I promise I'm not dead...

You see, there's actually a good reason why I've been silent. I went on a fantastic VACATION with my momma. I'm one of those weird people who thinks everyone in cyberspace is out to get me, so I didn't say when I was leaving or how long I'd be gone. But I'm back, and plan to fill you in on all the cool stuff I did and saw. I just need a few days to relax and get everything all organized.

I missed you guys a lot! I'll be back to update soon :)
Mal

Book Review: More recent readings

After I finished up Wicked, it took me quite a while to finish another book. I attempted to read Pride and Prejudice for quite a while (and I'm still attempting to read it). Once I realized I was going nowhere fast with that book, I started picking up other books to try to read in the midst of trying to get through Pride and Prejudice (and I know there are probably quite a few of you that love it, and I'm sorry. I'm trying.)

So here's a list of books that I have completed (while only getting through 60% of Pride and Prejudice):

The Scorch Trials is book two of The Maze Runner trilogy.

Guys, I'm not kidding, if you like The Hunger Games trilogy, and you like young adult novels, you should definitely check this series out.

In The Maze Runner, we learn "The Gladers" are save from the maze, or so they think. It only took a couple of chapters into the second book to realize that the kids were nowhere near as safe as they had hoped to be. Testing had to continue, and Tom is still confused by the phrase he saw in the maze, "EVIL IS GOOD."

The kids go through trials of almost zombie-like towns to get to the other side of the scorch to get the vaccine for the flare. And there is also a new guy that joins the gladers.

And at the end of the book, Dashner wants his readers to think the gladers are safe. But Thomas has his doubts.

After The Scorch Trials I think I decided I needed a little trash novels to read quickly. So I read book two of the Gossip Girl series.

In it was what you would expect: scandals, lies, teenage drinking.

I'm pretty sure I had read this one before, but I read it again. It's just not as good as I remember it being when I originally read it many years ago. I guess that just shows I'm actually growing up a little bit. So. Weird.









Then, I'm not sure if you were aware or not, but this badass book-made-movie came out in March, so I decided that I wanted to read the books again. So I read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire again. I read both of them in three days. I would have read Mockingjay, but I loaned my copy to my aunt.

Once I got done with The Hunger Games, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and finish out The Maze Runner trilogy.

Just like Thomas' fears at the end of book two, we quickly learn that The Gladers are not as safe as they hoped to be.

They go through more trials, and then, it just kind of ended. I had invested so much into each of these characters, and I'm not really sure that I was expecting more of a flourish for the end or not. It wasn't a terrible ending, and it was definitely kind of an unexpected ending. But it was a happy ending.

And just like the first two books, every chapter was a cliffhanger. Definitely hard to put down.

Book Two of the what seems never-ending series by Janet Evanovich.

I had attempted to read Two for the Dough a couple years ago, but then had to go off to college and ended up leaving it here.

So what did I think of this one? It was funny, but not quite as funny as the first. The plot was pretty much the same, Stephanie Plum had a big case that would earn her pretty good money, and had a little bit of a hard time getting it taken care of by herself.

I still want her and Ranger to end up together, but who knows.

Will I continue reading the series? You betcha. But I expect the same basic concept for all of the remaining 16 books so far in the series. So don't expect me to get too hyped up about them.

This one I decided to read kind of on a whim. You see, my mom told me that I needed to update my library card because you could check out ebooks for your nook/kindle from the library and this is what we needed to do before our upcoming vacation.

So I started exploring through all of the ebooks that I knew I wanted to read, and got waitlisted for most of them. So then I started browsing the books by genre, then author.

Now, I have read The Dating Game by Danielle Steel, and I enjoyed it. It was a romance novel without getting to graphic. So I decided to pick out a few more Danielle Steel novels to read and stumbled across this one.

I actually just finished this book yesterday, and I loved it. It too was a little predictable, but overall I thought it was a pretty good story line. Two people, one a politician's wife, the other the husband of a woman whose father runs a big pharmaceutical company, meet by chance in Paris (well, he kind of stalked her) and spent the whole night talking to each other, each giving the other an emotional relationship that their marriages had been lacking for a number of years.

Now I'm not saying that I approve of emotional affairs (I actually feel like they are worse than physical ones), but I really enjoyed reading about their lives after they left Paris and didn't keep in touch with each other. Each person had so much self discovery that I really ended up liking the story overall. But it was a predictable romantic story. And I think I'll read a couple more Danielle Steel novels as well, even if her writing will be like Evanovich's and super predictable throughout them all.



Anything good you guys have read lately? Any advice for getting through Pride and Prejudice? I'm hoping to finish it up during my vacation...

one of the best days of the summer EVER

Remember how I told you I needed to tell you about one of my best days ever? Yeah, that day was June 4. And I kind of forgot how awesome that day was until I started going through old texts.

I had both the 4th and the 5th off from work that week, and the 5th just happens to be Katy's birthday. I started my morning off pretty early by going to get fingerprints done for work. For those of you who don't know, I am a banker. So I had to get them done to be able to do home equity stuff.

Anyways, Katy and I had decided the night before that we were going to take time to go look at the new apartments we want to move into and put in an application. So I went and picked her up and we headed downtown.

Katy and I have kind of already decided that's where we want to live, but the lady who was showing it to us didn't really sell it very well. We also told her it would be a few months before I was out of my lease and we'd be able to move in. Oh, and we also had to ask to see the showroom. Don't get me wrong, we still love this apartment, this lady was just awful.

So after we viewed the apartment, we headed back to my place to go swimming in my pool. The Saturday before, me and one of my coworkers at my old branch had decided that we were going to hang out that day and she was going to bring over her almost 2 year old daughter to swim. The four of us ended up swimming for like 5-6 hours and chit chatted about life and stuff.

Then we started getting hungry and a Thunder playoff game was on that night, so we dispersed from the pool. Katy and her friend Brett had been texting throughout the day about watching the game together, so I told her that he could come over too! When he decided that he did want to join us, I cleaned up the place well enough for it to look presentable while Katy went a couple miles up the road to the grocery store to get a few frozen pizzas.

Katy and I sat and watched the Thunder win that night, and Brett ended up coming over after. He also brought with him his friend David, and another friend of his and Katy's named Rachel. Actually, Rachel had called and asked if it was okay, and I had met Rachel before so of course it was okay! They had brought over a case of beer, and Katy and I had a few during the game.

Then someone got the idea to play card games. So basically, an impromptu party of 5 broke out at my apartment around 11:30 that night. It was so much fun!! And then we got to be among the first to tell Katy happy birthday once midnight rolled around :)

Recap:
*looked at new apartments
*swam for forever
*Thunder win
*impromptu party

It's pretty easy to see why it was one of the best days ever.

4th of July appetizer

Last minute, I decided that I wanted to make some pinwheels to our friend's for the fourth. I had had these pinwheels before, and scoured the internet trying to find what I wanted. Unfortunately, almost every recipe I found called for green onions, olives, and all kinds of different herbs and stuff that did not sound all that appetizing to me.

If you have friends from Oklahoma, have visited Oklahoma, or are an Oklahoman yourself, you will know that most of us think that ranch dressing makes just about everything taste better. Which is why I really wanted a basic pinwheel recipe. So I started reading around a lot at all the different recipes and decided to create a little bit of my own concoction. I give you my pinwheel appetizers:

Ham/Turkey and cheddar cheese pinwheels

Ingredients

*2-8 oz. packages of cream cheese

*1 large packet of Hidden Valley ranch seasoning

*10 (11) large burrito-size tortillas

*Ham and Turkey lunch meat of your choice

*2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Start by softening the cream cheese by either leaving at room temp or throwing them in the microwave for less than a minute. Then add the ranch packet and mix the two ingredients together well.

Next, spread a layer of your cream cheese/ranch mixture on the tortilla. Make sure that you spread the cream cheese to the edges of the tortilla like so:

place 2-3 slices of  lunch meat in the center of the tortilla, and add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese on top of the meat:

Then roll up the tortillas to where the cream cheese on the outer edge is secured to the outside of the tortilla, kinda like glue. (I apparently forgot to take a picture of this.)

Then refrigerate the rolls for a couple hours (I put another cookie sheet on top of them to hold them in place).

Then do other things to busy yourself. I read, took a shower, and danced my butt off to some country music.

Once 2.5 hours had passed, I took them out of the refrigerator, and cut them into little slices:

Then, I arranged them in a pretty little flower-esque shape:

Now just try not to eat them all before you take them to your party....

And all together now:

Ingredients

*2-8 oz. packages of cream cheese

*1 large packet of Hidden Valley ranch seasoning

*10 (11) large burrito-size tortillas

*Ham and Turkey lunch meat of your choice

*2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

*Start by softening the cream cheese by either leaving at room temp or throwing them in the microwave for less than a minute. Then add the ranch packet and mix the two ingredients together well.

*Next, spread a layer of your cream cheese/ranch mixture on the tortilla. Make sure that you spread the cream cheese to the edges of the tortilla.

*Place 2-3 slices of  lunch meat in the center of the tortilla, and add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese on top of the meat.

*Then roll up the tortillas to where the cream cheese on the outer edge is secured to the outside of the tortilla, kinda like glue.

*Then refrigerate the rolls for a couple hours (I put another cookie sheet on top of them to hold them in place).

*Once a couple hours have passed, remove the rolls from the refrigerator cut them into little slices.

*Enjoy!

On where to go from here...

(Re-Meet me in part 1, part 2, and part 3)

So now that I've let you know a lot of things that I feel are some of the more important aspects of me, where do we go from here?

aiukli has always been and will always be a place that I would love to chronicle my (almost) daily adventures. My mind is nowhere near as sharp as it used to be, and I don't want to forget some of the greatest moments of my life. Which reminds me, I need to post about one of the best days of summer I've had so far. (see! told ya I forget!!)

But that isn't the only thing that I want to write about anymore.

You see, for the first time in my life, I am living by myself. I know it's going to change in about three months' time, but I'm still going to be on my own. No more being tethered to my mom's house (as much as it means to me because two of the most remarkable women I know live in that house). I'm out on my own, and probably won't have to move back in with my mom. It's so strange, this transition into adulthood.

So I would love to start having my experiences with living on my own on here as well. This will include some recipes, my feelings about being alone (and then with a roommate again), and hopefully not too many crazy neighbor stories (let's face it, we've all had them).

As much as I loved my "Tell the World Tuesday" features, it didn't quite turn out how I had hoped. (And who knows, I may do a "let's re-visit these awesome women" Tell the World Tuesday post again in the future.)

And there will also be days where I know I won't have the time to write, or know exactly what to say, or know exactly how I feel. So that's when you might see Tuesday Tunes or Friday's Letters.


So basically, this is going to be the beginning of the continued randomness of the Mallori you have all come to know and love, but hopefully it will be a little more organized chaos :)

If you've stuck with me this long, I appreciate your reading, your following, your comments, and everything in between. I hope you'll stick around.

Also, I'm thinking about changing the URL to aiukli.blogspot.com. It will be much easier to try to type out. What do you all think????

And how do you like to be acknowledged with your comments? Right now, I go back and forth between replying directly to comments (which I know doesn't give you any kind of notification) and replying by e-mail (when you have an e-mail attached). This is my place but I'm also here for you. I want you to continue to want to visit this place every day.

Any and all feedback from those of you that check this place out often is greatly appreciated!!

-Mal

p.s. aiukli is getting a face lift. We're in the very beginning prep stages, and everything will be announced once it's all finalized. She's going to be just as pretty as she always has been, just a little more professional :)

Please, allow me to re-introduce myself... (pt.3)

(part 1, part 2)

One of the last things I want to share with you today is something that not a whole lot of people know about me, and in fact, it took a long time for me to know about myself.

The truth is, I'm in love. There's a man that I'm crazy head-over-heels in love with. The only one that I would reconsider my current views on marriage for. I love everything about him. His quirky-ness, his nerdy-ness, and how he is one of the few people who have always been 100% honest with me. Does he know? I think so. I haven't straight-up told him, but I have divulged a little too much information to him on late nights.

The problem is that his heart belongs to someone else. Remember how I said he's always been 100% honest with me? This was one of those things he was always, always honest about.

It's exactly that quote that I know all of you have seen/read: We ignore those who adore us, adore those who ignore us, hurt those who love us, and love those who hurt us. Way too true. If I could change the way I feel, I totally would. But when he and I do talk to each other, he makes me feel amazing.

It sucks. But I consciously choose to keep him on my mind every day. He and I don't talk very often at all, so I feel like the fact that he still has my attention is my choice.

It won't always be okay for me, but for now I like to continue dreaming that one day he'll see that she doesn't treat him the way he should be treated, and that one day he'll see that we're kind of perfect for each other. But until then, meh.

One thing I always learn about life and love, it goes on.

Please allow me to re-introduce myself...(pt.2)

(make sure you read part 1 here.)

Now that I've given you a basic idea on how I view my relationships with others, here's more about me:

I change my mind all the time on how I want my hair. Today, I want it long and black. I've had it long and: black, natural, darker than my natural brown, highlights, low lights, red, two-tone, pink highlights. I've had it short and: black, natural, growing out the black, red, highlights, purple highlights. When  you catch me on the days I want it black, I firmly believe that I should have been born with natural black hair.

I am obsessed with the following: How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), Law & Order: SVU, Jason Segel, instagram (mbattiestoku), laughing, good wine and beer, two-stepping, my cowboy boots, country music, music I can dance to, the color purple, Oklahoma City Thunder, Tulsa Drillers, University of Oklahoma, guitar hero, fedoras, fedoras on cute men, Mexican food, reading, bar hopping.

I try to go out every. single. weekend., because I know that soon there will be a time where I won't get this luxury anymore.

I said this six years ago, and I still feel the exact same way, I would sell a kidney to be able to see Aerosmith in concert.

For now, I live by myself. But soon I will be living with my best friend Katy again. And I'm pretty sure we'll end up living together until she gets married.

I love writing. This isn't the only blog I write for.

I truly miss running. But there's a two and a half mile track about 3 miles from my place now, and I'm hoping to hit that track a couple more times this week.

If it were socially acceptable for women to wear ties, I think I'd wear one almost every day. I'd definitely wear one every time I went out.

I believe the HIMYM quote that nothing good ever happens after two a.m. Unless you are watching a hilarious movie like Bridesmaids with one of your most favorite people ever.

I would rather have sweet tea or kool-aid than pop (soda). But if I'm going to have a pop, it's going to be coca-cola.

I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2011, and I am doing nothing with my degree. But I still like that I get to help people with my job!

And tomorrow, I think I'll wrap it up. Hope you stick around :)

Please, allow me to re-introduce myself...

I feel like I've neglected you, my readers, in the past few months. You see, I was out living life, and re-discovering myself and everything that makes me happy. And it's true, we all do it, we all neglect our blogs for a little while, and we all come back apologizing for our absence and promise to be better bloggers. (And this time is no different for me.)

So in order for this to be a place where I love coming to every day to pour out my heart and soul, I thought maybe it was time that I re-introduce myself to people who have been here for some time and have a general idea of what I write about and who I am, introduce myself to those who haven't been around as long, and also lay a foundation as to where I want to go from here. So here goes.

My name is Mallori. I am going to be twenty-five near the end of the year, and I have more of a complex about being 25 than the thought that I am that much closer to thirty. I actually kind of welcome 30 with open arms (for now). I think mostly this complex is due to the fact that I am NOWHERE near where I thought I would be at the ripe young age of 18. But even though I'm not where I hoped I would be, I love where I'm at and I wouldn't change a thing.

For the most part, I blog happy things. But there are some days where life just kind of sucks for the moment and I just need to rant.
I'm also silly at times, without the intention of being silly.

I'm from a small town in Oklahoma. I love my small town with the exception that people think you can never change. And when you do, they try to tear down everything that you built up to make yourself happy. And no matter how much you have changed, to them you are always the same person you were six years ago.
*You see in high school, I was pretty timid (for those of you that really know the real me now, this is weird to you). I wore my heart on my sleeve and I was used like a welcome mat. I went off to college fearing the same thing, but then I realized, I don't have to maintain relationships with people who treat a person like that. That I'm allowed to have my own opinion on things, and that just because your opinion differs than mine doesn't mean either of us are wrong. That I'm a pretty tolerant person, with the exception of you hurting me or my closest friends. That I have a no-bull-shit attitude toward people, that the more upfront and honest you are, the better we'll get along. That I don't like being lied to so you can save my feelings. That I don't want to spend time with those who don't want to spend time with me. That calling, texting, and e-mailing works two ways, and I should never feel like I am to blame for a failed relationship. That I'm a tomboy that loves to get dressed up. That no matter what other people think of my weight, I know what I need to do to get to where I want to get (but quite frankly I'm not ready to make that commitment yet, and it's none of your concern). That I'm not ready for the commitment that comes with a significant other, or children, and that it is no one else's business to decide if these things will make me happy.

I'm a sucker for a good love story, because with how crappy the world has gotten, it still makes me believe that there is hope for my future little ones and nieces and nephews.

I come from a divorced family. I do not have any kind of relationship with my father. Before the divorce, I was a daddy's girl; then as I grew up I rarely spoke to him. By the time he was ready to be a dad to me, I was almost 19 years old and had no interest in it whatsoever, and the more he attempted to salvage a relationship, the more it pissed me off.
I love my mom with all my heart but sometimes I wanna knock her senseless because we are both stubborn. Even when we fight, we can't go more than a week without communicating in some way with each other.

I hate, hate, hate saving money. You can't take it with you go. And I know what it's like to be dirt poor.
Speaking of being dirt poor, I don't let that define me either. I know what it's like to want even basic necessities and I know what it's like to have nice things.

I try to rarely ever let an opportunity to have fun and make memories pass me by.

I want to share more with you, but this post is already a little lengthy. So who knows? This "re-introduction" may take a few posts before you get to hear about what's going on in my corner of the world.


I hope you'll stick around for the adventures.

happy happy happy 4th of July!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 'MERICA!!

Today, I will be sporting these  :)

Lord, give me strength, to not break my ankles in these just before I go on vacation.

Here's to a wonderful day with my family and amazing food.

Hope yours is just as awesome and colorful and LOUD.

just a few thoughts

Today I have the day off.

I feel like I have to go back to work tomorrow because yesterday I got off work at 1. But I don't. I get the luxury of having the 4th off with my job. Excited for family time.

This is me checking in to get you excited for Thursday's post

It's gonna be a good start to a small little series.

Trust me, if you want to stick around, you'll want to read it. And when I started writing it, I didn't realize it was going to be more than one post. That's what happens when you start spilling your guts to the world.

I hope you'll stick around.
:)