if you love coffee as much as me, you may have run into the same problem as me: a latte costs a lot eh? i personally discovered that i like the taste of coffee, and not the caffeine, or the coffee house experience alone. i like experimenting with different tastes, and i like to take it in.

what i have been doing recently (about a month and a half) is making all of my own coffee. it isn’t that i reject the coffee shop experience, i just need to save money. my solution was making my own coffee. i have had a coffee maker since college, so it didn’t cost anything extra to start using regularly. i make just enough to meet the four-cup line, and drink almost all of it. i drink it black, (because i love the taste remember?) sorry if that makes you gag. i usually enjoy black coffee at least 2-3 days a week, and always take a day off of any coffee each week (usually sundays). buying coffee ground or bean (to grind myself) is about $7.
my most recent, and most cost-effective venture has been making my own specialty espresso drinks. these are the ones that can cost between $4-5 a drink. i enjoy these too because of the variations of flavors and they are great meal replacements.

so since i got an espresso machine last christmas from my out-laws, i began to put it to use on a regular basis. i couldn’t afford an espresso kit with the essentials, so i improvise. my set-up includes a tin coffee cup for steaming milk, (already had - but was $1 at target) a long stirring spoon (already in the house - for stirring and measuring syrup shots) espresso ($5 for a 12 pack of pods at starbucks - one per-drink) and the flavored syrups (caramel and vanilla for now - $4 a piece at target). i chose vanilla and caramel because those make up a caramel macchiato (notice the spelling casey bell) one of my favorite coffee shop drinks.

the supplies last me around 3 months (depending on my cravings) and allow me to create something each morning that i am satisfied with, express myself through the freedom of making it to my taste, and learn something new as i master the machine and the macchiato. i also have a wonderful coffee making workflow that keeps things clean and well kept.

i am saving what could be excess of $40 a month, and i still have my free wifi at the colburn coffee house.

princesses are very popular right now. i am not sure why, but i know it must have something to do with marketing and mass commercial brainwashing (which are very hard to tell apart). Natalie is recovering from her party yesterday. we had one whole wall decorated like the inside of a princess castle, and all kinds of princess freinds, treats and games.

it was very cool. Natalie loves having her friends over. she spent everyday the week before counting and naming everyone who was invited, everyone who was coming, and everyone who was a “maybe”. she officially turns 3 years old on the 12th. some recent milestones are her going to the potty on her own all the time now, and hopefully retirement of the “binky” this week. we’ll see how that goes.

check out Natalie’s birthday pics
a video clip from the party
the wall street journal on the “princess revolution”