While cold rain drizzled on Golden one Sunday morning, I was on a hunt for a heartwarming breakfast, but every café and bakery I stopped at was closed. When I found Higher Grounds, I instantly knew that this was exactly the cozy type of place that I was hoping to find. The walls were hand-painted a warm yellow texture, and the acoustic guitarist was strumming the type of music that made me want to sit down with a warm drink while my mind drifted into his melodies. Literally almost every seat in the dining area was taken, and some customers who walked in clearly made a last-minute decision to forgo sitting in

an empty seat at a table of strangers and instead took their orders to go. The same thought crossed my mind while I stood in line to order and surveyed the room, but meeting strangers was the whole reason why I was in this town, so I was not going to pass over this almost forced opportunity to meet new people.

I ordered my standard hot chocolate and was delighted by the character exuding from the uncommonly shaped, hand painted mug that I was given. Looking around the room, I realized that everyone had a different shape and color of mug and that mine was actually