How to Make a Yummy Cup of Chai Tea (Without Spending $4 for it at the Cafes)

Ok, I'll admit it...I enjoy a good cup of coffee or tea from Starbucks or The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. But I HATE, absolutely HATE spending my hard earned cash on the tiniest cup. So I've learned to make great tasting drinks at home so I can enjoy my coffee/tea without spending too much money. (Then when I do splurge at Starbucks or CB & T, I don't feel as bad). During the holidays, I bought peppermint hot cocoa from Walmart for about 5 dollars a tin (10 oz). I added about 2 tablespoons to my coffee to make peppermint mochas. Recently, I've been drinking tea (peppermint tea, chamomile, green tea), but the watery teas were becoming bland to me. So I picked up some chai tea at the store and added water to that, but it was still bland. So I created my own recipe that ended up tasting just like chai tea from the cafes. Here's my recipe:

1 tea bag of chai tea (I use Bigelow's Vanilla Chai)
8 oz. of milk (or enough to fill your mug)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Vanilla Extract
Sugar

Step 1: Heat the milk...I boil it in a saucepan.
Step 2: Once the milk is hot, turn down the heat and place the tea bag in the milk, stir.
Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, a sprinkle of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a drop of vanilla extract, stir.
Step 4: Stir well and pour into mug

Enjoy! Be warned that I like my tea sweet which is why I added sugar, plus the spices. It's yummmmmy! :) Blessings!

It's really yummy!

Seee?? It makes me smile! :)

Some Thoughts

A lot of ideas have been swirling around my head lately (well, they usually are...maybe they're just more crazy then usual). I've really been craving the Friendship bread that I have made a couple times before. It's delicious! It's just that it takes so long to make...like 10 days long. The starter takes about 10 days to prepare, plus the actual preparation of the bread. But it's sweet and yummy! So I'll probably make some soon. Perhaps, I'll make that my "start-of-summer" project in a month or so. I'll take pictures and post them!



Another idea that I have been formulating is cutting my hair drastically and coloring it. Now, by cutting it drastically, I don't mean cutting it waaaaay short. I just want a cute "style" since I usually only wearing my hair long and curly. And I want a cool color like soft pink highlights, but nothing too crazy.



I also finished all of the movies in my Marilyn Monroe dvd set that my mom got me for Christmas. I really enjoyed All About Eve. Monroe's role in it isn't big, but I enjoyed Bette Davis. It was a good movie that I recommend!

I have to finish a book that I got for Christmas called "Splendor". I want to see how it ends! But school reading comes first which is why I haven't finished it yet.

So those are my thoughts for today :) Blessings!

6 Pink Things that I Love

I decided to take some pictures of the pink stuff around my room. As you may already know, pink is my favorite color :)

My pink bracelet

My pink Bible!

My awesome pink chair and footstool

My pink makeup case and bottle of perfume

My tiny pink computer mouse

Yes, I wore an all pink outfit today :) I usually do. And my phone is pink.

My Friday Morning

My Friday morning was pretty great! This is what it was made of:

Purple eyeliner
Purple eyeshadow
Red lipstick
An all pink outfit
Blueberry bagels
Whipped cream cheese
Coffee in my pink Marilyn Monroe mug
Reels Channel's Hollywood Dailies
Choosing a Marilyn Monroe movie to watch while I type up my paper
Enjoying my opportunity to blog more

Blessings! :)

(Ways in Which Juana is Weird) Otherwise Known As 10 Things You May or May Not Have Known About Me, But Do Now

Borrowing the idea of my fellow blogger, Gwen, I'm going to post 10 quirky facts about myself :)

1. I don't like to wear jeans in the house...I have to wear sweatpants or shorts.

2. In order to check that my earrings or bracelets haven't fallen off, I shake my arms and head to feel them.

3. I often imagine what it would be like to live in the Egyptian Era and in the 50s.

4. Whenver I'm getting my picture taken, I have a "picture prep"; I lick my lips, stand on my toes, looks over my shoulder, and SMILE!

5. I have a thing for masks with feathers.

6. I would love to live by the beach so that I could walk along the shore every day.

7. I want to be a Southern Belle.

8. I love wearing my hair super big!

9. I love listening to classical music when I study.

10. I hardly ever go up/down the stairs one step at a time...I take 2 or 3 steps at once. And sometimes I misjudge and jumped too many...now that's scary.

Share your quirks with me! :)

Blessings!

Evidence of my silliness

Sugar sometimes makes it worse

But I'll look cute at the same time ;)

What a Funny Little Plane Ride...Kinda

So my trip to VA has ended...I know...boooooooo! I can't wait to go back in August when I move. However, I was quite excited for the plane ride home for multiple reasons. The first is that I couldn't wait to get home! The second being that I love plane rides, plus free cookies, pretzels, and drinks :) (My snack of choice is usually pretzels and club soda). The third reason I was excited for the plane ride was that the movies/entertainment is free! And I had my Delta headphones from my last trip, so I didn't need to buy new ones. So my mom, sister, and I arrive at the airport earlier than needed so that we wouldn't have to run to the terminal to catch the plane. Good plan. When we got to our gate, what did we find? Delay. Of an hour. Greeeeaaaaat. But that gave us time to sit down and eat and nice lunch. I had a bagel sandwich...chicken parmagiana! Yuuuummmmmmy! :) I had been craving coffee since I woke up and was planning on grabbing something from Starbucks afterwards. So my mom and I leave Alex at the gate and walk to the closest Starbucks in the terminal. As I am making my order, my mom's phone rings...it is Alex saying that they were boarding the plane. So we ruuuuuuuuuuun back to the gate (And got many looks from people!). I'm now out of breath, but we've made the flight. Then, we had to sit on the runway for a while as the runway was crowded with other planes due to the rainy weather. We finally took off and I fell asleep. Next stop: New York! We made our connection in New York by mere minutes! And it just so happened that they gave our seats away to other people so we had to sit in different seats next to strangers! *gasp* And once again, we sat on the runway waiting for clearance to take off...for an hour! But I took advantage of the free entertainment! Woot woot! Tv shows, movies, and music galore! Our plane eventually took off and I enjoyed my snacks :) Coffee and cookies this time. I watched Sherlock Holmes and Young Victoria (I recommend both!). I also chatted with my neighbor who is a student in New York. At one point she asked me, "Isn't that your third cup of coffee?" Haha! And yes it was! I also had several packs of cookies…it’s amazing that I wasn’t running up and down the isle! After what seemed like a super long flight, we finally landed back in CA. Whew! I hadn't slept for the entire flight, which amazed me (it was those cookies and coffee)! But that plane ride was one of the most positive, fun ones that I ever had! So it really was a funny little plane ride...kinda :)

Blessings!

Visiting VA

As most of you probably already know, I attend Regent University in VA Beach, VA. I love love love it! The thing that you may not know is that I live in CA and take online classes. It has always been in my mind and on my heart that I would move to VA and attend on-campus classes. My plans to move last year were switched almost last minute...needless to say, I was heartbroken, but I knew it was the right decision. So this year, my sister, mom, and I decided to make the trip to Regent for their Preview Weekend. My sister is interested in attending Regent so the trip would be beneficial for the both of us. I really wanted to visit the student housing and visit with friends whom I had gotten to know over Facebook. And it was amaaaaaazzzzzing! :) We arrived on Thursday (A big thank you to my friend Isaac for picking us up!) and it was so amazing seeing the campus for the first time in 3 years! On Friday, we were able to attend programs that the university had set-up for prospective students (even though I already attend Regent ;) It was great getting to sit in on a Journalism class and being able to see how the on-campus classes operate! (And I shout out to my friend Josh Shook whom I met during the day). I met with the Dean of the Communications department and a professor who teaches some of the COMM classes. It was a great experience. Then, later on at the dinner we attended, the Dean's wife told me that I had a great face for television :) Woot woot! The next day, I explored the campus, which was amazing! I just fell in love! I wanted to cry, it is so beautiful! And I got to hang out with some more friends during the evening at the dorms and I got a feel for what it is like to live and breathe the Regent air :) And the next day, my mom and I explored the campus again. I just keep falling in love! I feel right at home and I'm so glad for that because I wanted to feel a deep connection with my school and my fellow students. I am super excited to join them full-time in August when I move. It'll be a big transition in my life, but I know that God is calling me to VA and to Regent. I can't wait! :)

Blessings!

Me in front of the amazing COMM Building

Me and Alex

The COMM Building

I love it here!

Mommy and me!