Friday Favorites.

I've decided that in order to blog on a more regular basis, it would be fun to come up with "theme" days.  There will only be two, the first one being "Friday Favorites".  I'll surprise you all with the second one so stay tuned!

FAVORITES
1.  Winter break!  My last final of the fall trimester was on Wednesday and I'm SO HAPPY to be on break.  The winter trimester won't start until January 9th so I have a long, wonderful few weeks ahead.  I plan on lounging around as much as possible - with a few workouts in between of course :) - and most exciting of all, Tim and I are heading out to Palm Desert for the holiday to spend time with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, Tay.

2.  Refresh tea lattes.  You can grab these at Starbucks or just as easily make them yourself at home.  Just pick up some Refresh Tazo tea, organic almond or soy milk and stevia.  Steep the tea for a few minutes while you bring the almond or soy milk to a boil on the stove.  Add the milk to the tea and top it off with the stevia and you've got yourself one yummy latte.  When I'm at Starbucks and feel like living on the edge - I have them put in a few pumps of vanilla syrup.  It's delish!

Do yourself a favor and use the organic milks.  Especially the soy milk.  Just say NO to GMOs!!!  Starbucks uses organic soy milk - always ask to make sure - and of course you always have the option (power) to buy organic at the store.  And, if you are using sweetener, stick with the natural ones like stevia or xylitol.  Or just use the real deal.  The ones with aspartame are not cool.  I know I said sometimes I'll have Starbucks add in some vanilla syrup - which I'm sure has all sorts of nasty substances in it - but this is just an occasional deal.  Everything in moderation people.  But when it comes to the milks and sweeteners which can be an everyday thing - stick with the good stuff.

3.  Seeing good friends from Wichita.  Suzanne and Hannah Tobias are in Chicago this week.  Hannah is an 8th grader at Robinson Middle School in Wichita and she plays the violin in the school orchestra.  Long story short - their orchestra had auditioned and was selected to play at The Midwest Clinic - an international band and orchestra conference here in Chicago.  They performed yesterday and they sounded amazing!  It was fun to see them and to hear Hannah play.  And I think I have a new found love for strings!  I might have to talk Tim into taking me to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.