gold stars

Starbuck's has recently come out with a new customer loyalty program called Stabruck's Rewards, where you register an account in conjunction with a gift card. After buying one coffee, you get credit for a free drink on your birthday and two hours of free wifi per day. After 5 drinks, you get free drink customization (free flavors or soy milk), free brewed coffee refills, free drink with bean purchase, and free trial offers. And finally, once you hit the GOLD STAR level (30 drinks), you get a free drink with every 15 you buy, a personalized gold card, and personalized coupons.



While I know this is totally a ploy to get people to buy more coffee from Starbuck's, I have to say, I find it pretty compelling. I go out for coffee maybe once a month, but geez, it makes me want to load up a card and start swiping to reach that middle level! I know it's bad, but it feels so good...

Let's see, last night was not one of my best nights. Went out to Cha Cha Cha, a tapas bar, to celebrate some of my RMP coworks' birthdays. 25 people showed up (we were split into two tables - I was with about 10 and 2 birthday girls, the other table had 15 and 1 birthday girl), and one of the birthday girls at my table insisted on ordering five - FIVE - pitchers of alcohol (sangria, mojitos, margaritas) and managed to only order 7 tapas. You can see where this is going.

At the end of the "dinner" (read: snack), the bill comes and someone pipes up that the birthday girls shouldn't have to pay. I have very strong feelings about this - if you organize a birthday party for yourself, you shouldn't expect your friends who show up to pay for you. Also, it puts a burden on people who already got gifts for the birthday girls to pitch in extra. And I was at the table with 2 birthday girls and less overall people, resulting in a FORTY DOLLAR per person tab. Considering I was drunk and hungry, I was not happy.

We went out to a few bars, which I found horrendously hot, crowded, and full of creepy guys leering at me. It didn't help that the first person I ran into at the first bar was an 09 Stanford sigma chi who made my ski trip eviction experience extra miserable last year.

Luckily, Tim came home from Fresno last night at midnight and picked me up. We got a slice of pizza from Pizza Orgasmica on the way home (pesto mushroom! yum!) and played Super Mario Brothers on Wii. It was the highlight of the evening.

Went shopping today with Alison and Molly but didn't buy anything. I have, however, been scoping out a new purse from Nordstrom's which may blow a small hole in my bank account... see below:


So cute. So expensive...

Reading: Let The Great World Spin
Listening: Vampire Weekend, Contra. Totally obsessed!! Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend