coffee shops

I feel like even coffee-haters love coffee shops.
There's something really delightful about the coffee shop atmosphere.
It's imaginative, acoustic, mellow, warm, and smells amazing.

(Also, a lot of coffee haters still love the smell of coffee. Explain that.)

To love Starbucks is a given. It's the classic go-to.
But every once in a while, there's a coffee shop that was made for you. A real local treasure, the kind of place you could snuggle up into all day long and be perfectly, incandescently happy.
A place like Central Perk from Friends. 
In moments like those, in places like that, you could actually imagine that you're living the romantic life.

Yes, I am going to go and be a painter in Paris.
Yes, I'm going to teach art history in Italy.
Yes, I'm going to travel the world with nothing but my love, my backpack, and my sketchbook.

That's why coffee shops are so powerful, so necessary for the soul that is ever-hungering for romance and adventure and delight.
Also, coffee shops are powerful because they have coffee.

One of the best parts about moving here for Dusty's law school is that this community of people really cares about us. I was able to get plugged into the "Law Wives", which has been an amazing group of support, but has also been the source of most of my closest friendships.
Another great part about moving here has been the opportunity of exploration in our new home town!
So many rocks unturned, so many restaurants untried.

On the first of this month, we had a Law Wife trip over to Appomattox!
One of the new wives, Jessica, works at a coffee shop on Main Street, called Baine's Books and Coffee.

Photo from: Mid-East-Music.com

It's kind of magical.

Several of us carpooled and went down there together, and had such a fun night.
Every Thursday is open mic night, so there was a gathering of people there to sing and play their instruments for the whole place.
It's definitely a folksy, blue grass vibe, and it was the most fantastic mixture of people and styles.

This band was "Kinfolk", which is a local folk band featuring one of our law wives, Lisa Vogel!
It was really fun seeing them perform!

At one point, a lady went up there and played some indescribable Elven instrument (Kanun? Autoharp?) and began to yodel.
How often can you say you saw an elf yodel?

As unique as it all was, it was so wonderful to be a part of this entirely different world of people and music.
It was such a warm and cozy night, surrounded by friends, food and amazing coffee!

They make their own whip cream for their coffee, and it was divine.

I loved seeing/hearing our friends perform!
Our friend Caroline sang and played her guitar, and even joined Kinfolk on the banjo later on!

Jessica played the piano and sang - some of my favorites, like Fields of Gold by Sting. She was absolutely amazing! She finished her set with a song she composed herself, which was stunning.
(Check out her page, here, and listen to some of her compositions!)

One of the best parts of Baine's is that it shelves so much of the innate history of Appomattox.
There are rows and rows of books on the Civil War and the American South, but they also dedicate a lot of space for other genres as well.
They house books, music, film, pottery, art, musical instruments and more.

You can tell when you walk in that you're entering into a community.

 I hope to go back soon!

 If you ever find yourself in Appomattox, don't forget to spend some time on Main Street :)

In love,
Cait