Up for Apple

Is anybody else still awake?

I admit, I took a bit of a nap between midnight and one, because work was hectic today and I was exhausted. But now I'm obsessively refreshing two different web pages, both for the same reason.

That can only mean one thing...

It's iPhone 5 pre-order day!

And yes, I am sitting up in bed, quivering with excitement, Visa clutched anxiously in hand as I spend some time debating, last minute, whether or to pre-order from Apple's website, or AT&T's.

Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Repeat.

 I am really, really excited about this phone. Okay, to be fair, I get really excited for most Apple products. What can I say? I'm a brand fan. But I've been anticipating iPhone 5 since last year, when the iPhone 4S rolled out. I waited on upgrading then, even though I really wanted to play with Siri, and now it's paying off—no pesky hassles with AT&T and two-year contracts not-yet-ready to be upgraded.

I'm thinking I'm going to go for the 64gb White/Silver phone. I think it looks slick, modern, and classy.

*UPDATE*

iPhone 5 is now available to pre-order! And I am pretty sure it could not have gone smoother.

iPhone 5, soon you shall be mine!

Oddly enough, while Apple's website (and AT&T's website) sat useless, still not taking pre-orders, the Apple Store App on my iPhone 4 was up and running almost the second it was supposed to.

As you can see, I ordered the White & Silver 64gb iPhone 5. And I managed to not accidentally knock myself off of the several-times-grandfathered-in Unlimited Data plan.

So all in all, this late-night/early-morning was worth it! My shiny new phone should be headed my way sometime on the 21st, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you can expect and unboxing post in the near future, with a review post to follow!

Any of you guys trying to pre-ordered iPhone 5 tonight, too—Good luck! :D

The Siren Call of Coffee

Yesterday I cleaned out my purse. Backstory: I got this purse in May for my birthday (which you will read about one day in a very shamefully belated birthday blog post, honestly) and this may actually be the first time I've cleaned house, so to speak, since I started carrying the bag.

The first thing you should know is that my purse can hold just about everything but the kitchen sink. I swear once it was cleaned out it weighed several pounds less. (Sidenote—I'm actually planning to do a review of this purse/"What's in your purse" blog post about this particular handbag because when I was thinking of purchasing it, I scoured the internet for good reviews and came up with very few helpful reviews. So stay tuned.)

My purse was seriously getting too heavy, and every time I needed to find something, I had to dig through all this junk—in other words, cleaning it out was way overdue.

So I turned the whole thing upside-down and dumped its entire contents onto my bed. I took a picture, just so you guys could understand how absolutely lazy I am when it comes to using my purse as a combination storage/trash bag.

Promise not to judge me.

See? Everything but the kitchen sink. Also, a lot of napkins.

This picture comes after I sifted through my belongings and pulled out the important stuff. Just so you guys don't think I only carry napkins and straw wrappers in my purse.

So anyway, as I'm going through the pile of stuff on my bed—you know, to make sure I don't accidentally throw away anything important like loose change, or dollars, or socks (yes, I have a spare pair of socks in my purse, even still)— I start noticing a trend: Practically every other wadded up receipt I find is from Starbucks.

That got me wondering what exactly the total would be, you know, if I gathered up all the Starbucks receipts and added them all up.

So I did.

So many receipts...

All in all, between being lose in my purse and tucked away in my wallet, I found 18 Starbucks receipts, spanning in dates from all the way back in May to now. And let me just be clear, by no means is this an accurate representation of how many times I've been to Starbucks since then. In fact, frankly, that's not even as many times as I go to Starbucks in two weeks.

But still, here's what I got—

That's dollars, folks.

What can we learn from this little exercise?

Well, clearly my priorities are very coffee-centered. Because honestly, only on one of those receipts can I claim I was grabbing multiple coffees as a work errand. Pretty much those were all personal coffee purchases.

So, if that isn't being a dedicated brand advocate, I don't know what is.

Sometimes I truly feel that I just can't resist—I really love going to Starbucks. Something about it makes me happy, even if I only just drive through. I actually go so often, I've made friends there. People who know be my name, know my order. Which, let me just tell you, really makes a customer feel appreciated and want to keep coming back.

Starbucks Corp., if you're reading this, please feel free to use the Contact Me button so that we can discuss some sort of compensation for the fact that I am basically spending my life and living at your fine establishment. Or perhaps we can arrange for some complimentary coffee as appreciation for all money I spend on your lovely coffees, teas, pastries, and merchandise.

Oh wait, you already do that...

Or really, just... Never go out of business. Because then what would I do?

No-Labor Labor Day

I'm just going to politely ignore the shameful and lengthy time that's passed between now and my previous post, and hope that you fine folks will humor me and do the same.

So.

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone, which basically translates to "What--wait, it's September now?" for me. Seriously though, time has been flying.

Like, I've been so busy that it simply didn't occur to me that this past weekend was a holiday thing (aside from inherently knowing in my soul that it would be a poor weekend for shopping) until yesterday morning, when I thought--Do I work today? I hadn't even thought about the fact that I might be off, that the shop where I work would probably be closed. (So busy that I hadn't thought to check on this the last time I'd been in to work).

So when my parents asked me if I wanted to join them and a few choice family friends over at my Uncle's house, I regretfully said no, that I'd be at work, grumble grumble. That's when the lightbulb turned on.

A few phone calls later and ta-da!

Surprise day off work!

Oh, the irony. Labor Day and I did absolutely nothing. Okay, a few things, but fun things. Certainly not laborious things.

We had hot dogs and beer at my Uncle's, sat around the baby grand while he played old gospel songs I remember from years and years ago, and caught grasshoppers with the young'uns (then politely turned my back when they started picking their legs off...because I know boys will be boys but also, yuck).

Our Labor Day party was kind of a hybrid thing, too. It was also a celebration of another of our dear friend's book release looming in the very near future. (Stay tuned, I'll be posting a review on that book here, as a friendly favor to spread the word—hey, maintaining your own blog has its advantages. Shameless promotion).

Anyway, all in all, and long story short, as great as Labor is, and as much as I love my job and appreciate that I have one, and enjoy the income that it generates, sometimes a surprise day off from work is just the ticket.

I had been focused on work, stressing about getting there on time, and having an unexpected day off made me slow down. Just stop and enjoy those awesome little things again, like time spent with family and friends, good food, great times. It was refreshing, and exactly the break I needed to refocus and get back to the work part of reality with renewed energy and ambition.

So tell me, how did you guys celebrate Labor Day weekend? Or Labor Day? Or both? Whatever you did, I hope you got to spend some time recharging your proverbial batteries! :)