Pittsburgh Coffee Shop Tour 2010

Voluto Coffee

Penn Ave, Friendship

I was drawn to Voluto today because my roommate wanted to tell me about a girl I could live with. I woke up around 11am, purposely missing church, because I just... I felt the need for extended quality time in bed. This is just one of those weeks, I think. I hate them... when things weigh heavier than they probably should, but when you have a uterus, you can't really control a whole lot of how you're going to emotionally handle things.

Now Playing: Sun Kil Moon, Australian Winter
The Dead 60's, Riot Radio
PJ Harvey, This Mess We're In (feat. Thom Yorke)
Ane Brun, Humming One Of Your Songs
Grouplove, Colours
We Were Promised Jetpacks, Short Bursts

So Voluto is pretty nice! My latte had a heart shape in the foam. Check it out:

The music here is pretty sweet, but I'd rather take advantage of the fact I remembered my headphones! So I'm blippin'. My Playlist

Also passing this Coffee Shop Tour test : Coconut-Lime Scone. Super tasty! They also have cheesecake blueberry muffins, which I'm sure would be very tasty for a cheesecake fan. I asked what their focus is here and they said simply providing customers with great, high quality coffee. My initial thought, and I told them this, was that their focus was on having an array of flyers covering the windowsills. I was kindly corrected.

Well, I have a large to-do list, including blogging not about a coffee shop, so I'm going to publish this guy and get to work. Happy Cloudy Sunday, everyone!

Rating - 4.231 biscotti

Pittsburgh Coffee Shop Tour 2010 Crazy Mocha, Shadyside

Fail #1 - No electric outlets outside.
Fail #2 - No appetizing food.
Fail #3 - Emmy forgot her headphones.
Fail #4 - Wearing flowy dress when it's super windy.

Pass #1 - Tasty raspberry iced tea.
Pass #2 - Red goat.
Pass #3 - Ballerina/Trapeze teddy bear hanging from ceiling.

I really don't feel like I could chill here all day. I failed to include my Southside Crazy Mocha experience in this tour, which is a shame because that one was AWESOME. I did have my headphones and a full belly though when I was there... And I had a super comfy chair in the sun... there isn't even the option of comfy chairs in sun here. Let this be a lesson.

This guy next to me is getting advice from a friend or from an editor about a book he wrote? Maybe? I try to get a feel for the rest of the patrons at this local butttttttt I'm not very good at that. Everyone is alone. Except for the book talkers. Everyone is young. Everyone possesses a laptop, except for the book talkers.

There's a grass green / neon pink house across the street. I can't tell if it's a shop or someone's legit house. They probably just want to seem super cool to the people sitting over here at the crazy coffee cow.

Here is my to-do list for this day's tour stop:

1. Finish resume for film stuff. Even tho that ship has probably sailed.
   
2. Clean out Gmail inbox (86 unread and counting...)
3. Seriously consider where I can/will be living in 7 weeks. (Akirah, this includes responding to your comment :p)
4. Cocktail break at Harris Grill's happy hour? $3 frozen cosmo... I kind of miss thee.
5. Job blog. Bound to be the most boring thing ever written, other than this horrible novella I read last night on someone's blog.
   

Those goals are pretty lofty, so I think I'll stop the list there. Alright kiddies, I'm gonna get to the list. I'll be back to close this sucker out.

**exciting update*** The guy who was judging that other dude's book is now judging a lady's book! he must be a rockstar... only in editing. Hmm. I should get his card. Then take his job cuz I think I could be better than him. :) tee hee.


Okay I'm still working on the resume and cover letter. But I'm getting really uncomfortable. Crazy Mocha of Shadyside, your seats and suck. And the lack of fresh air sucks. And all I want to do is leave your establishment to play outside. I miss my chair on the sidewalk in south side... :(

15min til Happy Hour... there's no way I could suck down a frozen cosmo now, though. I have iced tea aaaand a solo espresso. I've gotten ridiculously tired, but I need to be careful! Being up before 4am means no nappies and no caffeine overdose. Plus. If I had a frozen cosmo, I'd probably try to make out with Ingrid Michaelson tonight. That would be embarrassing. For her. When she totally goes for it. With lil ol' ME!

Well. Task #2 is complete. And that's all. This place is making me soooo sleepy! I guess I'm just going to go home, make me some dinners, get out of this danger dress, and go pose as an artsy fartsy lady? Darn I wish I bought that sweet hat from urban outfitters. It would be perrrrfect! Maybe there's still time..

It's been fun, Blogspot. Thanks for listening to me, like always.

Tour Rating - 2.523 Cups

I stood on the tracks
As the sun began to fall.
Blessings were counted,
Along with the early stars.
-i counted more stars-

I sat on the tracks
Being weighed by thoughts.
For each stone by foot
I could cover with a tear.
-i ran out of stones-

I lay on the tracks
And closed my eyes.
The roar of steel
Drowned my mind's lament.
-i began to rest-

written September 9, 2005
with the following:

Thought of this in class today. It's strictly entertainment,
no deep profound meanings I promise.

Haha I read this now and all I want to do is edit it and make it better. It's just funny, kinda. Finding a blog from 5yrs ago = win.

My inflatable mattress is starting to fail me a lot more often. Rubber cement, though, however temporary, has been a pretty solid fix. One morning I'll wake up not on the floor... other mornings, not so lucky. Rubber cement + band aid = even better temporary fix.

Tonight has been a bit emotional. First I saw a wee little baby basement centipede crawling on my bathroom wall. I couldn't kill him. Oddly enough, I found him cute. But then I screamed at the top of my lungs because a daddy centipede crawled out of my work bag and onto my bed, and then a second time because a penny rolled out of my work bag and i THOUGHT it was a daddy. Ughhhh. Leave me aloooone bugs! :p

Then, I put up a quote by Stephen Colbert about the oil spill. Which someone on Tumblr re-posted. So I went to their site and there were photos of the animals covered in oil. And I cried a bit. I hate how I've kept kind of ignorant about the whole thing because I hate being informed of all the crap going down in this world... but then I see it and I feel so guilty for not caring about it sooner. Not that I would do anything to help, because other than donate money to something they say will take years to stop anyway, I don't think there's anything I could do, but to not even give a thought about it, other than "gosh shut up about the spill already..." Blah. Those people down there trying to clean up the animals... they must be so strong in spirit. Goooo Team Clean-up!

THEN having a kind of emotional conversation with a friend of mine... this is probably all because it's so late and I should go to bed! Oh well. More blogging to do!

Last night I heard two pretty awesome songs on the radio. The first was some remix of an Imogen Heap song "Hide and Seek." It was prettttty sweet! I guess a lot of people hate it and think it sucks. Now, I'm not a hippity hop hardcore fan, but I liked driving to this and i like that it doesn't have the typical "i wanna do you on the dance floor" lyrics. Merry Christmas!




Ok so then at some point of the drive I was thinking about how I can't let God take the reins in my life. I blame it partly on being a mild control freak. But I also think I just want to be able to call my own shots, and also it's hard to believe that God actually has A PLAN for me. I have wandered into this mindset that as long as I love God, I can do whatever I want and he'll be happy with me. I feel like that's too convenient to be true... So I was thinking about that. And then I changed the station and this AMAZING song from church was on the radio. Lemme find it.. uno momento por favor.



Lyrics (even tho they are obnoxiously placed in the video):

Water You turned into wine
Open the eyes of the blind
There’s no one like You
None like You
Into the darkness You shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There’s no one like You
None like You

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

I love love love this song. It really helps give hope and perspective about just how magnificent God is... sigh. Love it.

I should probably go to sleep. I have to show people my apartment tomorrow so they can start moving in before I even know where I'm moving :p PS - looking up apartments on craigslist right now is VERY overwhelming. Anyone need a roommate?!?

Sunday Ramblings

At my brutha from anutha mutha’s house. Glorious Sunday with the aroma of barbecue, some sweet tunes (listen to them here! and create your own station so i can listen to YOUR sweet tunes), and an ugly old lady couch to relax on…
So I have about 3 followers on my blogspot and about 9 on here… so I don’t know what the point is of having two… but maybe if I start tagging my entries I’ll get more reads? Or if I start writing about anything worth reading…

Friends, lovers, countrymen - listen here. I love Starbucks. I’ve decided that I want to be one of the people who travel to the coffee farms and shake the farmer’s hand and thank them and ask them if they need a freshwater well dug for their villages… That’s what I want. That, and to make jokes that everyone who watches TV can laugh at.

I have to go play on this chiropractic jungle-gym equipment. I’ll be right back to tell you about it.

…and back. So I just hung upside-down on this thing and surprisingly I feel a bit taller, more aligned/stretched. Paul says I need to stay upside-down for like 5 min but it hurt my ankles a lot (since that’s what you’re hanging by) and the blood was flooding my face pretty hardcorely. Sooo I don’t know if I’m meant for such intense chiropractic structural inventions.

I also love Starbucks because the people who work there can be pretty wonderful. They can be pretty not wonderful also, I’m sure. But… this man today was so sweet. I believe he likes boys, but he was saying how much he liked my hair and glasses. “It’s very… Lisa Lobe,” he said. “Stay classy, Emerald.” Will do, sir.

I keep making bad decisions. Well, I’ve been making bad decisions since I was in Kindergarten. I remember I kept tapping on this boy’s shoulder one day as he sat in front of me on the bus. I kept doing it and he grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm. I cried. And then I had to sit in the hot-seat because I was found to be at fault for the incident. I was also really bossy in Kindergarten. I always wanted to be the mom when we’d play house (this is what my report card says. I still have it. amazing.) and I guess I would get mad and punch all the kids in the face til they let me be mom?? That part is unrecorded. But I’m sure it happened. Why else would it matter if I always wanted to be mom? They should congratulate me for volunteering to be the responsible one with the fake house duties.

ANYWAY.
Bad decisions. I rule those. Lately, it’s just been with jobs. I keep quitting jobs when I should probably milk them for the added paycheck. But these jobs were keeping me from friends and church. Aren’t those more important than paying bills on time or having a new pair of flippy-floppies? I think so, but I’m probably wrong. I just want a 2nd job where I can call in any day, any time and say, “Hey I have nothing to do… can I just come work for awhile?” That would be ideal. Which is why I want to open my own coffee shop, bar, bakery or sex shop. Or a coffee-bar-bakery-sex shop. You’d come in every day, don’t lie to yourself.

Just kidding about the sex shop. Not kidding about the other things.

Aaaah life. Where are you headed…

Find Me Here:

http://emmyraldann.tumblr.com/

I'll probably still post here. Golly I don't know.