Latte With A Shot Of the Suburbs
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:04AM A couple of days ago, we trekked outside of the city to the land of the suburbs, where big-box stores, chain restaurants and apparently, coffee, are a plenty. Past the George Washington Bridge, as the buildings of New York City wilted in the rearview mirror and houses with green grass began to grow all around, the conversation in our car went a little something like this:
Me: Oh my gosh! Did you see that? That Starbucks had a drive thru!
Hubs: Yep, we're in the suburbs.
Me: Somehow I don't remember such glorious things. New York City may have flagship stores and designer boutiques, but point goes to the suburbs for having a drive-thru Starbucks. Vanilla soy latte?
Hubs: I don't know. Look at the line...of minivans.
Me: Geez! I guess this is the suburban equivalent of the Standard on a Saturday night, but instead of entourages there are carpools. I'm taking my point back.
Fast forward a couple of days later. CJ and I are back in the city where the buildings are tall and the yards are small, heading home from a day at the Lego Center in Rockefeller Center and who do we see bee bopping past Starbucks? It wasn't a minivan, I'll tell you that.
It was Mary Louise Parker {ahem, the actress from Weeds, amongst other things}. Suddenly, the notion of a drive thru coffee shop seemed to lose a bit of it's luster. Now, a Starbucks that delivers on the other hand...
What about you, loves? Have you ever had a celebrity encounter? Or is there someone you would like to bump into, at Starbucks perhaps?
Reader Comments (6)
So, I don't own a mini-van, but the drive-thru is brilliant when you don't have to unload child out of and back into the car with latte in hand...
Olivia - I can totally see the perks of a drive thru Starbucks when dealing with toting a toddler in tow! :) We never really drive anywhere, so we just walk to our Starbucks. Now, a Starbucks that delivers on the other hand...
George Clooney can bump into me anytime at Starbucks.....or anywhere for that matter! I did run into Meg Ryan once....she was introducing Robert Kennedy Jr. for an event at UCF. I was there selling his books and got lost in the back hallways. As I'm struggling with my cart of books, people start walking by me. I look up and there's Meg Ryan, short and skinny, with her entourage. Stunned me for a minute because I didn't know she was going to be there! That was pretty cool!
Well i am guilty of living in the burbs. I have a drive thru Starbucks in my neighborhood that saves my life every work day! I would love to run into my early youth love - John Mellencamp! Yes i do realize he is quit the old man now but i am still obsessed.
Mary Louise Parker is an awesome sighting! I've been living/working in the city for years now and I've yet to bump into a celebrity, though I did once see Gilbert Gottfried (sp?) in the Old Navy on 18th St. Yup, that's what I got! LOL!! Also saw Denzel after a small off- off-Bway production and he was shaking hands (okay, that's a good one) and maybe the guy from the hangover in Chelsea once, but he was scruffy and shooting and my gf and I couldn't be sure.
It's so hard to compare city living to suburban living. I've experienced both and it all depends on what you want out of life. I know a lot of city dwellers who move to the 'burbs and then complain about it but they get extra rooms for expanding families, backyards for dogs, cars for convenience. You just have to make a list of the pros and cons and see which list is bigger :)
I never really thought much about that ;). Living in the suburbs all my life I am guilty of overusing driveups. I recently said it would be nice if they had driveups for everything. Way up here in upstate NY it gets mighty cold. And way up here in upstate NY we are not used to walking ;) the way you are down there. Yup, we are lazy....