Quick update full of some highlights of the week.

OH. MY. GOODNESS, you guys. Aiukli is getting a lot of attention and a lot of TLC. (Okay, maybe not the TLC part.) But seriously, this little space is growing and I think it's pretty cool! The fact that so many of you have featured me (even if it's sponsor love posts!), asked me to do guest posts for you, commented on my posts, and given me awards makes my little heart happy and makes me do a happy dance in my chair as I write this.

I wish I could give more updates this week, but my schedule is super busy and adding more stuff to it every day. But here are some highlights for the week:

• College Bowl has been a lot of fun to work! And from what I can tell, the teams are enjoying themselves as well. It's pop-culture trivia, and it has an overall theme of I <3 the 90's. We've seen teams dress as WWF All-Stars, Team Pup N' Suds, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, grunge bands, Squirtle, and the Mystery Inc. It's been so much fun to see everyone's creativity!
• I think I did fairly well on my piano exam yesterday.
• I taped an ankle for a midterm in my Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries class! I really liked it a lot!
• I got to know my APO little a bit more last night, and we've planned our BIG/little date for next week :)
• I've gotten to talk to my Alpha Gam big a lot lately, and I miss having her in my life daily.
• My capstone project should get started next week!
• I'm volunteering A LOT this weekend--working Medieval Fair on Friday all day pretty much, Big Event on Saturday morning, NCAA Regional Women's Gymanstics meet on Saturday.
• I get to go home to Tulsa(-ish) and back on Friday night for Hannah's sixth birthday

And that's just the highlights!

What have you done that you're proud of this week?

Tell the World Tuesday!

Today I am very excited to introduce you to one of my newest blog friends Vic over at Freckles and Fudge! She is also one of the master minds behind For the Love of Blogs, something you all hear me talk about all the time! I  just started to talk about all the things about her, but instead I'm just going to get on with the feature and you can go check her out for yourself and all the fun adventures she and her daughters get into! Take it away Vic!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.
elllo! I'm vic also known as freck; creator and author of freckles and fudge where I share most of our adventurous life living in the southwest with gators and full blown sunshine.
I love fashion and photography. My what she wore posts feature some fabulous ladies and their fashion pieces and my daily photo posts are often things I capture or someone sends in. I just recently started the lemonade stand where you get a sneak peek at the lovely sites that make you pay for your "lemonade," you'll have to stop by to see how much they charge!


2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
Gemini, Sarcasticist, Loving, CaffeineCraver, Hugger

3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
Phone Alarm-it's a generic tune called Light! It does its job! And sometimes so does the sun!


4. What (or who) inspires you most?
Right now my inspiration comes from a lovely lady named Lindsay of Scenic Glory! I have the pleasure of working with her each and every day and she's become a very good friend of mine. Love her to pieces!


5. Do you read for fun? If so, what are you reading; or what is a book you would recommend?
I just got done reading "Up Close and Personal" by Fern Michaels. I like suspense and would love to indulge in another book real soon!


6. What is something you've always wanted to do?
I've always wanted to travel to another country and speak a fluent language (other than English, duh). It really irks me when a majority of the people here speak Spanish and I have no clue what they are saying!


7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?
My favorite part of the day is sometimes morning because it's a fresh new day and I'm pretty much in "rush" mode taking care of everyone but it's a good feeling. Sometimes late, after I put the girls to bed! It's "me time" and my favorite shows are on!


8. Where is the favorite place you traveled? OR Where is a place you would like to travel?
I've been to Vegas with Bryan but it's definitely not the same as going with the ladies! Would love to plan a trip soon! And Colorado...a good friend of mine lives there!


9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, TV show, etc.)?
My guilty pleasure must be my candy bars! But sometimes it's Life Cereal at 10 PM watching the Real Housewives, Bethanny ever After, or whatever is on Bravo/E!


10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!
I've just recently posted Frecks Tip of the Day which I will be doing a lot of from now on!

11. What is the one thing you want to Tell the World today?
I would love to tell the world that everything is going to be okay, the freckmeister has taken over! ;-)


And here is some more that the freckmeister wanted to share:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."--Steve Jobs

Vic, thanks so much for sharing with us today! I loved all the pictures you shared!
To all of my readers, head on over to freckles and fudge and show her some love! You'll get to see pretty pictures like these all the time!


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!

Weekend Recap

I am so sorry for not getting this out earlier today. Remember how I said this week is College Bowl week? Well I also had about 5 other things to do today. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Friday
I was the responsibility champion and I got shit done. No seriously. I got capstone paper revised (again) [I forgot to mention that I got to talk to my big the night before, I miss her so so so much], I got all of my College Bowl stuff worked on, and then I even got a few pages of notes from a class copied before the family arrived in town around 6:30. I drove from Norman to Moore, where Edith was so patiently waiting for me while Jessica and Ryan went to the VA hospital (Ryan was having abdominal pains). I watched Kenzie play two games on Friday night, and then I took Edith and MacKenzie to meet up with Ryan and Jessica to Taco Cabana for a late night dinner. Upon my arrival home, my roommate was passed out and I got to read a little bit before falling asleep in bliss because of my family :)

Saturday
I woke up a little extra early to really fix my hair, and then Edith and I went on an adventure to wal-mart to buy a new headlight for my car. On our way to Moore, we stopped at What-A-Burger for breakfast. I'm sure you know by now that I got a honey butter chicken biscuit :)
I watched Kenzie play a game, then we went to Saltgrass for lunch, and then she played a second game. I took the family to Fuzzy's Taco Shop on Campus Corner for dinner, and then hung out in their hotel room until I was sleepy.
I came home to roommate and Kaitlin in my room talking and watching The Ugly Truth. Rachel came in and joined us later, and they were in our room until 3:30 a.m. I had fallen asleep before then.

Sunday
I got up SO FREAKING EARLY to go watch Kenzie play one game. It was so freaking cold that I almost fell asleep at the fields from curling up into a ball. After the game, we went to Cheddar's for lunch, and then the family headed back home with some taffy and Classic's (similar to Sonic, but better) in tow. I was really sad to see them go, but I also was super tired so I passed out for a 4 hour nap. I meant to only nap for 2-3.
Chapter was longer than it should have been, and I was late to my college bowl meeting. Once I got there, we were informed that the fourth team member had no questions for us. I came back home to write more questions and more lightening round questions, and ended up staying up until almost 3. By the time I hit the pillow, I PASSED OUT.


Today, I was lucky enough to have both of my morning classes cancelled, so the only class I had began at 1:30. I inadvertently slept until noon. Once I got done with class, I had a couple hours of downtime before I had to work (I'm a referee for soccer) and then once I was done with work I went straight to College Bowl.

Tonight's college bowl rounds were a lot of fun! I didn't realize how much I would like reading questions off :)

My best friend Caroline who went on spring break with us ended up coming over for a little bit after college bowl, and she and I went and got some food at Classic's (like Sonic, but better), and now here I am updating you on the weekend and my super busy day. I unfortunately didn't take my camera out to the ball fields so I don't have any pictures to share :(

But on a good note, I have a cool Tell the World Tuesday feature coming up tomorrow, and my little piece of blog world was featured over at scenic glory as a part of a group sponsor post. Seriously, if you haven't checked this site out by now, you are missing out.

Now it's off to bed, tomorrow is busy too, practice for piano between classes (exam part 1 begins Wednesday) and then College Bowl all evening. I hope every single one of you had a fantastic start to your week!

Happy Friday!

I'm so excited for today! I'm just about finishing up my guest post that will be featured in a couple weeks (I'll share where it's at once it's published!).

I got some much needed rest last night and slept wayyy to hard. My roommate even got up this morning and I was so out of it that I never heard her leave. I got the capstone paper done last night, caught up on my google reader FINALLY, and got some stuff typed up for college bowl. responsibility champion!

I am also very much looking forward to around 5:30 this afternoon. I have an aunt, her husband, and my two cousins Edith and MacKenzie coming in town for a softball tournament. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a HUGE family person and unfortunately I haven't gotten to go home as often as I would have liked to this semester. But both I and my family are slightly okay with it because we all know that this is my last semester and I want to have as much fun as possible :)

Anyways, I will be spending the entire weekend at a softball field, cheering for Mac and a bunch of other girls I don't know. I can't wait to see them, it's been since my appendix surgery in February, and quite frankly that's been too long for me!

What are you excited about for Fridays? This weekend?

Have a great weekend friends!

p.s. bleh, I fail and also forgot to remind you all to link up to TexaGermaNadian's blog hop. It's one of the best :)

This is me super sleep deprived. It almost feels like finals.

Hello again readers!

I'm so sorry that all of my posting seems to be super sporadic lately (which is what I'm commenting to a lot of you when I can). Spring break was definitely the relaxation that I needed, but once I returned to school and real life, things got CRAZY. I've gotten probably an average of about 5 hours of sleep a night since we returned, and it's not slowing down too much over the next couple of weeks. yikes!

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm on the Questions Team for College Bowl here at OU. College bowl is much like the academic bowl some of you may have participated in during middles school/high school. The difference is that it is University-wide and the questions are mostly pop-culture trivia questions. Because I'm a slacker life has been so busy in my last semester, I didn't write 10 questions weekly as suggested to make my life easier. Instead I procrastinated decided to write 300+ questions just before they were due so the questions would be fresh on my mind (oops).

College Bowl is next week. I along with other members of the questions team are diligently working on creating questions packets for each of the rounds. I've been doing nothing but nonstop trivia for the past 3 days it seems.

Along with College Bowl, me and the three members of my capstone group are starting our research project withing the next week, and so I will be super busy making sure everything is going smoothly. double yikes. Then the week after next, I have my piano test 2, meaning I need to practice, practice, practice. triple yikes.

This is NOT me informing you that I'm going to disappear. This is just me warning you that the posting will continue to seem a little crazy and all over the place until I get a couple things squared away. I truly do love hearing what you all have to say on each of my posts, and I promise I'm reading yours! I just may not get to comment on every single one of them because the amount of time I spend on my computer doing fun things has drastically decreased. Please don't stop following me because I don't post a couple days (I lost one somewhere already).

I'm finally going to get a LITTLE down time today. I have class at 1:30 until around 4:30, then I am going to a farewell dinner for one of my very good friends. Upon returning home, I've got a small thing I need to do with the sorority, then it's homework, homework, homework. I get to sleep in tomorrow, and then my aunt Jessica, uncle Ryan, and twin cousins Edith and MacKenzie will be in town for Kenzie's softball tournament; I'll be getting some much needed family time :)

Anything exciting going on in your worlds this weekend? Can't wait to read about them.

Mallori's Epically #winning Spring Break 2011

So you've heard about the misadventures we had while driving to Florida. You've heard about and seen how we spent pretty much all day every day while we were on the beach.
That pretty much was my entire spring break. We would wake up whenever we did, lounge around for about an hour or two (while I would mix up a breakfast adult beverage), change clothes, then head to the beach. We would pack a lunch to take with us and come back every now and then for a bathroom break/lunch break/refill the ice chest break. Then around 5 or so, all of us would head back to the house and someone would cook dinner. Around 8:30, we'd start playing drinking games and watch TV/movies until we were ready to go to bed and start the cycle over the next day.

The trip wasn't completely sunshine and rainbows, but I guess it's not always going to go perfectly when you've got six very different personalities all cooped up in the same close living quarters. But overall, it was the trip of a lifetime.

Wednesday, Katy and I went to a restaurant down the beach called Caddy's and got some seafood. Fantastic chowder. Not kidding.
Thursday, we all needed a little break from the sun (can you imagine that?!) so we went exploring a little bit.

We went and visited Eckerd College because Katy's mom went there as an undergrad. It was a small and pretty campus and I really think that it's a good thing I don't go to school anywhere near a beach. I would never go to class. And when I did, I'd go to the beach between classes.

This was the beach behind Eckerd College

After we finished looking around, we then went and ate at Ted Peter's Famous Smoked Fish, as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Now, I am not a fish person AT ALL, but oh my good-NESS it was so delicious. If you like fish, you'll love this! I had smoked mahi mahi. I seriously can't tell you enough about how good it was!

Then that evening, we went out for St. Patrick's Day. The holiday was great, the place we went to had a fantastic Ladies' Night Special, and we enjoyed the live music from a cover band called Sunburn. It was a great time with great friends!

roommate and I on St. Patrick's Day

We went to the beach a couple nights and took sunset pictures, as seen above.
Then on the way back, we were stuck in traffic for around an hour because of an awful car wreck on I-10. So what did we do? We got the soccer ball out on the interstate and kicked it around :)

All in all, it was an AMAZING week and I'm so glad I started saving for it three years ago!

Tell the World Tuesday!

Okay people, is Tuesday your favorite day yet? It should be! I'm super duper excited about the feature I have for you today! Her name is Elizabeth, and she comes to you from the blog, Through Rose Colored Glasses, Darkly. What's so special about Elizabeth? She is my personal friend and sister through my sorority. Although she is no longer an undergrad, I can still say that our friendship has grown exponentially over the past two years or so and she is one of my first good "adult" friends (with the term "adult" used loosely). She's great, but enough of my blabbering, I'll let Baxter (her nickname) tell you what she has to say!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.
I began my blog because several friends across the country were blogging and it was  a good way to know what was going on in each other's lives. I continue to write because not only do I enjoy it, but it helps me reflect on events and evaluate them. And laugh at them all over again :-) Recently I've been writing a lot about travel and including a lot of photographs of the random place my husband ("Bird") and I go.

2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
Scholar, Car-singer, Joyful, Trivia-Buff, Goofy
(I always find this really difficult! Partially because I want to use full sentences and partially because I don't know if I perceive myself the same way others perceive me).

3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use  your phone, what tune do you wake up to?

Bird and I wake up to three separate alarms--we each use an alarm clock and he also sets his phone. We are chronic snoozers and are NOT morning people. And I never have been.

4. What (or who) inspires you most?

Making someone smile. The thought of starting my Ph.D. program in the fall. Weddings. Hymns. A clear, star-filled sky. Knowing that Bird believes in me. The pioneers in my own family.

5. Do you read for fun? If so what are you currently reading; or what is a book you recommend?

I love to read, although I do not do it nearly enough. I tend toward nonfiction, usually history and travel journals. One of my favorites combines these two genres--Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Horwitz spends a few months traveling the South, investigating the "Lost Cause" mentality and seeing how the current South perceives the Civil War. Excellent book full of humor, insight, and some head-shaking moments.

6. What is something you've always wanted to do?

I accomplished one life-long goal in college when I appeared on Jeopardy! so my goal now is to write a book. Not quite sure what it's going to be about, but someday it will happen.

7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?

I love lunchtime with my coworkers because we always laugh so much that it is almost difficult to eat. We also have a running quote list that we send out once a month and laugh about. I also love whatever time of day Bird and I get to sit on the couch and relax with Daphne the cat.

8. Where is the favorite place you traveled? OR Where is a place you would like to travel?

I have a great time wherever I go because of the awesome friends I get to hang out with when I'm there. The one place I've been and need to return to is Ireland. My mother and I spent less than 24 hours there in September of 2007 when we were on a trip to London and I cannot wait to return and explore more of the country. We went to Blarney so that I could kiss the Blarney stone and had a wonderful time.

9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, TV show, etc.)?

Keeping up with the Kardashians and Judge Joe Cannon and Sara Sara cupcakes and Twizzlers. Pretty much awesome. And Bruce Jenner cracks me up.

10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!

"For nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:23.

When I'm at the end of my rope, this helps me tie a knot and hang on. And the thought of always having someone who believes in me and wants to grow old and walk off into the sunset with me is very inspirational right now.

11. What is one thing you want to Tell the World today?

I'm not sure I feel qualified to tell the world anything, but I'll just say stop, take a minute, and find something each day that makes you smile. No matter how small it might be, it can turn a dark day around. Don't forget how to be silly! Oh, and don't eat yellow snow.

Well there you have it folks, one of my coolest friends ever. She is a newlywed, and just finished up blogging about all of her honeymoon travels over at her blog Through Rose Colored Glasses, Darkly. She is super cool and fun and definitely takes her own advice in never forgetting how to be silly :)

She has a lot of ambition too, and is a huge history buff :)

Go stop by her blog, say hello, and show her some love!

Do YOU want to be featured on Tell the World Tuesday? If so, shoot me an email at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll send you the questions and instructions for your feature. Right now, I've got a couple more lined up, so I will let you know when your feature will be published.

Happy Tuesday friends!

I promise I'm alive!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back at home in Oklahoma. I have been reading your comments all week, and will be responding to them ALL when I get another small nap in.

My spring break was AMAZING. What more could a senior ask for than to get to hang out with good company and good food all week long by a warm beach? I think nothing. Also! I got to cross this off of my bucket list:

• Go on a vacation with friends only (road trip is the only way to go!).

So very excited to be doing things that I want to do!

I hope you all had an amazing week, and I can't wait to finish up reading all of your posts!

Also, be on the lookout tomorrow for my four photos from Florida in the Photo Swap. It was so hard to choose just four!

You all are amazing readers :)

Wordless Wednesday

Tell the World Tuesday!

Alright, it's Tuesday and you know what that means! Time for this week's edition of Tell the World Tuesday! This week I have KT from KT's Refinishing School answering some questions. Take it away!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog.
I am KT and I blog over at KT's Refinishing School. I started blogging in September 2009 as a way to stay in touch with family and friends in California, Illinois, Nebraska, and elsewhere when my then fiance (now husband) J and I moved to St. Louis with our cat Woods. Posting was pretty sporatic until after our wedding in June 2010, when I began posting on a more regular basis. Now I try to post every day, Monday through Friday, although lately I've been posting twice a day as part of my list of 130 goals I want to accomplish before I'm 30 [Goal Number 58: post twice a day, 5 days a week for two months straight)!
My content varies day to day but largely revolves around our lives here in the Lou, whether it's books I'm reading, recipes, I've made, movies I've seen, rooms I've decorated, thrift store finds I've snatched up and anything else that strikes my fancy. Life is a constant learning process, so all of my content reflects that and takes an educational slant to it all--hence my blog's name, KT's Refinishing School.
Two special features around here are Remember When Wednesdays and The BBC: Bloggers Book Club.

Remember When Wednesdays are posts where I share photos and memories from my life over the years. These stories vary widely and have covered everything from my cat's birthday to the time we got to hear President Obama speak. The BBC is a virtual book club I've started where blog friends are able to link up and discuss books together much in the same way we would if we lived in the same city! We've just started our first book and discussion on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.


2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
Talkative, Nurturing, Driven, Emotional, Inquisitive.


3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
I use my phone and wake up to iPhone's Marimba ring tone. Our phones are on J's side of the bed due to the placement of our outlets in the room, so he is the one that unplugs it and hands it to me to turn off every morning :)


4. What (or who) inspires you most?
My mom's parents. They are some of the most loving, thoughtful, generous, and giving people I know. My grandpa came down with polio when he was sixteen which changed his life forever. Once a football star, he watched his team play from the sidelines. He has been hospitalized and had numerous surgeries over the years, but has never once complained or let it get him down. He continues to fight for the little guy as an attorney every day and comes home to the love of his life, my grandma, every night. My grandparents have been married for over fifty years and have eight children and seventeen grandchildren. I hope J and I are as happy as they are when we are their age!

5. Do you read for fun? If so, what are you reading; or what is a book you would recommend?

I love to read! I didn't get to read as much while I was in school but now that I am working, I read a lot more. Right now I am reading Sense and Sensibility for our book club, which I am enjoying a lot more than I thought I would (I sometimes have difficulty wading through Jane Austen's phrasing!)

6. What is something you've always wanted to do?

Travel the world. I was lucky enough to travel to France when I was in college for ten days and J visited Spain in high school but we hope to do lots of traveling together over the years!

via

7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?

Early evening. Usually I am working on blog stuff, reading a novel, or making dinner when I hear the garage door opening. I am happy because it means J is home with me for the night!

8. Where is a place you would like to travel?

I would really love to go to Japan. I love sushi and Japanese food and have heard a lot about it over the years because my dad travels there frequently for business.

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9. What's your guilty pleasure (food, tv show, etc.)?

My guilty pleasure would be what J and many others would call "trashy TV" like Teen Mom and Sister Wives on TLC. I can't help it--the drama is addicting :)

10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!

"Hold onto what is good,

Even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold onto what you believe,

Even if it is a tree that stands by itself.

Hold onto what you must do,

Even if it is a long way from here.

Hold onto life,

Even if it is easier to let go.

Hold onto my hand,

Even if I have gone away from you."

-Pueblo Blessing

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11. What is one thing you want to Tell the World today?

That you are never too old or too wise to learn, try something new or make a new friend! In life, there are no guidelines or rules, we are all learning and discovering things as we go along!

via

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! To all my readers, take a visit over at KT's Refinishing School, maybe join in on her book club! And KT, if you want a Tell the World Tuesday button, you can find it over on my left sidebar!

Do YOU want to be featured on Tell the World Tuesday? Shoot me an e-mail at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll send you the questions and instructions for being featured. Happy Tuesday friends!

(My) Life is Beautiful

first things first, I am reading all of your comments, and I abso-friggin-lutely love that y'all still check out my site and have stuff to say about what's going on in my life! you readers rock my socks off!

Other than that, I just wanted to update you on what's going on down here in sunny Tampa Bay, FL. Me and all my spring break roommates slept in so that we could recuperate from our 24 hour drive from Oklahoma to Florida. Colleen was the first to explore the beaches, and then all of us quickly followed in her footsteps to get some sun and enjoy the day.

We spent all day out on the beach laying out and getting a tan for our white bodies. Caroline had to write a paper, so when she wasn't doing that she was with us on the beach. We've enjoyed cocktails and beers all morning, because what is the beach without a little something to drink?!

I also realized that people from other places are nowhere near as friendly as people from Oklahoma. I tried being nice to random strangers on the beach today, and they all looked at me like I was crazy. It kind of made me mad at first, but then I realized that it was okay to be friendly even if others weren't. If that group next to us would have been friendly back, I would have given them a deck of cards, fo' freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! but whatevs.

Tomorrow we are going to pick up our last roommate from Tampa International Airport, and then all six of us will be spending the week together :) I'm so glad I decided to treat myself to a very fun last spring break week :)))))))) <---that means I'm super duper happy right now!

Happy Monday!

p.s., don't forget to check in for tomorrow's Tell the World Tuesday! Unfortunately, it's the last scheduled one I have. So what does that mean?? you should e-mail me at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com so you can be my next Tell the World Tuesday feature!

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.

You know, sometimes plans don't always work out perfectly.

4 friends and I intended to leave Norman around 11 a.m. (CST) yesterday morning. We actually didn't end up leaving until around 12:30 p.m. mistake #1

Since I am the biggest night owl out of my group of friends (along with roommate), it was kind of understood that either Katy or I would be driving the last leg of the trip. Well, Katy had tests. and tests. and tests this week. So she was a very sleepy lady.

I on the other hand was too excited to sleep (which always happens when we go on vacations). Once I took over the wheel roughly around 7 p.m., it was understood that I would drive until I could no longer drive, and then I would choose where we would stop and stay for the night.

Somewhere along the way, we didn't do the math correctly. mistake #2
Once I took the wheel, I started counting in my head. I knew that once we hit driving 12 hours, we had a little over 9 hours remaining of our drive, and that we would lose an hour somewhere in Georgia because of the change from Central to Eastern Time.

From where we were, it looked like it would be impractical to stop for the night. But I also had never stayed up the entire night before. I pull "all-nighters" in college, but I never truly stay up the entire evening. I usually stay up until 3:30, maybe 4, and take a two hour nap or so.
3:30 hit, I was fine. 4 a.m. hit, still wide awake and loving my drive through the woods of Alabama (reminded me of home!)
5, 6 hit. Still decently awake and super thrilled that I got to watch an amazingly beautiful sunrise over the Georgia horizon. We stopped for breakfast at 7 (6 central). mistake #3


Caroline took over driving. I had taken roughly a 40 minute nap around 2 on Friday afternoon, but that was all the sleep I managed to get since 7:49 Friday morning. While she drove us through what we had left of Georgia and into sunny Florida, I got to sneak in about a 20 minute nap.

I couldn't go to sleep again after I woke up from the 20 minute nap. mistake #4
Now here it is, 10:24 EST and I have had about an hour of sleep within the past 38 hours or so. I'm thoroughly exhausted, but the house we are staying in is awesome, the beach is beautiful (we laid out for about 30 minutes when we got here today), and my friends that are with me are the best.

And now, now I will finally get some much needed rest. Rest of both the sleeping kind, and the soulful kind. I'll get to take in the beauty of the ocean hopefully on a morning walk, and enjoy the company of good food and good friends.

p.s. I am on spring break. I apologize in advance for not posting daily

Thursday: This week's funday!

OKAY! I have two fun things for you today!
First off, this lady got another award! I'm super pumped! For the first time ever, I got:

THE STYLISH BLOGGER AWARD! yay!

The wonderful Kristina from a perfect dose of life so generously tagged me in this award! She is one of my newest finds from FTLOB, and I like her content a lot!

Obviously, it comes with rules. I have to give 7 facts about myself, and I have to pass it on. I don't know how many I have to pass it on to, but we'll see how generous I am at the end of this post :)

The facts:

1. I'm a Pepper. As in, Dr. Pepper is my pop of choice. I'm not really a pop drinker, but when I'm drinking pop, DP is the way to go!
2. I will get to cross something off of my bucket list 10 days from today :)
3. I am the oldest of 3 children, and we are all graduating the exact. same. weekend. I'm kind of upset about it. I am graduating from the University of Oklahoma, Jared is graduating from boot camp, and Jacob is graduating from high school. Sadly I won't get to go to theirs, and they won't get to come to mine :(
4. I own a golden lab. His name is Jax :)
5. I love reading. I'll read just about anything. I'm really looking forward to being able to relax and read on the beach next week :)
6. In case you haven't heard, I'm officially on spring break :) just won't be heading southeast until tomorrow!
7. I'm a biological sister, a sorority sister, and a brother. And no I'm not crazy :)

Well there ya go. 7 facts about me, and I may have repeated some when I got my Versatile Blogger award...

I'm going to pass this blog award onto:

Danielle at Positively Postive! because she is an amazing lady :)

Jamie at The CP because it is one of my newest blog addictions.

Val at threads and thoughts and things I love because I feel like it would be a crime to not pass it onto someone stylish enough to make their own clothes!

and Shay from Laugh Until Your Cheeks Hurt because she passed along the memetastic award to me, which she re-named "The smelly armpit award." This girl seriously makes me laugh!

The other fun thing I have is Erin of My Beautiful Disaster (you remember her from Tell the World Tuesday, right?) tagged me in the handwriting meme. Here is my writin', y'all!:

The Questions:

1. What's your name/blogger name?

-Mallori---blogger name = -Mallori

2. What's your blog's url?

-http://nushkoboaiukli-chokvshweki.blogspot.com (I'm seriously thinking about buying www.aiukli.com because it is SO LONG!)

3. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

-(Erin, this line forces you to write every letter of the alphabet...) [which is why they use it to see fonts]

4. Favorite quote?

-"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." -Henry Miller

5. Your favorite song?

-ALWAYS CHANGES! But this week, Electric Feel by MGMT [I posted it on yesterday's "What I'm Lovin' Wednesday]

--or my Mimi singing any gospel song!

7.6. Your favorite band/singers?

I hate favorites [because I can never choose one]...Aerosmith, The All-American Rejects, Ke$ha, Lifehouse, Eli Young Band, Paramore...you know, a good mix of everything!

7. Anything else you want to say?

-Apparently I can't count...I numbered the one before this "7."

-You readers are UH-MAY-ZA-ZING!

-Danielle, I promise "What's in my Backpack" is coming!

8. Tag 3 bloggers to participate:

-Kristina(? I do this when I'm not sure of something)[but now I know your name is Kristina!]-a perfect dose of life

-Jaimie-Legos in my Pocket

-Mollie-OK in UK

-Jamie-The CP

(I'm not always the best at following the rules! ha!)

and apparently I just really liked Kristina and Jamie today...

Hope you had a great Thursday friends! This time tomorrow, I will be on the road to a sunny beach/beach house :)

What I'm loving Wednesday

I've seen this one done on quite a few other blogs, and today I decided I wanted to participate, even if today is the only day that I do it!

It's going to be random, and you're going to love it (or else! ha!)

• I'm loving that I finally finished The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It was very slow to start with, but it picked up and was hard to put down.
• I'm loving that I got such good feedback about the Tell the World Tuesday posts! (I'm not loving that I only have one more for you guys before I have to start begging people to answer my questions.)
• I'm loving that I have three of the best littles ever! They not only got me the paddle I have been waiting impatiently for, but they got me a VERY beautiful paddle, and exactly what I asked for!:

Tell the World Tuesday!

Alright folks, you know what today is...the second time ever for Tell the World Tuesday. Today's little feature proudly introduces my bloggy friends to the lovely lady Erin of My Beautiful Disaster. It's all yours Erin!

"Oh goodness, is it Friday yet?"

That's the phrase of the week people. This coming Friday is a little more special than your typical Fridays. Friday, March 11, 2011 begins Mallori's first big-girl vacation. That's right, my first big-girl vacation. What is a big-girl vacation?

This is a Tale of Yummy Fatty American Food.

Instead of boring you with the mundane details of me going to this or that sporting event, I thought instead I would share with you my love for What-A-Burger's Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit.

I knew I loved the honey butter chicken biscuits, but Saturday morning showed me (and roommate) just how much I loved these little things.

I had a pretty lazy Friday.

So I am a bum. And it's okay.

I don't have classes on Friday. I didn't get up until 9:45 this morning, I surprisingly woke up before my alarm that was set for 10.
Once I finished breakfast, I went and took a shower. I wore jeans for the first time today since my surgery! But I only wore them for about 2 hours to go to lunch with my pledge class in Alpha Gam to discuss the senior date party.. Then I took a nap. Not just a little cat nap. A TWO AND A HALF HOUR NAP. Riiiiiiiiiiidiculous. Seriously.

MY FIRST EVER VIDEO BLOG

Alright folks. Video Blogging "v-logging" has been gaining in popularity lately. My blogging friend Erin at My Beautiful Disaster and her BOYFRIEND (sorry Erin, I said husband in the video, I think I just assumed he was the Mr. Erin) posted a Regional Dialect V-Log a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was pretty cool. So here is me trying to be as cool as two people, but by myself. Enjoy :)

You might just want to skip over this one.

I'm just in a funk. I don't mean to be, and I know it's not all entirely my fault, but it just happened.

I started out with good intentions by laying out my goals for March. So far I'm on track pretty well. I've got about 9 hours of community service coming up this weekend. I'm working on setting a BIG/little date with little number four (yes I have four different littles). But there are a couple of things that are setting me back:

Tell the World Tuesday!

Hello friends! I'm very excited for my FIRST EVER Tell the World Tuesday! I mentioned that I wanted to start this feature a couple weeks ago on this post. My first guest today was nice enough to be my little guinea hen (in her words) and I must say that she is one of my favorite reads. You will soon find out why! Without further ado, here is Mollie. Take it away Mollie!

1. First things first, tell me where you blog and a small paragraph about your blog (main reason for blogging, how often you post, content, etc.)
OK in UK was started to document the experiences I have living overseas (in the UK). There are posts where I'm whiny, posts where I'm shiny. There are posts that say how I wish I was back there, there are posts that say how I love it here. Sometimes, as of recent, I post every day. I'm mindful of saturation and the point of marginal returns, so I try to find something from the day or days (if it's been a while) that highlights the cultural shock I experience as a result of my high expectations for living here. In a nutshell, there's some whack shit that happens to me and I write about it, after I've processed it of course...


2. Give me 5 words you use to describe yourself:
Humorous Realism or Realistic Humor. That's five. Count 'em. But if you're really wanting a list...eh...
Integrity, Intelligent, Weird, Bigpicture, Teacher


3. Do you use a real alarm clock or your phone? If you use your phone, what tune do you wake up to?
Does a clock radio count as a real alarm clock? If so, no. I wake up to the tune of the sweet sweet birds singing and a thirty-five pound three year old jumping on my c-section scar. That's some fun. Once upon a time, like 6 months ago, we got the lovely Samsung HTC phones with data plan. I set my alarm on it for a while. I used the 'rooster.' Not because I'm from Oklahoma as a stereotype of farm girl. It was the most annoying of all possible alerts. I used to have an actual honest to goodness big ass stereo/CD player that I set to come on at 6:00 am every morning when I was in college. It played DMB's Before These Crowded Streets. Pantala Naga Pampa is a great way to ease into the wake-up and Rapunzel was fun to sing in my head as I woke up. Later on, as an Oklahoma History Teacher, I used "Don't Drink the Water" in my Indian Removal unit. I remember the first time I ever heard What Would you Say. Changed my life forever...somehow both for good and bad.


I've totally gone 180 from what the question wanted. I LOVE IT!
(I love it too, it makes me giggle)


4. What (or who) inspires you most?
The world and its denizens. David Bowie, Woody Allen, Douglas Adams, Bill Watterson, Carrie Fisher, Gary Larson, and Dave Sedaris. The month of October. The month of April. My kid. My cringe-worthy moments from junior high. Ren and Stimpy. Tex Avery. Bugs Bunny. and Nelson Mandela.
Fourth of July and Fireworks. Duran Duran and Sting. Pat Metheny and Louis Armstrong. Neil and Lance Armstrong, for that matter. When I was in the classroom, always, always my students.


Food.




5. Do you read for fun? If so, what are you currently reading; or what is a book you recommend?
If I ain't readin', I'm bored to tears. I'm currently reading My Favourite Wife, by Tony Parsons (wrote About a Boy). So far, it's good. I recommend most of Terry Pratchett's books to anyone as well as Kathryn Stockett's The Help. Memoirs are usually pretty good...particularly poignant ones, like Winifred Foley and Elizabeth Gilbert.


6. What is something you've always wanted to do?
Base jumping. Sky diving. And the shark cage.


7. What is your favorite part of the day, and why?
Right now...because I look forward to what's going to happen next.


8. Where is your favorite place you have traveled?
Interstate 10. It smelled good. A road trip with the girls to Orlando to see our friends who had moved there. I was asleep in the backseat and woke up to the smell of orange blossoms. Heady. That was the trip that I saw the sun rising just as I was on the middle of a bridge over the Mississippi.

9. What is your guilty pleasure (food, TV show, etc.)
Jon & Kate plus 8 and 45 kids and counting. Or is it only 20 kids now? And ogling David Bowie.


10. Give your favorite inspirational quote, photo, or both!
I have two quotes that I love...may I share both?


Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
&
Do or do not, there is no try.


Sadly, they're both from movies, not real people...but their characters are teachers...so it's okay, my padawan!




11. What is one thing you want to "Tell the World" today?
I'll let Ol' Blue Eyes tell it for me



Thank you so much Mollie for your honest answers (and I honestly love your wit, which is why you get to be the guinea hen.)

I love how you made this silly little questionnaire your own!

To all my readers, go check out Mollie at OK in UK, and show her some love. You won't be disappointed :)
Hey, and if you want to grab a button, you can now do so here:




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Do YOU want to be featured on Tell the World Tuesday? Shoot me an e-mail at mbattiestOKU{at}gmail{dot}com, and I'll send you the questions and instructions for being featured. Happy Tuesday friends!