Decided to try something different at Starbucks. I wanted to order a tall, nonfat, no foam, extra hot, caramel latte with whipped cream, but I ended up ordering a tall, nonfat, latte with caramel... and whipped cream.
It's just so many things to say - you know?
So the barista starts making my drink - puts some espresso into a cup, then looks at the cup markings closer. Then she goes and gets another tall cup. And makes my drink in that new unmarked cup. So I didn't get to see what the markings would have been.
Anyway, I put some vanilla and chocolate powder on it, and it ended up tasting pretty much like a caramel macchiato. But I did save 15 cents!
Got my upside-down caramel macchiato today, but I don't think it's upside-down... The barista was making a caramel mach for someone else and I noted the order - steamed milk (no froth), espresso, and then caramel on top. I'm assuming she put in the vanilla syrup at the beginning.
For mine, though, she put steamed milk, espresso, looked at the cup - asked the cashier what the symbol meant (cashier said "upside down"), put in some froth, caramel and then the whipped cream. So essentially, I got a regular caramel mach. It's really sweet towards the end. I guess I didn't notice the bitter top because of the whipped cream and the chocolate powder I sprinkled on.
I've been dreamin' of an upside down caramel macchiato all weekend. Well, especially since it rained last night and all this morning. But alas, stopping by Starbucks while it was pouring buckets was not my idea of a good time.
So I didn't go... but I did stop by a Coffee Bea and Tea Leaf store though. It's slightly closer to work. There was only a couple of people inside and they had already ordered so I didn't get much time to peruse the menu.
I ended up getting a mocha latte (and putting in some chocolate powder afterwards). It's good, but I miss my caramel mach. The price is the same. I noticed the price of a caramel latte, though, is more expensive.
I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I've been going to Starbucks lately. Not too often (maybe once every two weeks), though over the past 2 weeks, I've gone 4 times.
I've tried a few different drinks - hot chocolate (didn't like theirs), caffe latte (didn't like it - taste gross), caramel macchiato (didn't like it), and possibly a caffe mocha (don't remember). Didn't like any of them, but I saw on some website that you could ask for an upside down Caramel Macchiato which would lessen the bitterness of the drink. So that's what I've been getting for the past 2 weeks.
Yesterday, I decided to try something new and settled on the Peppermint Mocha Twist.
Barista: What can I get you?
Me: Um, a tall nonfat Peppermint Mocha... Twist.
Barista: We're actually all out of peppermint.
Me: Oh. Um, well, then I'll just have a tall skinny upside down Caramel Macchiato.
Barista: Ok.
Me: Do you have any of these [ceramic coffee cup ornaments] in the christmas colors?
Barista: I actually don't know. Mark (or Steve, or whatever his name was), do you know if we have any of these in the Christmas sleeves?
Mark: No, we just have whatever is out there.
Me: Oh. Ok, I'll just get this one then.
But I've been wondering - if a latte is espresso with steamed milk/foam on top, and a Caramel Macchiato is just a vanilla latte w/ caramel syrup, but where the espresso is added on top of the steamed milk/foam, isn't an upside down Caramel Macchiato just a caramel and vanilla latte? I think it's cheaper to get a upside down CM, than a latte w/ vanilla and caramel. Though I don't know how much I like lattes - don't really like the foam...
So I've been bringing my lunch for about the last two weeks or so (well, Thanksgiving and day after doesn't count). I brought a pb&j sandwich on Monday, a salad on Tuesday, yogurt and Cocoa Krispies on Wednesday, and for today, another salad (photo to come):
Iceberg lettuce
shredded cheese (cheddar and monterey jack)
corn
peanuts (note to self - next time, use less)
clementine orange
Tyson breaded chicken
Italian dressing (some light stuff)
And some sticks of cheddar cheese. I love cheese.
It was a bit time-consuming to make... well, maybe 15 minutes? Although you could wait that long at a restaurant just to be seated. This is why I mostly just bring yogurt. Well, at least I used to - I then got into the uber-bad habit of going out for lunch.
Eating salad is a bit of an anomaly for me because I usually like separating out my food when I eat it. When I have noodles in soup, I eat all the veggies first (because I don't like veggies). Even when I'm eating something like Panda Express, I separate the meat from the rice. That way, I can regulate my meat to rice ratio. But for salad, you just mix everything together and eat it... well, except for the meat. I still keep that separate.
Went to Knott's Berry Farm today (Thanksgiving). Crowds were sparse - perhaps because of the threat of rain (there was puffy white clouds against a blue sky, right next to dark gray clouds). Or because of the economy? Anyway, there were definitely fewer people than last Thanksgiving.
If the bag check at Disneyland is for show only, the bag check at Knott's is even more pointless. They have 1 employee checking bags for two lines - you can just imagine how much attention they pay to the bags (none).
We're not big on roller coasters so we stayed away from most of them. We did spend some time in Camp Snoopy (even though none of us are kids). It was fine, though - except for Timberline Twister. It's a kid roller coaster and riders have to be between (I think) 39 inches and 69 inches. I'm not exactly a toothpick, but I'm on the slender size (compared to the average these days) and I could barely fit in the seat without the lap bar digging into my tummy. I can't imagine how someone 5'9" could fit in there.
The walk up to the loading area for Bigfoot Rapids is wayyyy too long. I guess they need it for the summer time, when the lines are long, but they need a shortcut for the off-season. Lines were non-existant - they were sending rafts through with just 2 or 3 people.
Dragon Swing was a ride that I remember from my trip to Knott's as a 10-year old. We sat near the center so we didn't swing that much, but even that was kind of intense. Thankfully, the ride ended soon.
The Ferris wheel reminded me tremendously of The Office episode. And Log Jam - well, it's not Splash Mountain. I know that Knott's had it first, but Splash is much better.
I think one of the main problems about Knott's (aside from astronomical prices for food - even worse than Dland) is their theming. Or lack thereof. Sure, there's the Peanuts gang, but then they also sell Hello Kitty, The Simpsons, Sesame Street, and even Disney. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like it's a smorgasboard of stuff - none really fitting in.
But the one thing they do have is discounts, and complimentary admission for police/fire dept employees, veterans and county social service workers. So that's a plus for KBF.
I've been trying out different combinations of eyeshadow for stage makeup. I'm not a big makeup person, even when it comes to the stage, but I figure that I should at least try this time.
It's pretty remarkable that after being in ballet for this long, I still haven't learned how to put on stage makeup but it's not my fault. Really, it's not. When I was a kid, my mom used to put it on (and when you're a kid, no one cares what you put on). When I was in my teens, my ballet teacher would do my makeup. And then when I moved on to the studio I'm at now, I basically gave up trying. It's a smaller theater and the director didn't seem to care what I wore. Other people, she would tell them to darken their makeup or change the color, but never said a thing to me. Oh, she did once tell me (while telling everyone else they did their eyeliner wrong) that she trusted me to do my makeup correctly. Hah!
Anyway, I've determined (although I think most tutorials would already tell you this) that pink eyeshadow is not... right. I put brown hues on my right eye and pink/magenta hues on my left eye. The left eye looked smaller - definitely not what you want.
So this is what I will need:
Pancake (foundation) - I've got Max Factor pan cake, which I think they stopped making.
Eyeshadow (brown hues - just got a Revlon 4-color one)
Eyeliner - I prefer pencil. Don't like liquid. Cake liner would probably be nice but they don't have it in drugstores.
False eyelashes w/ glue - I don't really like to wear them, but fine.
Blush - I have a couple of blushes, but none that are the right shade. I guess I can try mixing, but I'm not really good at that. I may just end up borrowing from another dancer.
Lipstick - again, I have a few, but not the right shade. I may borrow, I may just settle. We'll see.
Mascara - I'll probably bring this, but might not use it. I don't like the way it clumps (plus, it bothers my eyes at times), and since I'm wearing false eyelashes, I probably won't need it.
Pressed powder
Translucent powder - I sweat buckets (and have a shiny face) so hopefully this will help control the shine a bit.
plus some cotton balls and q-tips.
My first pair of pointe shoes were Capezio Aerials, size 3.5C (I think). I was 12.
After wearing a bunch of different brands (Chacott, Sansha - extensively, Principal, So Danca, Freed of London, Grishko, Fuzi, Gamba), I'm back to Capezio. Not the Aerial, though - the box (area around the toes) was too tapered and the platform (the part you stand on when you are "on your toes") is too small. Incidentally, I would wear about size 4C - apparently, my feet haven't grown much since I was 12.
Anyway, these new shoes are the Glisses. They have a square box and a larger platform. I'm on my third pair - wore first pair for class and then one day rehearsal; second pair - another class and one day rehearsal; and this pair - class (barre only) and rehearsal today. The shoes will last more than just one day, but I'm not sure how long much longer.
They are loud, though - even after banging them against concrete to dull the noise. It's a bit better, but not as quiet as some of the shoes I've worn. As Sugar Plum Fairy, you really don't want to be clunking around on stage...
What's the difference between these two cleansers? A pair of earphones and about 72 cents!
I was at Target the other day, buying some face wash. There was a display with Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson products - not only were the face cleansers on sale ($4.94 for the Neutrogena), they came with bonus earbuds!
Face wash and earbuds? Kind of an odd combination, but hey, a bonus is a bonus.
Well, they didn't actually say "Free Ear Bud Headphones !"
The 5th definition on dictionary.com for "bonus" states: something extra or additional given freely, as in Every purchaser of a pound of coffee received a box of cookies as a bonus.
I'm sure the earbuds were quite nice for 72 cents plus tax, but I decided to go with the sans earbuds. I don't do for misleading advertising.
For some reason, I really want to call this show "Booth". And I'm having trouble remembering the name of the guy who - oh, John Wilkes Booth! - killed Pres. Lincoln. Don't you hate when names/facts slip your mind like that?
Loved the dialogue between Bones, Booth, Inspector Pritchard and Dr. Wexler. It's so funny hearing "Inspector" - I keep picturing Inspector Gadget. The tan trench coach Pritchard was wearing didn't help.
Prior to this episode, I'd seen about 1.5 episodes of Bones. The interaction between Booth and Bones is funny. The rest (scientific/medical) - eh, there's other shows that do the same and yeah, I'm just not interested in seeing gruesome remains.
So Booth and Bones drinking in the pub - Booth is drinking a pint. Is that a British pint or a U.S. pint? And in places where they use milliliters and liters - do they say "can I get a 473 milliliter?" (U.S.) or "can I get a 568 milliliter?" (British)?
(Why do I wonder about random stuff like that?!)
