I Heart Dark Cherry Mocha.

I can feel that Christmas is in the air already! :) I started collecting Starbucks stamps last November 4, which usually is a mark that Christmas is near. I am so lovin' the Dark Cherry Mocha. Insert description: Bittersweet chocolate infused with the rich flavour of dark, dried cherries.

I've never been a fan of any Christmas drink, I absolutely can't stand the likes of hazelnut flavor when it comes to coffee, and I don't get why Toffee Nut Latte has such a big fan base, a drink that a lot of people I know absolutely love.

I'm excited to complete my stamps for the 2009 Starbucks Planner, the first ones who got their stamp sheet got one free stamp :) So I only have 15 to complete instead of 16. They trimmed the stamps from 24 to 16, hooray, but for a simpler planner. I really don't mind because I drink coffee from Starbucks so the planner is really just a bonus. I use my Starbucks Planner as a personal journal usually and I get another planner for office use, and for '09, I got a Belle De Jour Planner for work.

Anyway, I wish I can drink the Dark Cherry Mocha everyday instead of swapping it with the pantry's brewed coffee :) Haha, but this girl has a regular Starbucks budget, and I intend to keep it that way :P (Even if the Dark Cherry Mocha is tempting!)

Starbucks Coutndown: 5 Stamps down, 11 to go!

Starbucks Story.

This was yesterday morning:

Guy Barista: Hi Rica!
Rica: Hi
Girl Barista: Hi Rica!
Rica: Hi :)
Yes the baristas know my name haha (Naks!)
Girl Barista: Short, extra hot, no foam, non fat..
Rica: (interrupting before she finish) Oh, not no foam, extra foam :D
Girl Barista: Okay, so it's short, extra hot, extra foamy non fat..
Guy Barista: Milk!
Rica: Yup!
Guy Barista then punches MILK in the cashier and the 5.00 tumbler discount

Why would I buy milk in Starbucks =))
It's short, extra hot, extra foamy non fat milk LATTE, and I thought they finally memorized my order :)

Starbucks and it's fattening glory.

I have this ultimate favorite Starbucks drink, Hot White Chocolate Mocha. (Yep, it's coffee based.) One time, I went to the Starbucks in Enterprise to get my caffeine fix one morning, and after I told the barista my order, she asked me, non-fat milk? I quickly replied, oh just the normal milk. Without whipped cream? I had to disagree again, ahhh no I like it with whipped cream.

I had to ask myself, do I look like a health buff? Haha, that the barista thought I'm trying to avoid all those 'good stuff' in my coffee? Or maybe I needed to cut down the calories that's why she asked me? Haha.

And yesterday, while I was taking my officemates' order for Starbucks, I got figuratively dizzy with their orders, others do really maximize the option to customize the drink. There's the non-fat/skim/soy milk option, there's the caffeinated/decaf option, there's the with or without whipped cream option, I dunno the rest but there's actually a lot. Even hot chocolate can be customized by adding mint,hazelnut, etc.

But I like my drink the regular way, untouched, plain, the way it was presented in the menu. I'm not sure if it speaks for myself in real life, on how I take things.. I guess in some aspects, it's a good thing, because I take things as it is, in some aspects, it might be something that's hindering me, like opportunities and great possibilities. I guess that's what happens when you're given too much choices, because you don't want to miss out on something, and since you can't choose everything all at the same time.

Maybe I'm just too lazy to customize my drink, maybe I'm just really not a health buff, maybe there are too many options to choose from, or maybe I just like my drink the way it is, whole milk and with whipped cream the way it's supposed to be, my Starbucks coffee with it's fattening glory.
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Okay, I googled it, 16ounce of my favorite drink contains about 400 calories. Hahaha, that's a lot, but it's not like I drink a cup of it every single day :p Guess I'll stick to cappuccino haha.

My Weekend.

The looooong weekend felt one week for me, although I wasn't really out of town the whole weekend. I just stayed home, except for Friday to Saturday, my family went to Lucban, Quezon. I attended mass, watched the prusisyon, spent time with family. Oh and after a looong time, I baked cookies last Thursday. I can't remember when was the last time I did that :) Funny, my dad said when I was in high school, it's the only thing I can cook, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, I'm now working and up to now, it's still the only thing I can do. Hahahaha. Oh well :p Oh and I like them really soft and chewy:)

I haven't spent my Holy Week in Lucban in a looong time and I dunno if you can see it in the picture but those are the hundreds of guys, barefoot, in white shirts, pulling the Senyor, that's Christ in a coffin. In the old days, people really used to carry it and it was really really heavy that's why a lot of people where needed. Nowadays, it's just being pulled by ropes, but the tradition still remained. It's still pretty much kagulo, because everyone participating wants to hold onto the rope, and they usually drink before participating so plus alcohol, the result is unimaginable. People believe that the rope used brings good luck, so after the prusisyon, people cut up the ropes and keep it. (Oh and the other pic is with Kitty, my cousin's daughter)

And after exactly 46 days of no coffee because I gave it up for Lent, last Saturday night, when the clock struck 12, my cousins and I went to Starbucks in Shell. Thing is, we all have our coupons from the planner, supposedly for Easter Sunday, the buy 1 take 1 any drink, but they didn't accept our coupons even though it was like 12am ish already. We have to go back the next day pa daw. So I had my coffee fix that night, and the next day, Easter Sunday, I went back to Starbucks with my rents and was finally able to use my coupon! :) I think I confused the barista haha cuz we ordered 2 venti drinks, split into 3 cups haha, because it's buy 1 take 1. Anyway, the catch about that, I think I won't be a coffee drinker anymore. I got so used to having no caffeine fix that my heart palpitates whenever I drink coffee! Even if it's iced coffee, I usually drink brewed coffee before, now I get this weird coffee buzz haha, buzz not alcohol induced, but caffeine induced. So I guess for now, I'd have to say goodbye to my coffee fix :) I dunno if it will ever grow back to me.

Confessions of a Coffee Junkie.

I'm soooooo lazy today, we should be half day today, I mean everyone who's working right now should go home when the clock strikes lunch time. While some people are already savoring the long weekend, I'm one of those stuck in the office, too lazy to work so I end up surfing and doing the unimportan things.. and when our company suddenly declares that we can go home, I'd still be stuck in the office because I wasn't able to finish my work early hahaha. Oh well.

I'll spending the weekend with my family at Lucban, but we'll just be there Friday to Saturday I think.

And on Easter Sunday, I'd finally be able to drink coffee! It's the thing that I gave up for Lent this year. Since sacrifices are supposed to be tough, that's why it's a sacrifice in the first place, I gave up the drink that I can't live without. :p And I've been coffee-clean for the past 40days++. And although it was tough the first few days because it's so hard to concentrate on work when you really want to doze off, I was able to survive without caffeine in my system. Nowadays, it's just tough when I smell the aroma whenever I go to Starbucks or Coffee Bean, so I just end up drinking tea. Nope, it's not really substitution or that it's the same thing, because I'm not really a tea-drinker. And the taste of tea is very far from coffee. And I can't drink any drink that has the coffee flavor in it, even those mixed alcoholic drinks that are coffee based. I think this is the longest time that I haven't had coffee in my system, because when I coffee detox, I'd still drink at least a cup in one week or in two weeks. This one's more than a month. For now, I'll just have to settle with the "Starbucks Sounds", tea, and my favorite Starbucks pic. Will power baby! :)