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.

I decided to make an "About Me" page for those of you following me and who don't really know much about me except the name of my blog, and a little bit about the content of my blog.

Written on January 3, 2011 and dated for October 27, 2010

My name is Mallori, and I have been a resident of Oklahoma my entire life. I've never moved out of the state, but I've moved within the state quite a bit. I am a proud alumni of Sperry High School, which is located in a small town just north of Tulsa, OK. As of today, I am a current student at the University of Oklahoma, but I will be graduating in May 2011 with a Bachelor's of Science in Health and Exercise Sciences. From graduation, I will be "taking a year off" to take some classes that are pre-requisites for nursing school. I hope to enter nursing school in 2012 to complete a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing.

I come from a small family of four, but that's only my immediate family. I spend SO MUCH time with members of my extended family, and sometimes I forget the little rugrats are my cousins and not my sisters. I have two brothers who are my friends. Even though we fight sometimes, I love them dearly and want what is best for the both of them. My mother raised us as a single mother for a majority of my life.

In my house when I'm not in Norman, there are six of us living together. It can get crowded and we butt heads, but in everything, we are still a family.

I believe in God. I may not show it through all of my posting, but it is something I was raised on and still believe in. I neglect it a lot more than I used to, but I have my beliefs and always try to stick to what I believe. I was raised as a Southern Baptist, and now that I'm 23, I don't necessarily believe that you have to have a religion to be a spiritual being. However, I still associate with my home church and still claim to be a Southern Baptist.

I am probably one of the most passionate people you meet. It can be my downfall sometimes, as I tend to put a lot of time and energy into some things that are not always healthy for me. As I've gotten older, I have realized that these are some of the things I'm most passionate about:

• family. every single family member. No matter how much we argue, they will always be my rock.
• my schools. I'm a lover of both Sperry Pirates and OU Sooners. Don't talk smack about either and I won't present an argument :)
• friends. I invest so much time and energy into the people I call my best friends that I've gotten hurt in the past. It doesn't stop me from trying to see the beauty in it all
• books. I love reading, A LOT. I love recommendations from people, and love to discuss things we found within the book itself.
• learning. I never want to graduate, so long as I can take classes that I find interesting, and not necessarily classes within my major anymore. The classes are starting to get redundant.
• laughing. I love to laugh. I love laughing with friends. I love laughing so much I can't breathe.
• loving. I love everything about the idea of love, and I love showing that emotion to those closest to me. There's no greater feeling than loving someone and knowing you are loved in return.
• pictures. I believe you can never take too many, as pictures capture a moment, scenery, and friend in time. Too soon things change and I love looking back on the things I wanted to remember forever.

When I first started this blog, I was a freshman in college. I basically started it so I could have a place to vent about how lonely I was. It was awful. I was looking for love in all the wrong places, and wanted everyone to have pity on me. I don't like looking back on my first posts, but it is what it is, and without that time period, I wouldn't be the strong person I am today.

Since then, I have taken a new direction with the blog. It's mostly filled with my day-to-day adventures, and things I think you might like to know about what's going on in my life. I am not necessarily looking for love anymore, instead, I am enjoying the love I am sharing with those closest around me. I have big ideas for my life, and am excited about things to come in the future. I know I wouldn't be anywhere without my family and friends who keep me strong and hold me accountable to the things I love.

On my profile page, you will read this:

"20-something female who finds joy in the little things in life. I love to love, and I love to laugh. And I have an unhealthy obsession with Love Actually. Adjectives to describe me: female. sister. daughter. brother. runner. lover. friend. college student. pirate. SOONER. :)"

When I decided on all these things, I wanted to give you a short synopsis as to what I find most interesting about me, so here is a breakdown of the above:

• 20-something female: I am 23 years young
• who finds joy in the little things in life.: It took me a long time to be truly happy, and I got a tattoo to remind myself that everything can be beautiful. It is a tattoo of the word "aiukli" across the top of my left foot. "aiukli" means beautiful in my Native Language, Choctaw. If you ever see it in person, remember what it says, and don't think it says "ankle," because it's on my foot and that is silly.
• I love to love,: I think I touched on that pretty well above.
• and I love to laugh.: Again, see above.
• And I have an unhealthy obsession with Love Actually.: If you haven't seen this movie, you need to do so now. It shows all the different aspects of love, and it is a beautiful movie. It's definitely my favorite feel-good chick flick.
• Adjectives to describe me: female.: I am a girl. I have my tomboy moments, but I love getting dressed up and feeling like a girl.
• sister.: This is in two ways. I am a sister to two of the most amazing brothers a girl could ask for. They're younger than I am and I love them too much. I am also a sorority sister, and have met some amazing women whom I call my friends, confidants, and sisters. I never thought I would have sisters.
• daughter.: I love my momma more than words can say. She irritates me to no extent sometimes, but she is my mother and she sacrificed a lot while we were growing up to make our lives better.
• brother.: I promise I'm not crazy! I am a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity. We pride ourselves on living to the three cardinal principles, Leadership, Friendship, and Service. Because it is co-ed, we are all brothers.
• runner.: I recently became a distance runner, with the completion of my first half marathon. When I was in high school, I hated running because it was punishment. Once I got to college and had to learn how to exercise on my own, I realized how much I loved everything about running. It is my mental escape and relaxation.
• lover.: I'm a lover of many things, as you can read throughout this entire about me page. Some other things include: purple, TOMS, Converse, plaid, meeting new people, college football, text messaging, and random texts from random friends that brighten my day
• friend.: To have friends, you must first be a friend. I pride myself in working every day to show my closest friends just how much I love and appreciate them. They get me through some rough times.
• college student.: As I said before, I am a college student. I live on a college student's budget, and I do without. But in the long run, an education is one of the most valuable things I will ever invest in.
• pirate.: Before I was a Sooner, I was a pirate. And I will forever love the colors of orange and black together with a pirate logo. I take pride in the fact that I am an alumnus of Howard W. Brooks High School. The teachers there also helped shape me into the person I was to become.
• SOONER. :)  : I am a Sooner. I have met so many people and learned the most while attending The University of Oklahoma. Being a Sooner (and college student) has molded me into everything I have wanted to become, and without this place, I would probably still be writing blog posts to gain sympathy.

If you have made it this far, THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to read a little bit about me. These are the only things I could think of off the top of my head. If there is ANYTHING you want to know about me, you can ask me on a comment here, or if you would like to ask anonymously, ask me here at formspring. I promise to answer everything honestly! I love getting to know people, and I hope you want to get to know me.

All my Love,

Mal