by Caroline Vaught | Sep 1, 2018
“By all the lovely tokens September days are here, with summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer” – Helen Hunt Jackson
If you follow us on social media you know our oldest boy Rugby has been battling some issues that come along with old age since last winter. He’s had a great couple of months and for that we are so thankful. However his body now grows weaker and our remaining time is short.
I remember losing my first cat. His name was Smokey and he was a dark grey Persian with yellow eyes. When he fell ill my parents tried all that was medically available but the time came where my mom feared he would suffer. The time was her decision and our vet came out to the house. I remember holding him while she pushed the anesthesia, watching him fall asleep. I remember how it felt when he died in my arms. We put him in a casket with his favorite toys and buried him in the garden. I stayed outside until nightfall, then panicked and collected all the candles I could find so that I could light them around his grave. I had just started my sophomore year in high school and my younger self hated the thought of him being outside alone in the dark.
I don’t remember much after the candles. Time passed and we adopted two Himalayan brothers named Coco and Sugar. They were loved and lived with my parents well into their teens. When they passed I was living on my own with Guinness and Rugby. The loss of Sugar and Coco felt sad but somewhat distanced and peripheral.
A good friend of mine joined me for sunset the other night and said “our pets are like little piggy banks of unconditional love that we pour all our thoughts, feelings and emotions into”. This description rings so true, and helps me understand why entering this phase with Rugby seems to have opened the flood gates to 17 years of nostalgia. The first pet 100% my own responsibility. And nearly two decades of time shared with him.
As I sit with him and listen to Spotify’s “This is John Mayer” playlist on repeat (long time favorite artist of mine whose songs bring to mind specific times in my life) my mind opens it’s filing cabinet of memories Rugby has been present for.
Bringing him home at 12 weeks old in 2002 and watching him snuggle himself against my pillows in the center of my bed. I was 23 and living in my first apartment in Atlanta after graduating from college.
Taking him and Guinness to visit my parents each Christmas. Just like kids visiting grandparents, I’d set their carrier down in the kitchen and both would stroll out about their second home where nothing was strange or unfamiliar.
Him laying on my chest and purring as I sobbed over losing a job… losing a relationship… growing up.
His fluffy little self curled into a ball snoozing in his favorite spot on the back of the couch in the first home I shared with my husband Andrew. This mental image spans seasons as the beautiful maple tree outside our living room window would shade the light through cycles of orange and red, to cold winter white, and back to lush green.
And now, the other night when we took him to see the ocean for the first time. How he watched the sunset with a peaceful knowing look on his face, as though he were thinking and feeling the same things as I was.
I certainly don’t share this to bring anyone down, rather I need to speak my feelings and acknowledge this process. I recognize this moment in time brings with it lessons to learn and grow from. One realization is hope that the space we are creating with Cat & Craft is one where you will feel safe to feel. Where stories of your loved ones are always welcome. I promise to have a stock of Kleenex on hand for us at all times. And together we will count on the silly furry mob of foster fur babies to provide us with the necessary comedic relief and bright joy of good times ahead.
With Love and Light,
Caroline
by Caroline Vaught | Aug 17, 2018
Greetings Cat & Craft family!
I’ve heard from so many of you this week asking how you can help out and get involved. We haven’t even finished building the space and it already feels like we have an amazing community of cat lovers (and coffee lovers) sending us tons of good vibes. It makes my heart sing and I can’t wait to see each of your smiling faces when we open this fall!
Let me address three of the most popular questions we’ve received this week:
1. Are you guys hiring? The answer is YES! While we haven’t started the process just yet, in the coming weeks we will post job descriptions for each role available at Cat & Craft, along with details for how to apply. As soon as the job descriptions and application portal is live we will send out an email to everyone who has subscribed to our newsletter (go to the main page and click “Get the Latest Updates” to subscribe if you haven’t already). We will also post the announcement to our social media channels, so be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter so you don’t miss out!
2. How can I help? We are so glad you asked! First, please help us spread the word by telling your cat and coffee loving friends/family about Cat & Craft! Secondly, our rescue partner is always looking for good people willing to volunteer any time, effort and/or resources they can spare.
Take a look at LYFF Rescue to learn more about their volunteer programs and ways you can help out!
3. When do you open? The million dollar question! I REALLY wish I could give you an exact date, but we are still waiting on the city to issue our building permit. Until we have that in hand the buildout schedule remains flexible with a targeted opening date of mid – late October. Don’t worry, as soon as we have the date confirmed we will be sending out many excited announcements via the channels mentioned above.
Have another question, or want to make a suggestion? Drop us a note at info@catandcraftcafe.com. We’d love to hear from you!
With Love and Light,
Caroline
by Caroline Vaught | Jul 26, 2018
Greetings friends! As you may have noticed if you follow us on social media, our demolition work began last week! This was a big milestone for me, one that I began envisioning well before we moved to California.
When we found our space, the majority of it had at one point served as a dentist office. Walls from old offices, cabinets, old x-ray equipment and even biohazard containers (yikes) had been left behind gathering dust. Andrew and I threw some pic axes into the dry wall just for the fun of it, then removed our silly selves so that the demolition team could proceed with the real work!
As each layer of prior use has been removed, it is not lost on me that each wall, ceiling tile and lighting fixture once played a part in bringing someone else’s dream to life. And now – just as we encounter in other aspects of life – those elements have completed their purpose and are removed to make room for something new.
Breaking something down – physically, mentally, emotionally – makes space available to create, to transition, to grow and improve.
This concept holds true for the work ahead of us. If you traced the past experience of each adoptable cat in foster care beyond the day they were pulled from a shelter, you would most likely find a point where something in that animal’s life broke down. His or her owner passed away, or the owner encountered a hardship where they could no longer provide care and companionship. And sadly sometimes the cat or kitten was simply no longer wanted.
It is our opportunity – and YOUR opportunity – to meet each of these animals in their broken space to help them create a new and improved life. A second chance to love and be loved in return. Glennon Doyle recently shared this beautiful passage from the Talmud:
This work is good work indeed… and by simply taking the time to read this you are committing to help us accomplish that good work. For that I am most grateful.
With Love and Light,
Caroline
by Caroline Vaught | Jul 2, 2018
Hello! It’s almost July can you believe it? I sound like my mom when I say this but… every year seems to go by faster and faster. I’m overdue on an update for you guys because I was selected for jury duty over the past two weeks – but I’m thankful I was called now instead of a few months from now when we will be ready to open!
I have a LOT of updates for you guys and positive progress to report. For those who don’t follow along with us on social media here is a detailed highlight reel.
Our design and proposed build out was submitted to the San Diego Department of Environmental Health on June 1. This was the one piece of our puzzle that always held a bit of worry for me, because plan submission sort of happens in a vacuum. You don’t get to sit across the table from the reviewer and explain your concept or how your operational procedures are structured… so it’s a good bit of crossing fingers, hoping the reviewer understands the concept and that you followed all the requirements, and admittedly saying some prayers that they like cats!
We received our first round of comments back from the health department this past Wednesday and I was stunned – only 7 comments! Each being fairly basic inquiries requesting more detail on exhaust fans in the bathrooms, making sure we file a certain form for a FOG (that’s industry lingo for a grease trap, sometimes required if you are serving dairy and other liquids that contain oils or fats), asking us to confirm that our turbo chef oven doesn’t require an exhaust hood… etc. etc…
That was it! No changes to our design! No added restrictions or limitations to our cat lounge! I straight up did a happy dance on the steps of the shiny new courthouse downtown while on break from the trial.
Running a simultaneous path, we submitted the same design and build plan to the City of Vista on June 13. They informed us they are super busy right now with a lot of projects in queue for review, and to anticipate their response time to be delayed more than usual. We’ve been told we should have their first round comments back by July 18. I had hoped for a shorter turnaround time, but this is a good reminder for me to relax, enjoy the process and trust that all pieces do fall into place in their own right time.
So let me get to what all this means and our next steps. Once we receive first round comments back from the City, we go into the “Delta 1” phase with our design. This means our food service and architectural team incorporates all the revisions and info requests from the Health Department, the City of Vista, and our property owner into the design and the updated drawing package is then resubmitted to all parties for a secondary review.
Pending the City’s comments, we are currently scheduled to begin demolition of the space week of July 16, following a hazardous material survey (making sure there are no materials currently onsite that contain asbestos) scheduled to take place next week. And then we will swing the first sledgehammer to start the process of converting the space into Cat & Craft!
I understand if this is a lot of boring detail. ‘Where are the cat pictures!?!’ you say. Trust me I get it… but it’s important to give you some insight into all that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to starting up a new business. I totally understand why ‘Coming Soon’ signs tend to stay up for months.. there are a lot of rules and regulations to wade through before you can open doors – or install doors in our case!
One more thing – we have an awesome sign in the works! I’m really pleased with how our logo looks on the building and when I got our first proof my heart sang. It’s so rewarding to to see something you’ve wished for, envisioned and dreamed about for years begin to take shape. Not for me, but for the benefit of every cat and every person who enters our space, and the community each of you guys is helping us create.
I hope each of you enjoys as happy and safe 4th of July. How great is it that we live in a nation where we all have the freedom to pursue our dreams and create good things… I’m grateful for that and grateful for each one of you.
With Love and Light,
Caroline : D
by Caroline Vaught | Jun 4, 2018
Oh hey June… where did you come from?!
Hard to believe we are almost half way through the year already but you know time flies when you are having FUN… and we’ve been up to some big stuff since I last dropped you a note.
We got to meet so many awesome folks at the Vista Strawberry Festival over Memorial Day weekend… and we even had some cool cat visitors check out our booth!
But let me back up a few weeks. The month of May required us to give some extreme focus to the coffee shop portion of our business so that we could get our plans in front of the health department as quickly as possible. I had no illusions that building a coffee shop would be easy, but holy wow did I underestimate the level of detail that goes into submitting a food service design plan for review.
First there is the basic equipment – coffee been grinders, espresso machine, ice machine, refrigerators, etc. Then there are things like food prep carts with garnishing compartments, MORE refrigerators, multiple freezers, nitro tanks for the cold brew and kombucha, Turbo Chef ovens, and high temp dishwashers. THEN there are water lines, drainage lines, power lines, grease traps, triple wash sinks, and finishes the health department likes (FRP) and finishes they don’t like (anything not white lol). It’s sort of like if you were to go shopping for a new car having never driven one before.
And let’s not forget the fact that there will be cuddly cats in the room next door, so you have to account for not just separated space but separated wash sinks, separated mop sinks, separated trash receptacles and separated entry ways (one for the cats and one for the people).
Thankfully we have a great team at San Diego Food Service Design Group helping us out, and they have over 70 collective years experience in the commercial food service industry here in San Diego and across the country. So our plan went to the San Diego Health Department for plan check today, and we’ve told all our own cats to cross their toe beans that we’ve accounted for everything the health department will require of us!
Also happening over the last month, we’ve been working with our construction partner Jacor Construction to finalize the buildout of both the coffee cafe and the cat lounge. What material finishes will be used for the floors, counter tops, cabinetry, restrooms, storage spaces, how big will the windows be, what height is the bar counter, how much seating do we need and where will we get all our furniture… it’s like building a house! Which IS EXACTLY what we are building… and that brings me to a great Jim Rohn quote “whatever good things we build end up building us”.
[ctt template=”8″ link=”haU0x” via=”yes” ]”Whatever good things we build end up building us….” ~Jim Rohn[/ctt]
Cat & Craft is a home for the adoptable cats residing in our care while they wait for their forever family. But the space is intended to be a home for our community too. Maybe you can recall a time that you went to visit your friends house, and they offered you a cup of coffee or tea and then the two of you had this great connection and conversation… that is exactly how we want our space to feel when you come visit us. I can’t wait to watch connections happen as strangers become friends, and animals who were once cast aside begin to experience trust, love and comfort. This is what we are really building, and this is what ultimately builds us all.
With Love and Light – Caroline
P.S. Have a great idea about activities, menu items or anything else? Send us a DM on Instagram
