The Attorney version of Crack

I don’t advocate taking stimulants to keep you awake or sleeping pills to help you sleep. If you’re eating right, exercising and getting to bed at a reasonable hour, “enhancers” aren’t needed. And your body should regulate on its own.

But not today. And not any Monday. Monday’s have their own set of rules. Today is a coffee kind of day.

Mr. Cob and I wanted to spend as much quality time together as possible yesterday for Valentine’s Day, so I didn’t go to bed until close to midnight. Then I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep for another half hour only to be woken up by Miss Wrigley romping around the room at 4am. She whined and barked a little, but not seriously so we thought she was just bored in the middle of the night (no, this is not her typical behavior, but I was groggy and not thinking clearly). Interruption #2 came a little later when she hurdled herself over the “baby/dog gate” that keeps her in our room at night, causing a loud bang as it knocked to the ground. We still didn’t get the hint. Finally at 6am, I woke up to the smell of poo. Not a good smell. Wrigley was sick. In our room. So I had to deal with that. (Side note: I know it’s our fault for not taking her out. She tried to tell us she didn’t feel good. But it was raining. And did I mention it was 4 in the morning? This is why we need a fence – if we had a fence we could’ve just let her out. But we were both too lazy and sleepy to get dressed and take her out on a leash. And then we paid for it. We’re in trouble whenever we have a baby and have to feed in the middle of the night. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. This is exactly why we got a dog first. We need to work out the kinks. And clearly, there are kinks. Don’t judge.) Needless to say I didn’t get any REM sleep between the hours of 4 and 8 am.

Today is definitely a coffee kind of day. But I held strong until 2:05 pm, convincing myself I would eventually “wake up”. But then I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed a jolt. Lucky for me (not so lucky for my wallet or hips…) there is a food court beneath my building. That’s right, I said beneath it.

First thing every morning I’m smacked with the delicious aroma of chicken biscuits from Chik-fil-A. But I resist. Then all day I sit here knowing that I’m just one elevator ride and 20 stories away from Moe’s, Subway, Checkers (a new addition), sushi, Chinese food, Great Wraps, etc. etc. Did I mention that there’s a Great American Cookie Company down there taunting me with their gigantic icing filled cookies? Most days I resist.

One thing that helps me fight off temptation is seeing the lunch food already sitting out at 9:00 in the morning when I stroll into work. The food is just warming under those bright florescent lights. For hours. It’s disturbing if you think about it.

But I also know there’s coffee down there. Caribou was calling my name. It was also calling my name from our break room down the hall. But that’s beside the point. Office coffee isn’t the same – even if we do brew the same Caribou blend that I pay to drink downstairs. It’s different. The taste is richer. Or something.

Luckily for me (and my wallet), Caribou understands what Mondays are all about. Caribou feels my plight. They know times are tough and people are cutting out “frivolous” items, like coffee. (Though I could make a strong argument for the non-frivolousness of coffee, especially on Mondays, but I digress). Thankfully for me, Caribou has Dollar Mondays. My medium coffee only cost $1.08. So I feel a little less guilty paying for coffee that I could drink for free if I just walked down the hall.

So now I’m content. And caffeinated. Which equates to alert and ready to get down to reading some statutes. At least until the caffeine rush crashes. Then I’ll be back to square one. But I’ll deal with that when it comes. Perhaps with a cookie. There’s nothing like chasing a caffeine high with a sugar high.