spray paint to change the color.
I'm going to the City today to drop off our OLCC paperwork and get the green sign that goes in our window letting the neighborhood know that we have applied for a beer and wine license. We're also going to Home Depot to do a big lumber shop to get everything for the bar. We're on attempt #2 to make the bar top. The first time didn't turn out too well, but hey, now our friend John has some nice wood to use as planter boxes in his garden. All I can say is that the learning curve on this project has been huge but I am so grateful for the experience!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Red Carpet Welcome
Today I went to the office of the Merchant Service guy Carl used to use. He's been working his butt off trying to find a point of sale solution for us. Problem is most POS machines are for either retail or restaurants but we need both. And usually Merch Service guys don't even deal with POS systems but Portland Merchant Services is now also getting in the POS game.
When I drove up this afternoon for our meeting this is what I saw as I walked up to the front door.
Kinda makes you feel all warm and tingly inside.
When I drove up this afternoon for our meeting this is what I saw as I walked up to the front door.
Kinda makes you feel all warm and tingly inside.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Refurbishing chairs
We're trying to re-use as much as possible from what was left of It's a Beautiful Pizza. One of the things that we have A LOT of are chairs. We had stashed them in this secret attic that we found a few weeks ago but yesterday we climbed up there and brought down a few for painting.
There are a two different kinds of chairs. One is a "ice cream parlor style" chair with a round seat and the other is a ladder back chair with a more square seat. Both have red vinyl cushions that we are going to re-cover. We went back and forth many times over which seats we should use. The round ones are more attractive but the square ones might be more comfortable to sit on. So in the end we decided to go with both. I think it adds to the ecclecticness.
Our friends Alli and Ryan came over to help my sister and I paint the chairs black. It's looking like Alli is #2 to be hired by Hall of Records, after Reid. She's going to be a great addition to the team and will be the only other girl besides me (Katie), Justin's Mom and Aunt Bettie. You may remember her from the pregnant with possibilities party. We're happy to report that she no longer needs unemployment. :)
There are a two different kinds of chairs. One is a "ice cream parlor style" chair with a round seat and the other is a ladder back chair with a more square seat. Both have red vinyl cushions that we are going to re-cover. We went back and forth many times over which seats we should use. The round ones are more attractive but the square ones might be more comfortable to sit on. So in the end we decided to go with both. I think it adds to the ecclecticness.
Our friends Alli and Ryan came over to help my sister and I paint the chairs black. It's looking like Alli is #2 to be hired by Hall of Records, after Reid. She's going to be a great addition to the team and will be the only other girl besides me (Katie), Justin's Mom and Aunt Bettie. You may remember her from the pregnant with possibilities party. We're happy to report that she no longer needs unemployment. :)
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Chalkboard
This weekend we finished our Chalkboard Menu. We made it ourselves (with the help of a little guy named Tiani) out of recycled wood, luan and some chalkboard spray paint.
Here's a sneak peak of things to come:
Pint Night
1/2 Price Sandwich Night
Open Turntables
Weekly Sandwich Specials
Here's a sneak peak of things to come:
Pint Night
1/2 Price Sandwich Night
Open Turntables
Weekly Sandwich Specials
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Out of town visitor
This past Friday my sister flew in from Chicago for Easter Weekend and we immediately put her to work :)
Actually, I think that's the real reason she wanted to come out. She came equipped with painting clothes and a strong desire to help.
We made a shelf that separates the red from the white wall and it turned out fantastic! She also learned what scaffolding is and went to work touching up the paint on the windows.
Maybe I shouldn't mention that they are the ceiling windows.
(Mom, please don't be mad)
Actually, I think that's the real reason she wanted to come out. She came equipped with painting clothes and a strong desire to help.
We made a shelf that separates the red from the white wall and it turned out fantastic! She also learned what scaffolding is and went to work touching up the paint on the windows.
Maybe I shouldn't mention that they are the ceiling windows.
(Mom, please don't be mad)
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