The Place: Fabricker (running a business is a big job so we opted to meet in the store so April could chat with me and her customers at the same time). Smart!

The Cup: I popped in to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on my way to April’s shop and grabbed her a double espresso with cream and picked up a cup of Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea for myself. Big change for me, right? I was coming off of a bad stomach flu and just wasn’t feeling like a cup of coffee was the best thing to put in my tender tummy. The tea was divine. I may be a convert.

Background: April was introduced to me by Terry, a guy I met at BlogathonATX a few months back. Stay tuned for more about Terry because he and I are meeting in a few weeks for a cup of something and a chat.

Fabricker is a groovy little fashion fabric store on the eastern edge of the Hyde Park neighborhood in Austin and it’s owner is none other then the fabulous April. It ended up working out great to meet at the store because it gave me the chance to experience it in person; touch the fabrics, meet her customers and help haul in a delivery of new fabric.

Fabricker is still pretty young. In fact, it won’t turn one until January. But like many wonderful creations, it was dreamed up years ago and lived in the heart and mind of it’s owner until the time was right. April had ideas of the right circumstances she’d need in place in order to take the leap, but you know how life can be, sometimes the plan you make gets flicked out the window. For April, the plan redo was prompted by an unexpected layoff and the timing was pretty terrible. Let’s inspect the fairy tale and see where it goes wrong.

April met and fell in love with a handsome (as adorable as she is, we can only assume this to be true) native New Yorker-turned Texan. They decide to tie the knot, like many folks who are smitten tend to do. They had an absolute dream wedding and as April tells it, every, single thing about the day was blissfully perfect. What’s next? A baby. Precious, pink little bundle of giggles and burp clothes. So far, so good. Story book love story. Back to work April goes and bam, laid off. Eek! One month later, handsome pants is laid off too. Double eek! I believe we’ve identified the problem.

A lot of us would have freaked out and thrown a hissy fit, right? Really, just me on the hissy fit thing? You’re not fooling me. Anyway, not these two. Mr. April went out and found himself a new, and better (yay!) job and meanwhile April said to hell with waiting for the economy to turn around and opened up shop. Well, it wasn’t that easy, obviously, but thanks to some great family and friends, just three months after losing her job, the shop was open for business. April describes the night of her grand opening and with a glint in her eye tells me the shop was packed, shoulder to shoulder. Enveloped by people who love and support you and who want to see you succeed – pretty amazing stuff!

I asked April what the most memorable thing about her is. She considered it for a bit and then explained that it’s something that she and her hubby both share and what drew them to one another. They both have a very diverse range of talents and interests. For him, he’s an Olympic archery coach and dabbles in web design and development. For April, she tells me without hesitation that given a pantry of odds and ends, she can whip up a meal that’s scrumptious and everyone will love it. She can also bake, sing, paint, balance four tubas on her head at one time. OK , not the last one. Well, at least not as far as I know. But we know we can also add to her list of talents, sew and run a business.

Fabricker is a store for the everyday fashion hobbiest and fashion designers alike. April’s clients are all across the board. She tells me she’s got people who come in looking to make their kids some cool new duds and she’s also known in the fashion design scene for having an interesting and eclectic selection they won’t find in other shops.

When asked about the most significant thing that’s happened to her in the last 30 days, she says, “Oh, that’s easy! Two things, really. But I can only tell you about one.” Whaaa!!! On the plus side, the second thing will be public knowledge hopefully by Christmas so it won’t be a secret forever. And the thing she did tell me was pretty darn cool. Turns out that one of her clients is a local designer who was working on creating the uniforms that will be worn by the CotA Girls when the Circuit of the Americas comes to Austin in a few short weeks. The designer, Ross Bennett of The Ross Bennett Collection selected Fabricker as the shop he wanted to purchase all his fabric for the project through. So she just finished what she described as “a major buy.” Major cool!

I was curious where the idea for a fashion fabric store came from and what I learned was that April has had a love affair with fabric for years. In fact, even when she had full-time jobs in sales and marketing, she usually had a part-time thing going at a fabric store. There was a period of time where she even moved all the way to Seattle for a management job at a fabric store. And when opportunities led her back to Austin, her love of fabric and fashion again had to take a back seat.

Isn’t this true for most of us? We have our full-time gig that pays the bills and offers the respectable title that shuts people up at a dinner party and on the side, we have the stuff we love to do. We tinker in the garage on the weekend, we have closets full of half-finished quilts, we dream about getting clay under our nails and making some cool new pottery pieces. Maybe we write code for some video game we dreamt up as a teenager, we practice yoga on our lunch break or we get that roller-coaster in our stomach feeling of excitement just walking into the art store to pick up a new canvas. Hopefully you can insert your passion or passions here and you know what I’m talking about. And for a lot of us, this works. This day to day dichotomy of our “work self” and our “passionate self”. We work as a means to enjoying the activities we love. And we are happy.

For others though, this separation of selves makes them unhappy and so they dream up ways to marry the two. The funny thing is that for many people, just having the dream is enough. Or at least that’s what they tell themselves. It’s their “someday plan”. Some day I’m going to submit my work to that art gallery down the street. Some day I’m going to open my own yoga studio. Some day I’m going to apply for a programmer job at that video game company I admire. Who doesn’t have a “someday plan”? What fascinates me, is the people who turn that plan into reality.

Speaking with April, in her environment, surrounded by beautiful fabrics in every color imaginable, each hand selected by April herself, I am keenly aware of the magic I feel. It is the electric spark of authentic happiness. The store is bright and cheery and I would say at least half of that is emanating from its proprietor.

You can be happy doing what you love in the evening, on the weekends or let’s face it, whenever you manage to find them time. I’m certain of that because it’s an existence I live. Me, my husband, my parents, my friends. In fact, I can count on one hand the people I know who are doing what they are passionate about every single day and getting paid to do so. But having stepped into the world of living your dream and standing in all the fear, uncertainty, hope, support and excitement that goes with it, I am awed. Awed at the courage it takes and awed at the possibility it represents to the rest of us that it is possible.

So here’s what I propose. Make a list of everything you are passionate about. Add to that list things you are curious about and think you might like to try. Add to that things you used to love but for some reason gave up on or you let fizzle. At the very least, I encourage you to visit that list often and let it inspire you. Maybe you need to dig out the quilt you started last fall and finish it off. Maybe it’s time to take that pottery class you know is offered at that cool shop down the street. Maybe you can teach your son how to build a shelf with the wood scraps piled up in the garage. Whatever it is that excites you, do it. Soon.

Then, if you are feeling brave, allow yourself to imagine what it would look like for you to turn your passion into a business or a career. You don’t need to do anything, ever, if you don’t want to. Just enjoy the dreaming up process and the planning it out process. Maybe you’ll even take a class from the local Small Business Administration office. Or comb the job boards for something the lines up with your passion. See what skills you need to develop to qualify. Perhaps in the Spring you’ll take a programming course. Maybe you will ask your friend to look over your resume and help you get it polished up.

And if you should decide that life is far too short to spend 8+ hours a day miserable or even mildly unhappy, for that matter, then maybe, just maybe, someday you may decide to join the passionate and brave folks like April and take the leap. From what I hear, the jumping is that scariest part. But to tell you the truth, even scarier than jumping is forever wondering what could have been.

To learn more, check out the Fabricker website or follow April and the store on Twitter to catch the latest and greatest.