Where in the world is the Serendipity Group...?
The one and only Serendipity3
Don't Worry! We didn't leave without proof. Here we are with Stephen Bruce...
Recognize it from our homepage? Recognize the change? We decided to make the most of our vacation and take a visit to the iconic restaurant that inspired our topic. We were lucky enough to be greeted with two blessings during our afternoon there, one expected and one unexpected. Firstly, we had the chance to enjoy their frozen hot chocolate, it was impossible not to leave smiling. Secondly, we had the pleasure of meeting the founder and owner in person, Stephen Bruce! We had called Mr. Bruce a few weeks ago to ask some questions, assuming he was too much of a busy man to ever run into him at the restaurant. We were happily mistaken as we walked in the door. There he was looking at home, chatting with tourists and answering phone calls with the efficiency of someone who has been balancing a business and a landmark for years, which we all know he has. Unfortunately, the buzz of excited guests didn't allow us to video tape him, but he was kind enough to tell us the story of Serendipity3 again in person, full of animation.
"It was 1954, and the word Serendipity was unheard of, you couldn't even find it in the dictionary."
At this time, Steven Bruce was looking for a way to earn some extra money, as were two of his friends. They decided to team up and become business partners with only 300 dollars in their pockets, hoping to open up a sweet shop. One of his partners, Patch Carradine, was a "wordsmith", as he called it. He discovered and became fascinated with our precious word, a word he defines as the art of finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance or sagacity, and decided it would be a perfect name for their haven. Why? "The Three Princes of Serendip were three guys who got rich, and here we are, three guys looking to do the same."
"It was 1954, and the word Serendipity was unheard of, you couldn't even find it in the dictionary."
At this time, Steven Bruce was looking for a way to earn some extra money, as were two of his friends. They decided to team up and become business partners with only 300 dollars in their pockets, hoping to open up a sweet shop. One of his partners, Patch Carradine, was a "wordsmith", as he called it. He discovered and became fascinated with our precious word, a word he defines as the art of finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance or sagacity, and decided it would be a perfect name for their haven. Why? "The Three Princes of Serendip were three guys who got rich, and here we are, three guys looking to do the same."
Woops! Lets try this again...
Tasseography.
Recently, the three of us went on an adventure we never would have imagined this project would have brought upon us. It is very common in a variety of cultures to try to forsee the future. One very popular method commonly used among people from the Middle East is known as tasseography. In this method, fortune tellers interpret patterns left by coffee grounds after a person drinks their cup. In our journey of researching serendipity we were fortunate to come upon a person, Susan Yafeh, who was able to read our future through this method. To become fully skilled in this art she studied depicting different signs for seventeen years and now finds that her readings are mostly accurate.
The most exciting part of meeting Susan Yafeh was actually having our own cups read by her. As seen above in the picture we were given small cups of turkish coffee to drink, leaving the coffee grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. Then, the cups were flipped upside down onto the plates. After a few minutes it was time to have our cups read! Some examples of what she saw for each of us are:
Shelley: a pair of boots representing a journey that will soon be taken (ex: my trip to Israel this summer)
Brooke: My final sign was a mermaid. The mermaid indicates the coming of a miracle in one's lifetime. This was the sign that Eva Longoria received when Ms. Yafeh read her coffee grinds, and look at her now!
Rory: a long dress representing a dancing at a party (ex: not only do I have a few sweet sixteens coming up, I'm a dancer)
With these surprising results it is hard not to question whether we have control of our own future, or if there is already some predetermined course that we are destined to follow.
The most exciting part of meeting Susan Yafeh was actually having our own cups read by her. As seen above in the picture we were given small cups of turkish coffee to drink, leaving the coffee grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. Then, the cups were flipped upside down onto the plates. After a few minutes it was time to have our cups read! Some examples of what she saw for each of us are:
Shelley: a pair of boots representing a journey that will soon be taken (ex: my trip to Israel this summer)
Brooke: My final sign was a mermaid. The mermaid indicates the coming of a miracle in one's lifetime. This was the sign that Eva Longoria received when Ms. Yafeh read her coffee grinds, and look at her now!
Rory: a long dress representing a dancing at a party (ex: not only do I have a few sweet sixteens coming up, I'm a dancer)
With these surprising results it is hard not to question whether we have control of our own future, or if there is already some predetermined course that we are destined to follow.
