On the search for the best cup of coffee

When Tim and I started dating we both realized we had an intense love for a cup of coffee.  I preferred a latte (decaf nowadays) while he preferred a coffee, generally with two creamers and 3 Splenda (depending on where it's from).  While coffee has grown on me in the past year (I like it just like Tim's, probably because I always drink half his cup of coffee anyway) I still am a latte lover on the search for the best one.

Whenever Tim and I are anywhere together we grab coffee, finding our favorite spots and our not so favorite spots.  We try every coffee shop we can find, even if it's a hole-in-the-wall sort of place.  This has become a past time of sorts.

So far our favorite's include:

1.  Comfort Zone Cafe in Hamburg, NY
This is our favorite place ever. We found it while we were visiting family. We were desperate to get some alone time and my grandparents sent us here for what was the best damn iced caramel latte I have ever freaking had. 
 
2.  Time to Eat Diner in Somerville, NJ
If you just want a cup of coffee to do with as you please, head here.  I know it isn't hard to mess up brewed coffee but some places still manage to do it.  Time to Eat gets it right every time.  It just tastes better then normal.  

 
3.  Panera Bread
I remain convinced that Panera Bread makes a better caramel latte then it's Starbucks/Dunkin counterparts.  It's great. Go get one. 
 
4.  Starbucks
I'll always be a sucker for Starbucks.  Grande, skinny, decaf, soy, caramel macchiato please :)

5.  Tim Hortons, upstate NY/Canada region (or Penn Station ;p)
Tim Hortons in wonderful.  SO much better than a Dunkin'

6.  7 Eleven
If you want to make your own coffee, 7 Eleven has a huge variety of creamers and coffee options. Tim and I head here all the time. 

7.  Dunkin Donuts
Meh.  I get this only if I have too...

 

I know it's not coffee, but how cute?!  I did this for Tim once when he had a bad day.

Growing up

I spent the majority of my life wishing I was a grownup.  My mom has always said that I could have lived on my own from a very young age.  I've always been independent.  When I had a problem, I solved it.  No need to involve mom or dad.

This past year, my junior year of college, my family and I have started spending a lot of time discussing the future. Where will I live after school, what career will I have, how will we pay loans, etc... The closer it gets to my senior year the more I start to freak out.  Growing up is terrifying.

It still excites me, don't get me wrong.  I have so much to look forward too these next 2-3 years (transition time).  Tim and I hope to be married before 2016 which means everything to me.  It excites me.  I could have married him yesterday.  I feel like when you are in a committed relationship, getting older is harder on so many different levels.  For example, the subject of holiday's. 

Tim and I don't plan to really split holiday's until we are engaged, but after spending Thanksgiving and Christmas apart, we realized how much it sucked.  We missed each other horribly. So we set out to devise a plan for this Easter. 

This past Sunday Tim and I sat down and discussed Easter, and the holiday's to come both before we are married and after.  Towards the end of the conversation I just started to cry.  It felt so sad at the idea of not seeing my family on a holiday, but it is part of growing up.  It is part of being in a relationship.

Talking to my mom was hard.  She is currently suffering premature empty nest syndrome with my brother planning to go very far for college and I think reality is setting in.  Regardless, we didn't speak for two days and I quickly realized that growing up is tougher than I thought.  It's not just about jobs and money and places to live. It's about significant change. 

I welcome it with open arms because it means my life with Tim is starting, but it stings a bit.