Yes, there's life beyond Starbucks.

I believe that I have found a coffee chain that could kick Starbucks to the curb. It's called Barriques and the best thing about it is that it not only specializes in coffee, but it offers an excellent and non-intimidating wine selection as well. I've found several Barriques around thus far and hope that more start to pop up soon because even though it is a chain, it still manages to offer a cozy boutique feel which I love.

I love that they used old window panes as their menu boards.

 Wine and gift nook :)

Barriques offers wines from all over the world and provides great descriptions on what to expect favor-wise from each wine so hopefully you aren't surprised at first taste.Their wine is very reasonably priced too - there are bottles priced as low as $6.00.

They even serve wine by the glass in house and also have special wine tasting events each month.

Great cupcake coffee mug I found in Barriques gift section of the store.

Little Gifts

Sometimes the things that can make you feel better after a rough day are never what you expect. For instance, today wasn't what I would call one of the best days I've had but I just logged onto my computer knowing that I needed to do another blog post (I'm trying to become more consistent with my posting) but was not feeling very inspired by anything due to my crummy day. To my surprise and enjoyment I had an email from one of my best friends from college that I unfortunately don't get to see very often due not geographically inconvenience. (Side note: I hate the fact that know one told me when I graduated that I wouldn't get to live in a city with all of my friends and/or that I wouldn't have unlimited funds to see the friends that I miss on a daily basis).

But anyway, the message said nothing more than "please watching this" followed by a video link. I wasn't at all surprised why she thought to send it to me once I clicked through and began watching the video. It captured one of our longest-standing inside jokes perfectly. (I won't explain the joke...it would only sound dumb). The point is that the thought behind sending me this cute video is what got to me. Knowing that even though I'm very far from many of my greatest friends they still "get" me and they still care. I hope that everyone reading this has friends that they can feel this way about because honestly sometimes those people are the only ones that can make you smile after a tough day.

For anyone who's interested here is the link to the video I've been referring to. It's very cute and has officially made me want to go out and purchase pink sneakers :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TL3oaHKCko

Back to Basics

I’m learning it’s an impossible waste of time to be making “big plans” for being a “grown-up” because so much of life is out of my control. So, I decided to channel all the time I spend worrying about the future into a more productive outlet. Not that making plans isn’t important (believe me, I just sat through a riveting 401k retirement plan presentation at work which hammered in the importance of planning for the future…ugh) but why spend your entire present planning for your future?

So, what’s step one? Maybe actually following through on that whole “trying one new thing a week idea” I posted on here about over a month ago? Sure, that sounds good. I know I’ve been slacking on that but in my defense, it has been a really busy period…

Because I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with all the “new” around me I decided to start out safe and visit a really neat coffee shop while out and about in the great state of Wisconsin. Yes, for anyone that didn’t know I ended up in Wisconsin (please insert over-used joke about liking beer and cheese here).

Anyway, the shop is called Electric Earth and is located in Madison, WI. Although I think the title is a little odd, I found the establishment itself to be inviting and very original.

As you can see from the menu Electric Earth offers a lot more than coffee to their customers.

Homemade trail mix...YUM!

Mural on the inside wall of the shop.

These were taped up on the walls inside...I thought they were pretty cute.

Homemade tiramisu is a MUST in my book.

Iced coffees that were not exactly served in standard coffee cups.