Tag: Starbucks

Wellness Friday

credit: @BethFratesMD

Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!!! On Fridays, I discuss the stuff of life that makes it fun to live. Today’s favorite is for those of you out there, who sadly, like my husband, are down with a nasty cold. Did you know that Starbucks makes a “Medicine Ball” drink, sometimes shown on the menu as “Honey Citrus Mint Tea”? However, if you order a “medicine ball” the baristas will know what you are talking about. It’s a popular drink at Starbucks, particularly in the winter months. If you prefer not to get spendy on trendy drinks, you can make this delicious, soothing, comforting drink at home using these ingredients:

  • Jade Citrus Mint Tea
  • Peach Tranquility Tea
  • Steamed Lemonade
  • Hot Water
  • Honey

I’ve made a couple of variations at home myself, using creative substitutions of kombucha, real lemon and different flavors of tea. Stirred with love and care, you and your loved ones will be on your way to feeling better in no time!

Get well! Stay well! Be well! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

1775. Who do you feel is your kindred spirit?

Pumpkin, It’s Friday

Hello!! Happy Friday!! On Fridays, I keep it on the surface and I discuss the stuff that I like. Fridays on the blog are all about my favorites. Please add your own favorites to my Comments. We all love the joy of finding new favorite things to help us to enjoy life on an everyday basis! It’s all about the little things, isn’t it?

Sadly, we don’t have a Trader Joe’s close to us, but we were visiting my daughter at her university last weekend and she and I could not resist a visit to one of our favorite shops. True to the season, Trader Joe’s is not immune to the pumpkin craze. There was pumpkin everything, everywhere you looked. So, my daughter and I loaded up the cart with pumpkin stuff (and even an actual, real pumpkin for her balcony). My favorite out of this lot (and my daughter’s, too) is Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Body Butter. Surprisingly, this body butter does not smell like pumpkin. In fact, it has very little scent. The secret ingredient, however is the pumpkin seed oil, on top of coconut oil and shea butter. These ingredients combined make this cream easily absorbable, long lasting, and particularly emollient. As usual when it comes to Trader Joe’s, this big jar is a bargain at only $4.99!

Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!!

Credit: Courtney W. May, Pinterest

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Humm, It’s Friday

Credit: Petite Alma

Happy Friday!! Happy Summer!! Happy Weekend!! On Fridays, I try to keep things on the surface, like a water bug. On Fridays, I just lightly float on the top, and I let the things churning around beneath me, be to themselves. Fridays are for Favorite Things Friday. Today’s favorite is something that I picked up at Costco recently. We hadn’t been to Costco in a while, but this past month, our two youngest kids have been back home, so a Costco trip was in order.

Today’s favorite of mine: Humm Probiotic Kombucha I’ve tried many kombuchas over the years, and usually they are just “too much” – too tart, too acidic, too full of the mother, etc. This kombucha is tasty, and it supposedly has less sugar than most kombuchas do, and yet it does have a nice, light, sweet taste. The flavor available at Costco is Mango Passionfruit. I highly recommend giving this refreshing drink a try. Things that make you go Humm, can be really good things, too!

(And as a bonus: one of my past favorites from a previous Friday – Starbucks Bacon & Gruyère Egg Bites are now available in a box, in the freezer section of Costco, so that you can heat them up, right at home. A Humm Kombucha and a delicious Starbucks Egg Bite made for my yummy breakfast, on this wonderful Friday morning.)

Give yourself today to be like a waterbug. Float on the surface and ride the waves. See you tomorrow!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

What a Week Friday

I hope that by reading my daily blog, you get a little taste of what it’s like to live through a hurricane. There are several days before the hurricane of anticipation, concerns, worries, preparation, tough decisions, and battening down the hatches. Then you experience the lockdown of about 2-3 days of weathering out the actual storm. Finally, the storm passes, and luckily, most of us don’t have to assess too many damages. We can now breathe out, before we take up the task of driving home in heavy traffic (for those who evacuated), and putting everything back and away that we put up and brought in, to prepare for the storm. Hurricane Ian has literally been the focus of my life for more than a week. It’s been sort of a “lost week.” And I am one of the lucky ones, who didn’t even end up losing power. My heart breaks for the many whose lives are forever changed by this horrific storm.

My main point is, I am so happy that the storm has passed and I am so grateful that it is my favorite day of the week – Friday. Friday is devoted to my favorite frivolous things, TV shows, books, products, beauty items, foodstuff etc. on the blog. Each Friday, I discuss a favorite that has made my life better. It might makes yours a little more fun, too.

My favorite for today is a little snack I discovered when purchasing a coffee at Starbucks one recent afternoon, Starbucks Bacon & Gruyère Egg Bites. These delicious little treats are only 300 calories and are full of flavor. I think I even prefer them to the coffee, dare I say it? When you need a little pick me up in the afternoon, it is worth waiting in line, at your local Starbucks, for these delicious, hot delicacies.

I think the biggest lesson for the week, is don’t take your favorites for granted. When you see how easily one act of nature can wash everything away, your favorites are all that more sweet and satisfying. Have a restful weekend. That’s my plan.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Cute Baby and Wise Words

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

These are the tweets that spoke to me today (the adorable baby Starbucks is easily my favorite, how do I order one???):

Image

(Credit: @ClaudetteGGibs1 – Twitter)

“Your essence is never gone, regardless of how many times the world breaks you. It’s what distinguishes you from the rest. That foundation will always bring you back to life. Every single time.” – @TheDragonflySky – Twitter

“You are driving on your own journey, which is the challenge for a comedian. You have a hard time making trains because you don’t want to be with the crowd. You are a lone voice of insight, humor and grace. The train people reflect a cacophony of chaos, noise, and unoriginality.” – @davidkrell – Twitter (addressing the brilliant comedian, Erica Rhodes)

” . . . You have to be strong here, you need yourself more than ever now. Don’t get down on yourself, don’t be hard on yourself. This is a hard time in your life right now and we have to figure out a way to get through this. Feel free to reach out. I can’t do much, but I do understand. Sorry this is happening to my friend. WE will find a way to get through this.” – Statechain1, r/Epilepsy

Yesterday, I had to tell my fifth-grade mentee that we would have to meet online again for a while via Zoom, until we can straighten out my son’s epilepsy medications. My husband was working from home yesterday, while I met with my mentee, but he does need to go back to his office, so I will need to be home with my son, for safety reasons right now. My mentee and I met online all of 2020, so we were thrilled to be back “in person” with each other this year. My mentee was understanding of my situation, of course, but she was also understandably sad. We both were sad. It was interesting to me that after we talked about the change, my mentee didn’t stay in her seat. She got up and wiggled around a lot. She distracted herself with bouncing her stress ball and she crawled around on the floor looking for crumbs which we may have dropped. It struck me that her little kid body, knew to keep moving. Sadness can really bring us to a stand still. The wisdom of her body, told her to get back up on her feet and to keep moving. Keep moving . . . . Keep moving. Just keep moving.

Boom Shakalaka

It’s Friday!  And even better than that, it’s a Friday before a three-day weekend!  Bonus!!  I bought this little wooden plaque at an arts market a couple of years ago.  It’s darling and colorful.  It says, “get shit done”.  I keep it on my desk as a good reminder and motivator every morning.  On Fridays, I tend to take the plaque a little less seriously.  I add an imaginary “maybe” to the start of it or an imaginary “or not” to the end of it.  It’s a versatile plaque.  One of my favorite things, actually.

This quote cracks me up:  “We experience moments absolutely free from worry.  These brief respites are called panic.” – humorist Cullen Hightower

On to the purpose of this blog.  Favorite Things Friday!!!

Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10 –  It is not fair to be almost 50 and still be getting the occasional zit.  I buy this stuff in bulk for my teenagers and me.  It is the best individual zit zapper out there, in my opinion.  It dries those nasty little red mounds of pus in a matter of hours.  I’m not sure of its overall capabilities for full-on acne, but when used on an individual blemish, it is spot on!  (on an aside, I looked up synonyms for the word “pimple” and the term “beauty spot” appeared on the list.  Huh??  Now granted, when I was growing up we called brown moles, “beauty marks”, but that makes sense. HA!)

Trigon – This is a phone app/game that has become my new obsession.  This is what I do when I’m not following my above-mentioned plaque’s orders.  I think I’m developing carpal tunnel syndrome from it, but it’s worth it.  Back in college, I loved Tetris like my middle sons love Fortnite.  I skipped classes, dates, meals, potty breaks and showers for Tetris.  If you love those “fitting shapes into other shapes” kinds of games, you’ll love Trigon.  It’s like a Rubik’s cube on steroids; when the Rubik’s cube was turned into a truncated icosahedron.  (look it up, it’s good to learn something new every day, even on Fridays) Anyway, it’s a free game/app; you just have to watch some dumb ads, when you lose.  So, don’t lose.

Starbucks Refreshers (in a can) –  These are for impatient people like me who do not have time to wait around for a barista to concoct my caffeine hit.  You know, I’m busy “getting shit done.”  Actually, I like a lot of Starbucks drinks, but I order these from Amazon when I don’t have time to drive to the six Starbucks stores within a mile of my house.  They are a delicious mix of fruit juice, coconut water and green coffee.  They have less than 100 calories.  They’re just a real nice treat, especially on Friday afternoons!

I’ll end with a Fun Friday quote that I saw on a sign:  “I haven’t been so excited about Friday since last Friday.”