I wish I didn't work within walking distance to them.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker anymore (...am I going to get kicked out of Seattle for saying that?) but let me tell you, when I need a pick-me-up, more than my usual morning tea is going to provide me, I go to Sugar Bakery.

The coffee is not acidic. It is hot, though, so mind your fingers if you get it to go.

They have pastries. Many pastries. They also have four packs of "day old" cookies, which I will occasionally buy, swearing to myself that I am going to be good and share them with my husband, but instead they end up being breakfast for four days in a row. (Okay, two days.) Have not tried their cake because I have to have willpower with something and cake seems a reasonable choice. On the other hand, those cinnamon brioche rolls do me in every time.

They have sandwiches, which take a little time but are solid for a quick "I forgot to pack a lunch this AM" moments.

Nice atmosphere, but I always get my stuff to go, so I can get back to the office fast. Super friendly staff.

Decided to dust off my Yelp account to give some love to some places I have recently loved...

I have been a client of Brandi's for a couple of years now, back when she was with the bigger salon, and have followed her to the private salon she now has. I am pretty low-key when it comes to doing my hair (as in "it gets done once every handful of months when I see Brandi, otherwise it lives in a ponytail 90% of the time"). I have thick, wavy hair that has a mind of it's own and Brandi layers it in a way that makes it a little less prone to looking like a cape blowing in the wind (you know what I mean!) and a little more like wavy hair that's naturally falling into manageable lengths by itself. And I appreciate that she does not overdo the product in my hair when she is doing it - I don't use much (any) product myself and have been to a few places that just about shellacked my hair into place.

Aside from appreciating the haircuts, she is an incredibly warm, easy-to-interact-with person. I highly recommend her.

I...have I really never reviewed this place? What is WRONG with me?

Hubs and I have a standing date night. This is how I kept my sanity and we stayed married through the past two very stressful years. Even though we no longer have that monkey on our backs, we continue our standing date night, though it's changed from "every Friday night without fail" to "one night a week that's more often than not Friday night but will occasionally be on another night."

So the real story here is that we attempted to go to Black Raven on a Wednesday night, having forgotten about the cask releases that happen those days. Place was packed so we bailed and wound up at Flying Saucer.

Flying Saucer is not necessarily our backup plan because at Black Raven, you can order their pizzas to be delivered TO YOUR TABLE. So our original plan was "Black Raven beer and Flying Saucer pizza" and while we weren't at the brewery, we were successful in obtaining both. Flying Saucer has Black Raven (and a couple of other locals on tap) and 8" and 10" personal pizzas that are freshly made after you pay for them.

It's not the cozy date night nook that you may want but it's family friendly, with old sci fi movies playing on TVs, and plenty of kitsch decorating the walls. I hear they do a Trivia Night as well but I don't live in that area so I can't verify that.

Regardless, our pizzas came to us in a timely manner, fresh from the oven, gooey melted cheese galore, and our beers were cold and tasty.

LOVE these guys and love the fact that we can each get a pizza we want without having to compromise. I'm all about compromise, believe me, but sometimes what I want isn't what hubby wants on that given day so having personal pizzas wins. They also have various other fun things on the menu - salad, hot wings, meatballs. I hear these are quite tasty but despite my best efforts to occasionally branch out, the Black Hole pizza wins me over every time.

Continuing the hunt for a study place...

Study buddy, who lives in Redmond, suggested this Panera to me. I hadn't quite hit on the cult following of Panera (unlike my husband, who is all about the bread) but I was promised big tables (needed when you have multiple books and multiple people) and good baked goods and a built-in lunch place.

So I agreed and high-tailed it over there.

Started with a non-fat mocha (REALLY tasty) and a bagel with cream cheese. Both were pretty good - the bagel was surprisingly large and surprisingly filling. For lunch later on, I had the mac and cheese (in my defense, I'd gone for a run that morning) and was given the option of a baguette, chips, or an apple to go with. I balanced my non-healthy meal with the apple.

And a ginormous diet Pepsi.

On my way out I also picked up a couple of sourdough rolls to go with the homemade soup I made for dinner that night and that was really tasty. Some of the better sourdough rolls I've had.

Overall: lots of seating (unless you come at the lunch rush, in which case, good luck), good atmosphere. Pretty good food. I'm interested in trying their sandwiches next. I still don't think I'm in the cult but I do have a rewards card now. Which grants you a free pastry when you activate it. (So I'll update this after tomorrow's study session and let you all know how the cinnamon roll tastes. I'm absurdly excited about that because I do love a good cinnamon roll...)