Tuesday ~ Starbucks Tuesday Link-Up Edition

Happy Starbucks Tuesday Link-Up, friends!

I’m here in my office enjoying my weekly Starbucks beverage while listening to the classics.

Would you like to join me?

Here’s how:

1. Post about any specialty beverage that you had today or this week.
2. Include a picture or two! Phone pictures not only accepted but almost expected. *grin*
3. I’d be delighted if you’d include the new “Starbucks Tuesday Link-up” picture seen above, but it is by far not required to join me!
4. Once you’ve posted your drink, hop back on over here to my blog. See the little “Simply Linked” gizmo down on the bottom of this post? Fill that baby out!
5. Hit “submit” and watch me jump up and wave as I see you walk through the door!

Today I officially ushered in the fall season by ordering my all-time favorite fall/winter Starbucks beverage:

Carmel Apple Spice Cider

If you have not had the Carmel Apple Spice this fall, then you're fall has not officially begun. If you've never had the Carmel Apple Spice ever, then your entire life has not begun. It's that good.

Carmel Apple Spice & Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake: what a cute couple. :)

I didn't actually order a venti sized drink. They must have been out of tall cups, because they gave me the venti for the price of the tall. That's what I call an unexpected blessing. ;)

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Hope to see anybody join me here for coffee or tea sometime today! Everybody's welcome and feel free to bring a friend. *waves*

Friday ~ Announcement: Starbucks Tuesday Link-Up

Introducing:

Like coffee or any other kind of coffee-shop specialty drink?
Then let’s do coffee together!
Take a picture of any specialty beverage you might have at any point during the week 

(phone pictures are most definitely accepted!) 

and post about in on Tuesday, then link-up with me!
 

It can be hot or cold.
Coffee, cream or tea.
Straight from a coffee-shop or even homemade!
 
Will you join me THIS Tuesday??
Come on.
It’ll be fun.
 

Thursday ~ Little Letters (Special Link-Up Edition)

**In order to participate in Rissi's Little Letters Link-Up, I have bowed to the trend and written some little notes of my own**

Dear Autumn Barn Dance:

I am really looking forward to decorating you! Let’s turn our barn into a fall fairy-land, ok?

Dear Frock Coat that I Need to Finish Sewing:

Don’t worry, I WILL get you finished in time. No matter than I was commissioned to make you a year ago. ;)

Dear Rolo McFlurry:

Despite the fact that you originated in a McDonald’s….thou art delicious.

Dear Fire-fighters:

Thank you for everything that you do for us on a daily basis that we don’t even think about or know about. You people are my heros.

Dear Dr. Who Fans:

Pleeeease stop giving away crucial information! I’m anxiously awaiting Season 1 to arrive so I can finally embrace the bandwagon, but I don’t want to know anything before I start! 

Dear Niece/Nephie Due in May:

I can’t wait to meet you in 7 months! I really should have gotten a mini-van instead of a 5-seater.

Dear Classical Music:

You make it feel more like Fall!

Dear Mazda:

I was so excited to get to drive you today because you are finally clean and sparkly again!
 

Dear Home-Owners:
Just so you know...I LOVE house-sitting! Think of me when you go on holiday! *smile*

Dear Bobby Pins:
The many things I can do with you continues to amaze me! You're the Coca to my Cola!

Wednesday ~True Love's Kiss

If you've been hanging around my blog for the past year, you might recognize the lovely couple in the pictures below. Last summer, I had the immense privilege of taking my best friend's engagement pictures with her then soon-to-be husband. In December, I was once again given the pleasure of taking their New Year's pictures. And now it is with GREAT excitement that I was blessed to be a part of the next installment of their lives - their pregnancy pictures!

Tuesday ~ Starbucks Tuesday

Aaaaand ladies 'n' gents, we're back in motion with.....Staaaaarbucks Tuesday!  I've gone 2.5 weeks without any Starbucks and it frankly didn't faze me at all! Perhaps my coffee cravings are directly linked with driving to work, because that's the only time that I find myself irresistibly craving it. But here I am again, sitting in my office with some classic tunes playing, sipping away on a cup o' fall.

Yes, this is my FIRST fall Starbucks drink. And it is the:

Salted Caramel Mocha!

This was my first time trying the Salted Caramel and I expected great things. But on this side of the mocha, I can't say it's anything other than ordinary. It tastes like nothing special and I can't say that it has enhanced the feelings of fall. In fact, although you can't taste the salt as a blatant flavor, there's just something in it's flavor that missed the target for me. Perhaps it's the slightly stronger taste of coffee. Despite my great love for Starbucks I do not have a great love for an obtuse coffee flavor. Anyways, I'd give it a 3 on a scale of 1-5. (Hhmm....maybe I should make a little coffee scale and start rating the drinks?)

But as I've said before, pastries cover a multitude of sins and my Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake was just the ticket. :)

So, I'm considering a Coffee Link-up! Anybody interested? Like, take a picture of whatever coffee-ish beverage you might have during the week and then post about in on a Tuesday, with a link-up to me? Is this idea bomb-ish or brilliance? Talk to me, bloganistas!

Monday ~ In Which I Make a Come Back and Get an Award

You'd think that having two weeks off of work would have given me ample opportunities of multiple blog posts, but I guess I'm bound to disappoint you in that. It's been over a week since I posted, and it's been almost three weeks since we had a Starbucks Tuesday. If you've found yourself missing out on your no-calories cyber drink, check back again tomorrow!

One of the delightful things that kept me from posting was that in the second week of my holiday from work, I was house-sitting. And it.was.grand! I incidentally DID have the camera and I COULD have taken pictures and posted, etc...but you see...they had wireless. That is, wireless with unlimited data. Which mean....online movie marathons!! I just tallied up all the movies I watched, including shows, and ahem... the grand total was TWENTY movies, two of them having been watched twice, one of them being at least four hours. Yah, I was pretty much the girl on the couch underneath a laptop, drinking soda and eating potato chips. *grin* And for the record, Little Lady, my Pride & Prejudice's Darcy is still the hottest! Elliot Cowan may have been a better Darcy than Firth, but he can't beat Orlando Seale. ;)

Anyways, upon my arrival back to the bloggy-blog-asphere, I was informed of my awardship (enter that word into your dictionary, please) of a questionnaire/survey thing. I'm delighted to answer the questions, but I shall forgo the full eleven re-tags. If I tagged you and you don't like this kind of stuff, no prob. :)

{rules}

1. You must post eleven facts about yourself.

2. You must also answer the eleven questions the awarder has given you and make up eleven questions for your awardees to answer in turn.

3. Tag eleven fellow bloggers

4. Notify them that you've awarded them

5. No tagging back

6. And the eleven blogs you tag must have less than 200 followers.

{eleven facts about me}

 1) I never sleep in an unmade bed, even to the point where on several occasions, I’ve made my bed right before getting into it.
2) I like cottage cheese on chicken.
3) I love motorcycles.
4) When I was little, I got my head stuck in a chair back on Christmas day. My mom had to break apart the chair to get my head out. With pictures to prove it.
5) I have a thing for fire-fighters and paramedics. **find a happy place, find a happy place*
6) I’m the fourth of eight children and the loudest of all.
7) I’ve flown in an airplane well over 40 times.
8) I spent two years living out of a suitcase and “home” was a bus and semi.
9) I’ve been in a hot air balloon.
10) I am deathly afraid of being in water other than a swimming pool or bath tub.
11) My brothers say I have a song for every situation.

{Little Lady's Questions to Me}

1. Rain or Shine?
I’ll take an Irish day any day! Gray, rainy, cold….the stuff magic’s made of, in my opinion.
 

2. What was your favorite cartoon / movie growing up?
“Growing up” spans a good portion of my life (indeed, am I not still “growing up” to some degree?), but I”ll allot this form of “growing up” to my actual childhood. “And here we have the actual jungle location of the movie…Muppet Treasure Island!” The most quotable movie ever.
 

3. If you could be any character from a book, who would you be?
I have to admit being completely at a loss on this one.  The potential is truly overwhelming. (UPDATE: although while listening to my audio book during lunch break, I couldn't help but note to myself that it would be really cool to be Professor McGonagall...because she can turn into a cat!)
 

4. What is your favorite dessert?
Unoriginally - ice cream. :)
 

5. Favorite specialty drink (Starbucks/Biggby/Etc.)
It periodically changes, but this past summer it’s been Starbucks’ White Chocolate Mocha Frapp.
 

6. Favorite screen/literary couple?
Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe.
 

7. What is your favorite restaurant?
Red Robin ranks pretty high up there. I’m a beef burger kinda gal.
 

8. What is your favorite color and why?
Definitely blue. Because it’s a fresh, cleansing kind of color.
 

9. If you had to eat one food forever, what would it be?
Pepperoni pizza, dawg. :)
 

10. Mascara or blush?
Mascara! I almost never wear blush. I'm a firm believer in the power of eye make-up.
 

11. Is your hair color natural? 

It is! I dyed it once or twice, but neither dye jobs turned out well (especially the one that turned orange…), so I grew it out. I do have an unquenchable desire to have dark “chestnut” brown hair, but don’t want the pain of re-dying and eventually growing it out again.

{Questions for the Awarded to Answer}

To make it simple, why don't you just answer the same ones I answered? Little Lady did a frabjous job, and I hope she graciously doesn't mind me not only using her questions, but also stealing her questions format. 'Member, copying is the sincerest form of flattery. ;)

{The Awarded}

Breanne

Meghan (Just As I Am)

KatySuePillsbury

Coming soon: pictures of a couple that may or may not be familiar to you!

Thursday ~ Birthday Eve S'mores

One of my favorite institutions of our family is the celebration of "birthday eve." The night before someone's birthday, we'll have some kind of treat and often pop on a movie and watch it all together. It's a simple thing to do, but it's one of those things that I've seen bring my already super close family even closer. Birthday Eve's are a forever tradition in my book.

We actually had a conglomeration of treats this time: leftover cheesecake, homemade apple dumplings, and a "private showing" of s'mores. By happenstance, Katheryn (who's birthday it is tomorrow!), Stuart and I were left home for the evening by ourselves and I decided to bust out some of my s'mores supplies. And the way I do s'mores....is forget the Hershey chocolate - I use Reeses! (Brea: and that's Rees-ehz **wink**)

Wednesday ~ D'Vita Wednesday

Due to the wondrous advent of two weeks off of work, there was no Starbucks Tuesday yesterday. But despite the lack of Starbucks beverage, I have stumbled upon a marvelous homemade beverage of my own that I personally am thoroughly enjoying. Every day, as a matter of fact. :) Let me introduce you to the process of making liquid happinesss!

Ingredients: hot water, milk, Torani caramel syrup, Ovaltine chocolate mix, whipped cream...and the magic ingredient: Caffe D'Vita Mocha Cappuccino mix!

If you've never had D'Vita, then please do yourself a favor and go buy some! For my big zebra cup, which is my favorite mug (being a passionate follower of the color zebra), I use about 2.5 heaping spoonfuls of D'vita, and one heaping spoonful of Ovaltine. Today, I ran out of Ovaltine, and so had improvise with regular baking cocoa and sugar. I like adding the chocolate flavor because it calms down the slightly harsher mocha flavor that the mix gives. It makes a perfect mocha/cocoa blend.

Add about 2/3 of water and 1/3 milk. 

Once you have the D'Vita/Cocoa drink, add a teaspoon of caramel syrup and top it off with whipped cream, preferably homemade whipped cream, which is undeniably the best kind.

It's as delicious as it looks!!

Monday ~ Seeking a Sunrise Adventure

I’ve been craving adventure lately. A need for something that I don’t see every day. Adventure outside the box of daily life. But living in a life and land where things steadily seem to stay the same, adventure doesn’t just pop up for me so easily. Which, of course means I have to go: adventure-seeking.

I have a passion for the sunset. But this past week, for some odd reason, I have been beckoned by the sunrise. Despite 25 years of life, I can’t recall a time when I actual sat and watched the rising of sun. I’ve seen its effects around me nearly on a daily basis, but never the witness of the orb’s first rays creeping over the distant horizon.

We got up at 5:30. I had to wake them all up to remind them we were going. We piled into my trusty Mazda and headed to a place we love. Because this place might be finding itself found in my posts more and more (it’s the same location as our evening get-away from two weeks ago), I am going to give it a name. Hero’s Crossing. **wink wink to my local peeps**. We headed towards Hero’s Crossing, driving directly into the faint dimming on the horizon. We parked and began walking. It was just barely light enough to not need a flash light by the time we got there. It was beautiful.

We walked to the top of the  hill and I noted to myself that I didn’t remember being that winded last time I walked to the top.

We positioned ourselves as best we could, to have the best view of the sunrise. We sat. And waited. And waited. It was cool, but not cold. The view from the hill overlooked portions of the golden valley. It was like seeing the pre-dawn world through sepia tones. We waited for almost an hour, which was not boring, as we talked, laughed, watched deer, explored the hilltop, watched for predatorial beasties, and had an all-around lovely crisp early morning…

And then. 

It rose.

And with the sun, what had at first been creamy hues of brown, became overwhelming shades of brilliant, firey orange. We watched until the entire circle of the sun had summitted the horizon and then hiked back down our little hill.

And after poking around in ruins of old buildings and under bridges of dried out creeks...we headed home, away from the sunrise.