King of His Castle

Ever thought of owning a truly unique piece of Washington real estate?  The idea of a Seattle “track home” in a big development not doing it for you?  Well the idea of welcoming dinner guests across a drawbridge may be romantic, but if your home is a European castle, the maintenance costs can be daunting.

Finding a castle anywhere is tough not to mention in Washington. In the 16th century there were around 7,000 castles in Scotland alone.  The numbers of castles suitable for restoration have dwindled to a few thousand in Europe.

While there is no list of vacant castles Europe-wide, individual realtors such as Knight Frank offer listings. Currently on the market, Knight Frank is offering several castles, including the €1.9 million Castello di Brancialino in Tuscany, Italy. The oldest part of the Castello was built 1,000 years ago and the site includes a 12th-century church.

Malcolm Goodbody heard that a 15th-century Castle in County Galway, Ireland, was up for sale, he knew he had to have it.  Read more . .

Get Drunk off Joe?

Hmmm – As a coffee lover, I was amazed to read this story.  It seems caffeine when combined with alcohol can impair your judgement and you may not have the ability to decern if you are intoxicated or not.

And the study published in Behavioural Neuroscience suggests popular caffeinated energy drinks could also raise risks from intoxication rather than lessen them.  Read more . .

Free Coffee From Starbucks – Again!

I applaud Starbucks! Honestly I don’t go there much any more (now that I brew my own at home) but I am really loving how they are offering incentives to people to be more patriotic.

On Election Day Starbucks offered up free coffee to anyone that voted. It was on the honor system too, it’s not like you had to physically prove you went and voted. Now they are offering free coffee to anyone that commits to 5 hours of community service with a program called “I’m In.” Between January 21st and January 25th simply fill out a card pledging to do more and Starbucks will give you a free coffee!

What I love about Starbucks is they are offering their customers an incentive to be better Americans. Maybe other companies are doing this too and I’m just not aware of it or maybe they just have the finances to advertise their incentives, either way it makes me happy that a giant company will reward you for doing a good deed!

Coffee Is A Luxury!

I’ve made the switch, I have been making coffee at home in the mornings instead of going to the espresso stand! I used to get a tall coconut latte 2-3 times a week and costing me about about $10/week. Now I get ground coffee and make it the old fashioned way, put it in a commuter mug and off I go. The cool part is it doesn’t take anymore time than it does to wait in line at the espresso stand and it’s soooo much cheaper!

I took me a while to figure out how many scoops of coffee and sugar  but now, ahhhh….. Coffee is a luxury and I will have a coconut latte on occasion but having that extra cash in my wallet is amazing!

Coffee Stand Ordered to Cover Up

We’ve all seen those coffee stands where the girls wear next to nothing but in Belfair, WA they’ve been ordered to cover up! KIRO TV reported the espresso stand "Espresso Gone Wild" baristas wear pasties to cover up their unmentionables. The espresso stand drew a lot of complaints so the county looked into it and decided the baristas were erotic entertainers. The stand in question is not zoned for erotic entertainment and the county ordered them to cover up or close up shop. Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof! It was also on the video segment of today’s cnn.com. National news coverage for something like this, wow!

Yet Another Coffee Review

I know I blog about coffee a lot but our blog is called Coffee Break so I think it’s fitting.

Today I tried the McDonald’s McCafe. First off I don’t know what I was thinking but then I thought it’s just flavored coffee so it can’t be that hard. Wrong! I ordered a small vanilla latte, that’s 12 oz (or a tall in Starbuck lingo).

It tastes like fake vanilla syrup, not coffee at all. It left a horrible taste in my mouth and I’ve only drank maybe a quarter of it and I already want to trash it. I wouldn’t get another one of these even if they were giving it away for free!

On the other hand, good old Starbucks is now offering free syrups, refills on some coffees and other upgrades if you use their card and register it. It’s a new program that started last month. Here’s the link for all the details.

So I don’t know what I was thinking trying coffee at McDonalds. Not a good way to start a friday.

Coffee In Hand!

This weekend I was shopping and of course had my coconut latte in hand, purse over my shoulder and at times talking on my cell phone and it struck me how many other women were doing the same thing. We can do EVERYTHING with a cup of coffee in our hand. It’s like that hand is completly there for the sole purpose of being a cup holder. I will make twice as many trips to accomplish something instead of putting down my coffee and doing the task in one trip. Why? I don’t know.

People carry cups of coffee everywhere! At my church people come in to hear the pastor speak with coffee in hand. I haven’t gone that liberal yet but a lot of people do it. My Grandma drives a 1996 Ford Contour. She asked me to drive her around and to my surprise that car did not have ANY cup holders. Where do you put your coffee? Well, I added yet another task to my list of things I can do with a cup of coffee in hand – drive a stick shift!