Starbucks Stepford

I received the best birthday and Christmas presents of all this year. For my 40th birthday, my daddy sent me a $50 gift card for Starbucks. For Christmas, My Marine gave me yet another $50 gift card for Starbucks. Yep -- add that up folks! That's $100 worth of grande cinnamon dolce lattes! And that should last me....oh, about a month.

I received those gifts not out of love. (Ok, so maybe a little out of love) But I received those wonderful gifts because both my daddy and My Marine know how I love my Starbucks.....and how cranky I am without it.

I am a Starbucks Stepford.

I have to admit. I never...and I say again, NEVER, had a Starbucks until I moved to Colorado and My Marine deployed the first time. Oh, I've had coffee before....but never the sweet, milky dew that comes steaming so heavenly from the recognizeable green & white cup. Once I had my first sip -- there was no going back.

I started with the basic vanilla latte. And then - THEN - some young barista, who I swear had devil horns hidden under his hat, introduced me to my addiction -- cinnamon dolce latte with two pumps of white mocha.

"Come, you must try it!", he whispered to me one morning when I stopped in for my morning fix. "It's like sipping a piece of heaven!" He beckons to me much like the serpent did with Eve. Seriously -- I'm sure the Garden of Eden was the first Starbucks - Eve, the first SAHM who needed a break and that caffeine fix to get her through the day - and the Serpent, the first barista.

But I digress....

If you like your coffee sweet (and I'm talking, a little coffee with your sugar?), then you must try a cinnamon dolce latte with two pumps of white mocha. I've heard the baristas call it anything from a "cinnamon roll" to a "cinnamon stick" to "pure evil".

Anyway -- my daddy gives me a hard time because of my Starbucks addiction.

"What's wrong with instant?", he says. To which I reply, it's like brown sand. I don't drink sand.

"Too good to brew your own coffee?", he asks. To which I reply, I do brew my own coffee, but come on.....there's no comparison. I'm making it myself as opposed to having someone else make it for me - and that's no fun. I even gave up Starbucks for Lent last year and brewed my own coffee. GASP!!! I know! Personally, I thought I did ok...but deep down I know it was the most miserable 40 days of My Marine's life.

And right now, I'm raising a mini Starbucks Stepford. The other day, My Marine threatened to cut me off completely. It seems that he caught Nani playing "drive-through". What started out so sweetly as a little girl riding her tricycle, turned into My Marine glimpsing into what really goes on when we leave the house in the morning.

He watched as Nani pulled her tricycle up to a large box we had sitting on our garage floor and have the following conversation....

Nani: "Good morning! I'd like a grande cimmamon dewchay latte with two pumps of white mucka please! Thank you!"

What startled him the most was that she had stashed an empty Starbucks cup and drove over to yet another box to pick up her coffee. And then with her little pink princess purse hanging from the handlebar, off she drove with a cup in one hand, steering with the other.

That's my girl!

What is it that make us so addicted to this phenomenon we call Starbucks. For everyone it's different. But for me, and I think other moms too, it's a sisterhood. It's a place that we can go to where we're not being called "Mommy". Where we can banter at the drive-through window over small talk and not Dr. Seuss. Where you can go to a fairly clean and fully stocked counter with cream and condiments, and where you see napkins in their natural environment and not shredded all over your living room floor. And finally, where you don't have to SHARE!

I always have a Starbucks when I go grocery shopping. I get my coffee and away I go. As I shop, I see other women with their familiar Starbucks cups. As we shop and spy each other, we exchange smiles as we give a subtle toast. On my way out the door, I stop at the trash can to drain the last drops of that sweet nectar and chuckle to myself as I see numerous Starbucks cups in the trash.

Happily -- I'm not the only one.

I know that with what I've spent on Starbucks since I started, I could have probably funded Nani's first year of college. But, you see -- it's much more important that I have my coffee so that she CAN make it to her first year of college. And most mothers will agree. It's a small price to pay - right?

And to end on a happy note -- my good friend, Robin -- who has such a God-given talent for making the most delicious cakes -- made me a birthday cake for my 40th birthday. Combining my two favorite things -- Starbucks & books -- she created a book-shaped, cinnamon-dolce latte cake for me.

Completing the cake was an actual edible Starbucks cup made entirely of rice krispie treats and fondant icing.

Now if only Starbucks would start selling those!