Goodbye 2007

Only 1 day left in 2007-- and what a year it's been! We started out the year winning Runner-Up in the Arkansas Times Readers' Choice Awards for Best New Restaurant, and we have been featured several times in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Arkansas Times, as well as in other local and regional magazines. Chef Jason made appearances on all of the morning shows, and he had the opportunity to work with Chef Messnier, the former White House Pastry Chef, at the Arkansas Literary Festival.

Along with the great press, we also negotiated for a large part of 2007 on our move to Argenta, finally signing the lease in November.

Our business has been steadily growing, with some months as much as 40% over the previous year, and ending the year with our sales up 25% overall.

We welcomed our new Catering Director Veronica Jones, who has taken over the reigns and promises even more growth in the upcoming year. We also welcomed our new Sous Chef Austin, whose exceptional background has raised the bar even higher. If you have noticed our desserts and pastries in the past couple of months, then you know what I mean.

In our personal lives, Chef Jason and I started homeschooling our daughters in June, and what a great move that was. We're all so blessed to learn daily from each other. And, in October we learned that we have a new baby on the way, slated to join the clan June 6. Never a dull moment around the Morell house!

All of us at Starving Artist Cafe' would like to wish you a healthy, blessed new year as we say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. We thank you for your continued support as we change and grow, and we also welcome your comments and suggestions.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and yours-- it's been a family-filled Christmas Day for us. Annaliese and Sophia got up early and played all day long, and we got to spend time with almost all of our family members. It's been a while since we've been able to do that!

We hope you and yours had a peace-filled and wonderful Christmas, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support.

Cheers!

"Tales from the South" Release Party Monday, December 17th

It's here! Join us Monday, December 17th at 6:30pm for our Tales from the South: Volume II release party. Most of the contributing authors will be there signing books, and we'll have books for sale. The kitchen will be closed, the bar open.

They make great Christmas gifts!

Cheers!

Twelve Days till Christmas

Only twelve days-- yikes! We're rolling right along, and with the caterings this past week we might have a record month. Woo Hoo!

You may have noticed, or maybe you haven't-- but we have some big news! We have a new member of Starving Artist Cafe' on the way: s/he is due to arrive on or around June 6, 2008. It's a new baby, and I've started showing (I'm 4 months along now). We're very excited!

We have another big week ahead, we'll be open for lunch Christmas Eve (Monday the 24th), and then we'll be closed on Christmas Day.

Hope to see you soon--

Cheers!

Another Week, Another Dollar

Well, another week has passed, and our heads are still spinning! One of my new year's resolutions will be to post more often on this BLOG. But until January, I can't make any promises, as this is the busiest month of the year : )

We've just posted our New Year's Eve Menus: be sure to reserve early, as we'll sell out like we did the last two years. It's going to be quite an evening!

Our Director of Catering Veronica Jones is doing a great job of taking over and helping us build and expand our catering department. Be sure and call Veronica for all of your catering needs: 372-7976.

Hope to see you soon--

Cheers!

Monday, Monday

It's the beginning our December, our craziest month of the year. We ended November with a bang, with a great week and our best Wine Dinner yet. We're working on our December Wine Dinner and should have the details posted in a couple of days for that-- should be a great one, too.

Art sales are up (finally!) after several slow months, and we expect to sell quite a bit incredible local art as the holidays approach. This stuff is not made in China! Support your local artists and give a unique, incredible gift.

Koz has scheduled a new Children's Art Class to start in January. These classes are for 5-7 year olds, and run for 4 Saturday mornings from 10am-11am. Cost is $40, and classes are limited to 5 children. My daughters love these classes, and the children's artwork is displayed in the cafe'.

We are dressing up the cafe' with holiday decorations; the children decorated the little Christmas tree in the front window, and we're adding decorations a little at a time (when we can remember to : ).

Hope to see you soon--

Cheers!