MARLENE GRAHAM starts her coffee-overdosing tour in Naples Florida!

You can contact Marlene Graham at marlenegraham@earthlink.net

 

My routine most days of the week is fairly predictable. I get up early; harangue my 17-year-old son until he gets out of bed assuming it is a school day and take him to Barron Collier High School; then I drive all the way across town to my real estate office on 5^th Avenue South, open it up, quickly click-clack my heels with me in them obviously, to the 5th Avenue coffee shop at the end of my block; say hi or do one of those half-wave things to various people I have seen for some portion of the 10 years I have been patronizing the place (through three owners, incidentally); and then I hurry or scurry (take your pick of terms) back to my office, sit at my desk, get on the computer, talk to my peeps, whatever, and my day is on its way.

 

Since I own my office of Downing-Frye Realty, I don’t have a lot of “so-called free time” now that the sales are finally starting to pile back up (hallelujah!) and I have lots of bills to pay from the past three years of real estate horror. But having said that, I decided to shake things up a bit with my limited time and throw a bit of un-routine into my routine.

 

Now I know this is not in the grand scale of many of the things I have done in the past. (For a glimpse of those, check out www.mostinterestingwomanintheworld.com) However, since I own a lot of domain names (www.domainingindustry.com) some of which I sell and some of which I point to various of my real estate and tourism websites, I have decided to develop out these names of mine -- www.naplescoffee.com and www.naplescoffeeshop.com, and www.naplescoffeeshops.com -- by visiting a different coffee shop several times a week and writing about that experience that morning, no matter whether exciting or mundane.

And so here we go!

 

March 3, 2010

My first visit in years to a coffee shop located at the Barnes and Noble in the parking lot of the Waterside Shops in the Park Shore neighborhood of Naples Florida.

 

Honestly, I didn’t know it was a Starbucks, but I guess it is only fitting that I start with this place since it is so well known and, as it happens, watching the history of Starbucks on television last night – along with my suggestion to a friend some weeks ago that we start checking out coffee shops near his work prior to work – was the impetus for this mini-adventure of stuffing myself with “morning coffee” at non-regular venues.

When I walked into this shop it was very quiet. Nearly every table was taken by someone, mostly reading books, newspapers, or tapping away on computers.

 

I got in line to order a regular black coffee and since my choice was not medium or large, I wound up with the smaller variety which I still have trouble calling a “tall.” I tend to be a logical person and, therefore, have difficulty playing the marketing game when things don’t make sense to me. It would be like me asking for milk knowing I really wanted coffee.

 

The lady asked me if that was all I needed “sir,” which prompted me to say I must have really wasted money on that sex change operation. She laughed, as did some of the people in front of me in line. At least I had something to write about.

 

I grabbed a tiny “table for two” wedged between two other tables for two, one taken by a lady working away on a computer and her middle-school aged son who would occasionally peer around to the screen from his chair on the opposite side. His flexibility made me think of Gumby.

 

To the right side was an older couple from Beaver, Pennsylvania, Gene and Madeline. We started up a brief conversation during which Madeline pointed out one lady walking past, looking for a chair whom she said she thought actually worked there. Must have come in to socialize on her day off, she surmised. We did see her kissing the cheek of an older lady there so she must have been meeting up with a friend or family member.

So now we talked about the town of Beaver and why it was named Beaver. Madeline said something about some Indians and so when I asked if there was a tribe named the Beavers she said she didn’t really know, but that there was an animal named a beaver and that there might be a lot of beavers in the area. By now I realize she doesn’t really know why Beaver is called “Beaver” and so when I have time I will check that out. I couldn’t resist telling her, though, that I did know there was an animal called a beaver :  ). 

 

I asked if it was always this quiet and she said yes, so now I suddenly felt I needed to talk in hushed tones so as not to disturb the others around me, especially after the only other talking people vacated their table.

 

My new friends by the way have owned in Naples for about 15 years at Beachwalk on Vanderbilt and spend six months down here a year. They said they liked to eat lunch out and often go to the First Watch. And lest you wonder what Gene and Madeline look like, I am including their photo. Yes they knew I was going to write about this. And I didn’t want to find out too much about them because my desire for details would have kept me writing about them all day and I just don’t have the time.

 

So there you go. My first exciting coffee shop experience and I am writing these notes between calls to real estate clients. Two deals in two days – yippee!

 

See you the next time I go to a Naples Florida coffee shop. If you have any coffee shop suggestions let me know at marlenegraham@earthlink.net and if you know someone who wants to buy real estate please REALLY let me know.   :   )  

 

Heck you can even call me at 239-821-9046. That way I will make money to buy more coffee!

 

Comments

[Mari]

We are considering retnacliog to Fort Myers due to my husband has family there June 7th or so. We were interested in learning more about the school and summer camps. Also the scholarship if affable. I have two sons. One who is 6 and has been diagnosed with PDD and one who has been diagnosed tourettes OCD and ADHD. Also possible Aspergers.