When you get one of those good book in a cozy nook with the perfect smooth coffee and a little bit of something sweet and decadent, what kind of coffee and decadence are you having? For me its a chocolate swirl cheesecake or in ice cream its vanilla storm, or gold medal ribbon or a DQ chocolate dipped cone. Coffee changes for me. When I was a young adult going to the Second Cup in the Scarborough Town Centre I would always get a mocha coffee. That was when they made it with a mocha bean, they don't seem to have that any more. Now I like the Ethiopian or French vanilla from the Timothy's coffee place in the Newmarket, Upper Canada Mall. When I'm in the US its hard to find a good coffee. Barnes and Nobles is the only mega bookstore near us so I drag my husband there every month or so. Coffee just hasn't fully caught on in the US. At least that's what I have come to conclude.

The best thing I like to do on a laid back weekend day is browse around one of those mega bookstores, take the odd bit of notes in my notebook and dawdle over a good coffee. In Canada, Chapters is my favourite store. In the US I like Borders best but they don't have an outlet close enough. I'm hoping one will suddenly spring up.

Oddly enough, one thing I have not done is get a piece of cheesecake or anything like that when I'm in the bookstore. Either I'm being figure conscious or I just want to spare the books getting anything messy on them. Probably some of each. Its such a nice way to spend an hour or two I'd hate for the stores to change their way of doing things and stop people from browsing with their coffee. I have seen some pretty messed up books in the sale racks. Not just a little crumb or a tiny spill of coffee. Some of the books have been very badly damaged. I bought one for 75% off, it was about making rustic furniture. It was a treat for me to be able to buy the book. I wouldn't have if it had been full price. But I doubt the book's writer or the bookstore would feel pleased about it. Its a shame people aren't more careful.

I'm not an angel or some perfect puritan type. I think I'm stretching the rules when I make notes of the odd URL from the books and magazines I skim. I don't usually walk out without buying something, I tend to know what I want to get when I go in there. But, its not exactly ethical to take the information from the books I'm not buying. Still, I reason that the URLs themselves are public knowledge and public property. I don't think the book's writer can copyright the URL, just their review of the site and the rest of the book or magazine article's content. So, I go ahead, feeling at least a little guilty.

Chances are I will be a book store employee in my next life. I'll spend eight hours a day putting books away and being pleasant to people who have just dumped a cup of coffee on the rustic furniture book, originally selling at $50. At least I'll have an employee discount, though I'll have spent my pay cheque before I leave the store.