After visiting the Department of Planning & Development approximately 4 weeks straight, and getting bits and bits of misinformation, and being slightly discriminated against because I'm not an architect, we finally coerced them into giving us the golden Intake appointment! I had to resort to bringing in some muscle in the form of my tall hubby, but in the end we ended up with a very very helpful permit specialist who gave us the green light to make our Intake Appointment. He warned us it would be about 6 weeks before we could resume the buildout (my heart did a little backflip). but then in the end we totally lucked out and got in NEXT Tuesday to submit our plans for review. Getting the Intake appointment is the first big step, its the part where we submit our plans and pay our fees and get 1-1/2 hours to show them our stuff before they take a couple of weeks to review our plans and give us the Royal Permit!
Also, we contacted another bank and things are looking good. I'm just so suprised that the first bank only wanted to finance us for part of our startup costs. That means we'd have to put the remainder on credit cards which would rack up finance charges and make it pretty darned hard to pay back our loan. We'll meet with them next week, but of course the focus is on permit permit permit. My heart feels normal again. I think I'm going to bake something tonite.
4 comments:
WOOOT!! This is freaking awesome! I'm so happy for the two of you. We can come up and help you dig a toilet or something!
Jason@PDX
PS: Krissi just sent me this blog about your blog that I'm blogging about:
This was on one of my blogs I read !!
As strange as this may seem to a lot of you dear readers, I just don't have much of a sweet tooth. I like my sweets in small amounts. A single cookie here, a piece of shortbread there, a single piece of chocolate, or sometimes even half a piece, shared with my diabetic fiance.
When I do have something sweet, I want it to be of the utmost quality. You'll rarely find me jonesing for a Hershey bar, although they do have their place in an overly stressful day where a noonday beer is out of the question and something must momentarily distract me from the pressures of work.
But this post isn't about Hershey bars, or even about Theo Chocolates - it's about a bakery that I feared I'd never see again.
Two years ago, when I started shopping at the University District Farmers Market with my boyfriend, we'd occasionally pick up a rich, buttery piece of shortbread from Sugar, a local bakery run by Stephanie Crocker and her husband John. I distinctly remember a lavender shortbread that was out of this world. However, after a month or so, Sugar disappeared. We were saddened, but there are, after all, many other delicious booths at the University District marker and so we went on our merry way, occasionally purchasing a treat from Doody's Buns. Then a few months later, in late October of 2006, we read some distressing news. Stephanie Crocker's husband, John, had been diagnosed with cancer and their medical bills were mounting rapidly with no insurance or relief in sight. They were holding a pie drive for Thanksgiving. We purchased a lovely cinnamon apple pie and it was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner.
I admit, once the pie was gone, I thought little of Sugar. Every few months, I'd remember them while at the farmers market and wish for a piece of their shortbread, but the wish would pass, and I would return to my day. Just last week, however, I received an unexpected email in my Inbox. Sugar is opening a store! This fall, they will open a bakery and cafe in the First Hill area.
In the meantime, you can always visit their website and browse their product list. They don't currently have online ordering, but you can always reach them by phone at 206-932-3572 or by email. Stephanie has started a blog to keep track of their progress opening their first retail store.
If the taste of their products wasn't incentive enough for me to visit their new store, they make everything from scratch using fresh ingredients without additives or preservatives. So come this fall, if you're craving possibly the best shortbread you'll ever have, visit their new retail shop. I'll be sure to post a review once they've opened.
Good luck Steph! You go girl!!
hey steph... keep going my friend and be sure to bring those double chocolate cookies to ply the results you want! They're fabulous! I love you much and thank you so much for our passion-fruit dream of a wedding cake and volcano cake groom cake. People are still jonesing for it!
Just to let you know, our new number is (206) 749-4105
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