Fall Is In The Air and School Is Around The Corner

Fall has now unofficially/officially begun!  I know that technically the first day of fall is what, Saturday or something like that but for me it starts with the first Pumpkin Spice Latte!  To top it all off, it was my free drink!  Can you say "Hello Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte with an extra shot!  Do I want whip cream...why yes I do!!!"

Now every other day that I actually have to pay for my coffee I am pretty cheap and boring.  As the air gets cool and crisp, I tend to go with my staple of a Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte extra hot.  It's cheap and VERY low on calories!  If you have never tried the Pike Roast at Starbucks (hi, I'm from Seattle and Starbucks is pretty much the ONLY place I will get coffee from) then you are missing out!

Sometimes I switch it up and get the Blonde Roast.  Either way, leave a little room for "cream" but I use non-fat milk and a little bit of sugar...not nearly enough as I would normally so I could actually taste it but enough that it takes the slight bitter taste away from black coffee.

During the summer, I am all about the Trenta Black Tea Lemonade.  I am so thankful for the Trenta and can totally understand why it is only available for iced/non-coffee drinks...that would be a whole mess of caffeine that no one person should every consume in one beverage.

After every 12th drink and I see that I have that free drink, you better believe I am not caring about calories or anything and I am getting the most expensive drink that I never get otherwise and that is usually a Venti (are you seeing the "free" trend here...) White Chocolate Raspberry Mocha with an extra shot and whip cream.  Now if only they carried Cherry syrup...then it would be a Cherry Mocha...but they don't.

With the start of fall comes the start of the new school year.  My oldest nephew started kindergarten this year (lord have mercy where HAS the time gone).  My youngest sister started on her Master's program.  I have wanted to get back into taking classes but I just can't afford it and then I found Ashford University.  There are so many perks there being prior service that made it impossible to turn down.  I have been talking with a counselor who is totally awesome and yesterday he walked me through the application process and I applied.  Should have my official acceptance tomorrow and then he is going to help me fill out all of my financial paperwork and help me apply for the Pell Grant.

I start my first class on October 1st and I can't wait!  Each class is 5 weeks long and you only take one class at a time.  The best part is that no money has to come out of my pocket!  Tuition is deferred for 60 days while the VA plays catch up to get everyone their money and he is even going to help me figure out how to do all the VA stuff!  It's all so different from my previous school but I have a really good feeling about this program.  PLUS when I graduate, I will have a Bachelor's degree in the original field that I wanted anyway!  I will have a BA in Applied Behavioral Science.  I can't wait!

With all that has happened in the last few days, I have also decided to take the crazy woman who owns the dance studio that I used to teach at who owes me money to collections!  I will hopefully be able to set up a meeting either today or tomorrow with them to get this going because even with them taking their 20%, it would leave me with well over what she originally owed me and saves me from having to drive back down to the court house and turning my case into a civil suit.

Well I guess that is everything for now!  Until next time!