Making Lottery Dreams Come True

Making Lottery Dreams Come True no time for crappy thoughts by Betty Turbo Its been a while since we heard from guest blogger 2009 When I Grow Up Scholarship recipient Sarah Ivie, but thats because theres stuff going down in Chinatown! (Um, that means that she halted one business idea launched another!) Sarahs journey started by comparing change to laundry, went to jumping with a safety net, rested on decent-steak-dinner dreams pretty-good-beer wishes. Sarah lands right here, with the question of What would I do if I won the lottery? She doesnt wait for the winning ticket to make the answer a reality. About six years ago I stumbled across the perfect job for me. I was invited to work with two other women to start a community center in rural West Virginia. We were combining community resources, educational and arts programs. We were starting from scratch, even revamping a great building in the heart of a tiny downtown area. We built our own desks, painted the walls, and laid the floor for a dance studio. We rallied recruited volunteers and held fundraising events.  We developed  plans for clubs and workshops.  While waiting for our big grant to come through we worked for about six months for free. I drove over an hour each way, got help from my parents in paying the rent, and worked an additional part time job to help with my living expenses. I was so busy, but so happy and excited about getting up every morning! Then the whole thing fell through. We didnt get the grant, we lost the building, and personal issues destroyed our founder and it was all over. Talk about a bummer! Yup, I moped. My part-time job became more of a full-time job, and I reluctantly began sending out resumes. I couldnt find work anywhere, and through a random series of events I ended up moving to Austin, Texas just a few months later. Within six months Id met a great man, and we were married two years later! I also got a great job with an established non-profit organization, and while Im not on a creative high every day, its a pretty good job. If youre a creative type like me you probably find it hard to just go to work and sit at a computer all day without daydreaming about what youd do if you only had the money. One day, while playing the what would you do if you won the lottery? game,  my husband and I  talked about opening a restaurant. Then thought, hey, why wait? Lets go for it! Six months and a lot of baking later we had a name, a logo, a slew of recipes, and a launch date! This planning process was happening right as I was enjoying my fabulous scholarship from Michelle, and she really helped me keep myself on track during the planning proces. A few weeks before our launch date some money-related issues popped up and managed to postpone our plans.  It was pretty discouraging to get so close to that goal and have it swiped away at the last minute.   Ill admit it, I moped. Out loud. A lot. A friend and coworker, after hearing about the (temporarily) thwarted plans, proposed a new plan. Open a bakery together. Just a few weeks later weve got a website and orders for holiday cookies coming in. We have big plans and are baking our bottoms off! I have to admit, I get a bit nervous, throwing myself into another idea that seems like such a good fit. I want to protect myself from that disappointment if it doesnt work out. But man, I really want this to work out! So Im throwing myself into this and crossing everything! I can pimp out Sarahs baking not only because shes my client, but because she shipped me a plethera of assorted brownies that she baked I almost died of gooey happiness. Go visit Sarah on her brand new site, sweetchicksaustin.com! More content will be added in the coming weeks, but they already have a hilarious blog an active Facebook Fan Page (look at these photos try not to drool. I dare ya). Theyre based in Austin but are taking orders outside the city, so you can have gooey happiness from anywhere! Thats what she said.