Birthday Giveaway Day 1: Free Starbucks!

How does “free Starbucks” sound?

Surprise! I’m doing a birthday giveaway! In fact, I’m doing a whole week of birthday giveaways! I’m of the “i’ts better to give than to receive” camp.

Don’t get me wrong – I love receiving gifts, too!

But I really like giving them even more.

Why a week of birthday giveaways

Why am I giving someone free Starbucks and more?

Well…

I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in years. I married to someone who dislikes socializing when I was very young. We had a big fight early on because I wanted to throw myself a birthday get together at the bowling alley. He didn’t want me to. Then he critiqued everyone on my invite list. I kind of gave up after that. I shoved a big piece of myself to the side to make him more comfortable.

Then I became a mom and everything became all about my daughter. More pieces of myself got shoved to the side.

My birthday last year was awful. My sweet girl was in crisis. Our world was chaotic. I finally realized how extremely unhealthy and unhappy I was in my marriage. I spent my 40th birthday sobbing, feeling trapped, overwhelmed, lonely, deeply sad, scared and helpless…with little hope things would get better.

Two months after my 40th birthday, I walked away from a nearly 20 year marriage. I tore my life apart and have been working hard to rebuild it.

SO I’M CELEBRATING THIS YEAR!

My 41st birthday is February 7 and I’m doing seven days of giveaways! So pop on over here every single day from February 1 through my big day to enter to win. Each day will be a different prize. Yes, you can enter all! Share the posts on social media and invite your friends to Rambling Rach for more opportunities to win!

Birthday Giveaway Day 1: FREE STARBUCKS!

I spent weeks in the hospital with my daughter last February. She’s made an amazing recovery and is doing well now. The Starbucks in the hospital lobby was a lifeline during that time. That’s when I started ordering drinks with extra shots of espresso.

A friend and I have been meeting at the Starbucks in our Target for years. We sit, sip and chat in the cafe and then ramble around the store.

We’ve gotten to know the baristas well. One of the regular baristas is Karen. She remembers our drink orders and always makes them perfectly. We call it “made with love by Karen.”

She also serves up wisdom with your beverage.

She once told me not to worry about my ex-husband spreading lies about me. “There are two sides to every pancake,” she said. Anyone worth caring about would know that.

We met up at Target Starbucks after my divorce was granted. My friend told Karen I’d just come from court and was now a single lady.

We took our drinks to our usual table and were chit chatting when my friend got all teary and pointed at my cup.

I looked at it and then started crying myself.

Karen had written, “Oh, happy day” on my cup with a smiley face.

Made with love by Karen, indeed!

So in honor of Starbucks who has given me energy to make it through tough times, a place to sit with my friends and a barista to cheer me on I’m giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card today. Follow the instructions below to enter to win free Starbucks! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow!