Florida Chick Tries Chai

If I'm going to pay $4.50 for a cup of coffee, I like to know that I'm going to really, really enjoy it. I go to Starbucks every Wednesday morning and order one of three things; in January, after gaining those essential 5 holiday pounds, I order a skinny vanilla latte, extra hot, extra foam with two splendas. From February to September (when I've forgotten about those pesky 5 pounds) I go back to my normal order - a white chocolate mocha, skim milk, with whip, extra hot (I figure that the skim milk cancels out the effect of the whip cream). And from October to December, when I'm missing the cool Michigan fall, I order a pumpkin spice latte, with whip, extra hot.

But today, I thought I'd try something different, I thought I'd spread my Starbucks wings and change it up...so I ordered a Vanilla Chai Rooibos Latte - big mistake. With an exotic name like Rooibos I was sure it had to be good - but I was wrong. There is a reason I stick to my usual drinks - I love them. I love the smell of strong coffee at the drive through window, and I love the first sip of hot coffee and cool whipped cream melting together - I really only hit Starbucks on Wednesdays on the way to my staff meeting - so I look forward to it all week, it's a bummer when you've waited all week and then are completely let down by your coffee drink.

I shared my dilemma with my students today, showing them the almost full cup of rooibos chai sitting on my desk. One of my students nodded knowingly, "I've tried that before too," she said, "It tastes like tap water and milk heated up together." Yes, I thought. Yes it does. So anyway, next Wednesday when I head back to Starbucks, I'm not going to do any fancy ordering, I'm sticking to what I love. I'll order my skinny vanilla latte, extra hot, extra foam, with two splendas...and start counting down the days till February when I can order my creamy, fattening favorite drink again.

Florida Chick: The Biggest Loser

In honor of the new season of The Biggest Loser which starts tonigh, I'm taking Bob and Jillian up on some very practical weight loss advice - I decided to keep a food journal. Apparently a food journal is supposed to list everything that you put in your mouth, how you are feeling at the time, and how many calories it's worth, so here it goes:

6:35 - coffe with 1/4cup of Vanilla Chai Spice cream...actually I think it might have been more than 1/4 cup but I can't figure out the calories on the label for more than a 1/4 cup.

7:03 - three bites of Carson's left over 'just add water' pancakes with lite syrup. 225 calories...plus bonus points for using "lite" syrup.

8:57 - Spearmint Breathsaver - 10 calories...feeling hungry and cranky...possibly starting to crash from the Vanilla Spice/"lite" syrup sugar high.

9:34 - Spearmint Breathsaver - 10 calories...stomach growling - considering swapping an "A" test grade for 6th grader's Gatorade

10:06 - Stomach still growling - decide to tough it out and save Breathsavers for emergency needs

11:38 - 4 fried chicken wings "donated" to me from a student's lunch in the cafeteria - bonus points for leaving the last chicken wing for another colleague.

12:02 - 1/2 an orange brought to me by my daughter Kaitlyn who traded it at lunch for her fruit snacks. ..slight worry about who has actually touched the orange - but go ahead and give negative calorie points for eating fruit in the middle of the day.

12:35 - Breathsaver - 10 calories...no guilt for breaking into emergency stash - post chicken-wing breath is an emergency.

12:40 - One piece of Dove Chocolate - zero calories (the effort from savoring it for 12 minutes eliminates any negative calories from the chocolate)

1:15 - Breathsaver

2:35 - Breathsaver

3:05 - Hunger pains getting stronger - tried to convince Kaitlyn to giver me her after-school Pop-tart with no luck...Breathsaver

5:52 - Caprisun juice box and one Poptart...tried to hide it from Carson by eating in the bathroom - no luck, Carson found me and ate the second Poptart from the package.

6:30 - Chris home...burgers on the grill, Corona with lime, and 1/2 bag of lime Tostitos...maybe more than 1/2 bag - calories: too many to count...but just enough to make me happy and content while I watch The Biggest Loser!

Florida Chick Pays the Bills

About three years ago I had a 6 month stint as our family bill payer. It probably wasn't the best 6 months of our marriage. One month I accidentally paid the house payment twice, and another time I added money to the register when I should have debited it, I'll just say that it was a significant enough amount to cause our checkbook more than a little concern. I think Chris spent more time on the phone with the bank during those 6 months than the rest of his adult life combined, fortunately he's a pretty good salesman and he was able to convince the bank that we weren't irresponsible consumers - just that his wife was just a financial idiot who deserved a second chance like everybody else.

With that background in mind, you can understand Chris's reluctance when I asked him if I could try to pay a bill online. He agreed but stood behind me watching the whole time, making weird little sounds everytime my fingers even got near a button I shouldn't push. I think he was nervous that I was going to accidentally send our life savings to the City of Hollywood who would of course keep it and assume that we just wanted to pay our water bill in advance...for the rest of our lives.

All in all, everything went smoothly. Hollywood got their money - no more, no less - and I successfully managed to prove to my husband that I am completely financially capable...mostly - I'm just hoping everything will go through smoothly before Chris realizes that I completely forgot to write down the reference number...and the amount paid.

Florida Chick Learns to Dance

I figure if you're going to learn to dance, you might as well learn from the best...so tonight I went to watch my cousin Floyd in a private showing of his dance portfolio. Floyd used to be a professional dancer in New York City with the Martha Graham Company. If you're not familiar with Martha Graham, it's an ultra-modern dance troupe that toured all over the country. I'll never forget the only other time I've watched Floyd dance, he was touring in Michigan with Martha Graham and we went to the show. I was about 10 at the time and Monica was 8, she'll tell you the same story...we were completely scarred by the dance piece that resembled a lady stuck in a giant purple sleeping bag - I don't think either of us have pulled a sleeping bag over our head since then...just in case. Floyd has since explained that the piece represented pushing against the barriers of injustice...but I still have my doubts.

Anyway, I went to watch Floyd's show today and it was great...there were no purple sleeping bags, just Floyd, his friends and family, great music, and amazing choreography. I guess I didn't really learn to dance (I was hoping for a mini-lesson to write about) but I did learn two things, number 1 - do what you're passionate about - it was mesmerizing to watch him perform at something he was so into. And two, we should all be dancing...you should see his kicking bod - if I can have abs like that when I'm his age, I'll sign up for lessons today - dang!

Florida Chick Gets Her Mac On...Sort Of

So, I’m a little late getting this written…but with good explanation.

See, last week, my cousin called to say he had a computer he’d like to give to us…a little older, but still in good condition, something the kids could use for their little games and such; to top it all off, it was a Mac. I was really excited to try a Mac - what with the cool ads and all (“hi, I’m a Mac,” “and I’m a PC”- you know the ones.) and I figured it was a great new thing to try for today’s challenge, my first encounter with a Mac, woohoo!


Funny thing, Chris and I opened the box that it was in…and it wasn’t a Mac – it was a PC – windows XP and all. So anyway, after a fight with a non-working phone jack (see photo below), 30 minutes on hold with AT&T (why I’m late with this column), disassembling the components and reassembling them behind our bed (to our only working phone line), going on a scavanger hunt for the dsl software (which was found in a cupboard in the bathroom), well two and a half hours later... we actually still don't have the new computer hooked up. But it's a free computer, and hey, even if it doesn't quite work yet - I'm practically Dutch so you know I love free!


Unfortunately I was counting on my experience with my new Mac as my new adventure for the day…but the good news is, computer experience aside, I actually did do something new – I bought new cat food – new organic cat food…Tommy the Cat will be excited - but Chris probably won't – if he only knew how much money it costs for organic cat food… oh well.

Florida Chick No-sews a Skirt

The last time I made a skirt I was in 5th grade. I went to the fabric store with my grandma, picked out a purple and pink plaid flannel material and a pattern for a poofy skirt with detachable suspenders - it was, for me, the perfect dress. It took me two full Saturdays in my grandma's sewing room to complete, and when I did, I wore it everywhere.

After that project, my sewing interest went downhill quickly. I suppose as I got older I preferred to spend my Saturdays hanging with friends...at the mall...where I could buy my clothes. I must say that I come by my lack of sewing interest (and ability) hereditarily. Once, in ninth grade I asked my mom to sew my name patch on the back of my cheerleading sweater - and she did, she also sewed the front and back of the sweater together so that when I tried to put it on, my head got stuck half-way through. My dad fixed it for me.

All that being said, I decided to challenge myself to make a skirt today. I know its not exactly the old-fashioned way with patterns and thimbles...or needles and thread. But I've been dying to try this fusable webbing stuff - and what better way than recycling an old pair of jeans into a sassy new skirt. I found the directions at familyfun.com ,(just type the words "denim skirt" into the search box) sharpened my scissors, heated up my iron, and in just 2 hours made a skirt...yes, 2 whole hours. Thats the stink of it - between tediously ripping out the seams of the jeans and pressing and holding the webbing it took 2 whole hours to make the skirt. (I was hoping that without the needles and thread and thimbles I could knock this baby out in 20 minutes)

All in all, and the two hours aside, I was pretty proud of myself, a new skirt for just the cost of the webbing ($2.99) and extra credit for recycling used clothing. I was going to wear my new creation this afternoon to show everyone, but as soon as I ironed out the wrinkles and tried it on, Kaitlyn's bunny decided to jump on my lap and pee all over me...hopefully she's not letting me know what she thinks of my new project...

Florida Chick Channels Bobby Flay

So I wanted to start the new year off right, to jump in right away and work on this 365 in 365 challenge, so tonight...I'm grilling. I know for some of you this doesn't seem like a big deal, but in our family there is only one grill-er in the house and it's not me, it seemed like a good place to start. I got out the burgers and the brats, tied on an apron and headed out. Chris pointed me in the right direction - open the gas, press the ignition, turn on the burners. It would have been so easy had there been propane in the tank, instead, about a quarter way through the grilling process the flame died out leaving half cooked meat on the grill.

No problem, Chris the ever resourceful husband went out to get more propane. Attaching the tank to the grill, however, posed a slight challenge. See, down here in South Florida, because grill stealing seems to be a national past-time, we have placed our grill in the farthest, darkest corner of the patio where it can be concealed by wayward palm branches, and because Carson is 5 and has disassembeled every flashlight in the house, we were forced to try to reattach the propane tank to the grill by the light of a cellphone. Fortunately, it was a pretty good cellphone and everything was eventually reattached in the right place.

After the propane issue, grilling kind of went downhill, I mean, I basically added cheese to the burgers and threw the buns on the warming rack, but all in all, Chris still did most of the grilling...which was fine with me, because between running inside for a plate, forks, buns, cheese, etc. I would just as soon stay in the kitchen where everything is at my fingertips - all that back and forth and I might have even lost a pound or two...but I did look cute in the apron - and sometimes that's really all that counts.