One thing that I may or may not have shared yet is my deep love for black coffee. A lot of people will get this look in their eye when I tell them this… the “WHAT? How can you stand that???” look…you probably have it right now. 😉

I wasn’t always this way. I used to be a coffee with my sugar and cream kind of girl. I’m talking at least 4-6 packs of sugar. Whew, I shudder just thinking about it! Every once in a while a fancy creamer will catch my eye (peppermint mocha is the biggest draw). But since 2004, I have only had black coffee. It’s all because of Jay. He used to run Jay’s Shave Ice in Timonium. Oh man, do I have some GREAT memories there! He used to have a stand in the parking lot across the street from the fairgrounds. Then he moved down the street across from the Double T Diner. He served shaved ice (not snow balls folks, there’s a big difference) AND coffee! I was in my last semester of school at the time and I spent a lot of time at Jay’s. Some days I’d get a shaved ice but mostly I’d get coffees. One day, I was behind the counter chatting with Jay (did I mention that Jay is awesome?) pouring myself a cup of coffee (seriously miss this place!) Jay looks at me and asks, “Jen, do you drink your coffee black?” At this point I think I was down to about 2-3 packs of sugar. I took a sip of my black coffee, thought a minute and said, “why yes, yes I do.”

8+ years later, I’m still drinking my coffee black. I just realized how long it’s actually been…what’s funny is this is exactly how long I’ve been photographing weddings. So Jay, you might have just changed my life that day. 🙂

Cheers to you!

Oh, by the way, Jay closed up this shop not too long after. He finally found a home for his coffee down in Hampden, on the Avenue. If you get a chance, check out his shop. Amazing coffee.

I still drink it black Jay. 🙂