The Ugly Mug- it's a tricky little hole in the wall

Over Thanksgiving break, I was able to go on my second excursion on the hunt for the perfect writing spot. I chose The Ugly Mug located at 317 West Cross Avenue. It is open Monday-Friday 6am to 9pm and Saturday-Sunday 8am-8pm...hours I can live with, plus this shop is also within walking distance from my apartment.

Once again, I brought my best friend Carla along. Her line of work is in the theater, both acting and stage management, leaving most of her day-times free. She hangs out at the Ugly Mug on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I had been to the Ugly Mug with her about a year ago, but it didn't leave an impression in my mind and so Carla kept urging me to return and evaluate the place for my mission.

At first look, I have to say I was not very impressed by the atmosphere. It was not at all like the coffee shops or houses that I am used too...you might even say that the inside is actually kinda ugly. The walls are made from dark cinder blocks which match most of the dark decor.

The lighting inside is also very dark and I imagine if you were stuck at a table without a lamp, it would be very hard to see at night. I am actually very sensitive to lights and am not a fan of fluorescent or bright lights, but the dark lighting with the dark decor is not a mood lifter. I also was not feeling the vibe of the heavy metal rock music in the background.

I did enjoy the fact that the art displayed on the walls is created by local artists and is for sale. Next to each piece the artist and how much they are asking for it is listed. The Ugly Mug does not just hang conservative art pieces that are ignored daily at other businesses, instead somewhat shocking and provocative pieces are hung. It gives them an edge. I believe the piece to the left was painted by Mallory Evens and she is asking for $400 or a $300 gift card to IKEA in exchange for the painting.

By the time I left, despite the dark lighting and the "hole in the wall," atmosphere I was in love with this place...why? Mostly because of the way they make their drinks! They are possibly the prettiest and the tastiest coffee drinks I have ever experienced, not to mention the person serving them was incredibly friendly in helping make a decision about what to order, without having to fake or force customer service at all...that's when I knew the run down environment was all a trick! That when you taste what they put in your mug you are more impressed than you will ever be!

The Ugly Mug is an Artisan Roastery, where they make their coffee manually with the machine shown in the picture to the right. The drinks are not expensive and no matter what you order whether it is hot chocolate, Chai or just a plain cup of coffee you will not be let down.
They do show more pictures of their drinks on their website.

That was the moment, I began to see why many of the seats in The Ugly Mug were filled, though seating was not difficult to find. The people there were also within Carla and my demographic this time. We ran into someone that lived down the hall from us our freshman year of college. Before we knew it we had a nice little group sitting at and around the table with us, which made our day at The Ugly Mug most enjoyable.

I still have other coffee shops to explore and I don't know if this is the place where I would feel the most comfortable getting work done, but it would be a nice place to relax with friends on a rainy day or get the uniquely gourmet cup of coffee without having to dress up for it at a fancy restaurant.

Primo Coffee

I wasted no time in my investigation and tonight I dragged my best friend Carla to check out Primo Coffee (Yes it does exist!) with me.

Something I forgot to mention in my criteria in looking for a coffee shop before is I would like there to be something unique and whimsical about the place I choose as my writing spot.

Based on this criteria, at first glance of Primo Coffee I was not impressed. There is the same traditional drinks, groovy lamps that hang from the ceiling, a couple cozy arm chairs and some wooden tables. I feel like it was made from a coffee shop cookie cutter.

Then I looked in their food case and saw their gigantic Primo muffins of all different sorts. The tops of them were so big that the muffins had to lay on their sides. So while the atmosphere here may be very provincial the food items were gourmet.

Also on my way out, I noticed they had plants growing on their windowsill, but not just in a traditional pot. There is actually a plant growing out of a leather boot. For some reason when I saw it I wondered if just maybe this is how Jack would've planted his beanstalk and points for Primo Coffee's uniqueness shot up.

I am not much of a coffee drinker and was planning on getting tea, but upon arrival they had a fantastic advertisement for a low-fat strawberry banana smoothie and I just had to get it. For a smoothie it was reasonably priced at $3.90 for a medium, not as cheap as I would like it to be...but hey for a bohemian artist (or anyone really) nothing ever is. It was delicious!

The comfy chairs here could be sat in for hours, especially while gazing into the flames of their crackling fireplace.

I did find I need to be patient with their free Wi-Fi because it is not as high speed as the highest speed internet I have at home, but if I'm coming here to get work done this may not always be such a bad thing.

It is quiet enough here. The music is not loud and disturbing, but has a beat to it that may just take me to far away land. I may not relate to the people here though. Everyone besides me and Carla either has gone gray in the hair or is bald. Not exactly in our five year post-graduate demographic, but no judgment, after all it is a Saturday night and our demographic may have more exciting things to do with their lives. At a different they may be here, in the meantime at least no one here is intimidating or disruptive.

All and all Primo Coffee is not too bad. I might have considered making it my spot except for one thing... the hours. I was very disappointed to get here at seven and discover the hours on the website were incorrect and this place is not open until 10pm or 11pm, but is only open until 8pm.

I will have to continue my search, however if I'm ever passing by here on my way home from the Ypsilanti Whittaker branch library I will not hesitate to stop for a smoothie or a muffin.

The Hunt Begins

That's right it's a hunt for my perfect place...and we're off! I accumulated a list of coffee houses that I plan to test as a writing spot. In making this list I made a few rules, which are listed at the bottom if you are interested, but for now I plan to visit each of these shops to see if any will help me become the writer I dream of becoming:

1. Primo Coffee House Does this place still exist?
2. The Ugly Mug
3. Perk and Brew I don't know if this place is still there either?
4. The Common Cup
5. Starbucks on Washtenaw Ypsilanti
   
6. Starbucks on Washtenaw Arborland
7. Starbucks on Carpenter
   
8. Espresso Royale
9. Biggby Coffee
10. The Coffee Lounge in Canton but I'm willing to give Cherry Hill a Chance
11. Beezy's
12. Harvest Moon Cafe
13. B-24's
14. Cafe Ollie
    

* Many of the places I found on the internet I know have gone out of business and so anything I found that I knew was out of business did not go on the list...duh, but some shops I think may be out of business, but I'm unsure did so we can see about them. I consider myself coffee house keen, since its more my scene than a bar is and some I have not heard of so I wonder if they are out of business or simply the best kept secret ever!
**There is no Bearclaw Coffee on my list because they are just stands.
***Most shops that were listed too far in Ann Arbor have been excluded because of the travel and parking effort.
****No Tim Hortons or Dunkin' Dounts because I have more class than that
*****Not in Canton or Plymouth since that is my hometown and I already know the perfect spot would be the Plymouth Coffee Bean which again has been excluded due to travel time
******Nothing on Eastern's Campus unless I am feeling nostalgic and writing/ re-living my college experience that day
*******Why not a library? Mostly because of hours and that would make writing seem more like work and like I said before, the purpose of this exercise is to make my writing an escape from my work...

Ideally, I would like to find a place that isn't corporate. I'd like to find a nice hipster privately owned by bohemians spot, but I am unsure this will happen given the hours I need the writing spot to be available to me and therefore places like Starbucks and Biggby still remain on the list.

Make the Time, Find the Place

I have decided that I am going to fight this identity crises, I am a writer and writing is what I will do dammit. I think what may have sucked the fun out of it for me was when I started thinking of writing as a second job...writing as work, instead of expression and escape. So, I just need to set myself up to work and make writing fun at the same time.

When I saw Margo Rabb speak-mentioned in a previous blog- she called the first part of writing a novel "coffee shop time." She said that she initially goes to a coffee shop sits there with a nice drink and spaces out in order to see her entire novel scene by scene like a movie. This sounded so appealing and relaxing to me that I am going to take her advice. This will be step one to writing my novel...

I just need to find a time and a place.

A time is easier to decide on, I work 9-5 Wednesday through Sunday and I don't see why after work I cant spend at least one evening spending time relaxing and writing.

A place is a little more difficult...I want to find a local coffee shop that is my writing spot. This will save valuable seconds deciding where I want to write each night. This writing spot of mine will require the following:

1.) Hours that fit with my schedule

• This will typically be about 6pm-11pm unless I go on a day off

2.) Inexpensive Drinks

• After all I am a bohemian and cannot afford to pay a toneach visit

3.) A cozy place to daydream and sit
4.) Local

• Preferably within walking distance or a place that has free parking

5.) People that do not Annoy me, will be friendly but not distracting

So my mission is set...and I choose to accept it: #1- start writing in free time and #2-hunt for the perfect coffee shop to become my writing spot...

Words of an Identity Crises

I haven't been writing and this is strange for me. Lately, it has crossed my mind that maybe I'm not a writer after all...and this is strange for me. There have been no journal entries, no short stories, no poetry, no novel and as you can see there is a major lack of blog entries.

Writing was something I did automatically as a child, something that came natural, something I needed to do to breathe, but lately...nothing.

Have I given up on this dream so easily? Is this part of my identity gone? Just two years ago, I was so set, so determined to become a writer. Why did I stop?

Was it just too difficult? Others were better than me and I couldn't stand the jealousy I felt? I wondered what the point was with so many other writers out there? Was there too much negative feedback? I find it hard to believe that would stop me...but did it? *shivers*

I am going to library school. I want to be a youth librarian, but did graduate school really cancel out ALL writing time? Will this soon turn into another librarian's blog? Bleh.

Why can't I do both? Today, someone must pick one career and spend all their time working toward it in order to succeed. God forbid, someone does decide to split their time between different interests, because then they are not considered dedicated enough to one...they will not become as much of an expert on one thing and for this they will not be respected enough to accomplish their goal.

My name is Angela Michelle Scott...and I am a writer...right?