Ha...la...la...

I really resist "starting" Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but I just had to grab a taste of it yesterday. I was taking Maggie and some friends to a birthday party and had just enough time to run into Starbucks with my $25 gift certificate. There's just something about that place. Even getting out of my gacked up van and walking toward the door I started to take deep satisfying breaths as I smelled the scent that means happiness to moms with young kids. The coffee aroma just flows all around the outside of that store and I am seriously transported to my happy place. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

I've felt this way about Starbucks for quite some time. I remember after I had Maggie four years ago, I was out getting groceries or something and realized that the Harris Teeter had tacked on a Starbucks. I hadn't gotten out too much at that time and I remember thinking, "there is a world out there, and it's all happening at Starbucks." Seriously, I looked in at all the normal people grabbing their grande non-fat soy lattes and I knew that I had to walk in. So I did, and instantly (I'm not exaggerating, sadly) I felt like I was a person again. How do they do that? How have they managed to bottle up happiness, which I know, I know is circumstantial, in one little outrageously expensive coffee shop. I'm not sure, but they do it...and they do it well.

Back to the task at hand. This feeling still exists and is available to me just minutes from my little townhouse in Jacksonville. So, I succumbed to the desire for normalcy and I walked in yesterday to get a drink and feel the love. The Christmas part comes in here...they have literally the best drink ever right now and I inhaled them last year when I was pregnant. It's the peppermint mocha and it's divine. But somehow those genius baristas and their marketing friends have found a way to make it even more divine. Now there's the White Peppermint Mocha and I am not kidding when I say that it made me happier than a cup of coffee should. It's delicious. You gotta try it. It wakes you up, tastes like liquid candy, and goes straight to your thighs...doesn't get any better than that. (Thanks Jeannie, for calling me this week and tipping me off to this new treat. Coincidentally, Jeannie is nine months pregnant and is due TODAY, so she deserves all the mochas she can handle. Get them now while you still can waddle yourself in there without three children in tow!).

So Starbucks, I salute you. Real men of genius - Mr. "Transport you to Another Place with an Outrageously Good and Pricey Cup of Coffee" guy. And not just the coffee...the whole experience - it smells good, looks great, makes you want to bring your laptop just to look like you're working and cool, has cushy/chic chairs, mood music, and more choices than you could possibly want in coffee. I'm sold - you did it - I buy the whole package...hook, line, and cappucino.

By the way, "ha...la...la" is another "Sloan-ism" that just means "jidge", which is another "Sloan-ism" that means awesome. Use them with style and flair and at your discretion.