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?

My New Kindle—The Unboxing

So, today was a pretty exciting day. Today I bought myself a brand spankin' new Kindle! Well, actually, my parents bought it for me. Best belated Easter present ever. Just sayin'.

Anyway, so far I'm totally loving it. It's lightweight, has a nice crisp screen, and the e-ink display is, quite simply, awesome. When I first started researching e-readers, I found the unboxing articles, photos, and reviews to be extremely helpful. And as such, now that I've made my purchase, I wanted to share my unboxing with you guys. After I use my Kindle for a few days, I'll be writing up a review.

So, here we go.

The box. This here is the Kindle box. But I'm sure I didn't need to tell you that. Inside is where the goodies are kept!

Voila! The outer sleeve is off. I'm getting pretty excited at this point. Like a kid at Christmas morning, opening a most anticipated new toy.

This was genuinely just as easy as it says.

My new Kindle! Sittin' pretty and waiting to be held for the very first time.

Hello, Kindle! We'll be fast friends!

Hiding underneath the Kindle itself is the Quick Start Guide.
All the basics of what you need to know are tucked away in there!

Last but not least, under the Kindle and the Quick Start Guide, the power cord!

The box and all its contents.

Set up instructions. Straightforward and simple.

The legit Amazon power cord.

First-time start up!

Congratulations? Why, thank you!

Officially registered and belonging to me! Excitement ensues.

So, there you have it! My brand new Kindle, unboxed and in my hot little hands. I hope you enjoyed joining me in unwrapping it. I know I had fun sharing it with you guys.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth review of the Kindle itself, and my experience using it!

Until then, happy reading! :)

A Road Trip Getaway

Sometimes you just need to get away.

And sometimes you just want to. A think a little combination of the two is what I had been experiencing for quite some time now.

Solution?

Plan a getaway!

This is precisely what myself and my friend Megan did this past weekend. We planned it about a month in advance. I started saving up. And, of course, getting excited. (I mean, really excited.)

Our original plan had been to drive to Austin and just hang out. Grab a bite, see the sights, do some shopping. But then my life took a few turns, I started looking into graduate school, researching good programs. I turned up a good creative writing program at Texas State University in San Marcos.

San Marcos isn't a whole heck of a lot farther away than Austin and I was itching to check out the campus (I'd initially looked into Texas State when I was trying to decide where to transfer to after getting my Associate's) so I suggested that we add San Marcos to our road trip itinerary.

Lucky for me, Megan was all for it! Then the plan became a drive down to San Marcos, a look around the school, then driving back up and stopping through Austin for shopping and general fun on our way back to College Station.

Then I realized something. San Marcos has an outlet mall. A really great outlet mall. We're talkin' Pottery Barn, Neiman Marcus, Juicy Couture, Gucci, Fendi, Coach, Puma, Lacoste, Lucky, Ed Hardy, Calvin Klein, BCBGirls, Guess... Basically, I flipped out.

Since Megan was also up for shopping, our plan changed again. Austin got nixed completely.

Don't worry, Austin. We'll come back to you soon. 

Because you have a California Pizza Kitchen...It's only a matter of time.

New plan? Get an early start, drive down to San Marcos and check out the campus, then head over to the outlets to shop our little hearts out.

Saturday could not come fast enough.

When it did, I was up at six and ready to go at seven forty-five. I picked up Megan at eight, and after a pit stop to fill up the gas tank, we dropped by Starbucks for a morning pick-me-up. Then we were on the road.

The drive was really pleasant. It didn't seem too long, and it only rained on us a bit. By the time we made it to San Marcos, the sun was out and there was a great chill in the air. The perfect day.

We actually spent much more time checking out the campus than I thought we would. Megan was just as curious as I was, and spending two or so hours there gave me plenty of time to get a great first impression of the school. And take a lot of pictures. I mean, a lot.

And here they are! Apologies in advance; there's a ton of 'em.

This is the first building we saw. It's lovely!

Old Main again. We climbed a lot of steps on this campus!

I believe this is the back side of Old Main.

Welcome to Texas State University!

I don't know if it's easy to tell, but it just keeps going down!

Lots of steps and lots of trees!

This is the library, which we did go inside. It's lovely!
And on the 7th floor, they have some exhibits. Very fun!

Arial view of campus from the library!

The Bobcat. Texas State's mascot.

The Stallions. Just beautiful!

One more angle on The Stallions, because I love them!

LBJ.

One of my favorite buildings. Love the architecture style!

View #2 of the building I love!

My favorite huge tree!

I. Love. Trees.

Um, HOW cute are these little guys?

I seriously love this campus.

Look at this little guy! The only one who didn't flop into the water when I approached.

THIS is their theater! For plays and such! In the middle of the pond! Awesome.

So, again, obviously I went a little camera happy. And honestly, that's not even half the pictures. But I've already flooded you guys with plenty.

All in all, I really loved this campus. It's gorgeous, lots of trees, lots of shade. And very hilly! (My TOMS held up amazingly well, and we seriously did a ton of walking!)

We went on a Saturday, which is why there aren't any people in my pictures. It was really nice to be able to get a feel for the campus without being overrun. But I'm already planning on dragging my parents down to look again, and get more information, so I look forward to seeing how the place feels during the week when classes are going on.

After we finished checking out the campus, we were positively famished. We'd passed this adorable Saltgrass Steakhouse on the way in, so we decided to run back out to that. It's such a cool building! Apparently it used to be an old mill. And the view is great—you can see the river! I didn't get a great picture inside, but I got one of the outside.

When we left here, we were stuffed. Delicious!

Historical marker, hoorah!

We really enjoyed the break from walking, and the food was fantastic. We really took our time and enjoyed ourselves.

And after eating, we were more than ready to hit up the shops!

I only got a couple of pictures at the outlet mall. I'd intended to get more, but I got a little carried away with the whole shopping thing. But we walked all around the shopping center—it's outdoors, and the weather was lovely. It was absolutely a blast.

Our first stop. I was in hog heaven!

We went in to a ton of the stores, but mostly window shopped. It was just really fun to see what all they had. Though I won't lie, I found several things I want. I may be making a trip back soon!

After we finished shopping, we stopped by the Starbucks in the outlet mall to grab something to drink before the drive back home. I didn't get too many pictures because we were in a hurry to get back—we both had pups waiting at home for us!

Starbucks. A constant in my life. Delicious all over the world.

The drive back felt longer than the drive there. Probably because there's way more excitement involved in actually driving toward the destination as opposed to away from it. Still, it wasn't bad. And it wasn't too long.

And I slept like a baby.

It was a fantastic trip. A great way to let go of some stress, take some time to just enjoy ourselves. The perfect day-trip getaway. I can't wait to start planning the next one! Austin? Houston? San Antonio? Who knows!

Christmas at Starbucks

Christmas is my favorite holiday. Hands down. And Starbucks is my favorite coffee shop. Also hands down. So Christmas at Starbucks is like the ultimate Most Best combination of Christmas and coffee for me.

A few days ago, the holiday displays and decor were readied, the new merchandise put out. As an avid and self-proclaimed Starbucks enthusiast, of course I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new merch and check out the displays.

Gifts display. So cute.

The running theme this year is sharing and stories. Along with another adorable edition of the Bearista bear, Starbucks has introduced Huxley—a precious little mouse with a story to share. Not only is Huxley a handsome little fellow, he's also a writer. (You can see why he appeals to me!) And Starbucks has released companion books to go with the Huxley Mouse, as well as tumblers, mugs, and other items to continue on the theme of stories. 

I first learned about Huxley through my favorite Starbucks blog, StarbucksMelody.com. If you love Starbucks as much as I do—heck, even if you just like it a little—Melody will have something for you over at her site. I highly recommend checking it out! Particularly this post if you want to learn more about Huxley and his books.

This is Huxley! Well...Huxleys. Aren't they precious?
They're guarding the awesome cold cup ornaments!

Another of my favorite items has made an exciting return to Starbucks! The Grande and Venti reusable cold cups with festive candy cane straws. I absolutely love these! 

And, pardon the brief interjection, I was browsing the Starbucks online store (which, by the way, sells replacement straws so if you lose yours, don't fret! However, you can't buy replacements of the candy cane straws; they're a seasonal item) and was kind of riduculously excited to find that Starbucks is now selling a Domed Lid for these cold cups! As far as I know, they aren't sold in stores, but at $2.95, I will absolutely be buying one. 

My only prior complaint about the reusable cold cups had been that you definitely couldn't have them make your Frappuccino in one if you wanted whipped cream. It was a mild complaint, since I'm generally a sans whip person anyway. But still. Yay!

I love the reusable cold cups! I have three.
:-)

Of course, I couldn't go browse and ogle the new merch without sucumbing to the urge to shop... Oh, don't act so surprised. Besides, I only bought one—wait, two, I only bought two things. What can I say? I'm a sucker for impulse buying and retail therapy. And Starbucks.

Starbucks goodies! I couldn't resist.

As soon as I laid eyes on the new (STARBUCKS)^(RED) To-Go Tumbler, I knew I had to have it. This holiday edition mug was designed by Jonathon Adler. I love absolutely everything about it. In addition to the tumbler, there's also a new Starbucks card that shares Adler's funky and awesome design. And yes, I had to have the card, too!

It was love at first sight.

Darn right, it's custom!

Companion (RED) card! A match made in heaven.

<3

I didn't manage to get pictures of every single new seasonal item—Sorry!—but there's a delightful abundance of Christmas and winter themed treats at Starbucks this year. They also have new holiday mugs, tumblers, ornaments, gift sets, and a lot more! And, of course, the holiday coffees, teas and hot cocoas. Including a Starbucks VIA Christmas Blend. There are also two new holiday Starbucks cards (not including the (STARBUCKS)^(RED) card that I got!).

So if these pictures have done anything to whet your holiday appetite, take a cue from me and head to Starbucks to check out the new Christmas goodies!