Best Coffee House Ever!

Good evening friends and loved ones! I had a "normal" day at school with the boys. Bless Aaron's heart. He's still trying to get caught up from starting late in school this year. He works so hard, I wish he could just wake up and be there!

We left at 4:30 to take Aaron to his guitar lesson. I have a weekly ritual. Every Monday during his guitar lesson, I walk across the parking lot to the best little coffee house I've ever been to. It's called Beyond Grounds. They were previously called Fat Boys Cafe, but they were under construction. After they remodeled, they came up with this new name. It has a really cozy atmosphere. They have small tables set up like most places and they also have four leather overstuffed chairs around a glass table. There are books to read there or you can trade your books for others they have on their shelves. They also have free wifi.

The coffee and teas are fabulous, but the pastries are to die for. They make most of the pastries from scratch right there at the shop. I consider myself a somewhat accomplished baker. I can pretty much bake anything and sometimes I tweak recipes to make them my "own". I do have to admit though, almost every single "from scratch" pastry I've tried, I probably couldn't make it any better myself. It's a little pricey, but well worth every bite in my opinion! Hot drinks are $3-4 and pastries range in price from $1-4. Most of their baked goods are $3.50-$4. Today they had a sale on their Coconut Macaroons dipped in dark chocolate for $1 each. Each macaroon was about 1/2 cup of coconut mixture...it was huge! Jordan ordered their cinnamon roll. It was probably between 5-6 inches in diameter! They even heat it up for you! Oh, such ooey, gooey goodness! Then my favorite tonight...a Peanut Butter Chocolate Bomb! It was a sugar cookie about the size of my palm. It had 3 1/2 inches of peanut butter mousse mounded on top and the whole thing was dipped in chocolate. I think I tasted a little bit of heaven tonight! I don't worry about getting fat eating this stuff...I took one bite of Nathan's macaroon and about three small bites of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Bomb. I asked Jordan to save some of the cinnamon roll for his brother (he told me he would). The next time I looked over at Jordan's plate, there was only a strip of the very center piece left of the cinnamon roll! For those who may not know, Jordan and I are absolute freaks about eating the center of the cinnamon roll!!! I confiscated the center piece to save for Aaron (yes...I actually confiscated it)! He tried fighting me with his fork, but I finally had to pull out the "Mother Look" to get him to leave it alone! He still insisted on being able to eat his favorite part of the cinnamon roll!!!! He should have eaten the center towards the outside and let Aaron have the outer part, but Jordan was just too busy enjoying himself! So when Aaron got done with his lesson, he had one bite of the macaroon, two small bites of the cinnamon roll and about 2/3 of the Peanut Butter Bomb. All I like to do is taste their baked goods! I don't actually have to eat an entire item, I just take a couple of bites and let the boys polish it off! Nathan and I also split a Chai Latte tonight. What's really cool is that you can special order your drinks and they will make it to your taste! The staff is so friendly. I was a bit surprised when I walked in there tonight. The same lady works every Monday night. I don't know her name yet and she doesn't know mine, but she said the second she saw me, "There you are! I missed you all last week. I told myself as I was closing last week, 'Where is my Monday night family?'" I didn't know she came to recognize us! She always gives me tips as to what's really good to try. They also serve all kinds of from scratch cookies. They also serve homemade ice cream. Oh, I almost forgot, they serve bagels, sandwiches, burritos and I think soup as well. I haven't tried any of their breakfast, lunch or dinner items since we go directly home to have supper!

I thought I'd let you all know if you live in the East Mountain area, please go check this place out! It's up off North 14 just past the Cedar Crest Post Office.

Please keep me in your prayers, I am pretty sore. I think it's from diving yesterday at Jasmine's pool party. My neck and shoulders are stiff. I wish I could just get them to loosen up!

Good night my friends. May God's peace surround you as you sleep tonight!