I love me some March Madness.

WARNING: This post is abnormally long; I felt like I had a lot to say to end the month of February. Sincerest apologies.

This lady is SO ready for March. First of all SPRING BREAK and MARCH MADNESS!! (I told you I was a sports fan.)

Also, I realized this evening that I have just kind of been going through the motions the past two months, and that's no way to take on a year that has endless potentials.
I mean, I started off great taking a road trip to Phoenix and all, but somewhere along the way I kind of got stuck in a routine. This is NOT acceptable, Miss Battiest!

So here's to March!

• NO MORE GOING THROUGH THE ROUTINE. If you're going to do something, have a purpose for it. This includes sitting on facebook.
• MORE COMMUNITY SERVICE! I'm in two organizations that make community service easily accessible and what do I do? NOTHING!
• ONE BIG/little DATE WITH EACH little INDIVIDUALLY! That equates to one a weekend--yikes! Better work on #1 soon (haven't seen her since before Christmas break). (And roommate, this also means that spring break DOES NOT count.)
• APPRECIATE YOUR WORKOUTS. No more slacking because you don't feel like it. Get your ass up and MOVE! (This past week being forced to relax has taken its toll on me. I'm dieing here!)
• WHATEVER YOU DO NEXT YEAR, BE HAPPY WITH IT. This means being in Tulsa taking classes or being elsewhere teaching classes....ps I find out about Teach for America tomorrow...wish me luck!

Whew! Glad that's out of the way. Now on to more fun stuff :)

First off, I just want to recognize all the new readers! Within the past week, I have gained 10+ followers. *happy dance* I never really think the stuff I have to say is that interesting, but THANK YOU!

With spring break coming up, and me not getting to work out for two weeks, I did a little online retail therapy this weekend. I don't buy for myself often, but sometimes you run across deals you just can't pass up. I'm a lover of the store Vanity, and they are having a spring break special, buy one get one half off. Typically their full price stuff is a little more money than I'm willing to part with, but they have these shirts on sale! So I bought 4! They're very plain jane, but I will totally wear them this summer! It'll be a nice break from my typical t-shirts!

I also bought a very pretty necklace from this etsy shop. I was first introduced to etsy back in August or so, and in October or November I put a lot of necklaces in my "favorites." When I logged back in on Wednesday, there were only two necklaces that hadn't been sold. One of them I didn't really like, so I bought the other one. In my eyes, I was meant to have the necklace! It arrived in two days! That's right, it was in Norman before I was! Here's the necklace:

I couldn't find my camera to take a picture of it, so this is from the transaction details.

I love it. I'm so happy I didn't talk myself out of buying it.

And last but not least:

The very pretty, very funny Shay of Laugh Until Your Cheeks Hurt awarded me with this fun blog award:

I always like awards! So here are the rules:

Since I have now accepted this award (which she so fantastically named the smelly armpit award), I have to list five things about myself. However, only one of these facts will be true! The other four have a bit of truth in them, but are ultimately incorrect. Think you can guess which one is real?

This in fact, makes me a liar too Shay!

1. My favorite color is purple, my second favorite color is green.

2. I have visited 20 of the United States (including driving through them). 

3. The University of Oklahoma was the only school I applied to.

4. I don't drink pop ("soda") very often, but when I do my pop of choice is Dr. Pepper.

5. I've been hospitalized twice.

Can you figure it out? I tried to make it a little difficult, and if you know me and you know the real answer don't spoil the fun for everyone else! GEEZ!

Well poo. I, like Shay, forgot to tag people in this award. Here are my 5:
1. roommate at "I Like Bread" in Mandarin (Wo xihuan mianbao.) because maybe if she gets an award she'll blog more consistently.
2. Big at 1000 Different Pieces for the same reason as roommate
3. Chrissy over at Chrissy in America because she is one of my newest addictions
4. Jamie over at The CP because she is also a newest addiction
5. And the new mommy-to-be Jessica at Happily Ever After because I just miss you and I said so.
--also, it's not required to tell why you tag people, that's just what I do because I'm cool like that.

Okay I lied, ONE MORE THING! Don't forget to check back tomorrow! I have my very first ever Tell the World Tuesday! It's a good one, and the woman who was my guinea pig is sure to make you laugh!

(Also, sorry for throwing all the links at you today. Okay now I'm really done I promise!)

Enter my friends' giveaways!

I pause 30 Days of Truth to share of TWO fellow bloggers of mine who are hosting giveaways. (It might even count as three.)

First, the lovely Angie at Living Aloha ended her 29 Days of Giving with hosting a giveaway for her readers. She has chosen to give a very beautiful necklace to one lucky winner that has a touch of the island within it. I will post a picture here  but you can also visit this post here.

What I love most about this necklace is the pretty bottle of black sand included in it. Overall it is such a beautiful piece of jewelry, and it would be perfect to remind the winner of warm sunshine.


The second friend (friends?) that is hosting a giveaway is Sam at Love Never Fails, with the assistance from the oh-so-talented Valerie from Threads and Thoughts and Things I Love. I have been following Sam pretty much since I started blogging consistently, and very soon after she mentioned Valerie a couple times in her blog, I fell in love with Threads and Thoughts Things I Love. Valerie is so amazingly talented, and she can sew so many things, not just clothes (although I'm not sure why she would ever want to stop sewing clothes). She even made her own pretty winter coat! She's so humble about her talent, and she even assists friends with sewing projects over skype!

Okay, anyways, here is the picture of the skirt (modeled by Valerie) that one lucky winner will receive, custom made from Val herself!

I love how cute and feminine it is, and it looks to be a skirt that can be pretty versatile in how you wear it! You can get the full details of the skirt giveaway here.

Both giveaways will be picked via random . org, but I just wanted to write a post dedicated to each of these giveaways because ONE I love both of these blogs and giveaways, and two, I want to encourage my readers to go check out both (or all three!) of these blogs. You're sure to be inspired by them all!


Don't forget to participate in this week's photo swap! This week we have a theme!

My Saturday adventure was quite fun :) hope all of yours have been as well!

Happy Weekend Friends!