small luxuries

I'm the type of person who doesn't need flashy toys or expensive things to be happy. Earlier this semester, I had a class of juniors respond to a prompt for vocab practice about something that is seemingly insignificant but is rather vitally important. About 1/3 of them responded with---cell phones. Not me. I'm rather of the opinion that if I had a cool, flashy, does-everything-but-actually-make-the-brownies-for-me cell phone that I would get too caught up in it. Not that I'm against them, but it's just not where I want my chi to reside.

I'm all about the small luxuries. This is what I spend my fun money on--buying good, crunchy chocolate and soy based candles, sneaking away for a once-every-two years pedicure, and refilling my Starbucks card.

I didn't even drink coffee regularly until about 2 years ago. Other than the random super sweet mocha on special occasions, I rarely drank the black brew. And then I started grad school while working full-time, convincing myself that I would need to learn to drink the non-syrup laden stuff in order to stretch the hours in a day a little farther. (Really, I even bought myself a special watch with an alarm on it figuring that there would be many a night when I would need it to wake me up after I fell asleep out on the couch. For the record, not so much.) So I bought myself a coffee maker.

This was the perfect coffee maker for me. It made coffee quickly, one cup at a time, and it was on clearance so it was a relatively cheap investment of my fun money. But it broke, and I moved up to a french press.

But I still love my Starbucks card. There's just something super sinful to me about having the luxury to swing through my handily close Starbucks on the way to school, to walk in with a super gi-normous, trademark paper cup of hot goodness.

I love the weight of a full cup as it is handed to me. I love the smell of coffee and milk. I love the kinda hippy baristas and reiterate that this is one of my dream jobs. I love the laid back clientele who lounge with papers and chat with friends. I especially love the first few foamy sips.

It's not that I am solely in love with Starbucks. I mostly just love good coffee houses, and when in Kokomo, that means Starbucks--ubiquitous, iconic, and absolutely luxurious.

Higher Grounds, Coffee D'Vine, and Coffee Junkies--you all have a tender place in my latte-loving heart for introducing the varied joys of heavily sugared and flavored coffee.