The Day I Yearned for Caribou{Coffee}

For years I have been head over heels in love with my husband Starbucks. It all began when I was working at the YMCA (it's ok, go ahead and take a minute to belt out the song, I get it!) in southern California. I received a promotion right before a very important audit was to take place, and the only way to get through all the extra hours of work was to count on a venti skinny iced caramel macchiato. Skinny vanilla latte. White chocolate peppermint mocha, skim milk, sugar-free, extra hot. Iced skinny caramel-vanilla latte (2 pumps vanilla, 2 pumps caramel because 4 of each is too much!).

I would frequent Starbucks on a daily basis- sometimes twice in one day, depending on the circumstances. Sometimes I would top it off with an orange Monster energy drink- you know, for good measure. Ask my co-worker how well that worked for me at the end of the day when we had 84 kids to tend to and I was coming down from my crazy caffeine fix. Hiding by my desk, hands shaking as a typed out attendance records. ;)

When I was pregnant, staying away from the Starbucks was hard. When I first found out I was preggers, I swore off all caffeine, but I quickly had a change of heart when trying to get through my work days. A couple days a week I would head to get my (usually) decaf drink. Then Starbucks stopped carrying decaf mix for their Frappuccino's. Aye! I convinced myself that it was ok on occasion, and any time someone came to visit me during my 3 months of bed rest I requested coffee. Any kind. (I know some mama's out there don't agree with caffeine intake during pregnancy, and I totally respect that!)

The morning after I delivered the twins, my hubby's first daddy duty was to get me some Starbucks! Coffee became a must-have when feeling like a zombie for the first year of the kiddo's lives.

Admittedly, losing Starbucks was one of the things I wasn't happy about when we decided Minnesota would be our forever home after my hubby was discharged from the Marine Corps. To get a good specialty drink, I have to travel 30 miles! The only Starbucks available there is at the Barnes & Noble or Hy-Vee- there isn't an actual Starbucks building. On a whim I tried Minnesota's popular coffeehouse, Caribou Coffee, and wasn't too impressed. Back to the Sbucks kiosk I went. Until recently.

Enter Carbiou's "Mint Condition's". It's basically a peppermint mocha- you choose what type of chocolate you want, mix them together- whatever! I opted for a skinny white chocolate mint condition...and it was heaven. I felt guilty being such a loyal Starbucks fan all of these years, and then quickly got over it.

Coffee is one of "my things". You know, everyone has "their thing(s)" in life and I just so happen to love me some book browsing and coffee sipping while someone else is watching my kiddos. What is "your thing" in life? I wanna know!