Coffee. Donuts.

My dog woke up with the sun. I swear, she thinks she's a rooster. My old dog thought he was a cat. Canine identity crises in this house. Is there a storm coming? The sky was all gray and kinda eerie when I took little miss rooster-beagle out to do her thing. Fed her. Slowly, my mind started warming up to being functional. "Mmmmm....coffee." And right in behind that thought was "MMMMM....donuts!"

Now I make a pot of coffee most every morning. It drips into a thermal carafe and stays fresh so, no, I don't drink the whole pot EVERY day. And yes, I will heat up left over coffee in the microwave the next day--c'mon, admit it, a lot of people do. Anyway, there's something special about coffee on the weekends. It tastes better. It's more enjoyable. It's the same exact coffee (well sometimes I add extra espresso on Sundays) but somehow on the weekend it tastes richer...it feels like a luxury.

Having the time to enjoy it is a luxury.

So where do I go at the beach for coffee? To be honest, I'd rather make my own coffee. I've never been a real fan of Starbucks in any town and somehow here at the beach it seems out of place. It's not that I don't like the chain, I just don't think it has anything that special. I do miss Shelby's Coffee Shop--not so much for coffee, but for lunch and a place to stop for just a little more conversation after dinner out. I've gotta go find out what business is there now. I love that little shopping plaza during the summer when they have live music in the courtyard at night. THAT's worth checking out.

There are several new and old coffee shops around the beach that I've never been to and now I have an excuse to go. I'll let you know. There IS a coffee place that I have gone to more than any other out here. It's on 3rd Street between 10th & 11th Avenues S. Do you know where I mean? Yep, it's the drive-through place--Cuppy's. I just realized that even thinking about driving up and ordering a coffee there makes me smile. The staff is always so friendly, they usually have an interesting brew (I don't go for the fancy carmel-machiatto-half-fat-latte-double-shot-flip-flop-aulait-no-foams, although Cuppy's does have those) and it's under two bucks! And they put the CUTEST stickers over the drinking hole in the lid! I kept the baseball one on the dash in my car for the longest time. It made me smile.

Well, I never got to the "Donuts" part of this post. I'll save that for tomorrow. Let me just say...Cinotti's.