We have a JAVA & Co. twitter account and I was reading a tweet that mentioned #10yearsago and it was obvious a trend, because many were / are tweeting about where they were 10 years ago and then I began to think back...10 years....1999....where has the time gone?!
In 1999, my husband and I were living in Las Vegas - moved there in 1995 from NYC. He was the General Manager of Red Square in Mandalay Bay. (If you like vodka and have been to Vegas, you know Red Square - incredible food and sub zero vodka locker - a winning combination!) I was the Director of Catering / Sales for four restaurants and rumjungle nightclub - all located within Mandalay Bay.
1999 was the Y2K New Years Eve. I remember that there was a threat of a shortage of champagne that year, so the properties ordered early and plenty! Our guests were ensured to have the bubbly that night. Hectic and busy doesn't even BEGIN to describe that night and weekend. All of the planning leading up to that night and then watching the night unfold...makes it all worthwhile...and of course, toasting in the New Year with my husband in Red Square. We had about five minutes together that New Year...ahhh the memories...hee hee...
Lots of beverages later...lots of laughter...good friends...great colleagues and then we got up January 1st and started the planning all over again. The restaurant business never slows, can be very innovative and exhilerating and you never stop creating. There is certainly an unsurpassed energy and satisfaction from being a part of something new, edgy and chic.
And at the close of 2003, we left that for a new direction...to reconnect and discover the untraveled path. We sold our house and left our jobs, good friends and colleagues and traveled across the country to Illinois - no friends or family or familiarity on the other end, just a charming town and an opportunity for personal growth. Quiet living never managed to squelch the memories and passion for the food and beverage business. If anything, it grew bigger and larger. In 2008, JAVA & Co. was born.
Today, as we begin to leave 2009, I look back over a whirlwind of a decade which included excitement, self discovery, change, innovations and growth. Wearing a true smile, with a glass of sparkling wine in one hand and a new horizon, I cannot wait to see what the next decade has in store for us...
Best wishes for a Safe, Healthy and Incredible New Year!!
Jamie L. Knoll
Quotes of Note:
"Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally." ~Eckhart Tolle
"This is your moment! Throw off the lines. Leave behind the safe harbor. Catch the wind and sail into the open waters. Seek adventure. Go after your dreams. Discover your life." ~Unknown
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