The Bobbed Brunette

My favorite tea brand is Clipper.  They have every flavor under the sun and their chai is amazing! About 2 years ago I discovered a great recipe on Pinterest (find it here) for a chai latte and after trial and error I figured out how to make the recipe a bit easier and include my favorite Clipper tea.

Here's what I do:

Ingredients

Chai Tea:

1 bag of Clipper Chai Tea

2 cups of Water

2 tbsp Maple Syrup

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Milk for Latte:

3/4 cup of Milk

1 tbsp Maple Syrup

Cinnamon

Instructions

Bring water to a boil with cinnamon and nutmeg (about a 1/2 tsp of both but I go by taste). Once water boils turn of heat and allow spices to steep in the water for about 5 minutes.  Return water to a slight boil.  Add tea bag and maple syrup.  Allow water to slightly boil with all ingredients for about 1 minute then turn off heat.  Allow tea bag to steep in water for about 5-10 minutes.  I like a stronger taste so I wait about 10 minutes.  After steeping is complete remove tea bag and strain tea through a fine mesh strainer.  Remove 1/2 cup of tea and store remaining tea in a sealed container in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. (Or honestly, until tomorrow.)

While tea is steeping prepare your milk.  In a small sauce pan on medium heat add milk, syrup, and cinnamon and allow to slightly boil, stirring often, until sides of milk begin to bubble.  Remove from heat.

Combine tea and milk and you're set!  If you have a milk frother that's a plus, but it's ok if you don't.  Still tastes delicious.

(For the original yummy recipe, click here!)

Now for books!

I am a huge book worm.  Fiction mostly, sexy love stories, vampires, family drama, murder mysteries, teen romance (no judging!), and I love series.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love actual books.  I would LOVE to have my own personal library nook in my house full of books, but it isn't realistic for my lifestyle.  Since I move around a lot and travel multiple times out the year, having a Kindle is ideal.  My favorite Kindle is the Paperwhite 6'' with built in wifi.  It's great on sunny days and gives the illusion of paper.

If you're in to the kind of books that I mentioned above, check out these babies:

The Butterfly Garden

 The butterfly garden is actually a beautifully maintained indoor garden where its butterflies are kidnapped young women who are intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Tending to the garden is the psychopath known as the Gardener.  The garden is eventually discovered and FBI agents question a survivor, Maya.  We learn about Maya and the crazy things that happened in the garden through their interviews.  There is also a second book.  Putting that one on my to-do list!

The Bourbon Kings

The Bradford family are the kings of the bourbon world.  They're filthy rich and filthy in drama.  The dad is shady and the adult children have major issues.  One son falls for the beautiful head gardener.  They break up and 2 years later the son returns.  He returns just in time for their family's world to come undone.  It's first world problems mixed with a love story and is a 3 part series.  So. Much. Drama.

It Ends with Us

(Enter heart wrenching story!)  Lily is an independent go getter with a sad past.  She meets a gorgeous surgeon, Ryle, and their relationship begins hot and heavy and maybe too good to be true.  Atlas, Lily's childhood first love, suddenly reappears and brings up all the feels from her past.  Now Lily and Ryle's relationship is threatened.  Also, lots of drama and tears.

Behind Closed Doors

Jack and Grace are the couple that everyone envies.  They're perfect and so in love.  Then you realize they're always together, Grace never answers the phone, she can never meet for coffee, there are high security shutters on the windows...maybe they aren't as perfect as they seem.

The Girl in the Ice

This book is the start of a detective series.  Detective Foster is on the case to find the killer of a young beautiful socialite found frozen in a thick sheet of ice in London.  The investigating leads to the connection of 3 other women murdered in a similar way.  I could not guess, for the life of me, who the killer was and was totally shocked when I found out. 

The Black Dagger Brotherhood

Favorite. Series. Ever!!  I have been reading this series for years now.  There are about 15 books now..?  It has everything.  Vampires, sex, love, war, death, drama.  Even its own language.  Just so much.  The first book introduces the brotherhood, a group of highly trained sexy vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening society.  You meet Wrath, their King, and his journey finding his soulmate.  The first few books focus on a different brother and their own journey finding love.  Mixed with drama from the war.  Such a great series and the author is making more as we speak! :)