speaking of Starbucks...

You know you've spent too much time at Starbucks when...

1. Your (very generous) mother-in-law gives you a $50 gift card for Christmas, and it only lasts till the middle of January.

2. All the baristas recognize your face, and half of them know you by name. In three different locations.

3. And at least one of them thinks that you work there.

Does this mean the fancy new coffee maker isn't working out?

nah...it's actually working out really well. I take coffee to work most days, including yesterday. The trip to Starbucks for the Chantico was the first one this week. Last week I only went once, too. Most of the gift card was used up before the new coffeemaker got here. :)

I used to stop there every day (or every other day, at least) for a year or more, so the familiarity lingers. And the baristas rotate through these three locations, so I'd see some of the same ones at different places.

Yesterday, one of them struck up a conversation with me like I was some old friend, and asked me when I stopped working at Starbucks. As I was telling her that I had never worked there, it occurred to me (again) that maybe I was too much of a regular. Now that I think about it, I should have gone along with it--maybe I could have scored an employee discount. :)

So yeah, the Keurig is still working great for us--it's saved me about $10-$20/week so far. I'm just weaning myself off the lattes gradually.

I'm glad it is working. That's probably the one kind of coffee maker we don't own. We have two French presses, a drip machine and an espresso maker. The drip machine never gets used unless we have a large party and those only happen every few years, so it mostly takes up space. The large French press only gets used when my dad visits. The little French press hardly ever gets used either. But my husband makes cappucinos or breves every morning. So at least one of our many coffee makers is worth it.

breve...you know, I've always wondered what that is, but felt stupid asking if I wasn't going to order one. What is a breve, anyway?

A breve is a latte made with steamed half-and-half instead of steamed milk. And yes, it IS worth the extra calories! (At least every once in a while!)

ah, it does sound good...but I never would have guessed that! For some reason, I was thinking it had something to do with soy.

What Frazier said.

Our local coffeeshop has definitions of all the drinks on the wall which is very helpful, since I wouldn't otherwise know what half the stuff is.