friday

I've recently picked up a mid-day latte habit. This is surprising for two reasons: One, I never drank lattes before. Two, I never drank coffee in the middle of the day. I blame Melissa Smith for this habit, and here's why.

In the two weeks leading up to my trip to Pendleton, I had given up coffee. I shouldn't really say "given up", it wasn't intentional. For some reason, I just hadn't been wanting it. On our first morning there, Melissa and I went to a coffee shack. She ordered a latte, I ordered an americano. I continued every morning ordering my usual americano, but I kept having coffee envy over Melissa and Jen's lattes. When Jen and I stopped in Doppio's on our drive home, I ordered a maple latte. Shit, that was good. Have you ever been to Starbucks and ordered a flavored latte? If yes, then you know they have a heavy hand when it comes to the syrup and the drink ends up tasting more like a liquid cavity than a morning or mid-day pick-me-up. At least that's my opinion, but generally I drink my coffee black. The maple latte blew my socks off. I ordered another when I went back there with my husband and aunt on Monday, and for most of the days in between, I've been ordering plain lattes from local coffee shops. And... here's why.

It's chilly, grey and damp here. Sometimes that in itself is enough reason to enjoy a mid-day caffeinated beverage. Also, Aunt Carolyn was here visiting with me until yesterday and we spent a lot of time wandering around the city shopping and checking things out. When we needed a break, we went to have coffee. Not only did we get to rest, but we also got an extra boost for the rest of the afternoon (and I got to expose her to really tasty Portland coffee).

This morning I taught yoga at 5:45am, but I didn't go to sleep last night until 11 because I was playing around with my phone. You know, Facebook, Words With Friends. Whatever, I was tired this morning. I taught again at noon and I'm teaching again at 5:30. At 3:30 I decided to march my buns across the street and get a latte from Coco. It's yummy.

Why am I writing such an extensive blog about coffee? Well, it was either that, or bitch about the weather.