oh, make that non-fat, and i'll take the sterling serving tray.
i may have found heaven.

i work in the city of Poway, CA. it's within San Diego county, north east of anything of metropolitan importance. this makes for a beautiful morning commute, heading towards the rising sun as it crests the countless foggy tiers of mountains... but other than that, i've never really been a big fan. i actually went to high school about 10 minutes from my office building, and spent a great deal of time in Poway, including my driving test. i still hesitate on that merge where the test lady marked the test form with "don't hestitate." uh, it's a MERGE. i think i ought to hesitate. i should track her down and give her a few choice words.

Poway residents, for the most part, are quite proud of their "City in the Country." (oy). it is, after all, home of Tony Gwynn.

when i was in high school, we frequented a little coffee shop called "Mikey's." it has since closed/been put out of business. there were no coffee shops in Poway other than a few dozen starbucks, which is really the foundation of my disdain for Poway.

imagine my surprise/delight/relief yesterday as i explored just a little bit off the beaten strip malled path to find a tiny "Espresso Bar" sign hanging on a dishevled old school general store-looking building. i'd found "Old Poway," a small stretch of shops and other buildings that didn't get knocked down for homogenous spanish tile roofed (rooved?) strip malls.

i parked in front of a hollistic looking veterinary office, and walked towards my mecca. i may have even said, "dude!" out loud when i realized the espresso bar is actually inside an antique store. dude. DUDE. this is better than the flowers and tea shop. the workers were fabulous granola antique savvy coffee lovers and starbucks haters. i'm in love.

lattes! antiques!

Poway just earned itself some Julia Points.