Recently, my church said goodbye to one of our beloved pastors. He and his wife were blessed with a new opportunity at a new church many miles away. We were happy for them, but sad to see them go. Not only was he my pastor, he was my boss while I worked at the Coffee Pub a couple years ago. While Drew and I attended a goodbye party at the church for him and his wife, I eyed part of the Coffee Pub menu propped up against a wall. Apparently the church had held onto it after the Pub closed. Drew made a comment that it would look cool in our dining room, and we should ask if they were planning on taking it. The wife immediately said, “No. We don’t have the room.” Our pastor had a different answer. With excited eyes and a big smile, he told us how he wanted to frame part of it and put it on his wall. I figured he had first dibs on it, and we walked away without it.

Weeks later, I received a message from someone who had heard from someone else who had heard from our pastor. The wife had won, I guess, and they ended up not taking the menu. He had given it to someone who had then given it to someone else who then gave it to me. Drew and I contemplated where to put it in the dining room. I had a vision of creating a cafe, coffee house sort of feel in the dining room. Drew was lovingly supportive of me wanting to surround myself with my addiction, um, I mean beverage of choice.

This weekend, I had a creative burst, and decided to create some other artwork that could complement the menu that we now had in our possession. I ran to Michael’s and picked up some canvas. Inspired by some amateur paintings I had done a few months prior,

I decided to give it another go. I bought some extra paint as well.

Drew reminded me of a brilliant, creative idea I had apparently had (?) of using coffee rings as art. See the previous post to see how I accomplished this. I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

In addition to this, I bought two smaller pieces of canvas to create some simplistic type of “latte art” that I’ve seen in various department stores. When I expressed an interest in buying some of those, Drew commented that we could make some of our own. He was thinking of using photoshop and doctoring up some pictures, which we may do as well. But until then, I figured a simplistic painting of my own would be cute.

I did two, and although they’re not perfect, the imperfections are what makes it mine.

I had a lot of fun doing them, and I think it complements the coffee stain picture and the menu very well.

Thanks for the menu, Jim. We’ll take good care of it!