First of all, thanks Eve for giving me the kick in the behind I needed to start blogging about my own journey! I needed it. Seeing the photos of what's to become your store made me realize how much I want to go through the same process. I want it! And that's a huge statement if you only knew me!So, before I start, let me give you all a short background on myself.I am Brazilian, but I've lived in New York City since 2001. I just turned 41 this past May and, so far, I've never had an actual career - I've been in the workforce for as long as I can remember, but basically going from one company to another without making much sense of it all. If an opportunity came by, I would take it. Don't get me wrong; I've only been to 5 different companies since I started working, and I mostly spent around 6 years in each, with the last two ones (the ones in the US) averaging less than that.Anyway, for the past 10 years or so I've been struggling with the idea of working for myself, having my own business, etc...problem is, I could never come up with something I really loved, and apparently you need to love whatever you decide to do on your own (that idea is still sort of iffy to me, as I think you can "develop" love for something, as long as you enjoy doing it to begin with).I've had some "a-ha" moments in the past, but they were ephemeral and did not survive the test of time - a week or two was all I needed to go from "I love that" to "I really don't want to deal with that anymore."My last one was wine. I love wine, and I thought I could make a living working with it in some way. Although I still love wine, the passion to actually focus on a business is not there.Chocolate is the belle du jour now. So far it's lasted way more than 2 weeks, which is fantastic. I know I like chocolate a lot, and I know I want to work with something created by me, where I put my imagination to work - and I think that's key! After 10 years searching for something, I finally realized that what I really want is to be proud of my own creations (that was one of the shortcomings of my wine idea - unless I worked at a winery, I would not be creating anything really special, with my own hands!) and I believe chocolate is one of those perfect medium to accomplish just that!Hence (I love when I can use "hence" in a sentence), here I am, ready and willing to begin my journey as a chocolatier (I know! I know! There are discussions about the correct use of the word "chocolatier." Although I don't plan on making my chocolate from scratch, I don't know a better word to describe what I want to become - and "chocolate melter" is out of the question!).I will try to keep you guys posted as often as I can.Andre CostaChocolatier-to-be