coffee shop

there are a few interesting coffee shops around where i live, and i went to one tonight. the atmosphere is so different than plain old starbucks or pretty much any other coffee shop i've ever been to. this one had such fun drawings on the wall that we were told were done by a "little boy." they looked like it, but in a really fun and cute way. there were pictures drawn of giraffes, a lion, kids, and trees and branches with leaves. everything was new and neat. there was a really nice quiet upstairs section. and downstairs where they make the drinks there were none of those ugly loud machines that make starbucks so noisy all the time. there also were not tons of people in line. it was a small place and there were just a few people there. we went upstairs and they brought us our drinks up there, complete with a portable button to push if we needed anything else. the tea came in a fun clear teapot with a pretty little teacup, and the tea was just the right amount of sweetness. i would definitely get it for myself again (my friend bought it this time). i got a strawberry smoothy, which was good, but a bit too sweet. in the words of my friend, like melted ice cream. yeah....basically. it was still good. probably not worth getting again. but the tea--definitely. they said it was green tea with caramel flavoring, but it definitely wasn't green tea. still good though!

the hilarious thing was that partway through our time there, we noticed the songs playing sounded really familiar (once again they put on english music because we were there). just as we were getting ready to leave, guess which song started playing? yup...i just can't get away from "my heart will go ooon and oooooon."

the latest news is that i got a BIKE. i'm very excited. i have no pictures yet, so more details later. for now though, the abundant bike lanes (and numerous sidewalks) are all mine!! it's exciting to see the city from a different perspective. it's definitely a different experience riding a bike to work than it is riding the bus to work and then walking from the bus stop, even though it's all on the same roads.