Stuff I Will Try Not To Buy Now That I Am Unemployed

I think I will succeed at resisting most of these.

Except the Starbucks.

Foursquare!

Still lovin' me some geolocation...

Apparently I've been too busy checking in at various Starbucks to actually BLOG... :-\

I *love* my new iPhone!

AND I LOVE FOURSQUARE!

Starbucks VIA® Iced Coffee

The nice folks at Starbucks provided me with some free samples of their new Starbucks VIA® Iced Coffee! Great way to build buzz you guys -- hand out free samples! I love free stuff. (I actually got it VIA this promotion, which is now over.)

ANYhoo, I'm sippin' it right now, and I'm happy to report that it is a VERY satisfying glass of coffee. It's pre-sweetened and made to be used "on-the-go", so it blends easily with cold water. Preparing it as they recommend would work great for most fans of Starbucks drip. But I'm one of those people who needs ALOT OF SUGAR AND MILK in her Starbucks -- otherwise, it's a little strong for me. Okay, it's ALOT strong. So I added 2 sugars to mine, as well as a generous splash or 3 of half-and-half. :-)

These small adjustments made it pretty much the best iced-coffee I've ever prepared in my own kitchen.

Promotional consideration provided by Starbucks Corp.

My Last Quad-Venti Mocha

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you: my last quad-shot venti mocha. I have never -- and will never again -- pay $5.50 for a coffee. I don't care HOW many shots are in it, or what exotic wild animal pooped out the coffee beans.

At these prices, they should install defibrillators in the stores. I almost had a heart attack when they told me what I owed 'em.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.

Ladies & Gentlemen: I give you... THE MOTHER LODE. The Big Kahuna. Bliss in a Paper Cup.

I give you: the Starbucks Quad-venti Peppermint Mocha. With whip. Full fat.

Oh yes, my friends.

This is how I will make it through to January.

And so... it begins.

It begins innocently enough.

A mocha here, a latte there... maybe a Frappuccino® on a hot day.

Some days, you're just DRAGGIN'. You consider The Big Daddy, The Path From Which There Is No Return, The Walk On The Wild Side: the Quad Shot. But, you resist.

Years pass.

Then one morning, there you are, and the words are coming out of your mouth before you can even stop them. "Make it a quad. WITH whip." Your trusty barista Alison gets that look in her eye, that look that sez, "Ahhhh, yes. I've seen THIS before." Is there a tinge of sadness in Alison's eyes as she watches you slide down that slippery slope? Or was it a kind of twisted satisfaction, seeing you come over to the dark side, where she herself dwells?

See ya tomorrow, Alison! w00t! BWAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!

I ::heart:: Sbux... AND my Sbux peeps!

I believe everyone knows by now how much I *lurrrve* my morning Starbucks. But what you may not know is that I also love having fellowship with my rad Sbux peeps every morning. Megan & crew at the store next to my campus are sooooo, so awesome, with their warmth and humor, always offering to make me a 27-shot mocha... I don't wanna start my day without them!

Sometimes they even write somethin' zany on my cup... or my husband's, when I'm buying for him...

Thank you, awesome Sbux peeps!!!

Spring break vay-cay

We've just returned from an absolutely *lovely* spring-break vacation in northern California. We did LOTS of awesome stuff...

We visited the Jelly Belly factory!

Celebrated Pesach with our dear friends!





Visited the Capitol in Sacramento!

Went to Gold Country -- we even went deep inside a mine!

And I might've visited a Starbucks or 2 along the way...


All in all, a lovely trip.

Now I can't wait to start planning our next getaway!!!

Oh, and if you'd like to see MORE trip photos, please visit my Flickr photostream!

Vacation Day 4: More Fishin', Plus Dinner in Mammoth

Yesterday, with our many near-misses in the fish-catching department, we were confident that if we went out again today, we'd FOR SURE catch something. Alas, we learned what true fishermen already know: when the fish ain't bitin', THEY AIN'T BITIN'. We came up with bupkis after 3 hours on the lake. So, we went down to Mammoth and drowned our sorrows in some Starbucks. Later, we found some awesome Mexican food at a place called Gomez's.

Still, a bad day fishin'... is better than a good day workin'. :-)

Live Blog From The Eastern Sierras!

Well, okay, I guess technically this can't be a "live blog". I guess for it to be a live blog, I'd hafta have been typing this as it occurred, which I'm not. However, I *am* at the kitchen table of our lodge/motel room in June Lake on Day 1 of our vacation, so that's pretty close! :-)

Here we see the events which have unfolded thus far:

First, our morning stop at a roadside Starbucks in beautiful Palmdale, CA.

Next we see a typical scene from a long-distance car ride with my young'un, in which he makes his presence known by using my head as a footrest.










And finally, the pies d'resistance (or however you spell that, I don't feel like lookin' it up) -- dining at my favorite restaurant in the region, the fantabulous Tiger Bar! Beer-battered french fries -- YUM-O!

Tomorrow we're going out on Gull Lake to do a little fishin'. That oughtta be interesting...

Kate Documents Her Love For Starbucks

Did y'all know I love Starbucks??? Well, I do.

Link to my flickr set here.

The Yard Sale

I'm not gonna lie to you people: I am not crazy about yard sales. Oh, I like going to them pretty well -- lotsa fun stuff to see and bargains to be had -- but I don't like throwing them myself. Still, we've done it probably 5 or 6 times now, with varying degrees of success. Our latest attempt occurred this morning, from about 8 until noon. E.M. likes to set up a snack stand, which is often one of the more popular attractions (people get hungry and thirsty when yard saling). The few highlights of the day included someone carting off our skanky old BBQ grill (but not until we'd reduced the price from $3 to $0!), and my beautiful girlfriend Donna arriving in the late morning with Starbucks for us.

Please enjoy these documentary photos.