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A Big Announcement

Soooo, I know I promised a Starbucks post soon to come. And trust me, it is still to come…but this is important. Big. Exciting (at least to me).

Here’s another random Starbucks picture to make up for the delay:

We good? Okay!

Here’s the story. A few weeks ago, I was having a random conversation with my SM and mentioned I was looking for something. Monday night, she called me saying her husband might have found it for me, did I want him to check it out? BOY DID I! But I tried not to get my hopes up.

Tuesday morning he went to look at it. They called me and said that everything looked good, so the ball was in my court. I took a drive out to see it, and unexpectedly fell in love. Tuesday night I ran it by my parents and we agreed to pursue obtaining this object.

Wednesday, Dad drove out to conduct his own investigation. All came back well. We put in a low bid…too low for the seller to be willing to accept. He told us that there was another buyer interested. I’ll be honest, I lost hope and pretty much gave up any thought of getting this item.

Thursday I went out to do a final inspection just on the off chance that the other potential buyer didn’t make a higher bid. Bad idea, because it only confirmed how much I wanted it. At prayer that night, I prayed the same thing that I had prayed Monday night: If I’m supposed to get this, please let it work out. If I’m not, then please make it fall through.

Today, Friday, we reached a happy money medium and tomorrow morning it’s going to be mine all mine!!!!!!! I’m very excited.

 

I gave three clues on Twitter tonight, each one giving a hint to a letter that spells out the object. Ready? Here they are:

1.  ”I never saw a moor, I never saw the ***, But know I how the heather looks….”

2.  It’s a kind of frame house.

3.  ”*** Town”

 

Can you guess?????

It’s a car!!!!! A cute little Honda Civic Coupe that handles just how I like it. Isn’t it pretty?

 

 

 

I need to spend some time with it to decide if it is a girl or a boy, and what I am going to name it. But with my busy schedule, the car and I will be spending a ton of quality time together. Like I said, I buy it officially tomorrow, then take it to my friend for him to do some minor repairs, and I should have my own wheels by next week!

Thanks for sharing in my good news with me!

 

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Green Beans

Today’s Friday Frame Up is actually a sneak  peek to a Starbucks post I’m working on! This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a local Starbucks: bins with a visual representation of beans at every point in the roasting process.

My only regret is that the merchandise was blocking the last panel, so it isn’t in the picture. Overall though, it is still a pretty cool thing to see at the counter.

Have a happy Friday, and I’ll see you all soon.

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Blonde, Bold, and Beautiful

Today, Starbucks is launching a new line of coffees! They are a lighter roast then any of our current lineup, and we affectionately call them our “blonde” coffees. Our usual core lineup is undergoing a repackaging and renaming phase as well; we now use the terms “medium” and “dark” to replace bold and extra bold.

So! The two new blonde coffees are Willow (yes, yes, go ahead and talk about whipping your hair back and forth) and Veranda, with Willow also being offered in decaf. Willow is a multi region blend with a bright clean finish, and Veranda is for you fans of Latin American coffees with a mellow and soft body. Not only do these have a lighter taste, but they also have a slightly higher caffeine content, so more pickup in your cup!

Medium still hosts our core classics: House, Pike Place, Breakfast Blend, Guatemala Antigua, Organic Yukon, Kenya, as well as our Iced Coffee blend.

Dark holds many of my favourites: Gold Coast (now Morning Joe), Komodo Dragon, Espresso, Italian, French, Verona, and the best one of all, Sumatra.

For you reserve and seasonal coffee fans, fear not! They will still make their way to our shelves at their appointed time. The best part about all this? (I mean, besides offering a new line of coffee that people are going to love.) We got new coffee passports! They are called coffee tasting guides, and I can’t stop reading mine.

 

So, that’s about all for now. Make sure to stop by your local Starbucks this weekend for our special “Find the Roast You Love the Most!” event! We’ll help you decide if Blonde, Medium, or Dark is the right roast for you…or maybe you’ll like them all! Who knows, so go in and find out!

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That Dreaded List

As many of you know, I don’t make resolutions at the start of a new year. There are many and varied reasons for this, too many to enumerate here. However, those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I made up a joke list, which I shall post here with light edits:

1. Delete Twitter and spend newly free time in transcendental meditation.

2. Start classes for my new bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Applied Physics.

3. Open and become president of a local chapter of the Lady Gaga Fan Club.

4. Give up all caffeine. Decaf or die!

5. Memorize the dialogue from all four Twilight movies.

6. Become a hermit and give up outings to Buffalo Wild Wings.

7. Commit to sobriety. So much joking around is not becoming at my age.

8. Renounce blogging, and begin a MySpace instead.

9. Quit reading, cold turkey.

10. Stop teasing my awesome blog readers with this list, and promise to be a better blogger in 2012.

Well, one out of 10 ain’t bad! (Guess which one I’ll actually do???) Please feel free to leave your resolutions, real or imaginary, in the comments. Have a safe and happy start to 2012!!!

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Traditions

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well, now that we’ve that out of the way, I thought I’d share some of our Christmas traditions. The first thing that we love to do is go see The Nutcracker. It’s beautiful music, a fun story, and just a really great time overall. This year and last year we went to see the ballet in The Land Of No Internet, in a beautifully historic theatre. Isn’t it pretty?

 

 

 

See? It’s a lovely setting for the whole experience.

We also usually attend a Christmas Eve service. The past few years we’ve gone to the service at a Lutheran church, which is different than what I’m used to, but nice nonetheless. It’s even better if the service includes candles!

Cookies are a favourite too. 7 layer bars, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Whippersnappers, Rolo Cookies, and of course Mum’s world-famous chocolate chip cookies! Mum and Dad also each have a party mix they make; Mum makes a white chocolate one, and Dad makes a savoury one.

Usually we spend some time driving around looking at the crazy Christmas lights people put up on their houses. You know, like the stuff I posted last year. Our town has whole streets that try to outdo each other in the light departments, which makes it fun for us.

So, those are just a few of ours. Do you have traditions? Feel free to share them in the comments, and have a very merry Christmas!

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Wyrd

I’ve graduated!!!!!!!!

I was so, so ready to graduate. I’m tired of the endless papers, of trying to cram interesting readings into a ridiculously short amount of time, of reading badly spelt post after poorly structured post, of listening to students whine and professors drone. I love to learn, but college will suck the life and joy out of discovery.

The more I talk with other graduates, the more I realise how lucky I am. I have a teaching job, a steady income job, music students, and plenty of other things to keep me busy while building my resume. At the same time, I’m already looking at Master’s programs. While that sounds like I’m all on top of things, really I’m very far behind. But here’s the deal: I’m tired. Stressed out. I’m carrying anywhere from 30-40 hours of work on top of a full load of credits, and have done so for some time. I rarely sleep. I forget to eat until nearly midnight. Why should I kill myself with more school when I’m plenty young yet and have teaching jobs already? I’ll take my B.A. and be happy with it for a year or two.

Still, there’s an element of urgency in my search for a Masters/Doctorate program. There are so many out there: do I go with a dual Masters/Doctorate, should I do them separately, should I stay in the US or go abroad, do I complete my advanced degrees in general areas, or should I specify my degree down to one area of expertise? Oh, and don’t forget about the battery of tests I need to take in order to apply to programs, the grammar review I’ll need because I am the WORST grammartician out there (see, I even make up silly words), plus becoming proficient in TWO foreign languages. Yes, I said TWO. (Because speaking English properly isn’t hardcore enough, I guess.)

It’s all very overwhelming to think about.

Then, the other night, I heard this song. I’ve heard the song before, but never really listened to the lyrics much. (WHAT? I have other things to think about, silly people!) However, this one line of a song really jumped out and slapped me across the face:

You see, I think this is what a lot of us graduates do when we get ready to enter the “real world,” we get scared, freak out, and do ourselves a disservice by acting out of that fear. So here’s my challenge: let’s not act out of fear. It doesn’t matter if you graduated today or 20 years ago, don’t let your fears decide what kind of life you’ll lead. It’s never too late to change your fate, so let’s do it!!! All together now….

 

That's me!

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A Thanksgiving Memory

Challenge: In class, we had to write a Thanksgiving memory in 2 minutes, highlighting the use of one sense.

It is not the bright sun that wakes me up early in the morning on Thanksgiving – no, it is the seductive scent of freshly roasting turkey which drifts up the stairs and gets me stirring. In the kitchen, I can hear my father at work, puttering around, opening the oven to baste the bird and letting loose more aromatics. Going into the kitchen, the smell of turkey mixes with the lemon scent of the sink, all freshly scrubbed and waiting for the onslaught of cooking. The stovetop pan bubbles with a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and apple juice, making a welcoming cider for the impending guests.

Your turn! In the comments, why don’t you share a quick Thanksgiving memory with us? I’d love to read it!

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For The Birds

It has been a long few weeks, and next week is going to be long as well. Really, I should be working on a paper right now, writing some documents, memorising Hebrew vocabulary.

Instead, I’m on my Nook, listening to an Inspector Morse, blogging, and playing Angry Birds. And really, that’s okay. Sometimes you just need to launch birds into pigs and try to win 3 gold stars on every level.

If you haven’t yet joined the Angry Birds movement, you should check it out. They are on the iTunes app store, Android Market, and as an add-on to your Google Chrome browser. It’s addictive…but oh-so-fun.

Have fun!