Bottled Up

Saturday, March 14th.

A beaming delight over my heart for the one-year anniversary of PIEANA.

A bright, inspiring day strolling along in melodious rhythms in Oakland, California.

A late afternoon, but a collective excitement for more to come.

Next destination? Blue Bottle. W.C. Morse on Broadway.

I've been to many coffee shops all over Northern and Southern California - and beyond.

The usual scenario: A well-known coffee shop, bustling with a young, creative crowd. Despite the potential for innovation and collaboration, pretentiousness and competition looms over the possibilities to fade away what can be. When the masks comes off and truth shines, fullness invades the space. Then comes connection, collaboration, community - and whatever else truth and vulnerability looks like.

So, on Saturday the 14th, what happened? 

Whatever was supposed to happen didn't. Whatever was unexpected happened.

The threads of inspiration-filled moments weaving together without the signature Blue Bottle logo in the picture. 

Cafes plays the beautiful backdrop. Coffee stimulates the sleeping senses.

What will you do with this stage and prop, with the people across and around you?

I'm learning this lesson wherever I go.

The true value of a place is never in its name, but the experience you have in and out of it.

Uncork the lid of your heart, and let it all spill over, into a pool of something unexpected, but beautiful.

So here is my token - a light-hearted compilation of an afternoon with good company and more.