Monday, February 13, 2012

If I won the lottery...

My husband and I like to play the game, what would we do if we won the lottery? We think of the things we'd buy, the people we'd give money to, etc etc. I think of all of the hobbies I have and how I could actually turn them into a business and finally be able to do things I love without worrying if it'd be enough to support the family. So here is a list of things I'd do if I won the lottery, which at this point is $350 million.

1. Start a breakfast place - 


My husband and I have this dream of opening this good breakfast place in Greenville. We don't really have very many places to go that are kind of nice. We have things on the very very cheap side like Waffle House, IHOP, the Clock, etc. Then we have very high end like High Cotton, the Westin, etc. The only thing that's a reasonable price is Mimi's Cafe, and it's a chain.

I don't know what we'd call it. James really wants it to be like this restaurant in Charleston, Virginia's on King.



It is mid price and has really really good food. You can get eggs/bacon, Eggs Benedict, all kinds of delicious breakfast food. They also have lunch and dinner, but anytime we go to Charleston, we always go there. 

I'd really like it to be like this place we went in Boulder, Snooze



They had these specialty pancakes, cinnabon, red velvet, etc. I got the breakfast pot pie which had a pastry, sausage gravy, eggs and hollandaise sauce - it was so good. 


We'd specialize in breakfast, and that's it. I think we'd try to have it downtown, simply because that's where all of the great restaurants are in greenville. Maybe we'd end up being successful enough to open one on Woodruff rd. Who knows!!


2. Start a bakery 

We have a really delicious bakery here, Strossner's, but we could always use another, right?? I LOVE baking and still have so much to learn, but if we won the lottery, I could go to culinary school before I opened my bakery. 

We would do things like cakes and things like that, but we would specialize in cookies, brownies and pastries. The thing that we don't have here in SC are good pastry places. When I was in Mexico and Costa Rica, they had panaderias and they had things like sweet bread and chocolate croissants and things like that. They were SO GOOD - WHY DO WE NOT HAVE MANY OF THESE IN THE US????



3. Let's pretend we hit the jackpot and won $350 million - I would open some kind of center here to help kids in need - and then maybe one in Africa too 

The place I am going, Faith Victory Association, is a community dedicated to orphans. They set up family type environments and have schools and a medical center. It would be really awesome if we had that here too. South Carolina doesn't do much to support children in need. We think that if people aren't willing to work like they do, then they're worthless but what makes me sad are the children. So, wouldn't it be awesome if we could do a community type thing that helps children in need. It could be an after school type thing with counseling, activities, ways to get involved and learn hobbies that they could possibly use later in life, a community garden, etc etc etc etc. Then maybe we could do it in Africa too. There are lots of places in need - those are just two places near and dear to my heart. 

4. Open a recovery focused gym

There are so many people that suffer from eating disorders, drug/alcohol issues/etc. I think it'd be awesome to have a gym for people to work out and get healthy, but do it with the guidance of qualified recovery therapists and work out focused people. So the purpose of these workouts would be for building confidence, learning healthy habits, the importance of taking care of yourself, therapy. This would not be a, just come here and lose weight gym. 

For me, I've realized that working out helps me to build confidence. When I challenge myself and complete a task, it helps me realize that I can do things that seems impossible. Enough of that in the gym, and I start feeling like I can take on other things. I also would have lots of yoga therapy there because I think a yoga practice can solve the world's problems! Nutritionists would be on hand to help learn healthy habits, maybe we could even have some 12 step meetings like Eating Disorders Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous, etc. 


Oh to dream!! What we could do if we didn't have to make money!

What would you do if you won the lottery?? 





3 comments:

  1. You should so open up a Snooze in Greenville!! I seriously think it would do great there and people would love it! :)

    Miss you Wendi!! Xoxo

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  2. My Mum loves to play the "If I won the Lottery" game too, though with her, it's "When I win the Lottery." If I had a pound for every time I've met up with her when she's had a bad day at work and she's said "This week, I WILL win the Lottery and tell them to stuff their job", I wouldn't need to win the Lottery. I'd already be a millionaire.

    Personally, I think I'd panic. Being handed that amount of money all of a sudden, you'd have to have nerves of steel. And I certainly don't have nerves of steel.

    I'd like to think that I'd recover my wits, and put enough away so that I'd never have to worry. I wouldn't touch that money, not unless I ran into trouble or it was an emergency. I'd also want to set my Mum up so that she could open the craft shop that she wants to. Or a book shop, it tends to vary between those two, depending on the mood she's in.

    For myself... I'd want to pay off my mortgage. I'm fortunate to have a mortgage, but I'm not going to deny that if I had the choice, I wouldn't have it hanging over me. But before I went out and made crazy purchases, I'd ask myself if I actually wanted the whatever it is before the big win. I can't say I've got any huge yearning for a Ferrari or a private jet now, so a big win shouldn't change that. And I think I'd go on more holidays. I doubt I'd go in the big fancy hotels though, as they make me feel uncomfortable. I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer the personal touch that you get with a bed and breakfast.

    I don't think I'd go without anything that I truly wanted, but I sincerely hope that I wouldn't go off the rails either. And I think I'd want to help the people that I'd help now if I could.

    And ultimately, I'd want to keep a big Lottery win quiet. Sadly, you do open yourself up to the possibility of a lot of emotional blackmail if you go public with a big win.

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    Replies
    1. I definitely think a lot of issues can come from having that much money! So maybe it's a blessing in disguise that we dont win :)

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