Where should the next Julep be?

Jeanne and I spent the morning yesterday walking around downtown Seattle, scouting locations for the next Julep.

Finding real estate is like trying to get pregnant. There's only so much you can do to make things happen. The timing of events is less in my full control than I'd like. And you may think you want a boy, or a girl, or a red-head (if you're my in-laws), but really you just want a healthy location (1800ish square foot with frontage onto a high traffic street).

Dear guests, where do you think the next Julep should be?

And if you know of any great locations that are available, or anywhere close to available, please let me know immediately.

In anticipation of finding the perfect location in downtown Seattle or Bellevue, we are hitting the streets doing our second round of fund-raising. Next Wednesday, we present to the Zino Zillionaire forum, where the best non-technology and the best technology investment opportunities will each win a $50,000 investment fund.

I wouldn't have characterized us as "non tech" since we have on-line scheduling, and four computers in the parlor that help keep us at the cutting edge of operations. And I'm not sure what's worse - "non tech" or "low tech", which is how we were characterized at the last investor forum.

In any event, we only have 5 minutes to make our presentation. It's like speed-dating, or the first episode of The Bachelor.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us on Wednesday that we get the rose.

Bad foot massage is like bad sex

I had the worst pedicure experience of my life today. The way my pedicurist rapid-fire poked poked poked at my bottom of my feet just gave me the willies.

To me, a bad foot massage is like bad sex in that it’s WAY worse than no foot massage / sex at all. It’s just so horrible that you need it to stop. As immediately as politely feasible.

Like anything in life, a sure and confident grip is half the battle. An empathetic soul is the other. And it helps to have nice hands. So I was frustrated to pay good money for an hour long grope by a limp fish who viewed me as a pile of dough.

A great massage is such an important part of the experience, don’t you think?

Perhaps I’m a little on edge now because I’m anxiously waiting for my real estate broker, Jill, to call me with good news on my first Julep location. Ideally, I would have liked to have had a signed lease in my hand before I started working with an architect, but I couldn’t work that sequentially AND be open by summer 2007.

The developer and his broker were going to meet yesterday to review my Letter of Intent (LOI). I think we’ve worked through all the major issues, and he seemed like a straight-shooter who got what Julep is all about, so I have my fingers crossed.

I tend to trust in people more than I do in written contracts. The latter is “necessary, but not sufficient,” as they say in law school (but I think that was said about people, actually).

Jane

PS Jill just called – I have a signed Letter of Intent! Hooray. NOW I’ve got to get working on the lease. . .