AM~Erica is Even More Coffee Snobbier Than Expected

So anyway...

It really shouldn't be a shock that I LOVE MY COFFEE. I do.

I have also (re)discovered the zen of hot tea. Milk with sugar &/or honey in a cup of...
TEA: EARL GREY: HOT.
Seriously. Channeling my inner Piccard & I make it so.

And even though I have gotten into this new ritual of AM Coffee & PM Tea...I will still drink coffee if it's offered at pretty much any point of the day. Seriously.

With the new-found status hubby & I have found in OUR COFFEE-SNOBBERY, we tend to get picky about the java we consume. Since we have found our favorite coffee bean from a particular coffee shop, and we grind our own while using filtered water to put into coffee filtering resevoir of the coffee pot to be put thru the coffee filter with the grounds...yeah. We are probably a little ridiculous....but whatever. It's not like we are growing our own beans! ...yet...

It really is so bad, that we can totally taste the difference in good & *ahem* not-so-good coffee that we get at other places. We are a little pathetic. But we can't help it.

Since we are advocates of hometown stuff, too...we are always more than willing to support a local place. Even though our favorite beans & favorite coffee shop are a chain...we still give locals a fair shake. So the hubby was given a sampling of grounds from a local place. He was at a meeting where he got the chance to get a tiny package of coffee grounds from The Roasterie. If you've been thru KC in the last few months, it's the really cool building with an old airplane looking like it's taking off from the rooftop! Yeah...that one. And one of the presenters had  these packets of a specialized blend from The Roasterie. Well, hubby wanted to use the sample (plus the extra one he acquired from someone who doesn't drink coffee), so I made the coffee this morning. As I figured it...and according to the vague directions on one of the little packages...I really needed both sample packs to make a full pot.

Well...tried it. I haven't heard hubby's assessment of it yet...but...
It's proof of how spoiled we are with our chosen beans that we love. Meh & Bleh.

No kidding...I'm having trouble getting it down. I've even added extra milk AND foo-foo creamers. And it helps...but still...

Maybe a different blend would be better. I've heard really good things about the coffee from The Roasterie...but this was not one of the better ones. I'm glad we didn't get anymore of this type. But maybe some success in shop with a fresh brew would help. But...

I'm ready for my freshly ground Sumatra beans from Gloria Jean's. Seriously. Oh...AND THEY KNOW ME THERE ANYWAY.

Geez! How big of a coffee snob am I anyway? *face palm*

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

**********

UPDATE:

Hubby wasn't fond of it either. Thought it didn't have enough flavor, but could stomach it since he has to switch to non-snobby coffee from time-to-time. Thought I'd share his critique of our brew switch. Time to go back!

AM~Erica Senses Something Not of the Best...and Something Fishy

So anyway...

After such a fabulous day yesterday, and figuring out that's really all it took for the Pacific Northwest to officially ruin me, I was so looking forward to this next day's agenda! We were counting down to it. And, even though we've already been thru it, my heart is still beating wildly thinking about it!

We headed into downtown Seattle. With a San Fran feel of the steep streets, we made our way to it thru horrible traffic. The downtown area of Seattle is absolutely beautiful, once you can fight the parking lot-like traffic to get to it. First stop was Pike Place Market. I was super stoked!

We were also looking forward to trying some coffee at the market, too, while we were there. OK...the place smelled fishy, but they have tons of fresh fish (say that 5x fast).

Check out that salmon...

...and check out those lobster tails!

However, the smell wasn't as fantastic to the kiddos. But, we really enjoyed the street performers, looking at the beautiful produce & the fabulously large, beautiful & cheap flower arrangements. The artisans there were pretty amazing, too. Unfortunately, we were still having issues finding coffee. Figures.

On a positive note, I was hoping to see some fish-throwing...and we just happen to walk up one being thrown as it was leaving Guy #1's hands & got to see Guy #2 catch it. We figured out they throw it when someone makes a purchase with them. (Note to self for future reference.) So that was a cool thing to get to witness, too.

We decided to go to one of the lower levels in search of coffee at the market. Still no coffee, but we did discover this attraction:

It was a shoe exhibit! Of course it totally caught my attention! But I will confess it wasn't the word "SHOE" that caught my attention. I know...shocker. But it was the life-sized image of the World's Tallest Man. I realized that Yahoo! had put this attraction in an article of cheapest attractions across America to visit before you die. For a quarter, you could see a shoe from the World's Tallest Man. I didn't even think about that attraction being there...or I would have stocked up on quarters! Once again...this will make the list for our future trip back there.

From there, we checked the other 2 levels for coffee. Brace yourselves...there wasn't any! I know, right?

So...we headed across the street. And a woman caught my attention on a balcony. However, it caught my attention that she was just standing a pose & not playing her guitar...

...because she's fake! It's a posed mannequin, urban art I suppose, that did certainly catch my attention.

So we meandered on...in search of Seattle coffee. And as we walked, we figured out why it's called Pike Place Market:

*face palm* DUH!

At that point...something caught my eye...could it be some local flavor coffee?

Before we explored further, I realized I might have seen this neon coffee cup before. Hubby has a really cool pic on his computer with this coffee cup. We thought the mug sign was much, much larger because it looked like it was part of this sign:

But obviously not...
Then I realized something...it's all in the angle:

Voila! Well...at least hubby was impressed.

OK, now to figure out what the neon cup was attached to really...
Would it be Starbuck's? Would it be some cool little mom-&-pop local coffee?

Nope:

We happen to find the other chain in Seattle: Seattle's Best Coffee. *sigh* Figures. But we we obviously tried it anyway. All of us got some kind of concoction from the shoppe:

After a moment of sitting & enjoying...we were on our merry way again, but not without me getting a pic of myself with the coffee sign:

On a funny side note story: We talked about going to Seattle's Best Coffee. Lil Guy told us that it wasn't going to be Seattle's Best. We kind of laughed it off. Ummm...we weren't overly impressed with the coffee. Again...figures. And when hubby & I talked about that a little bit, Lil Guy overheard us, and then said, "See? I told you it wouldn't be Seattle's Best. You should've trusted me." Little know-it-all.

Teen Girl found a British flag bowtie in the market that she wanted to purchase. This is due to her love of England & Dr. Who. She wanted to get it before our next official stop. Hubby & I found a fabulous metal wall decoration of a steaming coffee cup. So these where the only purchases made AT the market.

So...we were off.

So a couple of pics over the balcony before we head back to the car:

So...until next time...(and we WILL visit again)

Off to our next destination!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

Yep, Still AM~Erica's Peeps

So anyway...

If you haven't figured out by now, I really like my coffee. No...wait...I really LOVE my coffee! And if you don't know that by now, either we've literally JUST met...or you've been living under a rock (or you're doing a great job of ignoring me...but whatever).

And I've totally talked about how I FEEL LIKE NORM ON CHEERS when I walk into my favorite coffee shop. It delightfully gets proven again & again when I go in there. I love it! (But, please note, I do pay for my beans EVERY time I go in...there's no running tab.)

Lately, over the holidays, things were different in there...a lot of new people started working there. It was crazy! I felt like I only knew a couple of the baristas. Our usual baristas were never there (one of them defected to a totally different store across the way in the mall). I felt like I was the one training new people! I know...probably not right, but I know that's how Norm would have felt if there was a new bartender. But we were gonna get thru this together, right?

No matter, there was still about 3 of them that would call me by name...and onto "training" the others. *wink, wink*

I am about to give you some fun examples as to how I know that I am amongst my peeps when I go into Gloria Jean's:

~ There was the time that I had to get there quickly! Out of coffee beans is NEVER a good thing. As I turned the corner to my coffee world for my beans, I realized someone was in there with a shopping cart from like Sears or something. *face palm* WHO DOES THAT? Oh wait...it was one of my original faves that defected across the way! And she was dressed as if she was working at the "other place", not the GJ's. I walked in...and I'm not sure what all happened, but somehow she made it behind the counter to ring me up...even though she wasn't on the clock there, but on the clock at the other place, and then proclaimed that what she was doing might be illegal. HA! Then she made it  back out to where I was standing to wait on her stuff she'd already placed her order for & was talking to one of the new baristas. She made him hurry so she could get back to her "other job" (blah, blah, blah) & so he could fill my order. There was a whole exchange of whether or not my order needed the sticker of type of beans since we have settled on only one kind now. The decision was that I know what kind of beans had better be in there, so no need for a sticker. And he would also remember me, not by the flowers & accessories in my hair, but instead by the fact that I knew the one barista & known by others there.

~ There was the time that I went to get my weekly (or bi-weekly since there are SO MANY COFFEE DRINKING PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE) bean order, and the dude who remembered that I "didn't need a sticker" for my beans decided he would help out his memory a  little more by doing this:

That's right...I get the Sumatra beans from Gloria Jean's (*snort* I rhymed ~~ wiggy-wiggy); so he gave me the sticker to wear on my coat. People ask me about my sticker...and I love to tell them the story!

~ There was the time that there was quite a line backed up inside of Gloria Jean's. Well, it was the holiday shopping season...in the mall...where people NEED a pick-me-up. But I went in to get my very-regular order (1 lb. whole bean Sumatra...but this stop might have been a 1/2 lb. fill-'er-upper) with about 7 customers in line before me. As I got in line, one of about half a dozen baristas working yelled,

"ERICA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" 

I think I knew about 3 or 4 of them working back there. Then, about 3 of them started climbing over each other to get my beans ready! Seriously, people! As orders continued to be taken in front of me, mine was ready & waiting for me at the register by the time I got up there. Plus...they noticed that I had been given a Sumatra sticker. We were all giggling & having a joyous time. That may have also been the time when I danced crazily, almost knocked over a display of travel mugs, moved over & danced some more, paid for my beans, left & realized my fly was down on my pants. Holy Cannoli! What happened in there that day?

~ Then there was yesterday. Had to stop in to get beans, of course. And I'm pretty sure that statement shocks most of you...or not. As I went in, there was a line. The day after Christmas was a crazy one & people needed their pick-me-up...and I needed beans. So...with about 6 people in front of me & my hubby, I hear it...

"ERICA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...!! 

I waved like crazy at them & I realized I knew all three baristas there this time. YEA! Then one of them shouted that they wanted me to guess what was on brew that day. I started dancing around & celebrating. It had to be Sumatra...which meant that I got $1 off my beans that day! WOO HOO!! And I was told that they thought of me as they brewed it that morning & wondered if I might be in that day. Yep...we are all getting on the same page like that. And...AND...? The barista who gave me my sticker went over to get my beans. He was so excited that I still had my sticker on for about 2-3 weeks. Then...I heard him say it was his last day. WHAT? I just got him all trained & everything! As it turns out...he was only seasonal. I pouted about it...but then...THEN??? He wanted to keep in touch since we would miss each other! Awwwwwww... So, we are now Facebook friends, y'all! Everyone, tell Ryan hi! Oh...and I had my beans in hand by the time I got to the cash register. *GRINS*

Friends, when I say that I am amongst my peeps when I go into Gloria Jean's, I'm not kidding. And I do have non-coffee drinking friends that will stop by that particular Gloria Jean's just to see if I'm there.

I really, Really, REALLY do feel like Norm walking into the Cheers bar. And it feels good!

And, if you ever go by the Gloria Jean's at Independence Center, tell 'em I sent ya! For realz & serious, people.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: Friday, December 28, 2012

Not only should you all wave hi to Ryan...wave hi to Mercedes, too! If you remember, she's one of the original M&M's referenced in the first blog link! I'm so excited she's here, too!

I love my barista folk!

AM~Erica is a Coffee Snob

So anyway...

This past weekend, my hubby had meetings with the Missouri United Methodist Conference taking place in Springfield, MO. That meant being out of town for a few days & mixing up our routine...
Not only did we have to set up a flowchart-needing schedule for our poor kiddos, but we were needing to change up when we got up, where to eat, and most of all...our coffee situation.

Now, most of you may have already figured out how important coffee is for my hubby & me. If you're not as familiar, then you need to know that it is VERY important. Otherwise it's ugly.

So, here we are in Springfield needing to get coffee. You could "brew" coffee in your room, there was complimentary coffee in the hotel lobby, you could spend a fortune for the mini buffet & get coffee in the hotel restaurant, you could pick some up at a fast food or other dining establishment...none of it was working. We heard that Mudhouse Coffee House is supposed to be really good, but by the time we found out about it & found the hours, we didn't have time to try it. Hopefully we will get to try it sometime now that we know about it.

We were missing our grinder & beans. Badly. We dealt with the gift of the coffee we were "given", but once you have freshly ground coffee in the mornings, nothing else is the same again. It's because of this realization we had already come to a few months ago, we also came to this realization:

We Are Coffee Snobs.

Once you've gotten to dabble in the good stuff, it's hard to back down from that. Except at Wendy's. They have a new Redhead premium blend that is actually quite fantastic. And those are big words from an admitted coffee snob. So imagine my level of sad when we discovered that Wendy's is doing their breakfast as a "test market only". So no morning Wendy's coffee to offset any other coffee we could get a hold of. So it seems to be going on about everywhere BUT Springfield. Go figure.

All I have to say is that we were so happy to get back to our grinder & beans! Yesterday morning was delightful making our own coffee, at home, with our own beans. That first appreciative cup was the best. But we didn't have enough for a full pot, so we were slightly short-changed on that first coffee back home. So I had to make a stop to get beans.

I headed over to Gloria Jean's, of course. Our usual baristas weren't going to be there. I knew that. Like they know us & which beans we get, we know their schedule. It's all part of the bonding process. However, we were off schedule. So I didn't know who we would get. It was a barista who has served us before, but it's been quite a while. I ordered only half a pound of beans in the interim to get us back on our coffee schedule. I let her know that I was in the coffee club, and she replied with, "It's 'Erica,' right?" wha-WHA?? Holy Cannoli! She even knew my name! Teen boy was with me & he just started shaking his head. I would like to point out that she knew my name before I handed her the card with my name on it.

That's right...I'm so known at the local Gloria Jean's coffee shop that even baristas we are not as familiar with know my name. *bows & curtsey*

So...what has 2 thumbs & is a total coffee snob? THIS GIRL!!!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

I Blame AM~Erica's Future Self

So anyway...

In a recent post I had about coffee shops, I mentioned my fabulous friend, Shanna. I also mentioned she's an author. She also has a fabulous blog that she keeps up, too. I love her!

Recently, she had a great blog post about what you, as your future self, might tell your high school self. It's an entertaining post that really makes you think! She wondered what I would tell myself.

This post will NOT answer that. I am actually here to address my future self. I know I can be ornery & sneaky...but my future self is even worse!

Generally, we love it when someone steps up to do a chore for us or something nice. But there are those times when there's something you need to say yourself, or you have it in the back of your own head to do. But somehow, your future self beats you to it. Just yesterday, I was just talking to my daughter about a story with my future self. I guess my future self got really excited to be in the conversation & struck again this morning!

Several years ago, when I had my wisdom teeth out, I forced them to put me under. I did NOT want to know what they were going to do to me! I remember having my wrists tied down to the arms of the dental chair. I remember thinking that I had to remember that moment as being funny so I could tell my dad. He's the one that took me & was taking me home. I remember them waking me up; I remember the recovery room; I vaguely remember the ride home; I remember being sick since I don't do anesthesia too well; and I remember my dad waking me up once in a while to switch which side I was laying on & to switch my ice packs. Then, I heard it: when my mom got home, I heard my dad tell her that I'd told him about being tied to the chair! Wait...WHAT?? I didn't even get to tell him because I beat myself to it??? How dare me! I was so disappointed that my future self would do that to me.

Now, just know that my future self has struck a few more times, but it was the timing of telling Teen Girl about the above story that made me wonder about this morning...

I was going to get another cup of coffee & I put my coffee cup by the coffee maker. I went to get lil guy going for summer school & then came back to put milk in my cup...and the milk was already poured perfectly into my mug! Wait...WHAT? Gee...thanks, future self!

Don't get me wrong. It was nice. My future self, I'm sure, was trying to help. But at the same time, I have the feeling my future self is enjoying me being made to look like a bigger dork than I already am. Trust me...I do NOT need the help.

So this doesn't help my high school self. Actually I think my high school self would either be terrified by this, or laughing hysterically.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

Gloria Jean Knows AM~Erica's Name

So anyway...

Raise your hands if you know where the practice of yelling, "NORM!" came from. *raises hand*

And why did they yell Norm's name when he walked in? He was a regular at the Cheers bar, and they knew his name. And even though he could never pay off the tab he'd been working on for years, they always served him & enjoyed his company. They liked him being there.



If you haven't figured out, I love my coffee. I do...I really, Really, REALLY do! And I have been to several establishments to purchase a cup of coffee, foo-foo or not, to consume. Some are good, some are not-so-good. But I ponder the fact that I have been drawn to one particular establishment. And my draw to it extends back to my newly-post high school days.

Remember back in the 80's & early 90's when some of us were considered mall rats? *raises hand* I had the hair-goddess, lion-mane hair & would go with my friends to invade Claire's, Spencer Gifts & the food court. And going to check out new trends in the stores was a MUST! Maybe even work in a silly photo booth session, and possibly a movie. Those were the days! But I must blame, I mean "give credit", to my friend Renae for introducing me to iced mocha on the Country Club Plaza during my senior year. And that was it!

In the time since then, I was usually at Ward Parkway mall (back when it was a whole mall) since the draw to Bannister Mall was sadly dwindling. (RIP, Bannister Mall) So, I would shop frequently with my good pal, Nikki. And we would often go into the Gloria Jean's establishment to get some kind of coffee concoction. We started getting to know the manager there because she would start to remember us. But it's hard to forget a couple of crazy chics when one of them is albino. But we started getting to know Pam. Then life began to happen; Nikki & I started hanging out less & stopping by Gloria Jean's to get our coffee from Pam. We quit going. For years.

I eventually got a job about a block from Ward Parkway mall & started going there again nearly everyday. Pam was still there & actually remembered me! We started chatting & I would get my coffee. Then a guy named Dave started coming in, too. We were quite a trio talking there almost everyday & entertaining the customers coming in for their coffee, too. I even started spending some days with my (now author) friend, Shanna. She blames me, I mean "gives me credit", for her addiction to frozen coffee just from out frequent visits there.

I got laid off from my job & slowed going. Ward Parkway was dwindling & became less of a mall. Gloria Jean's closed. I had to go back over to Bannister if I was to see my friend Pam & sometimes Dave would show up, too. But that shop closed along with the whole mall. No more Gloria Jean's for a long time...that was over 10 years ago.

In the meantime, we have had local coffee shop coffee & Starbuck's. But it was never the same for me. Not just the taste of the coffee, but the ambiance. I didn't have the "NORM" moments. My hubby & I were in the realm of "general patrons". Until recently...

In December, hubby & I decided to delve into the world of grinding our own coffee beans! And that's what we did. So, off to bean testing: from store brands, to local coffee shop blends, we tried Gloria Jean's. We were most pleased with what they had & how it tasted. So we go weekly into the Gloria Jean's establishment at the mall near us. One of the baristas learned my name since I'm on the coffee club list. *Coffee Snob* Now, when I walk in the door, she yells, "ERICA WILLIAMS!" It doesn't matter how crowded the shop is. Another barista has started learning our habits, too. We have a coffee bean blend rotation...and they are learning it. They will even have a 2-5 minute conversation with each other about us coming in & arguing about what bean is up in the rotation before we can even say hi to them. It's awesome!

They have even gotten to the point they are trying to remember hubby's name. When he walks in, they yell, "MR. WILLIAMS!" Yeah...they don't have his first name down...yet...

So, if you are ever at Independence Center on Friday, Saturday or Sunday afternoon or evening, you may see Morgan & Mercedes (M&M, aka "Two Blondes & a Coffee Shop"). Go say hi, get a drink & tell them Erica Williams sent you.

Cuz...(sing with me)...
"...sometimes you wanna go
where everybody knows your na-a-a-ame;
(bum, bum, bum-bum)
and their always glad you ca-a-a-ame!
(bum, bum, bum-bum)"

(Are you singing, too?)

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Gets Seussified

So anyway...

Today is a day
That we celebrate
a Seussy birthday!

If you remember last year,
What should have caused a CHEER
ended up causing a tear.
But this is a different year,
Let me explain
just to be clear:

Year, Cheer
Year, Tear
Year, Year, Clear, Clear

On March second
of year ONE-TWO,
I celebrated
in the Lou!

St. Louis, that is!
The time had come
That my new invite
really had come!

I left from KC
at 30 til 5
Then came the nearly
4 hour drive.

A lot of coffee
I did need
So my awakeness & energy
I might feed.

I spent the morning
with Timmy Ezell!
Here's your warning:
IT WENT WELL!



Ezell, Ezell;
Went well, went well!
It went WELL with Tim Ezell!

A show with olympics themed Seussical
and ending with a gospel choir musical.
With Cat in the Hat Tim
and I as Thing 1,
It was easy to tell
that it was so fun!

Cat, Thing 1
So much fun!
We had fun
And Thing 1...WON!

It appears I have a new buddy.
Let me tell you that Timmy's
no fuddy-duddy!

He's no fuddy-duddy buddy!

And it only took a whole two years!
And the Fox 2 staff really are dears!

Now a video I thought I'd share.
You can watch it...if you care!
YOu can watch it...if you DARE!

WATCH IF YOU CARE OR DARE!


Then I headed back
just after 10;
Another nearly 4 hours
til I got in.

Now I'm home & trying to figure out dinner.
I'm so tired from being a winner
that we need to find a dinner winner.

Hope you found a way to celebrate!
You still have time...
It's not too late!

It's never too late
to celebrate!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Just an update on our dinner:
We picked one that was a true WINNER!

IHOP has Green Eggs & Ham
but tied to the Lorax
instead of Sam-I-am.

The Lorax breakfast was truly yummy!
Had more coffee & it filled my tummy!

For now, I am a tired chick.
Maybe another time
for the Lorax flick.

AM~Erica Gets in a Goofy Discussion on Leap Year

So anyway...

Today is one that comes around only once every 4 years...kind of like a comet, in it's own right. But it was actually put on the calendar to help balance time. Since there is supposedly 365 & a quarter days every year, well, every 4 years would make a whole extra day (or something)to even out everything in the "space/time continuum". Right?

As I see it...it's kind of like trying to make everyone happy to try to keep balance, but you are actually screwing things up more by trying to make everyone happy. It has actually screwed with time AND people's lives...you know...like BIRTHDAYS! So happy quadrilineal birthday to everyone born on February 29th!

Well, with it being a "special" day, my hubby & I figured that Google would have some kind of special homepage today. Frogs...really cute frogs for Leap Day.

When my teenage son heard us talking about the Google page, he asked what would be used to illustrate Leap Day/Year. I asked him to think about it. He brought up a rabbit. That's a really good guess...but wrong. So we had him guess again. This time he came up with a frog. *DING-DING-DING* We have a winner! Then...this is how the next part of the conversation went:

Son: "Moo. I'm a frog."

Me: Oh, so you're a bullfrog?


HAHAHAHAHA!!! My son & my hubby just stared at me in shock. I told 'em it was a good one. They did agree.

Can you tell the coffee is kicking in early this morning? Watch out today, world! I'm comin' for ya!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Will Be Your Coffee Surrogate

So anyway...

Today is Ash Wednesday. We begin our journey to the Easter season.

I hope everyone has recovered from Mardi Gras & has prepared to begin their resolve for Lent. (I heard it put that way & love it!)

Let us not forget what Lent is about & some things we can do to help us thru the season for the right reason.

With that being said, I will be happy to give some ideas of things I have done in the past.

* I have given up chocolate before. That was torture & back in a time when I didn't fully understand giving something up for Lent.

* I gave up ALL caffeine one year. That was an ugly, Ugly, UGLY year! I don't think God really wanted that for me. Again, it was before I fully understood the full meaning of Lent.

* There was the year I gave up caring. I wish I was kidding about that. I'm not. I guess you can tell that this was also before I really understood the whole Lent thing.

* Oh! I gave up meat one year. Not so bad, but there was a misunderstanding with my hubby where he thought I said he should give it up to. But it wasn't clear why he was mad, so I would save up my dinner meat, hide it in the fridge & eat it on Sunday. Not the best approach either. Still...not the understanding of Lent then, either.

During those times, I was like many, many others announcing what I'd given up for Lent like I was a saint, martyr, or victim. All the wrong, Wrong, WRONG approach to take!

So, I do plan to offer some help. For anyone who is giving up their coffee (hopefully for the reason that you felt it draws you away from your Christ-focus & it is truly a spiritual decision), then I have been known to step in a few times for those, for various reasons, who need a jolt of coffee/caffeine & cannot consume it right then. I, essentially, become a Coffee Surrogate. If you are in need of my services, please Facebook message me, direct message me on Twitter, or email me (erica.williams74@gmail.com). Do NOT comment on your needs here or on my Facebook wall. I will keep your needs secret & am always happy to step in with some coffee for you.

If it is not coffee you are resolving to give up, then I hope you prayerfully enter your resolve to bring you closer to God. In secret...as possible.

Have a blessed Lenten season, all. Enter in for the right reason.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Can't Wait

So anyway...

Recently a friend was giving me a hard time on my Facebook posts when I would bring up about waiting to brew my coffee. She kept bragging about Starbuck's Via packets that she would enjoy while her coffee was brewing.

It made me laugh, but I thought I'd jump on the wagon & give it a shot. You know? It does help! Crazy as it sounds...but it does.

But now, I feel like this guy:



Yep...cheating while you wait for the slow stuff. Hey! It means you can enjoy the best of both worlds!

That's my story & I'm sticking to it!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica LOVES Celebrating with Food

So anyway...

Earlier this month was Dr. Seuss' birthday. You better believe we enjoyed green eggs & ham to celebrate. I love doing stuff like that. And if you know me well, then you already know that fact about me.

However, I missed a few key "holidays" to have themed food for! SHAME ON ME! So I am making a list of days during the year to have particular types of food on.

This week, I missed Pi Day. We should have had pizza at least. And yesterday was the Ides of March. We should have eaten Caesar salad. We even missed Chinese New Year AND Mardi Gras. So getting these marked for next year.

Tomorrow, however, is St. Patrick's Day. Even though it's a Catholic holiday (green), and we are a Protestant group (orange), I still plan to celebrate our Irish heritage. I just read that corned beef & cabbage is more of an Americanized Irish meal - go figure. That's ok by me...I really do not care for corned beef anyway. I'm pretty sure my kids would look at me like I was even crazier than I already am. So I am on a mission to put together a slightly Irish meal for tomorrow. So I am researching now.

My kids are (sadly) not fans of mashed potatoes. I would love to do a shepard's pie. So I will put the idea out there for anyone else...why not do a shepard's pie loaded baked potato? Just put the pie filling right on top of the potato? Or scoop out the potatoes & do a shepard's pie appetizer by filling the skins & then mashing the potatoes to put on top!

My mom makes this great salad/dessert for St. Paddy's Day. I consider it a dessert. It's Erin's Lush. It's a layered dish with a crust, cream cheese layer, pistachio pudding & whipped topping. YUM!! I have decided, since I'm on a big cupcake kick, that I may try it as a cupcake! If not this time, then I will stick to trying a lemon-lime & orange layered cupcake.

I will let everyone know what was decided on. The potato may end up being a French fry or tots of sorts...we will see.

In the morning, I would love to put together my own coffee concoction that some of you may have seen/heard me mention before: Tingling Leprechaun. It's coffee, chocolate, Irish Cream & mint. It can be served hot or cold & it could be spun into a liqueur version. And it is delicious!

Hopefully I will do a better job at keeping up with themed foods for certain days.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

*******************************************************************

AM~Erica is GOOD!!!

So anyway...

Today is a great day! My hubby & I have been married for 13 years strong!! Actually, the story of how we met is part of my testimony. You should ask me sometime!

What a busy day today, too. Church, of course, and we made sure to grab dinner (without the kids) & then a show ("Celebrate Life" musical from 1972 put on by the MUMC Chancel Choir). Wasn't that nice of the choir to celebrate our anniversary?

My gift FROM my hubby was, well, time: it started with 1 cute butterfly cuff watch, then since my hubby knows I like to accessorize, he brought out 5 more just like it...but in different colors. I was laughing hysterically! I loved them! Then he wanted me to have one more thing...a GORGEOUS Fossil watch that is brown & looks like a chocolate sunburst! I know - it sounds strange, but it is BEAUTIFUL!! So sweet!

Then, my turn to give my gift to him...

Let me first preface that it is a difficult thing to get my hubby ANYTHING. Either he already has it, doesn't want it, or (no matter how obsure it is) just plain figures it out. It so frustrating! This time, I had the most stellar gift! It is out of this world - just ask him!

I got my hubby an acre of land on the moon (seriously - the deed & all), had a star named for him, and gave him a small piece of moon rock! Needless to say (but I will anyway), I got him. He never figured it out & was enjoying studying the maps of where the plot of land was on the moon AND where to find the star in the sky. I am GOOD!

OH, after the concert...we are going to enjoy some yummy Starbuck's...without the kids!

I LOVE YOU, HONEY!! SHMILY!!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica