Brandi's Place

High School Crush (a short story)   My name is Rebecca, and I have a secret crush. Shaun and I have lived in the same neighborhood and ridden the same bus since first grade. I didn't like him in the elementary school years. He used to pull my hair and tease me. I hated how everyone would laugh at me because of how he would mock me. In junior high, he stopped bothering me. I guess he got bored with me because he hardly paid me any attention at all anymore, which suited me just fine. I much preferred being able to sit in the back of the bus and chat with my girlfriends all the way home without being pestered. And now that we're in high school, Shaun has completely changed. His shoulders are wider, his voice is deeper, and there's the faintest hint of facial hair beginning to appear on his chin. And his eyes... dark grey until the light hits them just right and reveals that they're a multicolored hazel. He's handsome actually, and no longer the little jerk who used to ...

Speaking of weird coffee mix-ins, I bet I have another one most people don't do. I put chlorophyll in my coffee. Hear me out...  That coffee is green, I mean GREEN! And you might be thinking... why would anyone mix chlorophyll in their coffee? Well I'll tell you. I've got these crazy wild hormones that give me all kinds of trouble and I take many different supplements to try to control all the symptoms. One of my symptoms is that I bleed for 10 or more days each month. (TMI? Sorry.) If you’re a dude or a prepubescent female, 10 days is an absurdly long time to bleed. I already have naturally low blood iron, so the constant bleeding really depletes my energy, gives me headaches, nausea, stuff like that. Us busy mommas don’t need that kind of added drama. Am I right? So my fabulous physician, who is a naturopath MD, suggested I start taking a liquid chlorophyll supplement to help with clotting and slowing the bleeding. I picked up a bottle at the pharmacy on my way home. I no...

Do you like to drink tea, coffee, or both? How about trying them mixed together? Hear me out. Usually, coffee is my main squeeze when it comes to hot beverages (or cold for that matter). I love coffee. But sometimes, I do enjoy an occasional cup of tea when the mood strikes me. Last year for my Birthday, my amazing mother gifted me a loose leaf sampler set of August Teas. I ripped open each little packet to smell them and they all smelled so wonderful. I couldn't wait to try them.  Well, long story short, none of them tasted quite as good as they smelled. They were okay, but not great in my opinion. So for the past year they've been sitting in my cupboard waiting for me to be in the mood to have a hot cup of meh.  Usually when it comes to tea, my go-to favorite is a warming cup of chai. I like the bags of vanilla chai you can get from the grocery story. And I especially loved a chocolate chili chai I once tried when I walked into a tea shop in Canada called David's Teas. Ah...