For those of you who know me well, you know that I have a slight addiction. For those of you who do not know me well, all you would have to do is take a look at the floor in the backseat of my car and you would quickly come to the same conclusion.
I am addicted to Starbucks.
I seriously believe that there must be trace amounts of heroin in every cup. I mean, what else could explain my need to have one EVERY day? Or the warm, fuzzy feeling I get every time I drive by a Starbucks and my body literally forces me to turn the car into the parking lot? What else could explain why a perfectly logical adult would feel compelled to drop upwards of $4 on a cup of tea?
Yes, I said tea. I don’t drink coffee. My drink of choice is Chai. Well, a Tall, Non-fat, Chai Latte to be exact.
How did this all begin? Well, I did not have this addiction prior to having Madeline. After I had her, though, I needed to get out of the house. I was no longer going to work, and there really is no such thing as playdates for newborns, so I started going to coffee shops. Over time my Chai drinking became more serious. It was not just a casual, social thing anymore. I started to go on my own, on a fairly regular basis.
Basically I would wake up in the morning with Madeline, throw her in her carseat (this was back when I was breastfeeding, so I didn’t have to be bothered with making her breakfast), and I would drive across town to the Starbucks with a drive-through.
This was priceless for a mom of a newborn. I could leave Madeline in her carseat, get my Chai, and then take the long way home so that I could drink my cup of Chai, while listening to the radio and having some very important “me” time. In the beginning I ordered my Chai as a Grande (one size up from now) and Extra-Hot. This made my Chai extra big, and since it was extra-hot I could slowly sip it and it would stay hot the whole time it took me to drink it.
Well, times have changed. I have had to downgrade my size, and extra-hot is no longer an option. That is because I have to chug it on my way home because let’s just say that Madeline has had a few sips of my Chai and she too needs to enter a 12-step program. I do believe that Chai was one of her first words, and she has drawn judgemental stares more times than I can count as I push her around in her stroller as she finishes the last few sips of Chai out of my Starbucks cup.
So, yeah. I go to Starbucks every day. I am not kidding…every day! It is one of my biggest guilty pleasures. I still use that time as my “special mommy time” and do tend to take the long way home so I can sip my Chai and have a few moments to myself. Even when we go on trips I do my best to locate the neareast Starbucks and there have been times that I have driven 45 minutes in one direction just to get there. Actually, even here in Madison I drive by a Starbucks just to get to my “regular” Starbucks (because it has a drive-through, which is very important).
So, there you go. I realize that there are better things that I could be spending my money on, but frankly my time out of the house, treating myself to something special just for me on a daily basis is priceless for a stay-at-home mom. It will be interesting to see how my whole Starbucks addiction plays out once I have a toddler and a newborn to contend with. Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know how it goes in a couple of months!
Madeline drinking her Xmas Chai while driving the car. Who says I’m not a responsible parent?!?!
P.S. – This picture is 9 months old…Madeline looks a little different now, although her love for Starbucks continues to grow!
1 Comment
August 27, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I’ll sign right up for the 12 step program for Starbucks Addiction Recovery if they ever create one! I gave Hope one of my (empty) Starbucks cards for her wallet and she has been ordering lattes from me asking me to “swipe” her card lately! You’re not the only one!