Welcome to the February 2021 edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date. As we commence our twelfth month of pandemic living, I want to express how much I’ve been loving our coffee dates. I look forward to going off script and connecting with everyone on a different level to strengthen our sense of community. Deborah and I encourage you to spread the love and visit new blogs in the link up.
Grab the html code for the coffee date badge here:
You also may be joining the Fit Five Friday Link-Up with Darlene, Michelle, Renée, Jenn, and Zenaida.
Loving Our Coffee Dates
If we were having coffee, I would tell you how happy I was to walk into my office Starbucks for the first time since March 2020 and see the familiar face of one of the baristas I knew from the before times. It was great to see her, and so good to know she is still employed. I stopped in twice that day and left the biggest tips the app would let me.
I’m still having most of my Starbucks at home.
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that, after a year of pretty good luck, in January we suffered a mid-day internet outage and a morning power outage. The internet outage happened close to lunch time, and was resolved within two hours, but the power outage happened at 7 am and lasted through midday. Luckily, I had made a pot of coffee before the power went out, but I had to go into the office to get some work done. Have you lost internet or power while trying to work at home?
If we were having coffee, I would tell you how much I am loving my AeroGarden. Being able to grow fresh herbs inside without having to remember when to water them is my level of gardening. 🙂 It’s fun to see how much they grow every day.
Please share your dill recipes!
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that last week my church held it’s first 8:00 am service since the shutdown–via Zoom. I enjoyed our 9:00 am outdoor summer services, but I’ve gotten lazy with our 9:00 Facebook Live services (which are still an option). I had to set my alarm and not dillydally to be ready on time. I prefer the 8:00 worship format, so I am glad to have it back.
The priests led worship together from a small chapel.
If we were having coffee, I would ask if you have any plans or ideas for Valentine’s Day. I need to checkout the special take-out menus our local restaurants are offering ….
What would you tell me over coffee?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
That Aero Garden is very cool! I miss my fresh herbs from the garden. We use dill in our chicken noodle soup. It’s so good!
It’s nice you’re able to get back to live worship. I see the churches around here doing that too.
Oh, great idea on the soup!
We’ve been building a new church building that’s almost done — the question is when will we be able to use it?
I usually keep an herb garden during the warmer months so I love the idea of the Aero Garden! It looks pretty compact – how big is it?
I honestly cannot remember the last time I set foot in a Starbucks! Nice that there was still a familiar face behind the counter 🙂
The foot print is about the size of a sheet of paper (8.5×11)
I was so happy to see her!
That aero garden is so cool. What a great gift! I hadn’t even thought about Valentine’s Day to be honest. We are having issues with the coffee pot in this house we rented. My patience is wearing thin. There may be a visit to Starbucks coming soon!
I’m not sure it counts as a vacation if there’s no coffee! 😉
Luckily, our Starbucks NEVER CLOSED during the pandemic- they’ve been able to stay open the whole time as a drive-through. Crazy how grateful I am to be able to get my Starbucks!
No plans for Valentine’s Day… I guess I have to start thinking about that, right? Takeout sounds good!
There are very few drive-through Starbucks near me. My office Starbucks served … offices, so business plummeted for a while with everyone working at home.
I churchfess that I’ve really gotten spoiled by our livestream church routine. I don’t have to rush to get my WRD finished and can sit back, most Sundays, in my post-workout gear and enjoy church at 10:00 (our 8:00 service hasn’t happened since last spring, but that was our usual service to go to).
I know, right?! It’s hard for me to resist multitasking when I’m just “watching” though — so Zoom keeps me more engaged.
I love that you gave such a big tip! I know she was very grateful for that.
I’ve wanted an aeorgarden forever — I know others that have it & like it.
I looked at the offerings for Valentines Day & nothing really called to me. Right now the plan is for Mr. Judy to pick up some sushi. 🙂
That sounds like a great plan!
Yes I have to drink my Starbucks at home everyday. Now it’s a treat to go into a real shop.
I’m being solo on Feb 14…running 13.1 miles.
I think I need an aero gardener but my succulents don’t mind that I forget to water them.
You will be spending the day with your other love — running! 😀
That is so true. The hubby won’t be jealous.
I must hear about this aerogarden! I am the opposite of a green thumb! I kill plants but this looks like something I could do. Please send info! glad you got your Starbucks fix in! Just think of how much $ you have saved in the last year without your daily stops in there! Nice catching up over coffee
The aerogarden is perfect for brown-thumb gardeners like us. The lights tell you when you need to add water or plant food. Otherwise you just have to keep up with the herbs and use them as they grow.
We’ve had two power outages – the longer one was on Saturday afternoon so no issue for work. The other was in the evening so pretty lucky! We’re not doing anything for V-Day but supporting a local restaurant sounds like a good idea!
Power outages in the evening are no fun either! And I guess in your place it’s a long walk down/up to try to go somewhere!
I love the idea of an aero garden! I kill so many plants that I don’t even try anymore! No plans for Valentine’s Day here. I haven’t been out to a restaurant since last March. I may get to go from our favorite Thai place though.
That’s my level of gardening too! The AeroGarden is perfect. I ate outside a few times this summer, but mostly we get take out for what used to be our date nights.
Last March/April we never lost internet, but there were times when it was super slow because everyone was home. Luckily I very rarely have that issue anymore.
That’s awesome that you were able to go into your normal Starbucks. I am sure it must have felt so nice to do something that was part of your normal routine.
I upgraded our internet the day I realized we’d both be working at home! And, we had such an old plan before switching actually saved money.
Oh wow, that’s a long power outage! We had them all the time in South Africa, but luckily, most of them were in the evening.
It made me more aware of how dependent we are on power – the wifi connection, the freezer, the fridge, the light in the bathroom, warm water…
A good thing that you could go to the office! Do you know why you had the outage?
I always laugh at myself when I still try to turn on a light switch — d’oh!
I never did find out. It only affected a small area — not even my whole neighborhood.
That aerogarden is so cool! I think I need to get one. I love the idea of being able to harvest fresh herbs all year round. Thankfully, we have not lost power or wifi. Yet. We are both retired, so it would be an annoyance rather than a catastrophe, but still…Our church does offer socially-distanced live services, but I don’t feel comfortable attending. I still do the online church. We have decided that the only reason we are going to venture out is for running or grocery shopping until we get the vaccine.
Our diocese is being very cautious about live church. At the rates we’re going, it could be a while ….
My internet went out when I was doing a presentation a few months ago. Luckily I wasn’t the one presenting at the time, so I pulled it up on my phone and was able to finish that way. It was so stressful!
Oh, that would be very stressful! Glad your phone worked as a back-up!
Our church was airing mass at 8:30 AM on FB Live until they starting allowing a few people into the church and then for some reason they switched the virtual time to the 10:30 mass. I attended the 7:30 AM mass so 10:30 is late for me.
Ugh on your power and internet going out. Our power went out on the Tuesday before Christmas for about four to five hours and when it came back on, it fried our Fios box so we were out of internet for two more days until they could come replace it.
Your AeroGarden is adorable and so practical!
Oh, bummer on the outages! That would be frustrating. Two days without internet? Could I survive????
I like that AeroGarden!!! I want one too. I lost power on my first day of school. At least I had my phone and was able to send a message to parents but I was stressing out about it even though it was out of my control.
Oh, gosh, that would be so stressful! On the first day too!
My favorite use for fresh dill is chicken salad. We have an aerogarden but haven’t used it in a few years. I found that it just couldn’t keep up with our basil and cilantro needs, but the boys really loved it. Over coffee I would tell you that I made your pain in the ass apple pie last weekend! And that we loved it <3
Oh, yay on the pie! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
My mother-in-law has one for just tomatoes and one for just lettuce – I may try that next.
Love your aero garden! I have no dill suggestions, but I love it in dip.
Yay that your Starbucks is back open! It’s so good to have bits of normalcy creeping back in!
Oh, that’s a great idea for the dill – especially with the Super Bowl on this weekend!
Our SBUX has been open but it’s just a tad too far for me to walk to it, plus it’s inside the train station and I just don’t want to go in there. I go to my alternative, Mam’s, to support local. Funny though, the guy who started Mam’s is a former colleague of mine at the Starbucks Roasting Plant in Amsterdam 🙂 I’m so so glad getting coffee is still possible!
Power AND internet out at the same time??? That’s like being transported back to Little House on the Prairie times!!
LOL. It does leave me wondering what I can do. Since I read e-books on my phone, I need to be careful not to use up that battery!
We’ve had several power outages in our neighbourhood over the last few months but fortunately my husband connected a UPS (I think that’s what it’s called) so the internet doesn’t go off even if the power does. It’s been amazing. Last week, the power was out from around 11am to 7pm but work and home-school continued as normal! Of course, I couldn’t use the microwave to warm up food, LOL, but so long as the internet was on I was good!
That’s funny. I’m not sure we have that option around here — is it a satellite device?
No, it’s almost like an extra battery pack that connects to your modem. So when power goes the battery kicks in.
I (thankfully) haven’t lost power while working at home, but the internet has notttt been the greatest lately so there’s been a lot of redialing/connecting/reconnecting. :[ That’s awesome that you have an AeroGarden! I’ve been meaning to start growing my own herbs!
Redialing? I hope you’re not really on dial-up!
Do you eat salmon? I love dill, rosemary salmon. Also a dill dip (sour cream, mayo, dill” is nice for carrots.
We lost power one day two weeks ago. Wasn’t fun but was manageable.