I have a new best friend

So... after 26 years, 4 years of college, 4.5 years in the real world, and with only 7 months left to go on my MBA, guess what I have discovered that I actually like?

COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Those who know me well are probably now scared out of their minds, due to the fact that I am wired enough as it is. Caroline on coffee just takes everything to another level. However, people forget that I'm always caffeinated- I just have always obtained my usual morning caffeine fix through Diet Coke. And honestly, I probably wouldve been just peachy continuing on with that habit but Big P & Jan kept pushing for me to give coffee another try.
Sounds kind of crazy, right? What parents urge their child to get hooked on something as addictive as coffee? Welllll.....let me explain

You see, my parents literally live for coffee. I honestly think one of the reasons why Starbucks has been able to keep their doors open through our current economic downturn is because of my father's unwavering commitment to them & his daily coffees. I'm not exaggerating. If you ever have the distinct pleasure of joining him for coffee, I would be willing to place a $20 bet that the Starbucks staff Will not only know his name, but also his order. It's incredible. Even more amazing is that my $20 wager probably applies to at least 3 different Starbucks locations that I'm aware of. Getting coffee with Big P feels like your either with a local celebrity or in a Cheers episode by EVERYONE knows his name.

Big P & I during Christmas

But I digress... Okay.. So- my personal journey of finding a new BFF in coffee has truthfully occurred because I absolutely detest being cold in the mornings. Obviously, diet coke does sbsoutely anything to help when I'm freezing to death while fixing to leave the house on these Winter mornings. Actually, drinking that delicious goodness just made me feel even more like an ice cube. I thought by implementing the use of a koozie might help with this problem, due to the fact that my fingers/hands wouldn't be as cold drinking it while driving to work.
Well, that was a negative. All the koozie helped me accomplish was perfecting the look of a raging alcoholic bc a diet coke covered up by a koozie looks remarkably like a beer. Huge fail.

I swear on everything that is holy that I'm holding a Diet Coke. Promise

Soooo I happened to mention to Big P how much I enjoyed the White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks, but I have them put in nonfat milk and leave off the whip to make it less caloric. And it also was starting to get to be an expensive habit at like $3.75/day. Big P comes back with something like "ummm hon? You realize if you like that, you probably would like real coffee too?"
I balked at the idea & proceeded to tell him that even if that were true, I didn't even own a coffee maker. Even worse? I HAD NO EARTHLY IDEA HOW TO MAKE COFFEE.

White Chocolate Mocha... sooo delish. Sooo Pricey. 

Pretty incredible, right? What 26 year old has never made coffee or tried an actual cup of coffee out of a normal coffee pot? Me. Oh wait- my husband falls into this same category. Clearly, it was not our mutual love for caffeine that brought us together, as was probably the case for Big P & Jan ;)

Like I mentioned earlier, my parents love for coffee runs pretty darn deep... But even I was surprised when my Dad said "Actually Caroline, you do own a coffee pot, along with filters & s scoop. I keep one in your pantry to make coffee for when I come & visit."
ummmmmmmm...... SERIOUSLY?!?!? Only my father.... gotta love him.

So, sure enoughh, sitting in a box at the very top of my pantry was this little guy....

Mildly psychotic move played by my parents, but yet how gratuitous was that for me and my new found addicition  love? So, on my next grocery run, I bought some Vanilla Coffee & fat free vanilla creamer, and I have been continuing my love affair with my new BFF ever since.

Yum Yum Yum

Wait........ What? You're completely jealous of my coffee mug?  Yeah, I don't blame you.  I'm sure you wish you had a personalized Looney Tunes coffee mug too- I hear they're a pretty hot item these days.  Along with scrunchies & stirrup pants. Ha.  

 Sidebar- When we took trips as a child, my parents always tried to buy me a momento from every trip we took so I could have something to remember that particular trip.  Unfortunately, "CAROLINE" was not a popular name & none of my trip trinkets have my name on it.  So, when I found that beautiful piece of tableware at a six flags when I was 16, you better bet your sweetness I purchased it.  Immediately.  That mug has made it through 4 years of college, and 3 moves after college.  Its kind of like an Ancient Artifact... minus that whole high value factor thing.  Hmm. Oh well.  

Soooo, since I am complete coffee novice, I now need all the suggestions I can get.
SOOOOO First off- What's the best coffee maker to buy? Do I buy a fancy Keurig single cup since I'm the only one drinking it?  Or do the old person thing & get nicer 12 Cup-er, so I can serve coffee when I have gatherings at our house?  Although, now that I think about it, I have yet to attend a party with our friends where coffee is being served.  At what age does that start to happen?  30? I just need to know to be prepared for that transition.  Hahahaha

Single?

Fancy?

          OR














































Second novice question- What type of coffee do y'all prefer? I still really like sweet coffee versus super bitter/black cups.  I've been pretty happy w/ my vanilla infused Starbucks, but I'm down to try anything yall recommend!

Anyway, I'm thrilled I've now had the chance to introduce yall to my new BFF.  I have a feeling this is the start of an absolutely beautiful and long term addiction   relationship!
Soooooo with that- thats about it for now!

A Creature of Habit or just plain OCD?

Soooo, it's the beginning of the week.  Again.

 It is dreary as all get out.  Again.

Not what I'd call a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Our street looks depressed.  

I have to make the long haul across town in rush hour traffic only to sit & listen to a professor drone on & on about the riveting topic of Supply and Demand in my MBA class.  Again.

Now, when you add all of those factors together for a normal person, it would make for a pretty miserable Monday.  

However, am I in a horrendous mood today?  Nope.  Do I absolutely LOVE being on a schedule & in a routine?  Absolutely.  Does this make me part of the 1% of America that doesn't mind Mondays?  I'd bank on it.  

Kevin, on the other hand, reminds me of a grumpy 8 year old little boy when his alarm goes off on Monday mornings.  Ptsch, who am I kidding?  His grumpiness level is pretty incredible to witness every morning.  I have no idea how his mother put up with him as a child.  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the happiest person when I first wake up (Jan & Big P will verify that I was comparable to that of a hibernating bear throughout high school....) , but it doesn't take me more than about 5 minutes for me to up, kicking, and totally awake.  

Let me walk you through my daily routine....

-I'm pretty confident that Kevin still longs for his bachelor pad & possibly contemplates slapping me on most mornings because once those five minutes have passed after I wake up, I'm rearing to go, at 110 mph, in full Caroline glory.  I am a non-morning person's nightmare.  

-Once, I walk into the bathroom, I immediately turn on the Today Show to keep me company while I get ready.  Partially because Kevin has the personality of our coffee table in the morning & I'd have better luck starting a career as a tattoo artist than I would w/ getting him to hold a convo.  But I also watch it because it puts me in the best mood.  I typically don't watch a ton of news shows, but the Today Show lets me know whats going on in the world in an entertaining way.  

-After I get ready, I get all of my resources together & organized for the day.  I eat the exact same type of breakfast bar for breakfast every single day & accompany that with a Diet Coke (Remember that detail.  You might see a pattern later.) My schedule is set to where I know exactly where I am headed every day.  I know most people like sales because of the flexibility, but I've managed to plan my days in a succinct routine that I follow to a T.  

-I spend my day making my sales calls, stopping only if I don't have a planned lunch.  If no lunch is planned, I tend to run home for lunch to eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.  Complete w/ a side of yogurt & a diet coke.  Every day.  

-Once my day is finished, I come home & immediately change into gym clothes.  I prefer for my workouts to be started by 5:15pm.  I start to get extremely edgy if I haven't left for the gym or gone on a run by 5:30.  

-I try to get our dinner prep completed as soon as I get home from the gym.  If I start responding to work emails or doing other tidbits, it becomes extremely hard to derail me, and then we end up eating at 10pm.  Obviously, this makes for a pissy husband who turns into a hungry hippo once his blood sugar gets low.

-After we eat dinner, we settle into the living room & watch our shows.  Or, err, I guess my shows.  Believe it or not, Kevin doesn't share the same sentiment about me on Real Housewives.  Shocking, right?  We usually toggle back & forth between channels to keep us both happy, which works out great for me because I tend to get a TON of work completed while he's watching his weird Nat Geo or History Channel shows.  

-Around 11, we start to mosey upstairs to get ready for bed.  I take a quick shower, and then go to bed.  Or... try to.  As we all know, Kev snores like freight train, so I'm generally up til around 1230ish until I'm tired enough to block out that lovely rhythmic pleasure.  

-Then, I wake up the next morning, and do the exact same thing as the day before.  

Other Carol OCD tendencies

-I tend to get pretty cranky if my routine is thrown off for very long- hints why I prefer shorter vacations to longer ones.

-I am the world's worst lazy person on the weekends.  I cannot sit still to save my life.  I want to get things accomplished versus slopping it up on the couch all day (coughcoughkevincoughcough)

-I do not do a messy house.  I will have a guaranteed meltdown if I come home to find that our house is a hot mess.  

-It takes an act of Congress to get me to do anything social on a week night.  Since I drive all day, the last thing I want to do is to leave our house again.  

So, the question remains... Am I just a creature of habit or super OCD?  Hahahaha- regardless, it works for us :) 

That about does it for me, but I have to throw this in here just for kicks.....

Of course baby Reese helped us cheer on our Wildcats this past Saturday.  Clearly, she came prepared in her UK attire to help clinch another win over the Vols.  So. flippin. Presh.  

Anywho, thats all I've got today! xoxoxo

Why hello January...

Lets just pause a minute & take in the fact that it is already January 11th.  The first 1/3 of the month is over.  That is just insane.  A million things (all good!) have been going on in my life, which yall wouldn't know about because I have yet to have my first post in 2012 yet.  Oops, my bad.  A life update is definitely in order.
Let me start off this post by introducing you guys to the MOST exciting thing to happen in 2012 so far.

Reese Erin was born!!!!!!!!!!

Our 2nd Niece, Reese, was born last Wednesday.  Isn't she just so incredibly precious??  Kevin & I went straight over to the hospital after work the night she was born so we could meet Riley's new baby sister!

I know I look super pensive, but I'm always petrified that I might break a newborn.  They are just so fragile.  Kevin, on the other hand, continues to think he is the Baby Whisperer.

Such a natural.

As much as it pains me to admit it, Reese got fussy while I was holding her, but as soon as Kevin took her, she was fine.  And yes, he is still glowing over that little tidbit.  Men.  Sigh.  

Anywho, we've also been super busy cheering on our CATS.  

Oh Heyyyy Doron... :)

We're ranked #2.  15-1.  Boom.  So...How's your fav basketball team doing this year??

I'm sorry, I can't help but be a little obnoxious over the fact that it's good to be a Wildcat fan.  I feel like I've earned the right to be a bit pious because I did attend UK during the down years, which was every bit as painful as it sounds.  It would be like if Alabama was all of a sudden terrible at Football.  It just doesn't happen.  And to say that fans were cranky with a losing record would be the understatement of the century.  Therefore, it feels flippin fantastic to cheer on such amazing teams again.

Chi Omega for life :)

Truth be told, on gamedays, it doesn't matter who we are playing, every bar is absolutely packed w/ UK fans, which makes every game beyond fun to watch.  I was lucky enough to watch this past game with one of my college bffs (& sorority sister & former roommate), Erin!  We're lucky that South Carolina didn't give us much of a game because we probably talked through about 96% of that match up.  Love love love my college girls.  

As all married people know, marriage is all about give & take.  After frequenting the bar scene all throughout college,  I can only handle being in a bar for so long, until I am ready to pound my head against a wall.   So, once UK had won & it was looking like the Bengals were gonna lose, I was able to talk Kevin into heading over to Whole Foods for some Vino.

So, although I know I've mentioned it before, if you have a Whole Foods in your town, make SURE to ask about their wine tastings.  The one in Lexington does FREE (Check it, Bargain Blonde) wine & liquor tastings every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  And when I say tasting, I mean each pour is the equalivlent of 1/4 of a glass.  Plus, they will tell you all about the origin of the wine, the best food pairings with each, etc.  Obviously, I take advantage of this as frequently as possible.  I think Kevin might have been embarrassed when about 1/2 the room knew my name when I walked in.  To Me, on the other hand, it felt like I was the long lost cast member on Cheers.  I loveeeee it!  

So as you all can see, between work & school starting back, gaining a new niece, and keeping our UK fan dedication at an adequate level, I have been busy.  But, now that I'm back in a routine, expect some quality posts coming your way soon.  Thats about it for now!  xoxoxoo