Red Letter Haze

I am such a procrastinator.

I always wait until the last minute to do just about everything. Luckily, it’s always seemed to work for me. Whether it was waiting until last minute to write a paper due in an hour or get ready to go out, it seemed to work out in my favor. Today, I’m up to my old procrastinating tricks.

I leave for a trip back home to Pittsburgh in, oh, 6 (ish) hours and is my suitcase packed and ready to go? No. Is all my makeup/toiletries neatly packed away? Nope. Is there a chance I’ll forget my toothbrush in my haste (again)? Most likely. The only thing I haven’t procrastinated on was checking in and printing my boarding pass, but I can’t really count that as a win since technically Chris did it for me. If it weren’t for him, I’d be in boarding group C stuck in between a lady and her crying baby, and probably someone just a little too big for those airline seats.

Also-guess who just spent the last hour updating my resume and fighting with the printer? Yep, me again. I could’ve done all of this when I got home from work but instead I decided taking a nap was the best thing to do at the time. Speaking of sleeping-if I forget to pack my Ambien I’m gonna be one cranky girl over the holidays.

So when I get up at 4am tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of how I’m jealous that all my friends are probably still all comfy in their beds and I’m running around like a madwoman yelling at Chris. Tomorrow is a big day-Chris & I are looking at houses and I also have a semi secret thing going on. After that it’s relaxation, and spending time with the family.

Do you have any big Thanksgiving plans? Are you traveling anywhere? I wish you all a happy and safe holiday!!

*PS: On Monday, I’m going to have a special guest post from Matt at Life Without Pants. I’m super excited to see what he has in store for us all!

and the lucky winners of the Starbucks Giveaway are:

1. Dena
2.  Brittainy
3. Phampants
4. Hal
5. Jarrod

Congrats to the winners!!! I’ll be emailing you all shortly to get your full names/addresses so I can get those prize packs sent out to you quickly.

Thank you to everyone who entered, your support & readership mean a lot to me!

This post is a part of 20SB’s Blog Carnival: Can’t Live Without, and Alice.com is awarding prizes to lucky bloggers and readers!

Is it bad when I think of what I can’t live without I immediately think of my iPhone or a good latte?

No, my first thought isn’t my fiancé or my family or any human contact. That should be a huge red flag that I have a problem.

It’s no secret I have a caffeine addiction. If I don’t get my morning latte, there’s a good chance I’ll be rather snippy with you. I’m probably picturing in my head ways to destroy or torture whatever it is standing in my way between me and my habit. I feel pretty certain that most people share my dependence on coffee so I’m not too ashamed of that habit. Lack of caffeine can turn people (myself included) into monsters. On the other hand, the baristas at Starbucks know me by name and my drink by heart. A little scary, eh?

But what I didn’t realize was how heavy my iPhone dependence had become.

Like most normal slightly addicted smartphone users, my iPhone is no more than arms length away at all times. Nothing abnormal about that. It wasn’t until my doctor appointment on Monday that I realized I probably had a serious problem. I’ve been having insomnia and one of the questions my doctor asked me was “do you tend to check your emails before you go to bed?” I told him of course I did, but what I didn’t tell him was that I check it compulsively. If I am laying in bed and hear my email notification go off, you bet your ass I grab it off the dock and check it immediately. If I hear a text message go off, it’s the same thing. If I hear my fiancé’s email notification go off, I make him check it. Chris and I were on the front page of the Red Eye on Tuesday morning and the first thing my father commented on when he saw it was the fact he thought I was talking on my phone. I had to listen to him accuse me of not being able to put down my phone long enough to take a photo (for once, it’s not true). At this point, I think I’ve hit rock bottom when it comes to iPhone addiction.

Luckily the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

If Apple started offering iPhone Addicts Anonymous instead of One to Ones, they’d probably have lines out the door like they did for the launch. I’d happily attend those workshops. With a Starbucks latte in hand of course.

Today I have a little treat in store for you all- I decided to let my fiancé guest post here. Alls fair in love and war, and since I poke fun at him constantly I figured he deserved to get in some digs publicly as well. I remind you, I’m currently taking ambien so I refuse to acknowledge accountability for my actions. When you’re finished having a good laugh at my expense, don’t forget to enter to win a starbucks prize pack!

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Hi there, I’m Chris Wardzala, and you may know me from such films as “I’m Maggie’s Fiancee,” and “chriswardzala.com.” Today I would like to talk to you about drug use.  Not the scary kind where you get addicted and all whacked out, but I mean the fun kind.  The use of prescribed medication.

You’ve all head about my fun times of incoherently talking in my sleep, about random pretzel adventures and the like.  But today I flip the coin, and we talk about Maggie and her use of a sleep aid.

This morning, Maggie and I both left the house at the same time, so we rode the bus together.  On our way out the door, Cady, our cat, escaped.  She ran a bit down the hallway, but we caught her fairly quickly.  While chasing her down, Maggie exclaimed, “YOU BITCH! I’M GONNA TURN YOU INTO A HANDBAG!” I thought this was a little extreme, but whatever. While I was wrangling Cady back into the apartment, the elevator arrived, and the door opened with a man inside.  He looked at Maggie, and she just stared at him.  He looked extremely uncomfortable, and the door closed on him without Maggie getting inside.  I closed our door, and called the next elevator.  Maggie was now talking again. We went down the elevator to catch the bus.

A few buses were coming, and Maggie for some reason really insisted that we get on all of them that were really packed.  It was kind of weird how stubborn she was being about it. (This will all make sense in a bit, I swear.)

The final weird thing that happened was on the way to work, she was saying how sluggish she felt, and how weird she was feeling.

“I’m almost too tired.”

Her: “I feel drugged.”

Me: “You are.”

Her: “Oh.”

The final bit that really made me suspect something weird was when she mentioned how much she felt like a zombie, asked me for my brains, and then let out a rather loud zombie moan on the bus.  A lady sitting near us then took that moment to move far away.

Maggie then left the bus, and I went to work.

On our way home, I asked her about how much of the bus she remembered.  She really didn’t remember much, and thats when I began to clue her in.  She began to laugh, and I think I got a few tears out of her as well, because honestly, she says some pretty funny stuff.

I can’t wait to hear what craziness awaits me tomorrow.

Image c/o Positively Present.

And also happy Friday!

I don’t have any plans for Halloween this year, and I’m totally okay with that. Truth be told, I don’t even like halloween that much.

Besides, I don’t ever think I could top the time I dressed up as Amy Winehouse:

Tomorrow I’m going to yoga class with Molly (yay!!) and then I’m spending time getting some hair therapy (double yay!!). Other than, I’m planning on a pretty low key weekend. I’m also super pumped because I got myself a prescription of Ambien so I’m sure I’ll spend a good bit of the weekend catching up on all the sleep I’ve been missing out on lately.

So what are everyone’s plans for the weekend? Anyone have any really great costume planned?

***Also don’t forget to enter my starbucks giveaway! Feel free to enter as many times as you’d like as long as you answer one of the proposed questions. Scoot on over here to enter, there’s still a week left to go.

Sadly it’s Sunday evening, which means Monday is just a few short hours away. In just a few short hours, I am going to begin what I like to call my “Zombie Routine”.

Because I wear scrubs to work and I shower the night before, I have the luxury of sleeping in just a tad bit longer than some of my other friends. My alarm usually goes off around 7am and I hit snooze once (okay, sometimes twice), but I’m out of bed by 7:20. Since the temperature has dropped, I’m beginning to get into hibernation mode when I grumble and groan and pretty much let everyone (my fiancé and the cats) know my resentment toward getting out of bed. After pulling on some scrubs, pulling my hair up into a pony and throwing on some makeup, I’m out the door. Luckily, I work just a short bus ride from home so I can be there in about 15 minutes unless the bus gods are against me.

Once I’m at work my morning routine is something like this: 1. Turn on & log into computer. 2. Open necessary work programs and email. 3. Log into twitter. Spend the next few minutes reading & responding to tweets. 4. Log into Facebook. Read through status updates and creep catch up with friends’ lives. 5. Check Twitter again. The exception to this rule is the days my boss is working, then I have to be on my best behaviour. No Twitter, Facebook, or reading & commenting on blogs for me! If I didn’t have my iPhone handy to fill in the void, my day would DRAG.

By this time I’ve managed to kill about 30-45 minutes of my day (unless my boss is there). I’m still not feeling totally human yet either so I know it’s time to head downstairs to Starbucks to pick up my daily dose of espresso. I’m such a regular there that all the baristas know me by name and know my order by heart. This is probably a bad thing, but I’d like to think it’s just convenient. It’s after my cup of coffee that I feel the transition from Zombie Maggie to normal Maggie is complete.

So you’re probably wondering what does this have to do with anything, particularly a Starbucks Giveaway. Well, dear readers, it just so happens that I’m partnering with Starbucks and their new Energy + Coffee Campaign to host awesome giveaway to turn you into a coffee addict bring you some cool stuff!

And the even better part is I have 5 (FIVE!) prize packages to give away!! All the lucky winners will receive:

• Stealth Switch™– The StealthSwitch™ is “The World’s first desktop cloaking device.” StealthSwitch™ uses patent pending technology to instantly and completely hide applications with a press of the footswitch. The applications are not just are not just minimized, they are made invisible.
• $5 Starbucks^® Card
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee coupons
• Starbucks Doubleshot® Energy+Coffee-branded white board

So how do you enter? Simply by leaving a comment by answering one of the following questions:

• Have  you ever been busted doing something you’re not supposed to by your boss?
• If you could get away with it scotch free, what is one thing you’ve always wanted to do at the office to stir things up a bit?
• What’s the best prank you’ve ever played on a coworker/coworkers?

*Unfortunately it’s against the rules to allow extra entries by posting to twitter/other blogs, but if you still choose do to so anyway, I will love and adore you forever.

The giveaway starts today (October 25th) and ends November 8th, so enter away! I will
enlist the help of Randomizer to pick the 5 lucky winners from all entries by midnight on November 8th.

And to keep the FTC happy, I must disclose by hosting this giveaway I am entered into a contest to win a prize as well. The more entries I get, the higher the chances of me winning a prize too. So I may win a prize, you may win a prize–it’s all Win-Win, right?

Now on to the boring legal stuff:

This promotion is solely sponsored by Redletterhaze.com and has not been endorsed or approved by North American Coffee Partnership. By entering, you agree to look solely to Redletterhaze.com for any claims in connection therewith, and not the North American Coffee Partnership

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Subject to Contest guidelines. Open to U.S. residents only. Contest ends 11/08/09. Void where prohibited.

Starbucks Doubleshot^® Energy+Coffee sent me some Doubleshot Energy + Coffee and here’s what I think. All the opinions expressed here are mine.

In addition to planning a wedding, Chris and I decided it would be best for us (and our future family*) to move back to Pittsburgh to be closer to my family. We’re planning on the big move to happen around May when our lease is up, but depending on job opportunities it could happen sooner. If we move back in May, that gives us about 6 months to find (and buy) a house.

Our next trip back to Pittsburgh is for Thanksgiving so we’re planning on looking at some properties while we’re there. One in particular sparked my interest:

(all images snagged from Pittsburgh Moves since I haven’t been there yet to take my own)

It’s a 3 bedroom 2 full bathroom/2 half bathroom townhouse minutes away from my parents and about 12 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will still be for sale by the time we make a trip back to Pittsburgh so we can at least look at it.

I know nothing about purchasing a house, so I’ll have my dad in tow to help me out. The whole process seems overwhelming and scary. It’s not like renting an apartment; it’s a serious investment and you can’t just move out if you decide you don’t like the place anymore or your neighbors suck.

Any advice for a first time buyer? Any tips would be helpful!

*don’t get your panties all bunched up-plans for a family are still a few years off. So relax, I’m not jumping on the pregnancy wagon yet.