Coffee Crisis (Coffee Maker Reviews)

I had a run of bad luck with my coffee last year. Last week I shared my Starbucks saga (if you use one of their travel mugs, you’ll want to check out my post), and today I’m going to tell you how Cuisinart let me down, and share my recent coffee maker reviews.

coffee maker reviews
We fell in love with the Cuisinart grind-and-brew coffee maker that brews directly into a thermal carafe years ago. I always hated the smell of coffee that’s been sitting on a hot plate for too long, and the Cuisinart eliminated that problem, because there is no hot plate. While the “grind” feature wasn’t reliable (after a few uses it became impossible to remove the grinding apparatus for cleaning), the coffee maker brewed excellent coffee, and the carafe kept it hot and drinkable for hours.

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Posted in Product Reviews | Tagged | 16 Comments

Come Look Out My Window

It’s no secret that I spend a lot of time at work, sitting at my desk, working on my computer. But every once in a while when I look up from my computer and glance out my window, the view takes my breath away.  

Kennedy Center 1

After I shared this picture on Facebook, a friend suggested that I do something with all of my Kennedy Center pictures. I started saving my good pictures, and made them into a calendar on Snapfish. These are the ones I chose: 

Jan-Feb-Mar

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Apr-May-June

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July-Aug-Sep

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Oct-Nov-Dec

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What do you do with your favorite pictures? 

 

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The First Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up Of 2015

Happy 2015! What better way to start the year than having coffee with friends? Pour yourself a cup, pull up a chair, grab the badge and join us! 

The Ultimate Coffee Date

If we were having coffee, I would ask you how your holiday was. We had a pretty quiet Christmas, but it was nice all the same. 

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you got any fitness-related gifts I might want to check out. As I shared in my Fitmas post, the only new running gear I got was the headlamp I bought for myself, but my husband gave me lots of new cycling outfits. 

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you are making any New Year’s resolutions. I feel like a broken record needing to make the same changes at work that I resolved to make last year and the year before, but my perseverance should pay off eventually, right? 

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you read about my Starbucks saga. Someone less addicted to Starbucks would have just stopped going back, but I guess I love their coffee more than I hated the hassle.

If we were having coffee, I would ask you what’s on your reading list. I read three very different books in December (Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott, The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey, and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell) and am ready for something new. 

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Posted in Fitness | 25 Comments

Five New Year Resolutions For Bloggers

It’s that time of year when we make lists of the things we will do differently in the year ahead so that we will be happier, healthier, and more successful this time next year. While self-improvement is all well and good, isn’t it more fun to think of how others could do things differently to make our lives better? In that spirit, I’m sharing five New Year resolutions for my fellow bloggers. 😉 

Blogger's Resolutions

 1. I will stop using captcha. Is it just the blogs I read, or has captcha made a comeback recently? I would love to comment on your post, but I honestly can’t read the captcha code 3/4 of the time. I know spam is a problem, but there are better solutions. (I’ve got the “Anti-Spam” plug in and it seems to work pretty well.)   Continue reading

Posted in Life | Tagged | 29 Comments

Dear Starbucks, This Is A Tall

As someone who never gets enough sleep, my morning coffee is very important to me. I prefer to brew my coffee at home, using Starbucks ground coffee (1/2 regular, 1/2 decaf, so I can drink several cups without getting jittery), adding a scant tablespoon of half-and-half, and drinking out of one of my favorite mugs. 

dear starbucks
I may take my coffee ritual to the extreme, but it’s one of life’s simple pleasures, and a good cup of coffee can make me feel empowered to face the challenges of the day ahead. So, you’ll understand why messing with my morning coffee can make me cranky! Continue reading

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , | 11 Comments