How to show your blog tutorial

I am by no means tech savvy, but this one is super useful for every blogger out there. I have copied this from Lindsay at scenic glory - let your spirit take flight because I've gotten a couple followers and have been unable to check out your sites. I also am afraid that I've probably lost some followers due to me not being able to see your sites. So double check and make sure your blog is visible!

hello lovelies!  i hope you are having a wonderful week so far.  i recently posted a tutorial on my own blog and we thought it was important to share it with all of you!
we have noticed that a lot of followers do not display their blog link in their profile.  whenever any of us notice a new follower the first thing we want to do is see that persons pretty little space, but we are soon disappointed when we have no way of getting there.  so today we are going to show you in just a few simple steps how to do it. 

this is a screen shot of my profile.  i am going to show you how to add your own blog like pictured above to your own profile

first go to your blogger dashboard and select "edit profile"

once you are in the edit user profile area click on "select blogs to display"

here you will see a list of all of your blogs check mark the ones you would like to be visible on your public profile.  save your settings!!
and you're all done!  check your profile to make sure it updated correctly!

If I knew how to take screen shots, I would have totally done this myself. However, like I said I am not tech savvy and just copy and pasted this here for my readers to see.

Thank you Lindsay for making this accessible to me!

Things Are About to Get Crazy.

I apologize for not posting a Tell the World Tuesday feature yesterday. Because I'm kind of failing at life right now  it's senior week in my sorority I forgot to pester someone through e-mail last week, I had no one to feature for yesterday. I started to write up my answers to the questions and then got busy. The next two weeks are going to be a little bit of a hell. I have my spin class final today at 1:30. Did I tell you guys that the professor is making me make up for the days I missed during my appendix surgery? No? Well she is. And it pisses me off. But whatevs.

I have a capstone test tomorrow. I have to write up the discussion section of our paper, and it's due Tuesday. My capstone is pretty simple and fun, we got into groups of four and conducted a mini-research study. My group's goal was to see if there was any significant effect of a one-day dose of creatine monohydrate on the 1-rep max for bench press, hand grip strength, and number of repetitions to fatigue at 70% of the 1-RM. Did you follow that? Anyways, so we have to write a formal lab report, and it takes time.

Next week is my piano final. We meet both Monday and Wednesday to play different parts of the final. I also have my poster presentation for capstone next week. Then the next week I have 3 finals during finals week.

BUT, our last date party is this weekend, and the theme is "All the best things were made in the 80's" because my pledge class is narcissistic the last pledge class to have every member born in the 80's, we decided on this theme. It can be anything from the era, minus a stereotypical 80's outfit. My date and I are going as Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club. It's going to be fun.

The club for my major is also hosting a picnic next Friday, so I'll be having a little bit of fun amidst all of the tests and projects.

So please, please bare with me as things may get crazy around here. But I graduate in 16 days!

#THUNDERUP!

If you're new around here, you may not know yet that I am a sports fan (for those of you that have been around, this is no shock to you). I'm a HUGE sports fan. I like them all. There are some that I prefer over others, but if I can score free tickets to a game, you bet your ass I'm there.

I'm from Oklahoma, and we have now TWO professional sports teams. Tonight is game 3 of the NBA playoffs of the OKC Thunder (THUNDER UP!) and the Denver Nuggets. I'm just glad that the mid-season trades happened the way they did because I don't know that it would be as lopsided as it is. We're up 2-0 in the series, with the third game starting now-ish. The Spurs/Grizzlies game is still on so I can't see it.

I got to go to my girl friend from high school's son's birthday party today (did you follow that?). Lucus turned 3 back in March, and his dad just got home from Iraq (he serves in the Marine Corps). I tell ya, get a 3 year old a pinata. It was straight up comedy watching all the kids trying to break it.

Once I got back from the birthday party, we colored Easter eggs. I made a really pretty blue one with a pink tint, and I already broke it :(
I wanted to cry because I spent a lot of time on it to make sure that it was pretty! It was so sad.

Once we got done dying eggs, I spent the remainder of the evening addressing envelopes for my graduation announcements. I'm so over it already. My brother and I both graduate in 20 days (holy crap!!) and we have a lot of family members. I think I will have just my grandmother and my other brother at my graduation, but it will be all good. I'll have a nursing school graduation that the should all be able to come to :)

I'm super pumped for Monday! I get to see Ke$ha in concert in Tulsa!!! I love Ke$ha almost as much as I love sports! It'll be a bad ass concert.

I know this post is random and kind of all over the place, but that's just how my weekends are when I'm at home :)

Happy Easter everyone!

This girl is a co-ed champion :)

So I told you all Wednesday about my history in softball, and how we played again that evening.
The team we played first was the law school team, and they play together really well because they play together in a lot of the intramural games. I honestly think they were one of the best teams in the tournament, they just had some bad luck.

They were ahead of us by 7 at one point in the game. We were home team, so we got to bat last. We came from behind in the last inning to beat them by 1 run! That meant that we played again at 8 that evening. The second team we played was a paired fraternity and sorority team. They were a pretty good team as well, and we ended up winning 5-2.

We were to play again at 6 yesterday, against the only other undefeated team. For some reason, we weren't playing as well as we had the two previous days. We came from behind in the last inning again to win that game. This means we were in the championship game, had to be beat twice in order for the last team to win. The game started off with a little bad luck for us, we didn't win the coin toss and were visitors. We had quite a few errors, and we didn't hit very well. We got beat the first game. My team is just as competitive as I am, and they also didn't want us to lose at all. The second game around, we won the toss and were home team. At the end of regulation, we were tied 8-8. I was crazy nervous. seriously. In the top of the 6th, we held them to 2 runs, and they were up 10-8. My girl Cierra hit the game winning hit to put us up 11-10! WE WON THE ALL-CAMPUS INTRAMURAL CO-ED SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT!! We get "Champion" t-shirts :)

I remembered why I used to like softball. I had a great team. And winning the whole tournament helped a lot too!

I have quite a few battle scars from the week of playing including scratches, bruises, and sore muscles. But my ego is bigger than ever because the guys basically told me all week that I'm a good player.

Right now, I'm back home in Sperry enjoying some time with the fam for Easter weekend. Tomorrow I get to dye eggs with Em and Han. It's going to be a fantastic weekend :)

Have a great Easter friends!

A Tale of an Ex-Softball Player

If you didn't know it, I once upon a time used to be a softball player. I played on my first team when I was 8, and played every season after that until I graduated high school. If you count the separate seasons between school ball and summer league (competitive), I played about 16 different seasons. I was a pitcher and an outfielder until I hit my junior year in high school. We got a new coach, and the coach put my long legs to use on first. I wasn't terrible, but I wasn't the greatest either. I got a little bit of recognition my senior year when I was selected for all-conference, all-district (7), all-region, and all-state alternate. My batting average kept me from all-state because I was TERRIBLE at batting and I didn't bat very often. I also got a little bit of recognition when I had 3-4 junior colleges interested in me coming to play post-high school.

I don't tell you all this to brag, I just tell you this to explain my history. In the summer, I mostly played with the same girls that were on the school team. We were the Sperry Thunder, and our colors were purple and yellow. We would win some, we'd lose some, we'd win tournaments, we'd get our 5 games and then lose out of tournaments. Some weeks, we were really on. Some weeks, we were really off. And it seemed that no matter who we played, there was always one inning that we sucked ass. (I can say that on here, it's my blog.)

It might have been my freshman year, I'm not exactly sure, but we were playing with our summer league team. We only had 2 pitchers on the team (me being one of them), and the other pitcher got a knee injury during a game. I had to pitch a lot while she was recovering. It was around this time that I started to HATE softball. My shoulder always hurt, and icy hot no longer worked for me. We switched to biofreeze, and it would be okay during the first couple of innings then would wear off. SO, one of the coaches of our team went to Atwoods and picked up some horse liniment. Yes you read that right. I used this stuff before every single game:

WHO DOES THAT?! But it was the only thing that loosened up my shoulder muscles enough for long enough that it didn't hurt too bad after play.
Along with the liniment, I was also popping 6-8 ibuprofen or tylenol to keep it from hurting. I'm surprised I still have a stomach or liver.

Since I've been in college, I decided that I didn't hate softball as much as I thought I did, I just was tired of it at the time. Freshman year, I played on a co-ed team, and I got to play first base. The boys were amazed at how I wasn't scared of their hard and fast throws from across the diamond. I just wanted to make sure we got the out. Since then, I've played with that team a couple more times, and one of the guys told me he keeps my phone number just in case he ever needs a first baseman.

Sophomore year, I joined a sorority, so I played on their slow pitch team. For some reason we didn't have a team my junior year, and last year we were unable to play because the tournament was during initiation week. This year, we ran into the same problem with divisional softball. This is where we play against other sororities on campus. Our first game was at 5 on Thursday, with the second game either being at 9 or 10. We had an initiation ceremony at 10. I unfortunately had to take us out of the divisional tournament.

Sunday I got a text from one of my girls asking if she could play on a separate co-ed softball team. I couldn't find my house partners for the co-ed tournament, so she was free to play with them. I then asked if they needed anymore girls because I would like to play if they did.

We had our first two games last night. I only knew the girl from my house, and she knew 3 or 4 of the guys (I think). We pretty much all met each other for the first time last night at 5 p.m. But we somehow clicked. Our first game, I got put on first and batted 7th. We won 29-9! We had a couple errors on the field, but nothing that hurt us in the long run (obviously). We then came back to play at 7, had some new boys show up to play this time around, and I'm pretty sure our final score was 18-6....domination. I don't know any of these people besides my sorority sister, but we all get along really well and play together really well.

I also had a little bit of an ego boost after the game. The guy who played shortstop in the first game told me that he's really glad that I'm playing at first because he feels comfortable throwing the ball across the diamond to me. That's right, I'm a bad-ass first baseman :)

We play again tonight at 6. If we win, we play at 8. I'm not even going to jinx it and tell you about the other scenario. But I really do think that we have a good shot at playing pretty far in the bracket.

This team of random people has helped me remember why I used to love softball.

Happy Wednesday friends!

Tell the World Tuesday!

Hey hey party people! It's my favorite day of the week here in blog land, and I've got another feature for you! Today's feature hosts none other than the pretty Kristina of  A Perfect Dose of Life! I found her blog through FTLOB (seriously, get on that bandwagon!), and have enjoyed getting to read through her posting! She's a very positive person and her feature was a lot of fun! But enough of my babble, let's get on with the feature!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.
Well, my blog is a perfect dose of life, and it's about exactly that - life! I'm the main author of my blog, however, sometimes my co-star in life, Ryan - my hubby, he chimes in here and there... BUT his posts seem to be few and far between! ;) I started blogging in 2007 when I needed something to fill my time when Ryan worked until 11 at night, and we seemed to work opposite shifts. So, that is when the blog was born, and it has grown and matured with the years. I try to post daily (except Sundays) but usually always 4-6 times a week! I have different series that I incorporate from time to time, love gues features, post recipes, quotes of the week, hopes, dreams, failures, and lessons learned, and a little about love.


2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
Passionate, Optimistic, Taurus, Wife, Creative

3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
Definitely my phone! :) Honestly, I wake up to "Like a G6" and "For the First Time" *they alternate!* - don't make fun, you know you wish you woke up to awesome music like I do (honestly, Like a G6 annoys the hell out of me now-but I paid for it in a moment of thinking it was a grand idea - ha ha)!


4. What (or who) inspires you most?
I can't say one thing or the other inspires me the most but here are a few things - people, I love to watch people and their successes, their stumbles and their falls. Sometimes reading what someone wrote, or what they have created inspires me. Sometimes it's music that inspires me and although this is going to sound a little cliche - my husband and my dad are the two people that seem to inspire me the most to be a good person, and a business woman.

5. Do you read for fun? If so what are you currently reading; or what is a book you recommend?
If we are being honest, I'm HORRIBLE about reading. However, my favorite book is Captivating by John and Staci Eldridge. I hope to read their other books, Wild at Heart and Love and War, very soon!


6. What is something you've always wanted to do?
Oh, there is so much life to live and so many things I want to do. Something I have always wanted to do....hmmm, visit Australia and be a mom! Both will happen someday!


7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?
Honestly, this depends very much on the day. I LOVE Sunday mornings, that I get up before my day has to begin, and I can find time for me. If we are having friends over or have a get together, I love the evenings because the evening is when this usually occurs.


8. Where is the favorite place you traveled? OR Where is a place you would like to travel?
Like I mentioned before, I have always wanted to travel to Australia, however, that hasn't occurred, nor has Europe. BUT where I have traveled, I have enjoyed most everywhere I have gone (Myrtle Beach, Orlando, San Diego, Tennessee - to name a few). Inside the US I have always wanted to go to Montana, and I have always wanted to go visit Georgia (I have always had a southern heart I guess).

9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, tv show, etc.)?
Anything Peanut Butter and Chocolate = serious addiction. Definitely my weakness. As for TV - Grey's Anatomy.


10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!
I have two things that I adore. One is a quote from Joan of Arc - "I am not afraid. I was born for this." The other is the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."


11. What is one thing you want to Tell the World today?
Don't take life for granted, because you truly never know who and what will still be there tomorrow, and my friends - life is too short to hold grudges. Life must be looked at in an optimistic light, because if you don't allow yourself to see the beauty in life, you will never see how blessed you really are.

Talk about a powerful thing to tell the world today Kristina! I enjoyed reading over your answers, I hope you enjoyed answering them! Readers, go check out Kristina's blog at a perfect dose of life and spread some love!

Do you love Tell the World Tuesday as much as I do? I want to feature YOU! Send me an e-mail at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com and we will work together on getting your feature here at aiukli!

Happy Tuesday friends!

I'm still alive.

So I know I took pretty much an entire week off. There wasn't much going on in my life, except for the typical "I'm a senior with about three weeks left so I'm trying to live it up and fight senioritis" thing. What have I been doing since you last read about my adventures? Let's see....I've participated in Relay for Life, I've visited my friends, I've had a good time hanging out with my girls, I've had a good time hanging out with my boys, I've worked on homework, I've participated in two initiation ceremonies, I've watched movies, I've slept a little, I've worked, I went to a sorority luncheon....I think that's about it in a nutshell.

So even though I haven't given you the intimate details of my life lately, let's just say it's been a good week :)
I have another fun Tell the World Tuesday feature for you tomorrow from one of my new favorite reads, so check back tomorrow for that! And if I don't get anyone else, I may just answer the questions myself so you all can see what I would answer to them because this is my blog and I'm allowed to be a little narcissistic :)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy in the meantime of most of my adventures!

I promise I'll try to be a little bit more diligent about blogging this week, but as I said, I'm trying to live it up in my last 25 days as an undergrad...but I do have some fun stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks that will be a lot of fun and a lot of pictures!

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Tell the World Tuesday!

Tuesday is my favorite day of the week! I have another exciting Tell the World Tuesday feature for you again this week! This week, I am featuring the very beautiful lady Sam of Love Never Fails. I have had the privilege of knowing this woman for almost 7 years, and was so excited that she agreed to be a part of this feature. Fun fact: she is currently studying abroad in Wollongong, Australia! She's a very inspiring woman, and if you aren't following her blog already, you definitely should! But read her feature first!! Take it away Sam!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.
Well, my little corner of the world is called Love Never Fails. I started blogging back in 2009 because my then boyfriend had a lot of friends that did it. I would read their posts all the time about their lives, cool things they found online, or just fun little things like that . I read them for quite a while before it hit me, "HEY! Why don't I do this?!" {Honestly, I just thought it would make me as cool as they were} At first blogging started out for me as like an online journal. A way for me to channel stuff I didn't necessarily want on Facebook or something like that. And if you go back to some of my verrrry first posts, you can tella bid difference in my blogging then, and my blogging now. I fee now it's become one of the greatest "positivity outlets" in my life. I love reading blogs and getting inspiration or motivation from them. I love being able to connect with people in a whole new way. That's pretty much what I feel Love Never Fails is about now... Connection, inspiration, motivation, lots of randomness, and above all else... LOVE.


2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
loud, rambler, lover, listener, carer


3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
Girlfriend, now that I'm in Australia, I have the simplest phone you can get and that little alarm clock is LOOUUUDDD. So I definitely use that, ha. And the tune I use is called "coconut."

4. What (or who) inspires you most?
This was probably my toughest question...I can't pick out one single thing or person. I just can't... Because I have so many different people and things in my life that continue to inspire me every day in different ways. So, to narrow it down to one, It's just no possible. HOWEVER. For the sake of the feature I will still name just one, of my many inspirations:

JD Ervin. You can find his story here. 58 Forever.

5. Do you read for fun? If so what are you currently reading; or what is a book you recommend?
Give me my nerd glasses and pass me a book, I LOVE TO READ! I have recommended this book into the ground but I just can't help it. I love it that much. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. None of the descriptions do it justice though. You just have to read it. For any women that's ever felt a little insecure about life... THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. Also others I recommend, The Hunger Games, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and right now I'm reading the Vampire Diaries series. Yes...Another vampire craze. But to be fair, L.J. Smith wrote TVD books 15 years before Twilight and before the True Blood series as well. (How sad is it that I love all three of the series though?)


6. What is something you've always wanted to do?
Study abroad. Done :)


7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?
Evening time. Because that usually means classes are over, dinner is soon (I love to eat), and fun times lie ahead whether that be going out with my friends, or cuddling up on the couch watching trash TV.


8. Where is the favorite place you traveled? OR Where is a place you would like to travel?
Australia. Hands down. However, since I already used this as an answer, I will also say that one (of many) places I want to travel is New York City!

9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, tv show, etc.)?
Can I say all the above? Food. TV. Young Adult books.


10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!
I'm a sucker for a good quote. So, again picking just one is tough. I'd say one of my favorites though is:

"The most beautiful people we know are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep, loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

11. What is the one thing you want to Tell the World today?
You deserve it all. You ARE worth it. The greatest love one can have is for thyself. And no matter what...
Just learn to love. Because it never fails :)

There you have it folks! The very wonderfully beautiful Sam of Love Never Fails. If you aren't already a follower of her blog, you're definitely missing out. She's posting pictures of her time in Australia, and they're all just as beautiful as she is! Sam, I appreciate you taking up your precious internet time to answer my questions and send me pictures!

I hope you've all enjoyed today's feature! If you would like to be featured, send me an e-mail at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll get you all set up for being featured here at aiukli!

Until next Tuesday!

MFB Question + 10 Things I Love

If you checked out the links I posted yesterday, you would have read that Jaimie has started a new thing with the Monthly Featured Blogger, and I get to be the guinea pig. I gave her four completely random questions and anxiously await your responses.

This week's question is: What is your favorite childhood book/movie?
What I love most about Jaimie's responses to questions is that she almost always answers them with pictures. So here is my answer:

Book:

The reason why Where the Wild Things Are claims my favorite childhood book is because of my brothers.

As a child, I remember my grandma, aunts, and MAYBE my mom reading this book to the three of us before we went to bed. For some reason, this book was HILARIOUS to both of my brothers, and they would just laugh and laugh and laugh. Now I can't think of the book without thinking of the love for my brothers.

Movies (because I can never pick just one!)

I loved The Little Mermaid. Then I loved Aladdin because it was a Disney Princess that had dark skin like me. But then, then, Pocahontas came out. I thought I was Pocahontas.

And this also equates to basically any Disney movie, I loved it.

One of my favorite bloggers Erin from My Beautiful Disaster also tagged me in the 10 Things I Love post. I've been seeing this pop up on a lot of your blogs too, so I may not tag any people. Some are silly things, and some are serious!

1. Kit Kat Bars - I don't know why, but I'm OBSESSED. I can't get enough of them!

2. The picture is self-explanatory.

taken from we ♥ it

3. Gossip Girl, so addicted to the show. The books are decent too. And I'm a bit more obsessed with Penn Badgley than the show overall... delicious :)

4. Reading. A LOT.

taken from we ♥ it

5. Laughing. Uncontrollably.

6. Loving. Loving my friends and family with all of my heart. The idea of romantic love (I think).

taken from we ♥ it

7. My education :)

8. Clean sheets

9. Dresses, skirts, and girly clothing :) [I know that may come as a shock to some of you, but there's nothing like FEELING like a woman]

taken from we ♥ it

10. And last but certainly not least, my family :)

What 10 things do you love?

Well, I don't have strep...

I went to the doctor at 2:30, and they told me I do not have strep throat. At least not bad enough that the strep test picked it up. He told me that it's not strep YET, so he sent me home with a prescription for an antibiotic and instructions to do some at-home remedies for a sore throat. So I get to gargle warm saltwater! yay! If my throat isn't better in a couple days, I am to get the antibiotic prescription filled and take it as instructed.

The Miranda Lambert/Justin Moore/Josh Kelley concert last night was amazing. I'm so glad that I talked myself into buying tickets. She is a phenomenal live performer, and she played just enough songs that it included a majority of her hits (including my 3 favorites: Kerosene, White Liar, and More Like Her--I decided to link them rather than embed them) but not too many songs that the concert lasted until 1 a.m. I got to go with roommate and another girl from my sorority. Here's a picture of the three of us before the concert, and a picture of each of the singers:

Garrett is a magic photographer. I look thinner!

Opening act #1: Josh Kelley

Opening act #2: Justin Moore

MIRANDA LAMBERT!!

As you can tell, I was kind of far away from the stage so all three of these were taken with digital zoom. But I was still close enough to be able to see well :)

It was Elizabeth's first concert, and she enjoyed it a bunch. She is now a lover of concerts!

If you didn't catch my feature over at Pocket Legos last Friday, do so now! Then go to their post from today and answer the question! There will be a new question every week that I sent her, and we are both interested to see what you all answer! So do it!! NOW. (You could even make a post about it if you'd like!!)

I was also a guest post person over at KT's Refinishing School for her Spring Break series on Monday (I told you all I've been busy!) So if you want to read about my St. Patrick's Day (with lots of pictures), head on over to her neck of the woods. My post is here.

AND, because that is enough about me for you to check out, you can also read the stories behind my two tattoos! The very pretty Lindsay of scenic glory allowed me to share my Tattoo Story(ies) as part of her Tattoo Story features. You can read that post here.

WHEW! did I throw enough links at you yet?? I hope you get to take a look at all the places aiukli is featured in the blogging world! I have another busy weekend ahead, and be expecting pictures from all of my adventures!

Happy Weekending!

I'm busy as a bee...

I know that I have been neglecting my blog and all of my blog friends. I do love this outlet and catching up with your lives dearly, but this week is super busy. Super super busy.

You heard of my busy Friday and Saturday. Sunday wasn't so busy, I was in bed most of the day recovering from my Saturday night. Then I went and visited my aunt Annya at her hotel that evening, followed by spending some time with a guy that I like to hang out with. Monday I did the whole class thing, but Monday was kind of crummy as well. I learned we have a nutritionist, and I feel like I'm being put on a diet against my will. I didn't do very well on my piano exam. Then we had formal dinner. I went and hung out with that guy again, and it was nice to get to escape the things that had stressed me out that day. We watched the awful men's national championship game together, a movie, and a couple episodes of Arrested Development. I've never seen Arrested Development before, and it's pretty freakin' funny. I was also introduced to some new music, wish I could remember names of artists...

Tuesday was super busy. I had class all day, and then I went to the OU/OSU bedlam baseball game to hang out with my APO little Nageen. My throat had felt funny all day, but I ignored it and went on with my day. Then yesterday I woke up with THE WORST sore throat ever. As the day progressed, it got worse and worse. Last night was our annual BBQ philanthropy, and I had to leave around 7:15 because I just felt so terrible. I went upstairs to check my temperature and it measured a 100.3. That's pretty high for me, as my internal temp runs a little cool at 97.4-97.6. I called home to tell them I thought I was getting strep throat, and Annya informed me that Emma has strep. I figure if I have it, it's from being at Chuck E Cheese's on Friday night, damn snot-nosed kids.

I tried to go to Urgent Care but seemed to have misplaced my insurance card since my appendix fiasco, and they wouldn't see me unless I paid for everything upfront. A whopping $112. Who has that much cash on hand? So instead of being seen last night, I came back home, drank lots of water, took some tylenol and vitamins, and took my sick butt to bed. I was in bed by 9:30 or so but I didn't fall asleep until almost 11. I slept for a solid 7 hours before I woke up, and my fever had broken in the night. I have an appointment at 2:30 today to be seen for strep, but now my ears are aching really bad.

If this is a bad case of allergies, this is the worst I've ever had. I don't really understand my body. I'm taking better care of it than ever before this semester, and it's not responding well. I usually have a kick ass immune system, but I've been sick THREE TIMES now.

And on top of all this, the week isn't slowing down at all.
I have tickets for Miranda Lambert's show in Norman tonight.
I have a BIG/little date with Nageen tomorrow--dinner and a movie.
Relay for Life is Saturday, 7:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.
Sunday is Chapter and Initiation, and then one of my good guy friends from high school is coming into town.

Even though I'm sick and busy, this week has been good and fun so far! The BBQ last night was fun and I think it was successful, and I've enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with Nageen getting to know her better. Our capstone project is also well underway and it's going pretty well so far!

Here's to hoping I get some rest in the next couple of days!

Tell the World Tuesday!

Alright folks, I've got a really exciting Tell the World Tuesday feature for you this week! I've mentioned this blogger's blog before, and I've DEFINITELY mentioned her through my stories. She is one of my bestest friends ever, and I met her my second year in college. So please enjoy my b.f.f. Erika from A Thousand Different Pieces :)

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.

*In the internet world, I blog over at A Thousand Different Pieces, but I'm physically blogging from Phoenix, AZ. I started the blog since I felt left out of the blogging world when I would read so many fascinating stories from individuals such as Whitney at Fairytale Beginning and my best friend Mallori here at aiukli. I wanted to contribute, but honestly didn't know how, and sometimes I let myself down when I can't think of anything to write. I came up with A Thousand Different Pieces because I feel like there 's so much more depth to myself and others than what we really let on. When you take me for face value, I sometimes come off as a hard person, who may or may not look angry and will give you death glares and you wouldn't want to mess with me. I do that at first, but really I'm one of the most loyal people you could ever meet and you'll only see the tough side of me if you upset me or one of my friends and I have to sort it out. Usually, I'm making inappropriate jokes or laughing or trying to do something that will make a difference. (I can get off topic really easily too, sorry. Once again, I blame my mother ha ha.) But I write what I can, when I can, and maybe it'll make someone laugh, or hopefully someone can relate.

her "death glare," and yes that is me, Mal laughing in the background :)

2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
*Random, loving, loyal, goofy, deep


3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
*My phone...I haven't used an actual alarm clock since high school, possibly middle school. My phone currently has 2 different alarms: one at 5:06 a.m. (iPhone Old Car Horn) and one at 6:09 a.m. (iPhone Timba). The first alarm is to get me out of bed for a morning run, but usually I just turn it off and go back to sleep, then my second alarm will kick in, I'll snooze that for 20 minutes, then finally get up and shower. However, if I actually get up to run, then the second alarm tells me when I need to be done by so that I can make some eggs before showering and getting ready for work. I know you're probably wondering why I picked 5:06 and 6:09...I couldn't tell you. I did that when I moved to Phoenix, and it just stuck.


4. What (or who) inspires you most?
*I don't think just one particular thing inspires me. I tend to look to other people to see what inspires them. I love watching painters, musicians, and dancers because they have inspiration from somewhere and they let it consume them. I love that passion and touch that they have, which is probably why I feel really creative after spending time with my artsy friends. Other inspiration comes from people overcoming something or fighting for something. Kids with cancer or special needs have a place very close to my heart, so their love of life and the fight they have really inspires me (and makes me cry sometimes).


5. Do you read for fun? If so, what are you currently reading; or what is a book you recommend?
*I used to really hate reading, and it would show because my English was terrible, but I've fallen in love with reading. I'm finishing up a book called "Eight Days to Live" by Iris Johansen, which I've sadly been trying to finish for a few months, but I picked up some other books instead (ha ha). I just finished "In a Heartbeat" by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy from The Blindside (another great story that inspires me), and before that I read "Water for Elephants," a wonderful recommendation from my good friend Bridget over at Voyage of the Blonder Treader. If you like murder mysteries, start with Iris Johansen's "The Face of Deception" since it's the beginning of the Eve Duncan series. If you loved The Blindside like I did, please go pick up "In a Heartbeat." And for just a wonderful read, everyone should get "Water for Elephants." Simply wonderful.


6. What is something you've always wanted to do?
*I've always wanted to be an actress. My parents didn't really think it was a practical occupation to have, and I am a very sports oriented person like my dad (who is also a history buff, but that's beside the point...), so my desires for acting got pushed to the side, and I ended up going into business. I was very fortunate to take an acting class my last year of college and I am OBSESSED. I've been thinking of joining a local acting group, but I don't have the spare time for it sadly. Maybe one day :)


7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?
*I don't think I have a particular favorite part of the day. I know I hate waking up, but sometimes I hate going to sleep. Strange, I know. Maybe 3ish on a spring day in Oklahoma or Texas, so that it's just the right amount of heat and sunshine with a nice breeze. Whenever I think 3 p.m. on a spring day, I automatically think of hanging out at a park in Norman, reading magazines and clearing my mind while spending time with another best friend of mine, Bonnie. (Did I just completely answer this question wrong? {There's no such thing as a wrong answer!}) Actually, I change my mind. My favorite time of day is when I can eat because I. LOVE. FOOD.


8. Where is the favorite place you've traveled? Or, where is a place you would like to travel?
*By far my favorite trip was over this past summer with my parents when we took a 2-weeks road trip from Dallas to Colorado Springs to Yellowstone to Coeur d'alene, Idaho to Seattle back to Idaho to Mount Rushmore back to Colorado Springs and back to Dallas. Great bonding time with the fam (just wish my brother was with us) and also the opportunity to knock off quite a few states.

9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, TV show, etc.)?
*Sadly, I have a lot of guilty pleasures. I love fast food, but naturally I can't eat it all the time, but if I can grab In N Out or Whataburger's Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits {We share this obsession, the link is to my post about them}, I'm in heaven. I also watch Jersey Shore when I get a chance, only because I can't help but laugh at these guys. I'm a mean fist pumper by the way. Mallori, do you remember how we pulled most of the muscles in our upper bodies from fist pumping too hard at a date party?? ha ha okay, sorry. {it's true. it took us a couple hours before we figured out why our muscles hurt so bad too.}


10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!
*"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them fell."-Maya Angelou


11. What is the one thing you want to Tell the World today?
*Live YOUR life! It's okay to make mistakes, but only as long as you learn from them. Not everyone is going to like you, and that's fine...the least you can do is kill them with kindness. Smile every day! Only you are responsible for your mood...life is 10% what happens and 90% how you react to it. (Wow, I sound like a bunch of quotes ha ha).
I love getting feedback from people and reading other people's stories! I'm still new to blogging, but once I get in the groove, you can never get me out of it. Take Twitter for instance...I said I would never do it, and now I tweet like 5 times a day, sometimes more depending on what sporting event is on TV :)
Thanks for reading!

I told you we were best friends....

Well there you have it folks, one of my best friends ever. Thanks for sharing with us today BIG! To all my readers, head over to A Thousand Different Pieces if you haven't by now and show her some love.


Do YOU want to be the next Tell the World Tuesday feature? If so, shoot me an e-mail at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com!

aiukli is a featured blogger!

Man, in my attempt to be quick yesterday, I forgot to mention that it was my 200th post. I've come a long way from what I started over 4 years ago, and I love the change that this blog has seen from when the blog first started! I love the friends that I've made (you all are amazing), and I love that you each take time out of your day to stop by and share your thoughts about my posts! I wouldn't have gotten to 200 (and one) posts without the motivation from you guys to fill you in on what's going on in my life!

On another note, I am this month's featured blogger at Legos in My Pocket!!


Jaimie is a wonderful new blog friend of mine, and she sent me an e-mail on Wednesday asking if I would want to be the April monthly featured blogger. (I'm assuming it was kind of a panicked e-mail, since April was so close!) I was super excited, and I believe I replied with "HECK YES I DO!" So she sent me a little questionnaire and I filled it out yesterday in my 30 minutes of downtime and then sent it back to her! The questionnaire was a fun one, and if you go check it out, you'll see some never-before-seen pictures. Well, only 2 pictures that I haven't posted here yet; but they're still never before seen to you!

I have my first ever guest post coming up on Monday! I am super excited about that as well!

What's on my agenda for today? I'm heading over to the Medeival Fair from 12:30-5:00 to do some volunteer work, then I'm going straight home for the little one's birthday party.

She is THREE in this picture, but she looks the same!

Who doesn't want to be around 10 or so 6-year-olds for their Friday night? I actually do, because I love my family to death and can't wait to celebrate her birthday!

Upon completion of her birthday party, I'm headed back to Norman for a very early wake-up to go to OU's Big Event. What's Big Event? It's OU's official day of community service. Groups form and then we go to various sites throughout Norman and Oklahoma City and do some type of service to them. I've painted schools, planted gardens, and moved mulch to the walking trail at a zoo. It's a lot of fun and you get to meet some cool people in the community. Then after Big Event, I have to quickly shower and get ready for score keeping with the NCAA Regional tournament for women's gymnastics. I have credentials and everything :)

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend ahead as well!