I order life like I order my lattes

If you're a simple person with simple tastes, then you know exactly the kind of person I am. You know, those people at Starbucks that make you roll your eyes and restlessly tap your foot while I order my coffee. I want a small,non-fathazelnutlattewithnofoam. One breath. Oh, and I refuse to conform to saying "tall, skinny latte." I'm ordering a drink. Not a hot blonde for a date.



The other day I was thinking about how everything in life that I choose is like my latte. It's never JUST a latte. I have very complicated interests. Whether it's food (no Japanese, seafood, or sushi, and no peanut or coconut based curries) or movies (nothing too deep or complicated, no cheesy, slapstick comedy), I am a simple girl with very complicated interests. But I think Starbucks is on to something. Why shouldn't you have your coffee exactly how you want it? I mean, I've heard people order their latte's at 120 degrees. Who even knows what that is?? But I agree with the principle behind this- Burger King has it too with their "have it your way" campaign.

Only every now and then, you find something that didn't fit your particular interests. For example, after my first failed LDR I refused to even date guys that lived outside of SF proper. No. My guy would have to be intelligent, driven, and live within the seven mile radius that I called home. Instead, I started dating anEast Bayer (which, as my good friend said, she "knew you were serious when you went to the east bay twice in one week") who didn't fit my smallnonfathazelnutnofoamlatte mold. But it turns out it was exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I needed.

On one hand, we feel we're entitled to exactly what we want. We want it our way and we've been taught that in this modern age, we can have it exactly how we want 95% of the time. But I can't help but wonder if we're missing the unexpectedly amazing things that fall outside of detailed descriptions of food/careers/styles/men that we think we should have. It's quite possible that we often let the good pass us right by while we're looking at the horizon for something exactly as we imagined it to be.

It's a dangerous trap we risk falling into. Perhaps it's high expectations. Perhaps it's narrow-mindness. But I'm sure I've passed up a good thing or two in the past and I'm sure I'll do it again. I'll continue to order my smallnonfathazelnutlatte just the way I like it, but I'll take good care to ensure that while I do that, I'm not passing up that unsuspectingly good new drink.

Days like this...

Make me feel like I'm in San Francisco. Fresh, crisp air and sunny skies... I wish DC was always like this...