Experimental Phase

Such a strange week.

On Tuesday morning, I waited at my transfer spot to catch the rapid--just across the way from a Starbucks. Rarely, very, very rarely do I pop in for a morning treat. I've stopped in there maybe four times since I started busing waaay back in October. But on Tuesday, after consulting the Google Maps app, I discovered that the next bus was about 10 minutes away. Surely enough time for me to run into Starbucks.

I walked through the double doors and BOOM. The aroma of espresso and vanilla and chocolate and...bacon?! Headed to the counter and was greeted by a hipster barista gal.

Me: Morning, can I please have a grande iced coffee and one of those sandwiches on ciabatta bread?

Hipster Barista Gal (slightly annoyed) : Actually, it's artisanal bread.

Me: Um, okay. The artisanal sandwich then.

Hipster Barista Gal (sighs) : And do you want the bacon or the ham?

Me: Bacon.

Of course, my iced coffee was ready in seconds. I headed over to the dairy/napkins/trash cart to add a bit of half and half and sweetener. A large, very beefy, very tough looking gentleman wearing fancy jeans and an Afflicition tee poured skim milk into his cup. I picked up the half and half pitcher and absently wondered why the stream flowed so slowly. Then. The lid of the pitcher flew off. Seriously flew--across the store. I never recovered it. Half and half went EVERYWHERE. All over me, the floor, the cart and Tough Guy standing next to me.

Me: Ohmygod! Ohmygod! I'm so sorry! Did any get on you?

Tough Guy (not to thrilled): Yeah. A little.

My mind raced. I thought of the dry cleaners across the street. I should offer to pay for cleaning right? Oh, gosh, is he going to chew me out? I grabbed napkins by the fist full and tried wiping up the mess. My eyes started to well up. Mostly, I was embarrassed as hell.

Tough Guy (likely taking pity): But, you know what?

Me: Huh?

Tough Guy: Nobody ever cried over spilt milk, right? Hey, I hope your rest of the day's better.

I continued wiping and cleaning and tossing and repeating for what seemed like hours. While in the midst of my milk madness, I glanced over to the cash register area more than a few times. Hipster Barista Gal totally avoided eye contact with me! The store wasn't even busy--the whole time I scrubbed away, no more than three customers placed orders.

Now, before I'm written off as an enemy to baristas everywhere, know this: I spent some time in college rocking the green apron. And whenever a customer made a mess, as they often did, we rushed over to clean it right away. Partly because it's sticky and requires some actual cleaning product instead of dry napkins. But mostly because customers--if they even bothered trying to tidy up--made a worse mess of the situation by just spreading everything around. Sigh.

Yesterday I stayed at the office a little later than normal. By the time I caught the bus home, I was starving. I've heard nothing but fabulous things about Loteria Grill so I figured I'd grab a quick dinner at the Farmer's Market location on the way home. After paying $16 for three carnitas tacos, chips and guacamole, I hoped for the best.


See, I really wanted to love this. Truly, I did. If only for monetary reasons--I kept imagining how much tasty grub I could get at an OC Alberto's for considerably less. The tacos were passable. The guacamole, well, I've certainly had much better. A very disappointing dinner.

But, things perked up when I realized I had a bit of time to kill before the next bus swung by. So, I headed to nearby Starbucks--thankfully a different one from the previous day's fiasco. I ordered the super low maintenance mocha frappuccino. I inserted my straw and caught the bus right away.


There's something to be said for routine, no?

Current read is Blessings by Anna Quindlen. A very quick read--I'll likely finish it up tomorrow morning. After The Impostor's Daughter, I hoped for something very different. Alas, not the case. More soon.