11 Questions

So last week, the very pretty lady Kristina from The Streeters Unlimited tagged me in a fun little meme to help get to know our blogging friends better. She tagged me in it, but I seriously think that I was half asleep when I read it because I thought I read my name, but I wasn't sure. Then I went back through my reader and realized uhhhh yeah I definitely got tagged. So here is what you do.

Rules:
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
6. No tag backs.
7. No stuff in the tagging section about 'you are tagged if you are reading this.' You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

Here are the people I'm tagging (a lot of them are my go-to reads):
all things ashley, My Beautiful Disaster, A Grimm Tale, threads and thoughts and things I love, Sassy Miss Allie, Dance and Dream 4Ever, Jesslyn Amber, The Life and Times of E1, Through Rose Colored Glasses, Darkly, Laugh Until Your Cheeks Hurt, Lush Lounge

My questions for each of you:
1. What is the biggest thing you want to accomplish in 2012?
2. What are the 5 current TV shows you can't stand to miss right now?
3. Name your favorite character from each of those 5 TV shows, please. :)
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is something you look forward to every week?
6. What are you currently reading?
7. What is one movie you're wanting to see in theaters?
8. What is your favorite cosmetic product?
9. What is your favorite animal?
10. What do you like most about blogging?
11. What do you like least about blogging?

So here are my questions Kristina tagged me in:

1. What is YOUR biggest Pet Peeve?
-This is tough...I feel like I have a billion pet peeves until someone does it and it irritates me. I honestly think it would be people who like to drive the speed limit or just 5 mph over in the far left lane. It's a fast lane for a reason...

2. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
-I'm going to assume that this means if I could go anywhere I've never been. So the answer is simple: Brisbane, Australia. I met an amazing family while on my tour of Europe in the summer of 2006. I want to go there to see them and see what it's like to live as an Australian :)


3. What's your favorite part of blogging?
-Favorite part is definitely documenting things going on in my life. I want to be able to remember everything I was passionate about when I'm old and senile. And I also love the friends I've made. Like Kristina!


4. What is the toughest part of blogging for you?
-Definitely finding something to post about every day. I always feel like I should have something good to write about, or not write at all. But I fight back and forth between blogging whatever floats my boat and blogging things with some kind of substance. Sometimes you'll catch me giving silly posts because the fight for substance loses :)


5. What is your best organizing tip?
-Oh man. I am not organized at all. And I'm super forgetful. Not a winning combination. But in order to combat that, I attempt to write stuff down in a planner. It's semi-helpful.


6. If you could pick any job that could be yours -what would it be?
-I would be a coach (but not a teacher), a professional referee, or a bartender in London. For reals. Be jellyyyyy.


7. Favorite Color?
-Without a doubt, the best color known to man! PURPLE!!


8. Favorite Product on the Market?
-umm...I really have no idea. I used to say I'm not a materialistic kind of person, but I really am. I mean, I have a cell phone, a laptop, a digital camera, an iPod, a kindle, a portable DVD player, a PS2. That's right, a PS2. Be jellyyyyy. But for real, I really think I have everything I need. I think I'd love to have a tablet, but I have a laptop. So do I really need a tablet? So I guess my favorite products are any movies I can buy :)
[also...I realized that me naming off everything I own sounded super conceited. Out of those 7 things I listed, I paid for all of 3 of those items and half of 1. I worked hard to spoil myself, and I'm not sorry for treating myself to things I want that I earn my own money for...]


9. Favorite Phone App?
-I actually use almost all of my apps equally. I spend a huge amount of time on my facebook, twitter, email, gmail, foursquare, voxer, hanging with friends, words with friends, you name it, I use it to waste my time :)


10. What is the best lesson in life you have learned?
-Before you love others, I mean TRULY love others, you must first learn to love yourself. TRULY love yourself and the person you are and everything that makes you that person and then you can fully appreciate everything you are blessed with.


11. What do you value most in your life, that isn't a material thing?
-My amazingly supportive family. We may argue from time to time and not always see eye to eye, but they're the best anyone could ever ask for and they always have my back.

1 for 12

This was going to originally post yesterday, but I came across a "silence your blog in protest against SOPA" thing. Therefore, I changed it up. Everything happened Tuesday night:

So if you remember from my New Year's Resolutions post last month, you'll remember that I said I wanted to go out to a new local restaurant once a month in 2012. Well Tuesday night, I took myself out on a date.

After work Tuesday, I went to try on bridesmaid dresses with my friend Shawna for her friend Morgan's wedding. Then after dress shopping, I went to The Brook. Instead of going to the location on Brookside here in Tulsa, I decided to go to the one on the South side since it's a little closer to where I work and live.

As soon as I walked in, it was super crowded for it being a Tuesday night. I asked for a table for 1, and then realized that I would be eating dinner much faster if I sat at the bar. So I took my name off the list and seated myself at the bar.

Please keep in mind that while I was eating all this stuff, I was trying to eat mindfully, and fully taste what it was I was eating so I could properly report back to you!

For an appetizer, I ordered chips and guacamole:

The guacamole was AMAZING. It was a little overloaded with avocado pieces and tomatoes, which is just how I like it. Most places overload it with onions, which usually ruins it for me. Now this batch did have some onions in it, but it was just enough to give the hint of flavor without biting into three pieces with each scoop. It was just creamy enough too.

Shortly after I got the chips and guacamole, I ordered a turkey club sandwich with macaroni and cheese as my side:

DO YOU SEE ALL THAT FOOD ON MY PLATE?!

I unfortunately said "challenge accepted!" when my friend said I would not be able to eat all that food in one sitting. She was right. It was a shit ton of food. Seriously. I had the biggest food baby known to man.

Anyways, back to the food. The sandwich was good, but the croissant that it sat on was a little disappointing. It was a  little chilled while the rest of the sandwich was pretty warm. I don't know if that made the croissant taste funny to me or not, but I just felt the croissant was a little sub-par. The turkey was amazing though. It was a generous helping of smoked turkey piled onto the croissant. The flavor of the turkey was really good. I'm not usually a big fan of smoked turkey, but it was a perfect amount of smokiness. The bacon was cooked perfectly as well, not too crispy, not too rubbery. Top all that with the Swiss cheese and it was an overall delicious sandwich.

Now the mac and cheese. OH MYLANTA THE MAC AND CHEESE! It was AMAZING! Like I seriously wanted to just take about 700 bowls home with me. If it would have been possible. The mac and cheese is definitely worth going to the restaurant for. It was gooey and cheesy and amazing. I might even order it as my entire meal next time. Oh yes, I'm definitely going back to The Brook in the near distant future. :)

Overall, my experience was about a 4 on a 1-5 scale. What cost the 5th point was the fact that the bartender who took my order seemed a little impatient with me while I was trying to decide, and the rude people across the bar who laughed at me when I took pictures of my food for blogging purposes. Wenches.

If you're around Tulsa, definitely try out The Brook!

Tuesday Tunes

Recently, I discovered the band called The Black Keys. I know they've been around for a while, and I'm sure I'm probably one of the last people on this earth to discover how amazing they are, but I'm seriously obsessed. Their recent single "Lonely Boy" is the song that started my obsession. But I'm not sharing Lonely Boy with you today. No, I found a song of theirs that I like even better and that is what I'm sharing with you today.

Today I give you my current The Black Keys obsession, and it's Howlin' For You:
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Do you like The Black Keys? What are some of your favorite songs by them? I always love new music and would love to hear what you like from The Black Keys!

Four Day Work Weeks are The Shiz

Yep, that's right folks. I have ANOTHER four day work week this week....kind of. I technically work Saturday, so I work 5 days this week. That's better than the 6 I would have worked if we didn't have today off.

So the week of Christmas, we had a 4 day work week. The week of New Years, we had a 4 day work week. Last week, we had a 5 day work week. This week, we have a 4 day work week. Then I'm pretty sure we work two weeks and then have another 4 day work week. It's kind of nice. We have all these holidays at the beginning and end of the year, but then we only have a couple holidays from about March to October.

Last night, my 6 year old cousin came and stayed with me since they do not have school today. Last night we watched Beauty and the Beast. Then today she watched Toy Story, then Little Mermaid, and now Mary Poppins is playing. She's not really watching it. She apparently doesn't like stuff that's not animated.

I however, have enjoyed watching all of my my Disney movies while doing laundry and things around the house. I do need to catch up on the shows I missed last week though. I'll probably turn off Mary Poppins and start watching them since she's now playing with the stuffed animals I have for her.

I hope you all are enjoying your Mondays!

Saturday night of epic proportions

Last night was LEGEN.....wait for it......DARY. Legendary. Seriously. I had an amazing time hanging out with Katy on what was her last night in town before she headed back to Norman for school.

The night started off with us going to our favorite place downtown, The Max. I had told her earlier in the night that I wanted to try a different place called Woody's because I had never been before. Well, I don't know if I've told you guys or not yet, I'm humongously obsessed with How I Met Your Mother. Well thanks to me quoting it and being my normal obsessive self, I got Katy to watch every episode. That's right. She watched seasons 1-6 and then all the episodes that have aired for season 7 as well. She watched them in not even three weeks. I. LOVE. IT. ha ha. Anyways, I digress.

So because Katy is obsessed with How I Met Your Mother (from here on out, HIMYM) like I am now, we she said that we needed a Mal and Katy Bro Code....and it was invented.

This was the second time that she and I left the Max to go elsewhere and it failed. So here it is, the invention of the #malandkatybrocode:

#malandkatybrocode number one:Once you're at The Max, never leave to go elsewhere. #truestory

Yep. There it started.
Luckily we went back into The Max shortly after that and it was great. Then my friend John came and brought two of his friends along with him. One of them was celebrating his birthday, so they were bar hopping around downtown. Katy and I decided that we should follow them around and have a good time. So we went to a couple places after The Max (no worries, this time the leaving didn't end up being bad like before).

The night continued at one of the guys' places, where things got a little out of hand, and then ended at WhatABurger around 2:45 a.m. For a full recap on the events that took place at WhatABurger, please see Katy's post from earlier today. It. was. awesome.

That leaves us with the second #malandkatybrocode:

#malandkatybrocode number two: Jenna Marbles face must be used after 2 am when a guy is trying to show you his wee wee. #truestory

Dear Friday

Dear Snow,

I really strongly dislike you. You bring with you cold and wind that chills to the bone here in Oklahoma. I'm a summer gal through and through. Even when summer brought a heat vacuum and we had record days of 100+. I will never like you. Please, just go away.

Dear Hannah,

I'm excited for you to come stay the night with me on Sunday!

Dear clients of the bank,

Thank you for finding your happy place again. You were starting to make me wonder about humanity. Please don't be angry when some changes come next month. Remember, I'm a human too. And I handle your money :)

Dear 4:30 a.m.,

Please be just as easy to wake up for next week as you were today.

Dear Body,

Please don't wake up early enough to go work out next week and hurt all over so I don't lay in bed again.

Dear Mom,

I'm excited about the potential of going on a cruise with you this year!!!!!!!

Dear Friday,

THANK GOODNESS! This was the first 5-day work week back. You took forever to get here!

Dear Norman, OK,

SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!!