It all started on my vision board…
📚✨ How My Vision Board Predicted the Life I’m Living Now 📚✨
At the beginning of this year, I sat down with scissors, glue sticks, and a hopeful heart to make my vision board of 2025. I put it away shortly after and just found it again when I cleaned out my classroom as I prepared to leave my teaching job. Like many of us, I’ve done a vision board before, many times, cutting out beautiful kitchens I’d love to cook in, favorite book quotes that lit a spark in me, and photos of cakes, cookies, pastries, and moments shared around food, dreaming that one day I would have a space to teach cooking and baking classes, something I’d been thinking about for a few years.
This vision board wasn’t just about things I wanted; it was about a life filled with creativity, community, comfort, and, of course, books and baking. At that time, a bookshop was not part of my original plan; I just like books. It was also around that time that I came across a bookstore teaming up with another business, which sent me down a hole of research, and my assumption that bookstores were not a profitable business went out the window. That is how the business concept came to life, and Cooks & Books was created. A place that somehow existed in my imagination before it appeared in reality.
As I flipped through magazines, I waited for the images to jump out at me, just like I always do. This time it was:
– A black kitchen with open shelving and a cozy butcher block counter that looks oddly familiar in hindsight.
– A pile of brownies stands out, warm and chewy, along with other baked goods.
– A photo of an ampersand (&), a typewriter, and a zebra brings a vibe. Funny, I purchased a zebra statue as decor and totally forgot it was on the vision board.
– And words like “Dream Job”, “Amazing Things Ahead”, and “Imagine all the People” stand out, along with others.
At the time, it just felt fun, a collage of what I hoped the future might bring. But when I look at the vision board now, I see signs. Signs of what was already on its way. I love it when that happens!
A few short weeks after finishing it, something unexpected happened. A space with potential practically found me. It had charm, and I could see the vision. It checked off every box and more! It felt impossible not to say yes. But saying yes meant a lot of change. And change is hard. It took me over a month to commit, and by the end of March, the lease was signed and things were rolling. I was in shock. I am still in shock. As I watch it come together, I feel so much gratitude. More than I can express.
I didn’t realize it then, but this vision board was a map to my future. It’s a dream come true that I thought would only live in my mind and on that paper forever. I’m so excited for the opportunity to open a small business in Meridian, Idaho, the city I love living in.
So if you’re staring at your pile of clippings, unsure of what it all means, or wondering what might be next, pay attention, believe. The signs of what’s ahead might already be on the table in front of you.
X0-Alicia
June 20, 2025