One of the first things I do EVERY morning is pour an ice cold Coke Zero in my favorite YETI mug. It doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold outside, this is how I start my day. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I have probably been doing this for over fifty years now . . . although the YETI mug is a more recent addition. ☺ I remember as a little girl sneaking into the fridge and taking very loooooooong sips of my mother’s Coca-Cola right out of the glass bottle they used to come in. She always had some in the fridge, and the bonus was finding one that had been opened and only had a plastic cap put back on to keep the fizz in!!! It’s all about the fizz for me! Somehow, she ALWAYS knew that it was me, and I ALWAYS got in so much trouble for drinking her Coke!!! But I couldn’t help myself, nothing tastes as good as a full sugar Coke in a glass bottle right?!!! Especially that older recipe!!!

I’ve been trying to eat better lately. So instead of skipping breakfast . . . other than my morning Coke Zero, I have been eating two slices of toast with my favorite orange marmalade jam. I buy it from “Little Taste of Britain” in Layton, Utah. They specialize in fish & chips just like you get in England, minus the newspaper. They also have a small spot where they sell items imported from the UK, and orange marmalade jam is one of those things, and it goes well with Coke Zero.

Dealing with Covid over the past year, my morning drink has been my “security blanket” to help me know that “normal” really can be more than a setting on the washing machine! While everyone else was stock-piling toilet paper and Clorox wipes (thankfully we were already prepared in that department), I was stock-piling Coke Zero. My husband Ron prefers Diet Dr. Pepper. I figured IF we did happen to run out of toilet paper, we could use the Coke Zero and Diet Dr. Pepper to barter and trade with. Thankfully, the situation never got to that point of desperation!

I’m grateful Ron and I don’t drink alcohol because if we did, we would most likely be alcoholics!!! We do enjoy our soft drinks, as un-healthy as they are, and both of us pretty much carry a mug around with us from the time we wake up, until we go to bed. The beauty with the new insulated mugs/tumblers that are on the market now, is they keep your drink cold for hours, and the ice doesn’t melt nearly as fast!

Ron and I were frequent Maverick customers until Covid hit. When that happened, we made our own soft drink station here at home. We both love to add flavored syrups to our drinks, with Cherry and Cranberry being our favorites! We get the cherry syrup from Orson Gygi’s in Salt Lake City, and during Covid we ordered it online. It comes in a gallon jug and is made by “Lyon’s”. This is also the same cherry syrup they use in their soft drinks at the Maddox Ranch House Restaurant in Brigham City, Utah. If you’ve never been . . . that’s a post for another day! We re-fill our Monin Cherry pump bottle with the “Lyon’s” brand syrup. We tried the Monin brand cherry syrup and it was nasty – but the bottle was cute so we kept it. Their cranberry and white peach flavors are divine!!! Be sure to order the pump attachment to fit the corresponding syrup bottle. You can only use the Monin brand pumps on their bottles, and there is a difference in their glass bottle pumps and their plastic bottle pumps. The Cranberry syrup on Amazon comes in a glass bottle, and the White Peach syrup on Amazon comes in a plastic bottle. We order the Monin syrups and corresponding Monin pumps from Amazon, along with our favorite mugs and silicone straws. If you are a “Dirty Diet Coke” drinker (Diet Coke with fresh squeezed lime and coconut flavoring), I like the “Coconut Sweet Drops Sweetener” by “SweetLeaf – Liquid Stevia”, and the “True Lime” flavored lime crystal packets – but only if I don’t have a fresh lime to put in it.

For a refreshing lemonade, I make a fairly “strong” flavored lemonade using the “Country Time Pink Lemonade” powdered drink mix in a 2 quart pitcher. I always add more powder than it says to, and the ice always dilutes it even more. That’s why I make it stronger. I fill my YETI with pink lemonade, squeeze the juice of a couple fresh lemon wedges in, and add a couple squirts of the Monin White Peach syrup. It is so delicious!!! Sometimes, instead of the Peach syrup, I puree some fresh or frozen strawberries and pour some over the ice in my YETI, squeeze the juice of a couple fresh lemon wedges in, and then fill it with the pink lemonade. I have also put this strawberry puree in ice cube trays. When they are frozen, you can keep them in a Ziploc Freezer Baggie until you are ready to add them to your drink. You can also do this with fresh squeezed lemon juice. There IS a difference between the “Country Time Pink Lemonade” and the regular “Country Time Lemonade”. We prefer the taste of the pink one as it’s a little smoother, not quite as tart, and blends better with our add-ins – but it’s a little harder to find. We order the big size can on Amazon, it’s also great to serve at parties in a cute glass drink dispenser with slices lemons, sliced strawberries, and fresh cranberries floating in it. I always buy extra bags of fresh cranberries during the holiday months and put them in my freezer. They stay perfect and are ready to dump into your summer drink dispensers for a pop of color and flavor – even if you just add them to water with sliced lemons. It’s such a pretty combination!

Last summer during Covid, I invited four friends over for a “Socially Distanced” visit. Each lady brought her own camp chair. We sat in the shade, six feet apart, and had the nicest time! I made some peach flavored pink lemonade the night before, and poured it into some empty blue “Selter Water” bottles I brought home from Germany a few years ago. I put them in the fridge overnight and served them each in an individual size galvanized bucket filled with ice, and made a cute clear cup that had the name of the friend and then added “Covid Cup” after each name cut from vinyl. I even added a green cut-out of a “Covid Germ” on it. I also made individual sized loaves of chocolate chip banana bread, and placed each one on a cute paper plate with a napkin from “Rifle Paper Company”. I had a tiny small table for each lady with a cute tablecloth to put her chair next to, and the drinks and treats were on each table. The ladies got to take their drink bottles in the small galvanized buckets home with them, along with their personalized “Covid Cups”, but there was no left over banana bread. ☺ This was the most normal thing I think I did all summer!!! The drink was such a hit, I made more peach lemonade, put it in empty Monin syrup bottles (we have a lot of these) with a cute “Peach Lemonade” label cut from vinyl on my Silhouette Cameo, and door-bell ditched them to more of my friends, complete with galvanized buckets in ice, and more personalized “Covid Cups”! I knew it was safe to make these treats for my friends because I hadn’t been out of the house in months, and I knew I didn’t have Covid. ☺

I enjoy personalizing these mugs to give to my closest and dearest friends. To do this I like to use a fun font like “Birthday Cake” or “Harrington” or “Loki Cola” (This is the same font that looks like “Coca-Cola”) – and cut them from “Oracal 651 permanent” matte finish vinyl, which is waterproof. I do all of this on my Silhouette Cameo machine. What did I ever do without that thing?

In case you haven’t noticed, we enjoy a different type of drinking in our home. It brings us joy and happiness, and we like to share it with others! I hope you enjoy your ice cold summer beverages whatever they may be!!! However, they taste so much better in an insulated tumbler/mug!!! I’ve included the links to my favorites drink items below. My daily drink brings a smile to my face, and when I’m happy, I feel the light!!! I hope you do too!!!

Love Ya, Les

30 oz. YETI Tumbler Mug - Seafoam color

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073WK3JWT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Reusable Silicone Drinking Straws, 12 pieces with 2 cleaning brushes, 10 inches long made for 20 oz. and 30 oz. Tumblers. The colors are not as bright in person as they look online. The green is a lovely aqua color, and matches my seafoam 30 oz. YETI tumbler perfectly!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HDN4Y9V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1