Venti vanilla iced coffee with cream and two Splendas, please.

I used to constantly repeat my order, day after day, sunshine or thunder storm. I was there asking for my coffee to get me through the wretched Monday blues. My obsession with coffee began in high school when I got my first coffee maker for Christmas. Laugh all you want but it was, and still is, one of my favorite gifts.

My Keurig has seen it all. It has endured the lazy weekends and the mornings when I should have left 30 minutes before even I made my coffee. You wouldn't believe me if I told you that coffee has the ability to completely turn my mood around. Actually, if you must know, I used to get anxious as I would wait for my Starbucks order.

Of course, because I frequent Starbucks so often, it didn't take long for the baristas to memorize my order. And I say baristas in plural, because many of them have learned my face and my order. As sad as it might be, I would be a much grumpier and lazier Laura Kate without my coffee pick-me-up.

So, Dear Starbucks Baristas,

Thank you for not judging me when I show up in my pajamas, like I have just rolled out of bed... At 2 p.m.

Thank you for still making my iced coffee even though you know it is my fourth Venti of the day and I probably shouldn't keep getting refills while I cram for final exams.

Thank you for the nonjudgmental, but still slightly judgmental glances from behind the cash register when I roll in to Starbucks for the third time in one day.

Thank you for not putting me on a caffeine limit, even though you probably should.

Thank you for always having a smile on your face, even when you and I both know that we both have a serious case of "the Mondays."

Thank you for always telling me to have a nice day and for wishing me luck as I venture out into the thunder and lightening.

Thank you for always asking how I'm doing and for being ok when I give you the same answer over and over again, day after day.

Thank you for picking up the slack when my Keurig just isn't cutting it.

But most of all, thank you for fueling my little addiction to vanilla iced coffee and for using the fat-free creamer (because after all, bikini season is coming)>

You should be proud of yourselves.. You have fueled me through final exams, early 8 a.m. classes, and the dreaded chemistry lab at 9:30 a.m. I'm not sure I'd still be alive to thank you if you hadn't been there through all of the hardships of two years of college.

Sincerely,

A dedicated Starbucks-goer