Psst....I'll let you in on a little secret....

Just thought I would fill you in on a little secret....Cacao Mint Black Tea by Teavana. Wow, if you are a tea lover like I am, and have a chocolate craving you just can't satisfy...this is the tea for you. It has a TRUE chocolate flavor with an equally powerful yet satisfying mint flavor to match. Just mix in some milk, sugar, and a square of milk chocolate....and voila! Instant chocolate mint magic that tastes better than chocolate mint icecream...without the calories!! Yum...You can't beat that!!

Also, its a looseleaf tea, so you better have a diffuser or you will be sipping on tea leaf chunks...

But, there is a downside....I know, it is too good to be true...

Well, its pretty expensive. $6.80 for 2 oz. I purchased it at the Easton Town Center Mall in Columbus, Ohio, and the sales lady tried to compare it to a cup of Starbucks...but come on lady...at least Starbucks makes it for me, and hands it to me through my car window!! I have to do all this myself and still pay the Starbucks price!!!

But, if you want to feel like a special lady, and let yourself have a little splurge here and there, well this is the treat for you...

Cin Cin, and enjoy!!

Tea Time!

Okay, I haven't been on here that often. Sorry guys! As you may know, being a mother is a full time duty and we don't always get the spare time we need to update blogs. Please forgive me!

Well I have decided to make the switch from coffee to tea. Why you may ask? Well drinking too much coffee has given me an upset stomach feeling, and also the dreaded the caffeine induced crash you get afterwards.

Drinking coffee has be a great pastime for me, in which I could express my moods and emotions with different flavors. In the Christmas-ey mood? Try a white chocolate peppermint mocha latte from Starbucks. Autumn-ey mood? Pumpkin Spice latte or Cinnamon Dolce Latte. Need a cold refreshing pick me up in the summer? Try iced coffee. So giving up coffee is not that easy when there are so many attachments involved.

Well Zhena's Gyspy Tea in Coconut Chai flavor has made giving up coffee very easy for me! It has the spicy/autumn-ey cozy flavor to it. The kind of flavor that makes you want to put on a big comfy sweater, curl up on the couch with a big fat cat sleeping in your lap and a good book to read in hand. Not to mention an oversized mug to drink it in, because it is just that good.

I like to flavor mine with sugar and milk, but you can get real creative with your seasonings. It already has a mild almost vanilla-like coconut flavor, with cinamon, ginger and cardamom undertones to it. One friend of mine suggested using sweetened condensed milk, it keeps well for a while in the fridge, and a spoonful is all you need. Or you can use flavored syrups, such as vanilla, coconut or hazelnut. I have also tried vanilla flavored almond milk, which is already presweetened. That is good too. If you prefer soy milk, rice milk, or even coconut milk that could work too.

The tea is delicious, but since its a specialty tea, it can get a little pricey. I got mine for $12 a can, which has 22 teabags in it. If you are a frugal mom, you can stretch it out by making a small pot of tea (with 2 mugs worth) and using one bag of coconut chai tea with a bag of regular lipton's black tea. Still tastes great and is easy on the pocketbook!

Now if they can only get a chocolate cake flavored tea, I would be in heaven! All this talk of tea is making me thirsty.....time to get off here and brew some coconut chai tea and make some dinner!

Hot Pick of the Day: Cran-Raspberry La Croix Sparkling Water

Okay...so as some of you may not know, I am in the process of trying to lose weight. One of the changes I have made in the past year was to eliminate sweeteners in my beverages. A year ago, if I wanted anything fancy, it was coffee and milk, unsweetened tea and water. Giving up my soda habit was a tough one, so in order to feel like I was drinking a soda, I kind of had to pretend to drink soda. Diet was out of the question because I can't stand the taste of anything fake. Its all or nothing with me.

I came across La Croix sparkling water while grocery shopping. It is a sparkling water beverage made in America that is sugar-free, sodium-free, artificial sweetener-free, calorie-free and naturally flavored. I won't lie, its an acquired taste. At first, its kind of difficult to get past the lack of sweetness when you expect it from a beverage with a berry flavor. Once you get past that, trust me, you will think that sweetened soda beverages taste terrible! So when you have that late night urge to open the fridge and pop open a frosty carbonated beverage, while feeling zero amount of guilt, La Croix water is the beverage that delivers.

Their flavors consist of every color of the rainbow:

Cran-raspberry

Berry

Orange

Grapefruit

Lemon

Lime

Pure Sparkling Water

My personal Hot Pick of the Day is cran-raspberry flavor. I had seen the advertisements of the new flavor, but none of the grocery stores had it in stock. One day while shopping in Target I was able to find an 8 pack for $3. Excited on my new find, I bought 3 cases and rushed home to put some on the rocks for a try. Very refreshing!

It tastes more like raspberry but with a hint of cranberry, and is crisp, cool and refreshing. You can also buy the Pure flavor and give any juice a sparkling flavor! For anyone who has been to Europe and has tried the Fanta sodas over there, Pure La Croix mixed with your favorite orange juice is your closest bet! In the hot summer heat, its certainly worth a try!

Hot Pick of the Day: Richard Marx!

Okay....no one would ever guess this musician would be the hot pick of the day. He was big in the 80's and early 90's but seemed to have gone under the radar. He resurfaced for a brief moment with a greatest hits album....who am I talking about you ask? Richard Marx!!

Not only is he making a comeback, but his music (and ahem, he of course) is hotter than before! It seems during those years of laying low in the media spotlight, he has been slow roasting, slowly building up years of flavor to become the well seasoned musician he is today.

How did I come to discover this? Back when I was in the Navy, I listened to his greatest hits album often. Well, somehow that cd was lost and while shopping I came across it again. I have been listening to this cd nonstop for the past few days. Songs of romance and heart felt emotion, his voice can melt any modern mother's heart! So, out of curiosity, I decided to check out "where he is now".

He has a fan website you can visit, http://www.richardmarx.com/ or http://www.richardmarxonline.com/. He also has a myspace page and a facebook fan page as well. I strongly suggest you check out his myspace page to listen to his current music on streaming mp3s, get recent news, show information, blogs and recent photographs.

He is one of the few musicians in the industry today that writes, sings, and plays instruments for all of his songs. His is like an organic version, whereas a lot of the mainstream stuff is processed and lacks any artistic value. So if you are tired of fast food music, which gives you cheap processed junk to make a huge profit, but would prefer an organic and home cooked meal, Richard Marx is the way to go. Enjoy!

La Madre Moderna

In today's day and age, mothers have a lot of expectations to live up to. Not only do we have to maintain a perfectly organized and clean house, we must care for children, prepare meals, keep appointments, shop for day to day needs, and manage family responsibilities/appointments amongst other responsiblities. On top of that, many mothers hold full time or part time jobs or go back to school. Oh yeah, did I fail to mention while doing all this, we have to some how work in time to meet society's standards of beauty? Which basically means that after having children, you strive to look the way you did before you had children....

La Madre Moderna is Italian for "The Modern Mother". The purpose of this blog is to sift through all the madness of being a mother, while finding humor and survival tips along the way.