Pumpkin Spice Latte

I used to think that you could not replicate any lattes from let's say Starbucks or Biggby coffee. Well I have proven myself wrong. The one thing I love about fall is getting a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Now I can have them all year round by making them at home. Anyone can make this and requires very little ingredients and effort.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Here's what you need:

 

Skim Milk

Espresso

Sugar

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Vanilla Extract

 

8 oz Skim Milk and 2 tsp Sugar

Microwave until you reach the temperature you like (I do 1min 40 sec)

 

 

 Brew your Espresso with an espresso maker (or an Espresso cup with the Keurig)

 Add 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract to the warm milk

 

Top with Pumpkin Pie spice (1 use about 1 tsp) and stir together

-If you want it frothy, I purchased a milk frother from Ikea for under $2

 Pour milk in cup on top of espresso, top with a dash of pumpkin pie spice, and enjoy!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe:

2 shots Espresso or bold coffee

Pumpkin Pie Spice (to taste or about 1 tsp)

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

8 oz Fat Free Milk

2 tsp Sugar
*all ingredients can be adjusted to taste, that's just how I like mine

Now are you ready for the calorie breakdown? Not only am I excited that I could make this everyday at home, I can save a lot of money by not stopping at Starbucks everyday, and the calories are a lot less than ordering at Starbucks.

So let's say you order a Tall Pumpkin Spice Latte. That is 300 calories!
Let's order a Tall Pumpkin Spice Latte with Non-fat Milk and No Whip. That is 200 calories!
Now let's make the Tall Pumpkin Spice Latte at home with Non-fat Milk and No Whip. That's under 150 calories! (To be exact, it is 148.5 calories)

So I can save money, reduce calories, and enjoy one everyday. Now I need to learn to make Gingerbread Latte...

Coach Bags

I love, love, love Coach products. Did you know I like Coach? Really, I don't think you know I like Coach.

I used to be a huge fan and lover of Guess purses and I had a handful of Guess bags for awhile. Then I met Coach Factory. If you are into bags and have not yet ventured to a Coach Factory, it is a must. Not only do they have purses and bags, but wallets, umbrellas, coats, shoes, and so much more.

Well, we do not have a Coach Factory near us here in California but Coach Factory had an online sale. They do not have those very often and I have to wait for my 'invitation'. (I am VIP...) Just my luck, they had their online store open last week.

Here are my two beauties...

A nice everyday bag and a small cross body bag. I cannot wait to change over to a new purse and put my pink Coach into retirement until spring. 

Out with the Guess purses and in with the Coach. In case you were wondering, I only have 4 Coach bags. I hold off as long as I can before buying a new one. They are made with such quality, I have yet to have one break or tear on me. (Actually I did have one purse that started falling apart after one week and took it back to the Factory and they returned the purse without questions)

So yeah I am a happy camper now!!

Cards

We received our Thank You cards a few days ago from our wedding. We are in the process of filling those out and getting them ready to be mailed. We are so happy with how they turned out and please with our photographer.

After receiving those beautiful Thank You cards and writing my post yesterday about holidays, I got to thinking about what we are going to do for our holiday card.

Dun, dun, dun... Our holiday cards are made and ordered, yay! I just hope they are as pretty in person as they were on my computer. I hope all my family and friends are ready to receive their holiday card.

After the holidays, I will post an image. I just do not want to ruin the surprise before anyone has received them. So it looks like we all will have to play the waiting game!

Holidays...

Everyone has at least one favorite holiday. It could either be Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, or maybe even your birthday (heck, birthdays can be a holiday too right?).

Well does anyone know my favorite holiday?

That would be Thanksgiving!! I love the food, the family, the relaxing, the sweaters, the warm drinks, and of course the desserts.

This year is going to be a little bit different than every other Thanksgiving. This is my first Thanksgiving away from home and my first Thanksgiving that I will be cooking the meal.

It will be entertaining at least if things turn out really bad. But I am starting to get really excited for it to be here. I need to start planning the appetizers, main course, and desserts. I also need to start getting decorations together.

Boy, oh boy, I am just so excited for Thanksgiving this year! Oh and it will be our first Thanksgiving as a married couple (just to add to the fun).

Road Trip

Like I said at the end of last week, we went out of town for the weekend. Where did we go? Reno and Lake Tahoe of course! I do not know if anyone else feels the same but sometimes going on a road trip can be boring and make some people restless. One nice thing about driving to the Reno area is the views on the way. I mean how can you beat the magnificent mountain views and possibly even a color change on a few leaves (emphasis on FEW leaves, it's nothing like Michigan).

Here is a picture from the road trip. This is a view of the desert, so no pretty trees. I believe the main focus of this picture was on the cloud. 

As I had just stated, road trips can be boring. So besides the views to keep us entertained, Kyle and I enjoyed classic rock on the radio, Nestle semi-sweet morsels, and Red Bull. Hmm.. does not sound the healthiest but boy did it help pass the time from driving between Reno and Lake Tahoe. 

Yes we went on a boat! It was a lot of fun (a lot of drinks) and gorgeous views. What I find best about this picture is the beautiful trees and the snow on the mountains.

We definitely enjoyed our weekend and are now home safely. Now for another week in Cali... waiting to plan our next road trip.

When it rains, It pours

This is my problem, I will say that something is not going to happen. Then miraculously it happens. What is that about?

Here is the back story:
After completing massage school, taking my boards, then moving out of state, I was getting discouraged about all the laws and money that would have to be fronted just to work in California. I was afraid I would pay all that money and never end up using it because I would not be able to find a job. I have been applying and applying to this salon and this spa and so on.

I told Kyle that I probably spent all this money to go to school and will end up working somewhere that is completely different than what I went to school for. After telling him that, I was Skyping with my sister and niece. I told them the same thing.

Well later that night... I get a phone call from one of the salons that I applied at. When I applied they were not even hiring but thought I would give it a shot anyways. Well after being on the phone for 40 minutes, she offered me a position! How excited was I?

I have not officially accepted, but how could I turn it down.
Oh yeah, not only did she call me, but prior to her calling I received a call from another company (has nothing to do with massage). It is a Brand Ambassador for a company and I already accepted their offer. I would be working occasional weekends for 5 hour shifts, amazing job.

So like I said, 'When it rains, it pours'. Lets hope it ends there so I do not have to pick and choose companies (even though I guess that wouldn't be all that bad).

Hopefully everyone has a great weekend! I will be out of town so I will not post until next week.

Weekend

How very excited am I that this is the first weekend as a married couple that we do not have plans!! Seriously, every weekend has been jam packed with running around, moving, and driving. Kyle first said that he wanted to take me to Yosemite but I do not want to be trapped in a car for another weekend in a row.

So what is it that we could do this weekend? There is a wine and cheese festival close by that could be fun. Or we could go with the puppy to a corn maze. I know for sure that Kyle wants to work on his car so if all else fails... we stay home and relax.

No matter what we do this weekend, it will be fun because I get to spend time with my husband and it has been almost a month since our wedding.

Any big plans for anyone else?

** Sweets **

Since the weekend, I have had such a sweet tooth. When Kyle and I were in Reno I was able to get some ice cream from Cold Stone. I had the Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Love It size. It was soo yummy I can not even explain. We do not keep too many sweets (none at all) in the house because it is just a bad idea.

So today I was just craving something sweet. I was like an addict, I had to have it now, I was shaking (well not really). We don't have chocolate chips so I could not make chocolate chip cookies. We do not have any cake mixes, brownie mixes, or cupcake mixes. I then started looking online for simple, 5 ingredients or less, recipes to make.

I then came upon a little piece of heaven - 5 ingredient peanut butter cookies!! (Read the link, "The girl who ate everything"! That's completely how I am feeling right now with sweets.)

Remember I said I did not have chocolate chips, so I used extra chunky peanut butter and they came out delicious. They were so easy and I would have to say that they are one of the best homemade peanut butter cookies.

I finally found my fix, at least until the cookies are gone!

Home Alone

After getting married and moving out to California, I knew I would be alone most nights because Kyle works midnights. So far, the last 2 & 1/2 weeks have been just fine and I have had no problems once Kyle leaves for work. Until last night!

This is what my night looked like:

Kyle left for work at about 8pm. I finish cleaning up the kitchen, clean a bowl of raspberries, and sit down to watch my shows (Dancing with the Stars Results and Body of Proof). Then it starts to sprinkle outside, no big deal right?

I hear this dripping sound coming from our atrium. It sounds as though rain drops are hitting my tin dog decorations so I don't do anything and continue to watch my shows. The drip turns into a constant banging noise ::bang, bang, bang, bang, bang:: but it is not raining any harder.

So I get up and go out in the atrium. The noise is coming from the broken fountain sculpture that we do not use. But where is the outlet? Where is the switch to turn this thing on or off? Where is the breaker box to shut the power off? Since I could not find any way to make the noise stop, I go upstairs (to our bedroom) to see if I can hear the noise up there. Good thing is I do not hear it so I figure I can worry about it tomorrow when Kyle is home.

I went to bed with the door wall open and the windows because it was so nice and cool outside and only sprinkling rain. The window in the ensuite bathroom is a crank window that opens out, just to give you all a visual.

It is now 3am and I hear loud winds and a big crash. I immediately jump out of bed and think to myself, "Crap! The wind took the window off the house!".  I run in the bathroom, good thing the window was still attached!! So I close the window and went back to bed.

Kyle crawled into bed after work and I asked if he heard the banging in the atrium when he walked in. Of course he said no, but when I got out of bed and went downstairs it was sure making noise still.

Well that was my eventful evening. Not too bad but I still need to solve the banging noise because it will sure drive me crazy!!