If You Didn't See It, Would You Believe It?

December, 2008. Tim and I are sitting in church with Dan and Heather. It's one of those progressive churches that wakes its congregants up with coffee, tea and hot chocolate served at the back of the sanctuary. (My church does this too, only it's served at the end of the service, waking people up after the fact.) I glance over at Heather and see that she's HOLDING A PEPSI!!!

IN CHURCH!

A book I saw calls soda "liquid Satan". Could it be that Heather needs deliverance and this was a silent plea for help? Could she be experiencing deep hurt that she needs deliverance from?!

At any rate, I took a picture for posterity.

French Press

I had coffee brewed in a French press for the first time while Tim was in Maryland. I had a romantic notion that it would brew better coffee- sort of like thinking that bread made expertly by hand would taste better than bread made in a bread machine. The press has a classy, minimalist look to it; I'm all in favor of classiness and minimalism so when I came across one for half price at the store down the street, I bought it.

It makes gorgeous coffee. I wasn't even a fan of coffee until very recently, yet this is how much I love coffee brewed in the French press: after a Starbucks Milky Way coffee on base yesterday, I went home and made a cup of coffee and liked it more that the Starbucks coffee! I made half a pot but only had time for one cup before I had to leave the house, and I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking wistfully about the coffee cold and untouched back at home.

I've thought of starting an all-out campaign to convert Heather to coffee fanaticism, but I'm not sure I am willing to be responsible for the consequences of fostering an addiction. I may try, at least once while I'm home, but I doubt she'll put down her Pepsi in favor of coffee.

Anyone picky about the kind of coffee they drink? Mine has to be Starbucks Sumatra, at least at home (which could also explain why I liked my home brew better than the one from the coffee shop). Nothing satisfies quite like it.

Reese Drinking Pepsi?

Most of you know by now that Heather and I are both equally addicted to caffeine, only in different liquid forms. I prefer tea- black, oolong, green, white, morning, noon, and night (I made a rhyme!)- while Heather prefers Pepsi- regular, morning, noon, and night. Our choices border on addictions, and not just to caffeine. If it was simply caffeine we were after, any caffeine-containing product would do. But that isn't the case for either of us. I LOVE tea and can't imagine a day without it (except on those occasions when Tim makes coffee and I drink that). Heather wakes up, stumbles to the fridge blear-eyed, and rummages around for a can of Pepsi. Never anything else, just Pepsi.

So I thought it would be fun if we swapped drinks for a week, sort of a Freaky Friday of caffeine intake. I proposed we take pictures of our reactions every day, since she's not really fond of tea. I suggested it a few weeks back and Heather's response was tepid at best. Hm... I'll have to think about that...

Well, I never heard back from her on it, and frankly, that was okay. The thought of downing 1-2 Pepsis a day makes me feel ill. When Heather and our friend Holly visited me in Germany last year, they took off for a few days in Italy. I drove them to the airport at zero-dark-thirty. I thought I might get sleepy on the drive home so I took a Pepsi along (we were well stocked, with both ladies drinking Pepsi). About a half hour from my house I cracked it open and attempted to drink it. Phew! Let's just say the remaining 11.5 ounces found a home somewhere in the sewer system.

Last Saturday I went through the Taco Bell drive-thru on base and ordered a diet Pepsi to go along with my soft taco. I was so proud of myself! Then Heather informed me that diet Pepsi doesn't count as Pepsi! LOL! I'm thinking it's not only the caffeine, but the sugar she's after!

Then, today, when I was out running errands I realized it was lunch time and I was ravenous. It was noon and every active duty person on base was standing in line at a fast food restaurant, so I went to a mini-mart instead. The only diet pop (soda for some of you!) they had was diet Pepsi. I drank a liter of it.

What's wrong with me?! Everything I knew to be true about myself has suddenly come into question when I discovered a Pepsi in my hand.

How about you? What are you drinking right now? Would you swap drinks with your best friend for a week?


~Reese