Starbucks Shout-Out: Starbucks Half off Frappuccino Happy Hour May 3-12, 2013 from 3-5 pm

Even my snowman cookie jar likes Starbucks! Mocha frappuccino from Starbucks at Happy Hour special promotion (Credits- Logo on cup courtesy of Starbucks & cookie jar from Hallmark; Photo by Julie A. Smith).

Two weeks ago I was pondering if Starbucks was again going to have their half off frappuccino happy hour this year, and my Google search ended up with nada. But it seems I was ahead of the curve (for once!) and wouldn’t you know it that I recently received an e-mail from the Starbucks mailing list I belong to telling me that their AMAZING promotion is happening again this year. Since I want to spread the word, I’ve been texting my Starbuck’s loving friends, as well as pinning it to my Pinterest Starbucks board, but I also want to spread the word to the blogosphere dome, in case you haven’t heard.

Here is my Starbucks Shout-Out: Starbucks is having Half off Frappuccino Happy Hour May 3-12, 2013 from 3-5 pm in participating locations!!! Starbucks is amazing, and if you haven’t ever tried their blended frappuccinos, you are missing out. My personal favorite is the double chocolately chip, because I am a huge chocolate fan, but I have been on a caramel kick lately. While I will note that I wish that Starbucks would expand their offerings and add a peanut butter frappuccino, blueberry frappuccino, and a Andes mint frappuccino to their menu, I must admit that curently there seems to be a frappuccino that will make everyone happy, whether you are desiring hazelnut, mocha, caffe vanilla light, strawberries and creme, green tea, or a good list of other flavors. Hot news off the presses is that Mocha cookie crumble frappuccino has returned for the summer season, which I highly recommend. Also, caramel ribbon crunch is the new debut flavor, and I tried it on Saturday, and it rocks!

Check out the Starbucks mobile app if you want to explore your frappuccino options and see helpful information like drink description details and calorie and nutritional content. You can also find out more info via http://www.starbucks.com.

Purple Toes and Black Hair (a Poetic Ode to being Bold)

She decided she wanted to write

a poem about purple toes and black hair.

She is not usually silly

or prone to fluffy things,

but light-hearted poetry

seemed a distraction to her

from discouragement

and the problems in her life.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She got a pedicure recently.

It was by a sweet Asian young woman

who did not speak much English,

but did a good job with painting

her toes a bright, pretty purple.

She picked it out to be

different and a bit funky.

She has a slight alternative side

that sometimes she hides well,

because some don’t see it as professional

and there are lots of different styles

that she enjoys.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She once dyed her hair purple

and helped her friend dye her hair

green and then blue

when her friend hated the green.

They were going to the Tooth and Nail tour

to see two bands that they liked who were uber-cool.

The purple dye was only for one day and temporary,

but sometimes she wouldn’t mind

making it more permanent

if only she was younger,

or if she didn’t care what people thought.

That thought makes her sigh,

because people like to judge based on appearance,

and society’s fashion rules for women

can sometimes be quite oppressive,

confining, limiting, and immodest.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She really wanted to be bold

so with her birthday she decided to dye her hair black.

She had never done that before.

It was a light, pretty black that she was drawn to.

But she got sick right before her birthday,

and thus her friend could not dye her hair.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Time went by,

and she had second thoughts,

but it bothered her that

she didn’t take that bold step.

She almost took the hair dye back

but, even if she hated it,

even when someone told her she may look like Elvira,

she just knew she needed to try it.

She needed to not live her life in a box

or worried about what other people thought.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She liked it, once it was done.

Black and bold

in her estimation.

But for some reason it quickly faded

and came to look more like a dark brown.

Still pretty, but not bold.  Not black.

Not the pretty black she had hoped for.

Funny, though, she observed that

many people did not even notice,

and she had thought it was so obvious

and so BOLD.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She is quite glad that she tried purple toes

and black hair.

She keeps telling herself

that change can be good

when she feels stuck in a rut

and like she can’t feel her dreams anymore.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

*Poet’s note: Most of my poetry is personal, however sometimes I like to tell a creative story.  In the case of this poem, it is a true story, and I am the girl with purple toes and black hair.

Before hair dye picture of me (Rosemary Case, photographer)

Before black hair dye picture (Rosemary Case, photographer)

Mid black hair dye (Rosemary Case, photographer credit and Mom)

Instagram photo of me and my brother, Kevin (two days after black hair dye; Lyle Smith, photographer)

Toes are not the cutest subject, but I want to show off my purple toes and pedicure (Julie A. Smith, photographer)

“Poet Girl”

She is shy, sensitive, confused,
and sweetly earnest.
Sometimes she wears
her heart on her sleeve and
her heart beats
with a passionate crescendo.
Hurt creeps in
and her heart becomes
weary, burdened, and timid.
Sometimes she wishes
to bury her heart,
to deny her heart.
She doesn’t always understand why.

Her poetic words flow fast
when she is inspired,
but sometimes she is too tired to write.
Sometimes she wishes she had more time to write.
Pragmatism can crowd out the poetic,
and that makes her sad.

She likes her yellow pages
in her old Webster’s dictionary,
and she finds adjectives incredibly cool.
She wishes grammatical perfection
came more easily to her,
but, alas, grammar is a struggle for her.
She likes words and communication,
and she finds her voice
in the power
of the written word.
Poetry is beautiful to her.

She is a poet girl.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Poet’s note: This poem is written for National Poetry month in April.  It is part of a poetic series exploring various aspects of being for girls and women, such as shyness, purity, and hope.

Link to my poems on www.poemhunter.com:

http://www.poemhunter.com/julie-a-smith/

“A Beautiful Flow” (Poetry)

“A Beautiful Flow”

She is searching for
a beautiful flow.
Two a.m.
and she feels inspired
even though
she really should be sleeping.

As the mountain creek
flows placidly along
the path
adorned by wildflowers
with purple hues
and soft sweet petals,
so she longs for
hopes
wants
and
can’t help but desire
a beautiful
sweet
harmonious
flow
to her
life.

As the sun
sends its
golden rays
perfectly
down
to the trees,
meadows,
lakes,
rivers,
and inhabitants
of the world
with a pure and cheerful
countenence,
so she wants her
countenence
to be cheerful
even on
her most grumpy days
when life
has beaten
on her
in its
unkindness
and
a plethora
of problems
try to choke her
like the weeds
in that old Scripture story
that always speaks
a warning to her.

The beautiful flow
glimmers in
the distance
and toward
that horizon
she will go.

*Poet’s note:

This is one of my favorite poems that I have written. It was written on March 15, 2013.

Related articles:

• “Shy Girl” and “The Waterfall”: Original Poetry (julieannesmith.wordpress.com)

The Almost Never-ending Story, Literally (Tax Return Lessons 101)

Am  I the only person in the world who has never heard of “Tax Literals” before?  I am a literal person, but I think that title leaves something to be desired.  Here is the chronological breakdown of my tax time saga (a.k.a. Tax Return Lessons 101):

1. I decide to again do my taxes myself this year. Perhaps I am still scarred from my bad experience at H&R Block several years ago, and how they misquoted me the amount that I would pay as a single person with a very easy return.

Form 1040A, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. I gather my tax forms from the library, do a rough draft of my 1040A form, and get delayed in finding and printing the amount of interest I paid on qualified student loan payments.  I speculate about the IRS updating tax codes to be more fair to the tax payer.  I think it is 100% unfair that the 1098-E is not furnished by mail to individuals if the lender doesn’t receive interest payments of $600 or more in a year.  Plus, why is the Earned Income Credit (EIC) for people who work so vastly different for single people vs. people with children?  A single person doing a 1040A for 2012 must make less than $13, 980 (per 1040A, line 22, adjusted gross income or AGI), but a person having one child living with her or him can make an AGI of less than $36, 920.  (Note: this is actually just step 1 to pass to see if a person qualifies for the Earned Income Credit).  Why the disparity?  It seems the American tax code greatly favors people with children over single people on multiple levels.

3.  I file online using free fillable forms.  They are essentially the electronic version of paper federal tax forms, but they can enable you to get a much faster refund since you electronically file.

4.  I dislike how some of the free fillable forms are counterintuitive.  You can’t actually add your W-2′s when clicking on the upper tab to add forms, because you must click step 2 to do that.  In addition, (from what I can tell), you can’t move to step two by clicking “done with form” at the bottom of your 1040A, you have to click on the top “step 2″ to go to step 2.  This seems illogical to me, because if you are done with a form, then you should be able to click “done” and move on to the next step.  Plus, am I the only one who noticed how when a person types in her information on her W-2′s and uses the tab key, then it will jump numbers and not be perfectly chronological around the 12-20 fields?  I don’t like that filling out the W-2 seems to work backwards and out-of-order.

5.  I am happy to have my refund submitted electronically to the IRS after time spent surfing FAQs to answer e-file questions using free fillable forms.

English: Speech balloons. Question and Answer. Icon for FAQ or Help. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6.  What?!!!  My refund was rejected?  I have e-filed my own taxes for around 5 years, and that has never happened.  Here is part of the e-mail to tell me of my refund rejection: ”To see a list of the most common reasons for a rejected return go to http://www.irs.gov/uac/Common-Free-File-Fillable-Forms-Problems   You will need to fix the issue in your return and e-file again. If you are unable to fix the issue you will have to print the return and file by mail.” (E-mail from customer_service@freefilefillableforms.com)

7.  Thus begins my search for why my refund was rejected.  I realize how”Tax Literals” seem to be at the root of my rejection problem. Essentially, tax literal problems are caused by putting something into the small grey box areas on the tax return that does not belong. A person has to be instructed to place information in those areas.  Utilizing the link sent to me in my rejection e-mail about common tax problems, I link to the IRS website and find a helpful link, the FAQ document for Tax Literals.  However, I notice this IRONIC line about tax literal information on the official IRS government website.  (Note: editing done to bold typographic error).

“In the example above, the rejection was caused by using an incorrect state abbreviation on Form W2-G and yopu would look on that form to correct the information.” (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2012_4f_faqs.pdf)  (Free File Fillabe Forms FAQS and Limitations, February 28, 2013).

8.  I realize that line 7 (wages, etcetera) was where my mistake was made, so I fix the error and re-submit my tax return.

9.  Yay!  My return was accepted!  Is this the never-ending story, or what?  Finally, my tax return saga is over!

How to Exasperate a Single Christian or make them laugh Video

I appreciate this video about things people say to singles who are Christian.  Unfortunately, singles are often marginalized or forgotten by churches and a wide spectrum of society, which is not cool.  Many of the things in this video have been heard by myself and my Christian friends.  While the video is related to Christians, some of the things mentioned are universal.

The Positivity of Pooh and a Personality Profile

Have you ever wanted to write, various ideas would pop into your head, but then your motivation would lag?  Has your real life ever encroached on your creative side, stifling it with endless “to do” lists and practical matters so your writer’s inspirations get the boot?  Yeah, me too.  In the last 6 weeks, I have had many blog ideas excite me: a post about my enthusiasm for a class that I am taking online in March, a post exploring my musical side by writing a cd review for my favorite new cd, and a blog post about my recent birthday this past Monday.  However, my inspiration did not transfer from pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.  My rough working title for my birthday reflections post (“Another one bites the dust and Valentine’s Day looms on the horizon”) seemed too negative about my getting another year older (a.k.a. another year bit the dust) and about  facing another Valentine’s Day as a single in a couple’s world.

Which leads me to today.  Some of the blog ideas mentioned above I may write in the future, but for now I am glad to at least be writing something.  Sickness and personal discouragement, as well as an onslaught of problems and financial issues have been my reality these last few months.  Actually, a surprising topic fueled my desire to write and inspired this blog post:  Winnie the Pooh, the classic children’s book and show.  While I am a kid at heart, this inspiration is likely tied to the time that I perused my local library at Christmas time searching for all my favorite Christmas movies.  My favorites were all checked out : “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (animated version), “Rudolph” (I love the island of misfit toys, Rudolph is cute, and it’s important to find your identity and to not be afraid to be different), and “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”.  So, my confession is that I ended up renting ”Winnie the Pooh: a Very Merry Pooh Year.”  Please don’t judge me.  Yes, I realize that I may secretly be five-years-old.  Sometimes that idea seems far better than being an adult, in my opinion (re: kids get to play and adults pay bills and deal with car repairs).

A Very Merry Pooh Year (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why am I writing about Christmas movies in February, you ask?  The peak time for  Christmas related blog posts are over, you say?  Perhaps, but I am leading up to my inspiration.  There is no time limit on inspiration.  My inspiration is the positivity of Pooh.   My mind keeps wandering to three of the primary characters in the Winnie the Pooh books and movies:  Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.  I think most people fall into the personality types that these three main characters represent.

1. Pooh- He is very loyal and stable.  He is the glue that holds things together.  Sometimes he can have laser sharp focus (a.k.a. “where is my honey”?), but he is one of the best friends that you can ask for.  His disposition is sunny and positive.  Pooh is who I want to be and who I am most of the time, but sometimes life’s hardships and disappointments can bring out my Eeyore side.

2. Eeyore- He is sad and discouraged.  He sees life in black or shades of gray.  The glass is ALWAYS half-empty for Eeyore.  “Woe is me” could be his motto.  This type of person can take a toll on others that they are around because they are constantly being negative and wallowing in the mud, so to speak.

3. Tigger- He is bouncy and fun!  Tigger loves life and life is full of possibility.  He is the epitome of sunshine and joy.  He is so full of energy that he bounces literally.  People like Tigger are full of vigor, but at times can seem easily distracted or even attention-deficit disorder (re: if they do not complete tasks.)  A Tigger person is very fun to be around.  While I have elements of Tigger in my personality, and certain friends and activities bring out that side of me, I am far more like Winnie the Pooh in terms of stability.

Which Pooh character are you most like?  Feel free to add your thoughts!  Feedback is appreciated with my unofficial Pooh personality profile.

The Tigger Movie, a film based on the Disney adaptation of Tigger. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)