more coffeeshop woes

emma d. and i semi-regularly meet at juan valdez for coffee and a girlfriend catch-up during the workweek. it's a perfect spot because the coffee is very good and it's about halfway between emma and i's offices. even better, although it's a chain, it's a fledgling chain operated by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, with stock preferences going to the Colombian coffee growers and their families. even BETTER, it's across the street from a starbucks- with every customer who walks in to juan valdez, that's, in theory, one less going to starbucks, right?
sadly, just a few years after opening, our beloved juan valdez is closing its doors. on sunday. we met there today for the last time, sitting on our regular stools gazing out at the starbucks across the street and discussing where to go from here. i just think it's sad.
on a lighter note, there's another coffeeshop (independently owned and operated, i think) about halfway between emma and i's works which we should try next time. i hope the coffee is good, but that's not what's important, is it?

my dog is funny

on our afternoon walk yesterday, my dog tried to eat a piece of food off the ground that was covered in ants and i had to spend about five minutes cleaning little ants out of her mouth. i was laughing so hard i had to sit down. not sure why that was so hilarious. later on last night, she fit three bones into her mouth at once and just walked around with them in there. despite the fact that sometimes i want to throw her into the dryer and turn it on, she does brighten my life most of the time. ;)
happy friday!

hello, i'm the apple farmer. would you like some cider?

so i was just sitting here at work with my ipod on shuffle. and there was exactly 30 minutes left of work and what comes on but an archived HEAD TO HEAD episode!?! the "never again" episode! a perfect ending to a fairly regular day of work!

here are some things i (re)learned from that episode:

-the idea for "never again" was spawned because the space center is open longer than the main library on fridays!

-"never again" started at 1:06pm with a dance party at the Tate plaza.

- the dance party went until 3pm and then everyone relaxed.

- the bonfire started at 7:30pm at the dial america parking lot.

- the mascot of cairo high school (cairo, ga) is the syrupmakers.

- widespread panic has a key to the city of athens.

- the hot tub happened after the "never again" finale.

- "WUOG is the best station in the whole wide universe."

- the rubber capitol of the united states is akron, ohio.

- three words that end in g-r-y are hungry, angry, and flogry!

hold on

i am very sad today about the tragedy at virginia tech. things seem very far from "business as usual."

bulldog dreams

i had two bulldog football dreams this weekend. first, on saturday morning, i dreamt that i was lecturing my boyfriend about exactly how heartbreaking our 2006 losses to vandy and kentucky were. it was a serious and convincing talk: i had charts. on sunday morning, i dreamt that i was running laps with the whole football team and southerland started walking instead of jogging (he also had a mullett) and then acted like he was gonna just quit and walk back into the locker room! i would have none of that and i ran after him and gave him a stern pep talk about the meaning of georgia football. i convinced him to get back on the track and he finished with the rest of us.

i'm not sure why i'm dreaming of football in april. however, i have been missing georgia more than usual lately. maybe my valiant attempts to spread georgia love in my dreams should be realized with a visit to the atl. i am going to look into it.

starbucks article

i was happy to read this article in the post this morning discussing what starbucks didn't say when they made the seemingly laudable PR claim "we spend more on health care for our employees than we spend on coffee."

ten of my favorite restaurants

just straight from the top of my head, in no particular order.

1- the grit (athens, ga)
2- athens sushi bar (athens, ga)
3- agnes and muriels (atlanta, ga)
4- the salty iguana (prairie village, ks)
5- the highland tap (atlanta, ga)
6- bagelicious (marietta, ga)
7- matchbox (washington, dc)
8- la loma (washington, dc)
9- the majestic steakhouse (kansas city, mo)
10- east west bistro (athens, ga)

these all have in common, of course, really, really good food. but there's actually something more. in each of these restaurants, i have made a memory. in many of those restaurants, i have made several lasting memories. to me, these places are more than just places i like to eat. they are connected with people i love (and have loved). they are places where i have shared bottles of wine with girlfriends when we couldn't afford it (east-west) or told my mom that i was going to law school (bagelicious) or surprised my dad on his 55th birthday (the majestic). these are my spots, our spots.

what are your spots and why?