To Coffee or To Coffee

     When in the mood for that quick caffeine jolt Sonoma State students are faced with the unfortunate dilemma of deciding between Starbucks and Charlie Brown Cafe. Let's review the differences. Charlie Brown Cafe is conveniently located on campus, and if you have been studying at the library or have time to kill between classes its location is a big pro. Although Starbucks may be across the street, which come on I know our generation is lazy but I think we can make it across the street, it has the ease of a drive-through. No waiting in the never ending line squished in that awkward corner of Charlie Brown, just relax in your car, listen to music, and appreciate the shorter wait. Both locations have definite pros.

        Next, menu options. Charlie Brown obviously has a wider variety among their menu options, given that they serve not only coffee drinks but smoothies as well. Although if you are only interested in coffee type drinks, the menu at Starbucks has more to offer. For drinks each menu has its benefits, it just depends on what type of drink you are looking for. As far as food goes, both have a good amount of options depending on the time of day. If you are looking for a meal, Charlie Brown has more options such as a variety of sandwiches, wraps, and salads as well as chips, cookies, pastries, and bagels if you are looking for more of a snack. Starbucks has all kinds of pastries, however their options vary by day, location, time, and season. While writing this blog I took a break and went to the Starbucks across the street and they had tons of pastries making the decision between a croissant and a chocolate chunk cookie was pretty difficult. My friend had the same difficulty deciding between a parfait and a ham and Swiss sandwich. Although the over-pricing of the sandwich swayed her to go with the fruit and yogurt parfait.
       As far as pricing goes, they are about equally over priced. Whether you go to Starbucks or Charlie Browns you are being ripped off. Personally, I prefer Starbucks for a myriad of reasons. Firstly taste. Charlie Brown coffee drinks taste stronger, I do not know if they necessarily are stronger, but they do not blend their favors as smoothly as Starbucks does. Charlie Brown Cafe's drinks have very distinct tastes. I also prefer Starbucks because of their accommodation options. Given the recent discovery of an ulcer in my stomach lining, my diet has become very limited very quickly however due to their soy options there are still multiple drinks I can get at Starbucks. Thirdly, believe it or not all Starbucks locations are kept kosher, so I can drink them without my family nagging me. So next time that caffeine monkey jumps on your back where will it take you?
    

Mi Pueblito, Me Likey

         As a given I always have to embarrass my Big. And luckily most days, I do not have to work very hard at it. Since we can both eat Mexican food for days, we decided to have dinner at Mi Pueblito in Cotati the other night. We have never had a bad experience there, and that is a lot because we eat there quite frequently. I usually fill up on chips and salsa before we even get the chance to order, so its pretty cheap for a broke college student. However, this is your warning, their salsa is really spicy, tasty, but spicy. The chips are perfect, they are oily but not too oily, and salty, but not too salty. They have that perfect crisp, so they break easily but not into a million pieces that fall all over your lap while the cute waiter is trying to take your order. Big plus ladies, the waiter I have almost every single time is just as tasty as the food.
       It had been a really long day of not eating very much so my Big and I were starving. Usually I'm a pretty decisive person and can make big decisions such as what to order, pretty quickly. But tonight, I just could not decide between a cheese enchilada or a wet super vegetarian burrito. Obviously I picked the easiest yet least practical solution and ordered both. It was worth the expression on the cute waiter's face when he realized that after downing two bowls of chips and salsa I was ordering two meals. Not realizing my endless eating capabilities, we are pretty confident that he thought I was a preggo eggo.  That shows you waiter boy, I do not need to be pregnant to eat for two, I can do it all on my own.
       Ordering both meals was clearly the wise choice. Both were amazing. The enchilada sauce was one of the best I have ever had, not too spicy and not too creamy but not too thin or watery either. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of having a wet burrito from Mi Pueblito, stop what you are doing with your life and go get one. The super vegetarian had rice, beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, and (I know its strange but I promise lots of Mexican restaurants put these in their veggie burritos), broccoli, carrots, and zucchini. Since their burritos are about the size of a new born, you will never leave this restaurant hungry. You will leave like we did, barely able to keep your jeans buttoned. I promise, it is worth the bloat. Another positive aspect of eating here is that unlike some other restaurants in the area they are really student friendly and even host multiple fundraisers throughout the semester. In an area that is not so college-town friendly, it is really rewarding to find places that appreciate the business the students bring.

Oh hey, St.Patty

As a very proud Irish girl I prepared for St.Patty's day for weeks. I had class until 4:40 and then it was time to make my ancestors proud. I bought my ticket for the Get Lucky dance at the Phoenix two weeks in advance, and dropped some serious bank on a new green-liscious outfit. My guess is that being a broke starving college student, I have a very different definition of "serious bank" than others, but put yourself in my financial state and I promise you will understand the pain I feel each time I hand a sales associate my pink hello kitty debit card. As the day of my people came closer, I got more and more excited. As the beginning of the week approached I could barely contain my excitement. Not having any Monday classes, I spent my Monday at my friends house writing a paper we had due the next morning, and left around 10 happy and ready for a late night adventure with my roommates. I crawled into bed around 3 AM knowing I had begun my week on a great note. Then it happened.
            5 AM rolled around I sprung out of bed and made a mad dash for my bathroom. Something, a lot of something, was coming up. I will spare the details and just explain that I woke up on my bathroom floor about 12 hours later with the chills, body aches, and according to my nifty digital thermometer a fever of 101.5. Just my luck that my roommates were all out at the time, so I texted all of them demanding tylonel and company. Two minutes later my hero was standing over me with water and tylonel in hand. When she turned the light on it was as if there was a halo on her head and a hallelujah chorus praising her presence. However, I quickly began to resent her when she looked down at me, told me I looked like crap and insisted on taking me to the emergency room. Going to the ER meant walking to her car, a function I did not feel capable of. After the slowest and longest walk of my life, followed by sleeping in her car we arrived at the Petaluma Valley Hospital Emergency Room. I was poked and prodded and constantly told how horribly sick and pale I looked. 7 hours, 2 IV bags, 5 pills, and 2 doctors later I was back in my own bed. Being the responsible patient that I am all I could think about was Thursday night.

             Wednesday morning rolled around and I told myself it was all psychological, if I said I was okay and acted as if I was okay, I would be okay. Obviously that worked out real well for me, because I slept the day away and was sent home from the one class I tried to attend. Before I knew it, it was here. St. Patty's Day, this is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill, the real thing had finally arrived. I was ready. I had the outfit, I had every minute of my day mapped out, I was about to make this day my b*tch. Apparently some higher power thought that my weeks of preparation were just not enough, because next thing I knew I was sick as a dog and my roommate was dragging me back to the all too familiar Petaluma Valley Hospital. After what felt like a lifetime, another 2 IV bags, endless visitors, and more pills the doctor arrived. Behind him were the two people I least expected to see , I knew the shoes before their faces were even in site and as my jaw dropped to the ground they began to laugh endlessly. They knew what shock I was in. I sent the much needed "hide everything" text to my roommate who had stayed behind, and looked up to find my parents standing over me. Hoping it was a hallucination I squeezed my eyes shut just to hear that familiar "Melissa Leanne what are you doing?"
           HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING? what did I do to deserve this kind of St.Patty's Day? What was supposed to be the best day of the month was turning into a nightmare. After being released I had to stay behind while my friends partied and went to the dance. I despised and resented each one of them for leaving me in bed on my 36 hour all water diet. Although the night was not a total waste, two of my friends who had opted not to go out stayed with me and we may or may not have pulled some amazing pranks in the party goers rooms and cars. If any questions were asked, we plead the fifth.

A Mary Valentine

It was that time of year again. Roses, chocolates, teddy bears, and jewelry seemed to be around every corner. Then there were the stereotypical bitter single girls who spent the day angry and burning old love letters. I chose to make the best of my first Valentine's Day as a single girl since my junior year of high school. I wrangled up my single girl friends and we had a girls day, which of course had to include dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack in Rohnert Park. Being a well experienced customer, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect when going in for dinner on Valentine's Day.
We entered the restaurant to find families, a few younger couples, groups of girls, and a few lonely older gentlemen at the bar. After glancing at the menu for all of a minute, CJ, Katie, Aviana, and I settled on starting with salads and then getting our usual, the pesto chicken pizza, half without chicken. Of the few times that my friends and I have found the motivation to actually go eat-in at Mary's rather than take advantage of their convenient order for delivery, we have never had anything less than a great experience.
After scarfing down approximatetly three bread baskets, our salads arrived. One Mary's salad and one Caesar without chicken, (my friends are amazingly flexible about my vegetarianism). The salads were obviously delicious, there is not one thing on the menu at Mary's that I would feel unconfident about ordering.
Finally, out came the big daddy, our large pesto chicken was on its way. I could smell it before our waitress even turned the corner. The four of us devoured that pizza like hyenas on a poor dead animal.
The night was great. Our waitress obviously new we were four single gals just sticking together on Valentine's Day and was very careful not to wish us a happy Valentine's until after she had received her tip. Clever girl. We all went home full and happy to watch movies and bake chocolate cake.