February 9th, 2020
La Colombe Coffee, 400 Lafayette St, NoHo
*This review is not sponsored or in collaboration with any affiliation. All opinions are my own.
Ordered: Latte, regular milk ($4.75 + tip)
Quality of coffee: smooth, not too hot (personal favorite thing), average latte nothing too special about it particularly
Quality of service: very quick, line wrapped around the countertops, some confusion with those in line whose drink was whose, baristas were casual but a little disorganized
Chain? Yes, there are multiple of these around Manhattan! Other locations: South Village, SoHo, TriBeCa, Chelsea, the Theatre District, the Financial District
Atmosphere: Small space, makes it hard to find room to sit and work. There are some standing tables in the back towards the pickup area, where guests are welcome to stand and do work. Some seated tables at the front and at the sides of the shop. Limited countertop seating. Don’t be surprised if a customer is taking up two spots (one for her, one for her backpack). Dim lighting with low hanging lights but windows brought in natural light on this semi-cloudy, semi-sunny day. More of a cafe feel, than a calm coffee shop. This is the kind of place where you can come to chat with a friend, take a business call OR read your novel and work on your laptop. Not too loud, but if you’re the kind of person that needs absolute quiet to read, this isn’t for you. The fact that it is a popular shop in Noho and East Village creates a hustle and bustle that is met with crazy lines and busy baristas.
Student Discount? None
Yes, I know this series is called “Sunday Morning Coffee”. I’m still working on the “morning” part, okay? Let’s talk about my morning, shall we?
My body rises with the sun, my mind however does not. I know full well that when that sun comes shining through my roommate Doris’s window, that the day has started. However, on this particular Sunday, I wasn’t ready. Last night I was up until 2am doing Macro homework, something that I thought I wouldn’t be saying this semester, but here we are. Yay for college! Around the time I finally decided to go to bed, I had received my 90% from the problem sets that are due tonight, had rounded together all of my Chapter 3 notes that I took, and I couldn’t wait to fall asleep. And, not wake up until 8am, at the very least.
I love Sunday’s, I really really do. I just wish they lasted longer. I carried out my normal Sunday morning routine of showering, getting dressed, wrestling with my damaged hair, planning out my day in my Day Designer, and doing the day’s chores. I waited for my friends to text back saying what time we would get brunch in the esteemed Third North Dining Hall. I sat around in an empty apartment, with all of my roommates gone on their weekend endeavors, while drinking a cup of tea and staring out the large window in my bedroom. Quirky, I know. Post-brunch, I started to get together my things and head to the coffee shop of choice. La Colombe Coffee was actually supposed to be last week’s shop, but as circumstances would have it, I never made it there. Today was as beautiful a day as any (given that it’s February) to go for a walk, something I hadn’t had the chance to do since coming back to New York this semester. I remember last semester, my Writing professor had scolded my class for not “getting out” enough. He said that we live in this amazing city, there’s always something to gain from just walking around. I haven’t stopped thinking about this conversation since. That’s one of the real reasons I do this series, I think. A, because it's a tradition between my father and I to grab our Sunday cup o’ joe and just talk. And B, because I want to explore this city for all that it is. I am not a New Yorker, and no matter how long I live here or how many times I jokingly claim it as my “home”, I am not a New Yorker and Manhattan isn’t “mine”. I do love it though. The same way that I would go for walks in my hometown, fresh coffee in hand, just watching and listening to the world around me. It feels too good to be true.
I’m a sucker for a good-looking building. I wish I knew more about Architecture so I could look at an old church and understand the significance of the stone that surrounds it and the carvings that are embedded. But since I’m not an architect, just an average music student who enjoys a good walk around the neighborhood, I’ll stick to just looking at nice buildings and acknowledge their niceness.
In other news, I’ve been in a perpetual state of negativity lately. I don’t know if it was my period mood swings, or my anxiety, or school, or a combination of all three, but I have not been okay. Which I know sounds sad, but I’m actually fine. I feel like I’ve just been going through the motions, floating if you will, through school and with friends and life in general. I wake up, do some variation of a morning routine, go to class for somewhere between 6 and 8 hours a day, try to find time to eat and take naps somewhere in there, watch desperate housewives (I’m on season 7 right now), and do homework until I can’t anymore. On the weekends, I hang out with friends and try not to get anxiety every time we go out. It’s a process, for sure. But in general, I am very happy with my life. I love where I love, I love how I live, I’m becoming a better person with each day that passes. Yeah, I’ve had shitty days everyday for like the past two weeks, but I think (strong emphasis on the “think” part) that I will be fine. I’ve found that there is a definitive difference between being happy and being content. In general, I am very content. Things could be worse, they definitely have been before, and this is not that. I’m still working on ways to be happy.
I tried a new workout class (see Pure Barre Review here), and I would like to get back into that. Even though it was hard as hell, I need something. Gyms are just not doing it for me. I’m still very afraid of going to public gyms. I started taking vitamins and putting collagen into my morning coffee, and I’ve already started seeing improvements in my skin from the combination of the two. I have a regular morning and night skincare routine. For the most part, I eat healthy foods and eat three times a day. I’ve been meal prepping, which has been taking the stress off of my 6am rise, 8am class schedule and combating hunger through those classes. Although recently, I’ve found that I haven’t been drinking enough water and I really don’t know when or how that started. I used to be so good about it and then one day I realized all I had consumed was Snapple and coffee. Cue headaches and dehydration. I’ve also been trying to do more things for myself, like journaling, reading the news to stay informed on current events, and reading novels. In January, I finished When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger (the sequel to her novel The Devil Wears Prada) and I’ve recently started Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming. One of my resolutions for 2020 is to read a new book every month, as opposed to one book for 4 months because I don’t make time for myself. The journaling has not been going well, I must admit. I haven’t been able to sit myself down for five minutes and actually force myself to journal. For one week back in January 2019, I was able to do it. I know that I can, but like I said I never make time for myself to reflect. Check back in a week to see if i’ve accomplished this goal. Reading/listening to the news everyday has been going okay, I usually have time to listen to The Daily on the walk to class, or skim the headlines in The New York Times Newsletters while waiting in lines or 5 minutes before class starts. However, I have not been doing so hot with studying and practicing languages. I told myself this would be the year I finally studied Italian and French. Though I have two years of French under my belt, I’m finding it difficult to pick back up the daily practicing. I took Italian last semester, but on my second day of class in Professor Gualdi’s Elementary Italian 2, I dropped it. I was thoroughly not enjoying myself. After the last couple of years I decided that if I don’t enjoy doing something, I’m simply going to stop doing it. It’s just that easy. So with Italian, although I love the language and want to continue learning, sitting in a classroom for an hour and fifteen minutes 3 days a week while the professor shouts things at me that I can’t understand, was not going to be the way I learned it. Bring on the Duolingo!!
Yesterday I went into the city for the first time in a while (at least while it was daylight). I was sitting in my bed on Friday night complaining to absolutely no one but myself how I don’t get out enough. There are so many sights to see and things to do in this city, and I constantly feel like I do none of them. I see friends going to fun dinners, going to museums and shows and such, I feel that I don’t do enough of that which is a shame. Then, my friend Frederic texted me to hang out on Saturday, almost like he was reading my mind. Prayers were answered and we went to Grand Central Station and Bryant Park the next day, ate Pret A Manger in the park and walked around the kids and parents ice skating and eating gourmet waffles and drinking gourmet hot chocolate.
Thank you capitalism! I decided then that it was about time I got out more. I took a look at my “Things to Do” spreadsheet that I made back in October when I was feeling the same things I was now and started to look up locations for next weekend. Needless to say, I have the travel bug ladies and gentlemen.
In other recent news, I have recently acquired Valentine’s Day plans and I am very very excited for a weekend with my girls. For once, I’m actually excited to celebrate this holiday.
Currently: sitting on the 7th floor of Kimmel Center for Student Life, looking out the large windows onto Washington Square Park below me, listening to instrumental music by Saib (playlist link here). Content. Already very ready to get this week over with. Excited for the future.
Thanks for the coffee chat, I’ll talk to you guys next week. Dad, how was your coffee this morning?
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