32 Things Before 32 List // #20 Kicking My Coffee Addiction

If you are a coffee lover, the first thought you may have when reading the title of this post is, "Why the heck would anyone want to kick their coffee addiction?" Maybe addiction also seems like a harsh word and I should say "habit". Honestly for me I know it's an addiction. I crave it. I threw this on my 32 Things List because I knew the amount of coffee I was drinking most days was out of control. This is something that I have struggled with for YEARS!


There I am in a coffee shop in Solvang, California back in 2011. Boy did I enjoy that vanilla latte that day! My coffee habit started back in high school. I would drink a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning and then drink a cold iced coffee on the way to school. I was even known to take caffeine pills on top of that, something I am not proud of now! My poor little heart. Fast forward through the years, on my 21st birthday I didn't even drink. Instead I had a group of friends over for a card night. We stayed up late and drank coffee. My friends and I would go out to restaurants just to drink coffee.

A few years back when Cody went through basic training I decided that I wanted to cut my coffee drinking way down. I was working at IKEA where they provided their co-workers FREE coffee all day long. I would drink up to 6 cups just while at work. That's not counting the coffee I had before work. I will say, I got a lot done when I was at work jacked up on caffeine! While Cody was gone I went on this health kick. I actually got my coffee intake down to one cup in the morning and it was only half-caff.

French Pressed coffee, my favorite way to drink coffee now.

While I was in Texas attending Cody's Graduation, I fell off the wagon. I went to Starbucks and got a vanilla latte. After that one latte, I started drinking them often again and picked up my bad habits. Back to all the free coffee at work (IKEA), back to more then one cup in the morning and goodbye half-caff! For this post I was able to pretty much click on any of my Flickr photo sets and find an image of me with a coffee cup either in my hand or next to me...

Drinking coffee in 80 degree weather at Disney World!

So it's only March and I'm already posting about kicking my coffee addiction. I didn't expect to start cutting back on coffee so soon in the year. At the beginning of February we fell in love with a new brand of coffee. We had been drinking the brand Millstone and some Starbucks. We tried a new coffee from a local coffee shop in town, DAZ BOG. This coffee is amazing. It's for true coffee junkies. It's so dark and strong. After drinking it everything else tastes watered down. I tried drinking some Millstone that we had left over and it tasted like water. I poured it down the drain because I hated it that much.

Well something strange happened to me after I started to drink DAZ BOG. I suddenly had a million pimples on my face. My whole chin and forehead were covered. It looked almost like a red rash on both sides of my face. At the time I was drinking on average two cups of coffee in the morning and then two cups of decaf in the afternoon. I craved it so I would just settle for decaf to satisfy my cravings during the day. I couldn't figure out what was causing the breakouts! It was driving me crazy. The light bulb went off over my head and I thought, "Maybe it's the coffee?"


I thought maybe since this coffee is stronger then other brands it was the reason I was breaking out. It's been a little over a week and I have increased my water intake and I'm down to only one cup of coffee in the morning. My skin has drastically cleared up. I would be happy with only one cup of coffee from now on. Or maybe even switch to tea with caffeine in it for some mornings. My energy level seems to have already increased and I'm not crashing as much. This isn't the first time I've gave up HUGE amounts of caffeine. When I have in the past I always find myself feeling better without it. Problem for me is coffee tastes amazing. I love it. That's why I don't plan to fully give it up. It's a treat now. I just have to have strong will power. I'm curious to see how I do when I go on vacation. Dun dun duunnnn....

A road trip without lots of coffee??? This will be a first for me. I just keep telling myself I WANT CLEAR SKIN!
Are you a coffee drinker or a coffee addict?

See my full 32 Things Before 32 List HERE.

Decor Love: Coffee & Tea Time

I really want to put a coffee bar in our downstairs family room. It's not that I'm too lazy to walk upstairs and fix coffee or tea in our kitchen. It's just that we are addicts and it would be nice to have it much closer. I think it's a fun idea and I have found some great inspiration on Pinterest. We have the perfect sized wall to setup a sideboard or cabinet with all kinds of mugs, teas and coffees! Here are some items that I like...


LINKS
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Above I have an electric teapot! I have actually never used one but figured it would be perfect for boiling water without a stove. I found the images below on Pinterest, links can be found here. I found them very inspiring...



Here are a few kitchen carts that I like from IKEA...



IKEA has many great options for me but I much rather get something vintage. We are super excited about setting this area up in our family room. It will be a few months before I really start decorating that area.
We also have to find a couch! If only money grew on trees....

What is your favorite tea or coffee?

GIVEAWAY: MR. COFFEE FRENCH PRESS

This is my first official giveaway for My Mod Style readers and followers.
Mr. Coffee did not provide this item for me, I purchased it myself to give to one lucky person! I felt it was time to give back to my readers, hopefully most of you are coffee drinkers! If not, hopefully my next giveaway will be something you will like. :)
Why a french press you may ask?
Well I am a huge coffee lover and until recently I had never tried french pressed coffee. WOW! What a taste difference. I am officially hooked and hope to do the same to you! Your welcome. A common question I get when I tell people that I now drink french pressed coffee is, "How do you make it?" Not only is this a giveaway post, it's a step by step post showing you how it's made. Step 1 // You need a coffee grinder & some whole bean coffee!

Step 2 // For 2 cups of coffee, I use a coffee scoop to measure out about 2 1/2 scoops of the beans.
Then place them in the grinder. Step 3 // Use the grinder to make the beans into coffee grounds. Then pour your grounds into the press. Step 4 // Boil enough water for 2 cups of coffee. Then pour the water into the press. Stir. Step 5 // Place the lid over the press and let sit for 5 minutes or longer. Step 6 // Push the the press lid down slowly. Pour into a mug. Enjoy! :)
I realize that not everyone will have a coffee grinder. Most grocery stores sell whole beans by the pound and allow you to grind your beans there, so that is an option. Since we got our press we have retired our old coffee maker. This is the only way we drink our coffee now. Good thing is I tend to drink less coffee now since it's more "work" to fix. It is easy to do, but makes less. Which keeps me from drinking a whole pot of coffee! YAY!
Let's move on to the giveaway part!
If you are interested in winning a brand new Mr. Coffee French Press here are my guidelines:
Each person is aloud up to 2 entries!

- ENTRY 1 // You have to be a follower of my blog or become a follower through Google Friend Connect.
- ENTRY 2 // You have to be a Facebook follower or become a Facebook follower.

At this time those are the only 2 ways I am offering entries.
Just leave me a comment for each entire, stating that you are a follower through Google connect and/or Facebook! Please leave an email address or a link to where I can contact you if you are selected the winner! I will close the giveaway on Monday 6.18.2012 and announce the winner! Don't be shy! Please enter and good luck! :)