Life Update

I’ve been slacking lately on the blogging front. After a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of another computer screen. But today is Saturday, so there is no excuse.

Some of the highlights of the past few weeks:

We’ve had a spell of mild weather recently, which meant some very nice weekend days. Kevin and I drove down to Hermann about 2 Saturdays ago – we took a tour of Deutschheim (historical German settlement), indulged in lunch at the Hermann Wursthaus (gorgonzola & granny smith apple bratwurst – amazing), and finished off our afternoon with wine tasting & a short tour at Hermannhof. Hermannhof is conveniently owned by the Dierberg family, which means that I can purchase a bottle of their wine at my local grocery store.

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Later that evening, we watched a beautiful game of basketball. Unfortunately, it’s hard to be a Mizzou basketball fan this year… I am not wasting my money on any games. But luckily, Iowa State (Kevin’s alma mater) is having a great season, and there’s a local alumni club that hosts watch parties for all of the games. I donned one of my few red shirts and we happily rooted on Iowa State to victory… and oh yeah, this particular game was against the school with a fake mascot, that I hate more than any team ever. (Kansas, in case you were wondering.)

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Other items of note…

Last weekend, we had another lovely mild Saturday, which we spent meandering around Forest Park and the surrounding area. We started off the morning at the History Museum – they have the Louisiana Purchase on display right now. It’s on loan from the National Archives in DC, where it is normally locked up and not out on display! As a native St. Louisan, it was really interesting to learn about the heavy French influence in the past, and that we actually were part of Spain for a bit until the Louisiana Purchase took effect. I guess it’s been a long time since I took AP US History. We also saw a German utopia exhibit, which was a bit disjointed and minimalistic, but interesting nonetheless.

Lately, we’ve become fans of neighborhoods like Dogtown and Lafayette Square, where parking costs are nonexistent and restaurant prices are cheaper than the Central West End. We revisited a favorite of ours for lunch (Seamus McDaniel’s), and afterwards, headed back to Forest Park for yet another trip to the zoo.

I absolutely love going to the zoo. We went to the zoo so many times when I was growing up (it’s 20 minutes from my parents’ house), which gave me such a love of animals. Now that I live 2 miles from the zoo, I visit a lot. As in, I have been to the zoo at least five times in the last two months. Visiting during the winter months is even better, since there are no school groups and very few people. This trip wasn’t too different from the others – watched the sifakas jump around for 10-15 minutes, stared at the penguins standing outside, smiled at the tiger taking a snooze (obviously dreaming of eating a Jayhawk) – except for the two recent babies born at the zoo: a colubus monkey and an orangutan. So adorable.

Last Sunday, I joined Angela and Janelle for brunch at Cyrano’s. Normally, we just go there for birthday desserts (the caramel bread pudding is divine), but we tried out actual food. I chose the eggs florentine (yum!) with a mimosa – I decided the splurge was worth it, since I normally don’t buy English muffins. (Like sourdough bread, reduced fat cheez-its, and bagels, they are a big weakness of mine, which means that I can’t keep them at my apartment.)

I’ve been cooking and baking a lot lately.  Last weekend, I made calzones, pretzels, and the most delicious baked potato soup.  Cooking is the only good part of cold weather.

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This past week was fairly quiet outside of work. Work has been incredibly busy lately (something big is due next month), and I’m slated to transition to a new program this spring/summer, which I’m anxiously awaiting.

Kevin is traveling this week, so we celebrated his birthday a bit early last night. Look for some more about that in a post tomorrow, on his actual birthday.

Until then –

Kate

Kicking the Habit

As a kid, I thought coffee was gross.  The smell was tolerable, but the taste was beyond disgusting.  I doubted I’d ever drink it.

Then something changed.   My early cups of coffee were equally divided between coffee and milk, as I started adapting to the taste.  This stuff wasn’t so bad… and thus marked the beginning.

I should have known coffee would become a problem when my visits to Starbucks became quite frequent (it was so convenient!) and a desktop coffeemaker was a birthday present during my freshman year of college.  I grew to know what to order where (Wheatstone Bistro coffee for 89 cents with a travel mug, before organic chemistry lectures) and what to avoid (Pike Place roast at Starbucks – it tastes burnt).  But I didn’t see a problem – it tasted good, it didn’t cost much when I brewed my own, and it gave me extra energy.

Two years later, I moved to Kentucky for my first internship… and my apartment had a coffeemaker.  I started brewing extra coffee, so I could have some at the beginning of my work day and more when I came home.  I’m embarrassed to say that this habit continued.

I started working full-time just over a year and a half ago, shortly after graduating.  I always ran to the kitchen when I got up, to see if my parents had left any coffee from the day before.  But I didn’t see this as a problem – I just really needed my coffee, and felt at home in the working world, with my fellow coffee addicts.

Last summer, I shifted my working hours slightly (6:30-3:00), to benefit from living 10 minutes closer to work.  This only intensified my need for coffee.    I was now the only one drinking the coffee, so I could brew exactly what I needed for a morning of work and the next morning’s first cup.  But it still wasn’t occurring to me that I had developed a coffee addiction.

Suddenly today, something kicked in. I’ve been struggling to keep my teeth white over the past several months and years – as soon as I drink coffee, they’ve become stained. I’ve also finally begun to realize that I’m reliant on my coffee – I accidentally spilled some last week, and was actually upset that I wouldn’t have any before work the next morning. I’ve become useless without coffee and useless with it – I’m tired when I don’t have it and tired when it wears off.

Something’s gotta give.

So starting today, I am making a change. I had a small amount of coffee this morning before work, but ended up dumping out my travel mug of coffee at work. I immediately switched to ice water, then brewed some green tea, and switched back to ice water when the tea was gone. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, and had to indulge in a cup of coffee so I wouldn’t be useless for my SWE calls tonight.

I’m excited to start on this journey. Starting tomorrow, I am no longer drinking my extra morning cup of coffee. And slowly but surely, I am going to reduce my coffee intake and increase my tea intake. I’ve realized that herbal teas and cinnamon tea gives me a similar boost that caffeine does, but without addictive substances. I want to reach a point where coffee is a relaxing treat, not something that has to come from my coffeemaker every day.

I’ll certainly include more on my journey along the way – but I am really excited to take this first step. I know it will be hard these first few days or weeks, but I know in the long term, I’ll be happier, more well-rested, and will have much brighter teeth.

So here goes.

Kate

Let’s hope for a lot less of this!