It is hot, hot, HOT in the Bay Area this week! I was at the farmer’s market this morning and found myself sweating buckets before I finished buying my first bag of white nectarines! In times like this, I find myself mulling over which beverage I’d find most refreshing: Milk tea? Iced coffee? Fresh watermelon juice? Frappucino? Smoothies? Of course, ice cold water is probably the cheapest and healthiest, so I most frequently turn to my trusty Hydro Flask
But it only temporarily satiates the desire for something chilly, sweet, and delicious slipping down my throat. So whenever I am able to carve out some time, I love to treat myself and Ben and our friends to one of these delectable beverages! They are each a favorite in a different way, so I highly encourage you to give them all a shot sometime! Now for the summer drink roundup:
HELLO EVERYONE!!!
I am SO EXCITED!!! I am just finishing up the last tidbits of my blog’s new look and feel, and I am SO PROUD OF IT! Not sure if you visited the actual blog page much before, but it used to be a darker background of grey with black headers and red highlights. It wasn’t at all what I had imagined when I originally selected “Sorbet” (yumyum!) as my blog theme, but it took me this long to get around to updating things.
And I love it!!
Now, thanks to a theme I bought on Etsy, a brilliant computer science husband, and a generous friend with an eye for design, I have a completely new look and feel. Oh, and I finally added a photo of myself, in case you were imagining that I was Caucasian all this time. Because according to Google image search, “joellen” is a predominantly… non-Asian name.
Wanna know what the best thing I ever baked was?
A little bun in the oven! And for the last few months, I have been very, very busy “baking up” another one! That’s right, we’re due to have a BABY BOY in October! 😀 We just had our big ultrasound yesterday morning, so you’re some of the first to know!
Do your best.
It was a mantra repeated to me again and again throughout my upbringing. Before piano recitals and exams (and I had many), my mom would smile encouragingly and say, “Just do your best!”
I remember asking my mom one time, “What would happen if I got a B on my report card?” I peered over at her with wide eyes, trying to gauge her reaction.
“As long as you did your best, that’s fine,” she said matter of factly.
“Really?! What if I got… a C?!”
“As long as you did your best, that’s fine.”
“So, if I came home with a D, you wouldn’t be mad?” I pushed.
“If you really did your best, then no. But I also know what you’re capable of and it’s usually better than a D, so if that happened then maybe you didn’t do your best.”
I sat, pondering this silently.
I can’t say I’ve always lived it out. By high school, I was the do-what-you-need-to-get-the-A student, and that oftentimes took a lot less than my best. When it came to things I really cared about, though–a basketball game, preparing a presentation in front of peers, leading a club–I gave it my all, my 100%. It was like I didn’t know how to slack off or tone it down when it came to these things, and I often pushed myself long and hard into the night to make sure everything was done in excellence.
Thanks for letting me go on vacation for a week :). (And thanks for not unsubscribing! :D) Here’s one more photo of what I’m enjoying today here in Paris!
G. Detou, a foodie’s dream shop full of nuts, honey, jam, mustards, baking chips, and a lot of other things I couldn’t read in French. So fun!
‘ello mate! Cheers from the UK! This week I’ll be taking a break from the usual posts so I can more fully enjoy my time abroad :]. We’ll be back to our regular topics next week!
Here’s a peek at what I was up to today, at the lovely Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum and Mason!
4/24/15 Update: Congrats to Dawn W. and Leila C., the two winners of the Dakota Midnyght Art Giveaway!
Thank you all for participating, and I hope you enjoy the 20% off code CuppaCocoa2015, valid until 5/1/15, at her store here on Etsy!
May is just around the corner, which means it’s almost time to celebrate two people who are very near and dear to our children: mothers and teachers! Mother’s Day is on May 10th, and Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8 this year. I shared some ideas last year on gifts that teachers would appreciate. This year, I’m topping that off with a giveaway!
I am thrilled to introduce to you one of my favorite artists in the world: Dakota Midnyght!
I had fully intended to spend my afternoon type, type, typing away at my computer to get another post out by my self-imposed deadline of Tuesday.
But… I wasn’t feeling so well, so instead I lay in bed, thinking about which topic to write about. The cheater? Conversations? Side-by-side time? And then, in an impulsive moment of selfishness, I pulled out my Kindle and instead started reading a novel. All the Light We Cannot See
A little nagging voice kept urging, “Post, post, post, JoEllen! You have to write a post!” But soon I got lost in the novel and bloggy duties took a back seat.
Hence this post.
Maybe it’s because I just read a friend’s piece on self care recently, and she talks about indulging in pleasures as simple as eating fruit and going out on days when the sun is out. While the drought is a serious problem here in California, an upside is that we’re not really hurting for sunshine. I realized how often I fail to appreciate these small-but-big pleasures in life, and how easy it would be to throw in a few of my own. Like reading :].
How about you? If you had two hours and decided to shirk your duties– be it laundry, cleaning, cooking, email, etc.– what would your impulsive pleasure be?
Congrats to the winners of the Cuppacocoa shirt giveaway:
Wendy H., Hazell P., Dakota N., Irma O., Michelle P., and Sydney A.!
I’m HONORED that you would wear my shirt. Even if it is to sleep. :D.
In other news, today, my blog turns ONE! =D Exactly one year ago, I hit the “publish” button on my first post, and a week later, I had a grand total of eight readers, including myself, four family members and three friends. That was cool.
If you’re actually counting, one of my bff’s is also now a family member (SO COOL, RIGHT?! (She married my brother! (I set them up!))).
You can imagine how delighted I was when more people decided to join! Hooray! Welcome, and thank you for reading my stuff each week! I am honored that you’ve stayed on, and I will continue to try to publish more interesting and useful content!
For cuppacocoa’s first birthday, I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned from blogging this year. I’m no expert, and there are definitely millions of way more experienced bloggers… but it’s the start of a new year, so I figured it was a good time to reflect back and look forward!
This Saturday is Cuppacocoa’s ONE YEAR BLOGGY BIRTHDAY!!!! Wooooooo!!
I wanted to do something cool to celebrate. My original thought was to revamp the look and feel of my blog– something lovely and white and clean. And maybe finally throw in a photo of myself somewhere. Well, 2/28 is fast approaching and I have made exactly zero progress on that front, so instead, I’ve decided to commemorate the occasion with a special Cuppacocoa t-shirt giveaway! I’ll be giving away 6 of these shirts:
And, friends, these aren’t just any old shirts–they are super comfy soft and shmumpfy Women’s American Apparel Poly-Cotton Scoop Neck T-shirts, valued at $34.95 each. Only the best for my readers! Seriously, even if you’re not into stick-figure fashion, this makes for an AMAZING lounging/pajama shirt! It is as soft and comfy as it looks.
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