Blueberry Muffin from Starbucks
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
I'm eating a nice, perfectly done Blueberry Muffin from Starbucks. It's great. I'm happy.
Alex is one month old now and Ana and I finally have our stuff together and the babe is finally old enough that we could leave the house for a few consecutive hours today. It can be quite the effort for those of you who don't have babies. But we had a plan this morning so we woke up early, washed, cleaned the house a bit and the kid, I went and did the food shopping for the week so it wouldn't be hanging over our heads later (no shops open on Sunday, remember) while my wife prepped El Sapo and an extra bottle for the road. At 1:00 p.m. we were ready. We could hardly believe it...
We first went to The Casa del Libros near Sol because my wife wanted to check out the baby section - which was cool with me because it's right next to the computer books section (I've got some baby books in English already). Alex was very weird all day: he just slept like an angel in his stroller. Where's that cranky kid we normally have that cries like a psycho after 30 minutes outside the house? We walked out of the store an hour later with 3 very odd baby books in Spanish. Ana is reading them now very excitedly and now believes that Alex sometimes cries because he's stressed. STRESSED? What does a one month old have to be stressed about? (Lots, apparently...)
After our success at the bookstore, we were both hungry so we went to McDonald's (my wife's idea, not mine... she's in love with Big Macs). The Mickey D's on Gran Via is a nuthouse, and especially today when a group of 40 kids or so on some sort of field trip showed up. The level of noise was amazing. And Alex just slept like some kid in a coma... I kept checking to see if he was breathing.
Finally, not wanting to head home just yet and with Alex sleeping away, I suggested we walk down to the Palace Hotel and check out the new Starbucks that just opened. We had our wedding reception there, so it's sort of romantic for us to go by the hotel and Plaza Neptune.
The Starbucks there is great! It's a REAL Starbucks (who knows what I was expecting). Big, bright and clean. No smoking (the first thing you notice, I swear). Large stuffed chairs in the front and some tables in the back. High ceilings and Lyle Lovett on the stereo. I was in heaven. Ana found us a couple big seats near the front window next to some exchange students with laptops while I went to get a couple Frappuchino's to drink (my wife's first... decaf for her so El Dormidito doesn't become El Despertado de la Madrugada) and 4 blueberry muffins to go.
It was Ana's second time in a Starbucks, but the first time was two years ago at a small one in Boston, so we analyzed it again like new. We sat back and relaxed and watched the tourists come in and struggle with their orders (lots of pointing) and the young (20 and younger) Spanish kids order versions of the cool drinks and hang out (lots of mobile phone messaging). It was definitely busy the whole time, but not packed, and a decent mix of Americans, couple Germans (happy with today's match I think, though who knows what they were saying...) and Spanish. And Alex slept and slept (with a blanket, since the AC was on high. Fine with us since it had to be 98 degrees out today).
We gave him the bottle out in the shade in front of the Prado and decided not to push our luck and catch the bus home. I took a long siesta once we got home and when I woke up, there were four beautiful muffins waiting for me, one of which I just ate before starting this post. MMMMMMMmmmmmm!
All in all, a very good day.
-Russ