November 06, 2014

Favorite teas

I had plans to run with my friend Amanda this morning. She had asked me if I could check out her running form and give her some tips, and since I had an easy three miles on the schedule today, I asked if she would just want to meet up for a run at the State Park. She sent me a text this morning saying that she had a migraine, so would have to reschedule. It was a nice morning for a run, so I just did three miles near my house.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what I wanted for breakfast this morning. Breakfast is usually my favorite meal of the day, but absolutely nothing sounded good. Finally, I decided on a Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie, and that ended up being a great choice. I hadn't had one in so long, and it was really good! I added extra cocoa powder to make it a rich chocolate flavor.



I headed out for my three-miler, and my legs felt okay. They were definitely fatigued from the bike ride yesterday, but I just ran at what felt like an easy pace. I forgot to turn the auto lap feature back on my Garmin, which was actually kind of confusing while I was running. I always look at the "lap pace" rather than the average pace or current pace, but because I forgot to turn on the auto lap, the lap pace WAS the average pace. So I just ignored the watch, and ran at what felt comfortable.

When I was messing with the cycling mode yesterday, I realized that my weight was still set to 135 on my Garmin. It's been a while since I was at that weight! I reset it to 152, and I was surprised at what a difference that made in my calories burned on my run today. The Garmin uses height, weight, gender, and heart rate to determine calories burned, so with a higher weight, the number of calories burned increases. I guess that's the only real bonus to being over goal right now ;) 



On Facebook this morning, I saw that a local craft store was going to be closing at the end of the year, and everything in the store was 75% off. I have enough crafting supplies to keep busy for a long time, but I couldn't resist checking it out! I browsed around for a while, and the pickings were pretty slim, but I did buy $150 worth of stuff for less than $40. I got a few things for the kids for Christmas, some stuff for Eli to make a school project (he has to make a wigwam), and a few random crafting things for me. I saw a huge display of St. Patrick's Day stuff, and I was tempted to buy all sorts of things to bring to Portland for the Shamrock Run. 



I didn't get the glasses or headband (I'm sure Thomas will be so disappointed!), but I did get some green hair extensions and temporary tattoos. 

I slowly-but-surely have been working on using up my David's Tea stash. I have a ridiculous amount of tea in the cupboard! It's hard not to order more when I hear of the new flavors they come out with, but I really need to use up what I have. Several months ago, I made it a mission to use it and clear some space in the cupboard. I've made a pretty big dent, but I'm bummed that I don't have any of my favorites left, so now I'm drinking ones that are good, but not great. 
Then a few days ago, Caitlin told me that David's just released their Banana Nut Bread flavor for a limited time. I used to love that flavor! I would mix it with the Salted Caramel, and it was delicious. Because it's only available for a limited time, of course I ordered some. And naturally, I had to get some of the Salted Caramel to have with it because I am out of that! (I just looked at the site to add the link to the Banana Nut Bread, but it's already gone--I just ordered it on the 31st.)

Several people have asked me what my favorite teas from David's are. I've tried dozens of them, and I definitely prefer the flavored black teas. My very favorites that I'll keep ordering as long as they aren't discontinued are:

Salted Caramel
Red Velvet Cake
Glitter & Gold
Read My Lips

Those are all black teas. Once in a while, I'm in the mood for rooibos tea, and my favorite flavor is Birthday Cake. There have been several others that I loved, but they were (sadly) discontinued. I will be one VERY happy camper if they ever bring back Toasted Marshmallow! It's funny, I even got Noah hooked on David's Tea--his favorite is Cranberry Pear black tea.

Now I'm in the mood for tea. Going to go make a cup and probably take a hot bath. I'm freezing!

12 comments:

  1. Katie: Could you please, please remind me how you calculate your activity points? I can't remember the calculation. How does 743 calories turn into 10 activity points. It's the piece I am missing. Thanks!

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    1. I'm not sure where I got this information (it's been a long time!) but this is how I've always calculated my AP's by calories burned. I take the calories burned (743) and divide by 80, which is 9.2875. Then I round that number UP to the next whole number (10). That's how I come up with 10 :)

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  2. I have the same tea problem....I have too many at work and more than fits in a large cabinet at home. I just cant pass up new flavors and even if I don't love them I cant get rid of them incase I am in the mood for it or a guest wants that flavor. THEN I had a friend buy me the tea of the month club from Teavana last year LOL. I have twice cleaned out the cabinet and had to trow out tea that was expired. I think I need to follow your lead and just drink until I am out!! And I do blame my love for Davids tea on you :)

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    Replies
    1. I've thought about organizing some sort of tea exchange for ones we don't like, but that seems like it would be a lot of work. I love that they send you samples to try, though (even though it just leads to ordering even more, haha!)

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  3. Katie have you ever tried or ordered from The Tea Guys? They are an East coast company. I actually prefer their teas to Teavana or David's. David's Tea I find has a chemical taste, but maybe that is my weird palate. Tea Guys have this maple bourbon tea that tastes almost exactly like egg nog when you put a splash of milk in it. So good!

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    Replies
    1. I haven't, but Ellen from Fat Girl Wearing Thin told me about them. I tried one of the teas that Ellen sent me, but I wasn't crazy about it. I think I'll browse their flavors and give them a try (when I finally use up what I have, of course)!

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  4. I've tried a lot of those flavors since your recommended them in the past and I would have to say that these are my favorite!
    Red Velvet Cake
    Glitter & Gold
    Read My Lips

    If the caramel one is the one I'm thinking of, I think it had a "fake" flavor. But maybe I didn't have that one and I'm thinking of something else. I'm glad you recommended these because I love them and wouldn't have known which ones to try otherwise! Thanks!

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    1. I wasn't crazy about the Salted Caramel the first time I tried it, but I got hooked on it, and now it's a favorite. Maybe give it another try? I'm glad you like the ones I recommended!

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  5. These all sounds so good. I am going off of soda pop and it's finally getting cool enough here in Tucson that something warm sounds good. I also want to say what an inspiration you are. I'm just starting out and it's daunting, but it is refreshing to see that it can be done.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! Tea is a GREAT way to get off of soda. I started drinking it to have a different habit at night (opposed to eating everything in sight!). I was never a tea drinker until a couple of years ago, and now I love it.

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  6. Please tell me that isn't craft 2000 going out of business :(

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    Replies
    1. It is Crafts 2000. But they've changed their name and moved to the mall. They are now Pat Catan's.

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