Election Day (& a surprise!)

Hi there, Lovebugs! Yes, you're totally in the right place! SURPRISE! I got a new look (Thanks Sarah at Span-tag Designs!) and I am in L.O.V.E. with it!! Makes me feel all gown-up and stuff;)     But back to the main focus, today is Election Day (as if you did't already know)   but I'm going to use this fabulous little blogging platform to tell you o vote vote vote!! It might not seem like much, but please take the time to do something that other people are out there fighting for you to be able to do.   I was lucky enough to turn 18 in an election year (2008) and it was so cool to be able to say that I had a voice in the new president. And if you're part of my family you would know two things:   1. You vote on election days. Even little local ones. 2. You only buy American made cars.   Pretty easy, right? I think so:)   Now get to your voting station and proudly wear that little "I Voted" sticker! :)  

Is it Monday??

I'm crushin'

Lately, I've been  falling for some fall T.V. shows.  (Ha, get my lame joke?) Get your DVR's ready beacuse currently I am O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with: {Side Note: Does anyone even watch real tv anymore??)     Chicago Fire Hellooooo hotties;) And that fact that it' actually filmed in Chicago is pretty dang cool too!  I'm only two episodes in, but so far there's just enough drama (and hot, half-naked men) to make it interesting but not soap-opera worthy.      Nashville Total girl show guilty pleasure. Country music, pretty ladies, and hot men taking their shirts off left and right? Sign. Me. Up.          Underemployed Not going to lie, this one kind of pulls on my heartstrings a little...it's the story of 5 friends who just graduated college as they navigate "real life". It's funny to see some of the same things I'm feeling/thinking being played out on TV. So far I'm lovin' it, but I have a feeling it could get a little too crazy. (PLL anyone??)  We'll just have to wait and see:)       Arrow This one is more action packed (read: I can get Matt to watch it with me!) It's like a modern day Robin Hood with a reallyyyyyy cute guy playing Robin;) Even though it's only 2 episodes in there have been quite a few twists and turns. Definitely hooked me to hang around to find out more things!      And on that note, Happy Hump Day, Ladies;)  

Eff. Marry. Kill. Take 5

Love Love Loving this link-up! It's always a surprise when it comes around and it's just plain F-U-N. With a capital F.    Welcome to the HIMYM version of Eff. Marry. Kill. (That's How I Met Your Mother for all of you tv deprived people who had no idea what that meant ;))   Hosted by:     And on to the good stuff:      In their How I Met Your Mother Character--   Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris): marry Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor): eff Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segal): kill (Sorry Lilly!)     Who would you pick?:)   

I Picked A Good One

.....at the pumpkin patch!

  Saturday was the October edition of our "Year of Dates" that I put together for our anniversary. I'm not sure if we could have picked a busier day to go on....we had a flag football game to go to, a third birthday party to attend, and a fundraiser dinner at the end of the night.  Whew, it's making me tired just thinking about it! But we managed to squeeze in our date. Complete with hayride, haunted corn maze, and pumpkin picking of course:)

On the hayride!

Oh, did I mention I was dumb and wore my brand new boots (check 'em out in the picture above!) into the muddy nasty corn maze?? Well I did. And Matt almost didn't let me in the car to come home. Just kidding, but he does love his car;)    How was your weekend?:)

Surprise #1!

I need your help......

"Be a pal, Vote for Mal!"

  I promise it'll benefit you too;) So why do you have to vote for me? I'm in a Costume Contest over on Janna's blog, Perception Is Everything! So if you all could run on over to her blog and vote for me you just might walk away with some very amazing prizes!! Woo, who doesn't love prizes!? And it's her first ever giveaway...be a part of history;) So things to do: 1.Go to Perception Is Everything (I even made it easy for you and linked it!)  2. Wish Ms. Janna a Happy Birthday! (She needs it, her husband is away on deployment:( Lets show her some love!) 3. Vote for me in my cop costume:) 4. Enter her Birthday Giveaway  5. Hope you win! Good Luck && Feliz Friday!:)  P.S.- I think I need to edit my use of exclamation points. It looks like I'm screaming at you guys all the time, HA! Promise it's just because I'm excited;)

A giant THANK YOU!

I'm am all kinds of excited this week! So many fun things going on, and some of them will be revealed to you these next few days:) This post   First, Thank you so much to everyone who commented about my scary ER experience! I was totally feeling like a freak of nature, but your sweet words were just what I needed to hear:)     Second. The power of this blogger love is amazing! I sent a tweet out to three very big name blogging ladies and each of them  sent very sweet responses very quickly. I'm loving how supportive blogging can be, and it's such an encouragement to keep up with it:)     Third,  Have you entered the Holiday gift swap?? I definitely did. Who doesn't love mail containing fun things?! This button will take you to the page where you can sign up:)     And that's all folks:) I've got a 3rd birthday to celebrate over here, so you can find me licking the spoon from the cake bowl with my 4 & newly 3 year old helpers;) Happy Thursday!!  

Don't drink & eat

  Or you will be a sad panda like me who had to sit in the ER on Sunday afternoon because there was a piece of food caught in my throat:(   Ok, so maybe it had nothing to do with drinking and eating at the same time....   I was out with Matt at Cooper's Hawk (ever been? totally delicious!) and had just taken my last bite of chicken when I thought it had maybe gone down the wrong way. I could still breathe just fine, it was just kind of a weird feeling. You know, sometimes that happens with pop and stuff...no big deal, right??   Wrong.  All say Saturday I couldn't really eat or drink so I just knew something wasn't right. Sunday afternoon I went to the ER and had to be given a drug that relaxes your throat muscles so the food would move past where it was stuck. Luckily, this wasn't painful at all and worked like a charm!
So why did this happen to me? I promise I know how to chew my food, I've been doing it for 22 years just fine;) Turns out, if you have seasonal allergies, this is pretty common. Your throat can swell up, not enough to cause issues breathing, but enough to trap things that are on their way down to your stomach. There's not much you can do about it except take care with small bites.
Lesson leaned. 
I'll now be eating like a baby bird with food chewed 100 times. Each side.      1,2,3,4........  

That one time I got outdoorsy

Hi there. Girl who refused to wear anything but skirts (the twirly kind, obviously) and dresses until the age of 8, here.   I'm reporting in from my outdoorsy weekend! It was totally fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because it was 5 days long;)   Sunday, Matt & I went with a friend of his from work, Todd, and Todd's family to Starved Rock. Huge attraction here in middle Illinois;)   Here we are in the middle of a canyon...    And on top of an "illegal" climbing path...    Me squeezed into an indent of a huge rock...don't mind the dirt all over me, it was a good climb:)   And in front of the pretty yellow trees...     I may just have to go back there someday soon! (Maybe because we walked/climbed for 4 hours and burned about 700 calories. Talk about a good workout!)   Have any of you ever been?:)  

Blogland//Sponsor Love

This month was a first for me, I paid to sponsor two blogs.   AunieSAUCE and For Love of a Cupcake   It was awesome. These ladies were nothing but amazing.   I mean Aunie is just the sweetest thing ever. She walked me through the entire sponsor process (since it was my first time! A Virgin? Gasp!) and even gave me twitter shoutouts:

    And it didn't stop there, she went out of her way to notice my follower gain and tweeted me again.   I'm feelin' the love! Not to mention, sister just got engaged!! Go over to her page and tell her congrats!! :)   And Amanda. Don't even get me started. Girlfriend is getting married this weekend but was still available for questions and to host this month's sponsor giveaway! Talk about busy!         I would highly highly recommend sponsoring one of your favorite blogs today!!     Happy Almost Friday!!