Liebster Award

Last week, I was awarded the Liebster Award twice.   I'm almost positive someone gave me this award when Aubri was a newborn.  This time around, I will make time to comply with most of the rules and whatnot.

First, Becca gave me the award and then Roxy  gave it to me.  They each have a beautiful baby girl that is about the same age as Aubri.  If you don't follow their blogs already, go check them out.

The Rules

 1. List 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.

3. Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.

4. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.

5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

Becca's Questions:

1. What is your favorite quote?  I can tell you my least favorite quote.   It's, "It is what it is."  No joke.  Everything is what it is.
2. What is the first thing you notice about people?  This may sound weird but eyebrows.  I don't know why.
3. If you could live in any era of history, when would it be and why? I love 70s music.  So, I'm going to go with the 70s. 
4. What motivates you to exercise?  What motivates me to exercise is that I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid in my brother's upcoming wedding.
5. What grown up job did you want, when you were a kid?  I believe I wanted to be a math teacher.
6. Did you ever want to change your name? If so, to what?  I'm sure I did want to change it but I can't recall what to.
7. What single dish do you cook well?  I'm going to go with potato soup.
8. Where were you in life 5 years ago?  Five years ago, Matt was deployed and we had just gotten engaged.
9. What makes a house a home?  Family :)
10. What is something you have always wanted to try? I want to try Zumba but I'm afraid I'll make a fool of myself.
11. Which junk food is your weakness?  Chocolate chip cooks and peanut M & M's.

Roxy's Questions:

1. Where do you live?  We live in central Illinois.
2. Do you want to be living there? Why or why not? Yes and no.  We are actually trying to sell our house and move to a town closer to where we both work and where our families are from.
3. What is your occupation? My title is Accounts Receivable Specialist.
4. Is it your dream job?  I like my job. I'd love it if I made more money.
5. What is your favorite food?  I'm on a low carb diet.  So, anything with carbs sounds good right now.
6. What types of food are you afraid to try?  Sushi.  Really any seafood besides fish and shrimp.
7. What are your hobbies?  Spending as much time with Aubri as I can, in addition to working and going to school.
8. Do you like to workout? Why or why not? Like, no.  I do it though. 
9. What is your favorite type of workout?  Well, I have a gazelle.  I wouldn't say I really like it.  Matt said I could get a treadmill. 
10. What are your goals for this year?  Lose about 40 pounds, finish my first school related micro-goal, try to relax more.
11. What does your typical day consist of? Wake up, get ready, take Aubri to Mom's, mess around there until I absolutely have to go to work, work, go to Mom's for lunch and see my baby, work, go home, eat supper, play with Aubri, work out (maybe), rock Aubri to sleep, put her to bed, and then go to sleep.      

Thank you both for passing this award along to me!

If you are reading this, consider yourself a recipient of this award.  

Hope you are all having a great week! 

Award

Over the last week or so I was award the "Most Valuable Milspouse Award". I received this award from Ashley @ Daydreams and Dog Tags, McDancer @ McDancing Through Life, and AngieDMac @ Oh, How Delightful!

Thank you ladies! This one means more than the average award to me. At one time, I was pretty much a superstar milspouse. Now that my husband is in the Reserves, I'm only really a milspouse one weekend a month. (Please no debates about this here. I'm speaking from my experience and not making a generalization.)

I know my husband will not and cannot be deployed. Yes, we have survived a 15 month deployment and have still spent more of our relationship apart than together. I still feel thankful that we have the experience of the deployment and being apart under our belts. We both learned and grew from it. But, by no means do I sacrifice as much as many of you do anymore. Thank you all!

So, with that being said, I'd like to pass this one along to:

Jessica @ {Mis} Adventure of an Army Wife

Beka @ A Personal Look Into My Life As A GI Joe's Wife

Brittney @ A Day In The Life Of A Navy Wife

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Award and Questions

Forever ago, I was tagged by the Annoyed Army Wife to answer some questions.

So here we go:

1. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
I always sleep on the side farthest away from the door.

2. Do you have an alarm clock that you can dock your iPod in? If so, which one and do you like it?
No I have a $10 alarm clock that I only use to look at the time. I use my cell phone's alarm for my alarm clock.

3. Should I get an iPhone when my contract expires on my current phone (in less than a week)?
I wouldn't because I'm at a computer all day. I'm not really into all those fancy gadgets either. But if you think it would make your life more enjoyable or add some convenience, then go for it.

4. What's your favorite cookie to bake, if you bake?
I haven't made cookies in forever. But I love no-bake cookies but I guess that probably doesn't count as baking.

5. What's the most annoying noise in the world to you?
Slurping, hands down.

6. Who was the first person to break your heart?
Oh, some asshat.

7. What time do you wake up in the morning usually?
6:20 a.m. and then snooze until around 6:35.

8. What time do you normally go to bed?
I go to bed around 9 p.m. and usually fall asleep around 10 p.m. Lame I know.


Then, I received this award from Erin at Every Branch. Thanks for the award!

Rules

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass it along to blogs you've recently discovered and enjoyed.

4. Leave the recipients a note telling them about the award.

So let's see.... 7 things about myself....

1. This semester is boring the crap out of me. I have a 98% in one class and a 96% in the other.

2. I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year. It's mostly the financial aspect of it that I hate. It's just a lot of money to spend on stuff that people don't really appreciate that much anyway.

3. In the last 12 years, every job I've had I've worked for at least 5 years or I'm still working at.

4. I like to look up the most random stuff online. Yesterday, I was looking at personalized ornaments for the pups.

5. Eyebrows are the first thing I notice on a person.

6. Sometimes I call Matt "shug" like Nancy Gribble says on King of the Hill. The pups are "lil shugs".

7. Last night I made stuffed green peppers for supper. They are Matt's favorite.

I'd like to pass this along to:

Ashely @ Life as Lucy
Sarah @ My life with out my soldier
The Young Army Wife @ The Young Army Wife's Life
Kayla @ Life Captured

Awards!

Over the last month or so I have received a couple of new awards. I apologize if someone gave me one and I'm missing it here. My mental notes are not always 100% reliable.

This first one comes from Katie at the Adventures of Katie and Josh. I love Katie's blog. If you don't follow her you should definitely go check it out.


For this one I am to simply pass it along to seven other beautiful blogs.

So in no particular order:

1. Whitney @ Everything Happens for a Reason
2. Nicole @ Flip Flops and Combat Boots
3. Mrs S. @ The Adventures of Mr. Superman and Mrs. S.
4. Ines @ The Few, The Proud, The Wife
5. Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy
6. L.C. @ Faith & Deployments
7. Jessica @ Learning As We Go

This award also came from Katie.

The rule for this one is to pass it along to at least five other blogs and explain why.

1. Missy @ Everything But the Kitchen Sink because I think she fell off the face of the blogosphere and I miss her.
2. Rose @ Desert Rose Moments also because she has disappeared and I miss her.
3. Mrs.B @ FromOurPlaceToYours because she once called me "young" and "inspiring".
4. Random Musings of My Life because she is one of the most generous, thoughtful bloggers I follow.
5. Shayla @ Sunshine and Sprinkles because she always leaves comments that make me smile.


I received this award from Inis at The Few, The Proud, The Wife and from L.C. at Faith & Deployments.
For this one, I am supposed to share 7 things about myself.

1. I am in love with our pool.
2. I'm not really a "people person".
3. I'm loving my online class.
4. I don't care about using commas correctly or at all in my blog.
5. Word verification annoys me.
6. My eyes are blue but the right one is about 1/3 green.
7. Our camper might be the best investment we've made.

And the pass it along to 15 other blogs. Yeah, I'm too lazy for 15. How about 5?

1. Jessie @ What You Wish For
2. Jordan @ Southern Hospitality
3. Frugalista @ Frugalista Getting Married
4. A Lady in Waiting @ A True Long Distance Relationship
5. Alicia @ The "D" Word

Thank you all for the awards!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!

Award!

I received yet another award this week from Jessie @ What You Wish For and A Lady in Waiting @ A True Long Distance Relationship. Thank you both for the award. I love getting a little inspiration to have something to blog about.

The rules of this one are to list ten thing that make me happy and then pass it along to ten different blogs.

10 things I love:

1. My husband. Duh.

2. Cardinal baseball. Enough said.




3. Spring. We haven't had "spring" here in a couple years so I'm loving this one.

4. Ozzy. He's such a good dog.

5. My parents... They've always been there for me.

6. My sister... my BFF.



7. My little brother... It still scares me how old he is getting. He's so responsible and such a hard worker. I wish I had half the sense he has when I was his age.

8. The fact that my whole family is nuts. (Not in a Jerry Springer kind of way)



9. My friends that still like to have fun.

10. Any and all Texas Country concerts



Now on to passing this along to ten blogs. Well, since I just spent too much time uploading all the pics and I've seen this award all over the place in the last week I might not make it to 10. We'll see.

Missy @ Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy

Christina @ Sugar Sweet Thoughts

Dawn @ Must Love Tots

Rose @ Desert Rose Moments

Mrs B @ FromOurPlaceToYours

Dani @ Hard Corps Love

Bridget @ Always an Adventure

If you round up, that's ten. Have a great weekend!

I love awards!

This week I got another award. When I first started blogging I didn't get any awards for a long time. I thought I was a virtual lame ass. Look at me now. ;)

This one came from Dawn at Must Love Tots. Dawn was friend of mine in high school, we lost touch, and met back up through the blogging world. She is the mama of two beautiful kids and should be nominated for daughter of the year. Her blog is so funny and always makes me laugh. Thanks Dawn!



Here's the rules:
• Thank the person who gave this to you.
• Copy the logo and place it on your blog. Link the Person who nominated you.
• Name ten fun facts about yourself.

1. I suck at listing ten facts about myself. It usually takes me days to think of ten things. We'll see if I can think of ten of the top of my head.

2. Cardinals spring training games on today and tomorrow. I'm super pumped. Baseball season is so close I can feel it.

3. I'm leaving work early today to go talk to my adviser and asswipe.

4. I'm going to try to lose some weight. I never really cared about doing so before because Matt thinks I'm sexy and stuff. Besides, I thought I'd be pregnant by now so I would be fat anyways. Now it's getting nice out and I can't fit in my summer clothes. Don't worry my blog won't become overtaken with my work-out and eating routine.

5. I believe that happiness comes for the inside and not what a person looks like on the outside. Being a little on the heavy side shouldn't make a person unhappy.

6. I really hope it is nice this weekend. If it is Matt and I and my seester and her boyfriend friend that is a boy might go four-wheeler riding.

7. I'm ready for mushroom hunting. I'm not sure where in the U.S. they can be found but google it. Morel mushrooms. They grow in the woods here. Mushroom hunting involves drinking beer and walking around in the woods. Good times.

8. No, I will not give up beer in the summer in order to lose weight. I might try a lower calorie beer. Like Bud 55 but I heard it tastes like Clydesdale urine. So, no promises.

9. Spring is my friend. I can't wait to be playing outside on the weekends.

10. I'm starting to think that spring break is just an illusion. I keep hearing that it is going to happen but it's taking forever to get here.


And now to passing this on to 5 blogger buddies of mine:

Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy
Jessie @ What You Wish For
Missy @ Everything But The Kitchen Sink
Rose @ Desert Rose Moments
Katie @ The Adventures of Katie and Josh

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Bring on the sunshine!

Awards!

In the last week I have been given four awards! I've been slacking on posting them.

First off, this award comes from Rose @ Desert Rose Moments. Every time I read her blogs, I smile. She's hilarious.



The rules are:
Name 6 things I am master of. And then pass it on to 6 bloggers that are master of friendship and making blogging so awesome.

1. Annoying Matt - He is OCD about the toliet paper being hung the "right way". Anytime I put a new roll on I make sure to hang it "wrong". He also can't stand the sun visor in his truck or my car not being latched. I always make sure to unlatch it whenever I get out of his truck. :)

2. Making List - I make lists at work, at home, for school, and most likely in my sleep. However, I'm not the master of remember to bring my lists with me.

3. Flipping Eggs - I was the GM at Denny's when I was 22 and I flipped more eggs there in 4 years than anyone should in their whole life. I do not need a spatula to flip eggs. It's all in the wrist.

4. Taking Naps - I love naps.

5. Keeping the house neat - I wouldn't say that our house is always spotless but it is usually always neat and tidy.

6. Drill weekend - After this weekend, I consider myself the master of drill weekend. I got all kinds of stuff done and stayed positive about my husband being gone.

A Lady in Waiting @ A True Long Distance Relationship
Dawn @ Must Love Tots
Random Musings Of My Life
Christina @ Sugar Sweet Thoughts

Next is an this award from Katie @ The Adventures of Katie and Josh. Katie is awesome! She's been a loyal follower of mine for awhile.



No rules with this one except to pass it along to five other blogs.

Rose @ Desert Rose Moments
Yummy Mummy on a Pink Park Bench
Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy
Jessie @ What You Wish For


The third award I received is from Kate @ Sometimes Life is Messy. Kate is a fellow military wife who is in Japan. I love reading about all her adventures.



5 Things that add sunshine to my life:
When my husband tells me that I'm beautiful
Good music
Snuggling with Ozzy
Long weekends
Doing well in school

5 Blogs that bring sunshine to my day:

Nuke Girl @ Everything But the Kitchen Sink
Jessica @ Learning as We Go
Marsie @ Quite Contrary
Bridget @ Always an Adventure

And last but not least I recieved this award from A Lady in Waiting @ A True Long Distance Relationship. Her heart is over playing in the sand right now and I love her blog.



For this one I have to state 7 things about myself.

1. I just set my blog to not allow anonymous comments. I had my first anonymous a-hole this weekend.

2. I can't wait for summer!

3. I have a test tonight.

4. I wouldn't trade my hubby or my dog for anything.

5. My family is nuts, but in a good way.

6. My sister is my BFF.

7. Matt's birthday is tomorrow.


Kristen @ Behold the Metatron
Jennifer @ Crazy Shenanigans
Mrs B. @ From Our Place To Yours
Katie @ The Adventures of Katie and Josh

Thank you all and Happy Monday!

Honesty Scrap Award

Yay, another award! I received this award from Jessie @ What You Wish For and I'm pretty excited. Jessie's blog is one of my favorites to read and if you don't read her blog you should definitely check it out. Not only is this cool but it gives me something to blog about.

"The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or two. First, you have to tell your readers ten things about you they may not know, but that are true. Second, you have to tag 10 people with the award. Third, let all the people you've given the award to know that they've gotten it (comment on their blogs or something). And finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you."

1. When the roads are bad, I drive like a 80 years old woman. Then I get mad when people follow me too closely. Seriously, you won't get where you are going any faster if you end up in the ditch.

2. I'm not sure why but white eyelashes freak me out. If I was a dude and had white eyelashes I would were mascara.

3. Most of my good friends are guys.

4. My BFF is my seester.

5. I have never had a permanent address that was more than 20 miles from my parents house.

6. My favorite shows are all reality shows. Currently I'm loving some Hoarders and Intervention and can't wait for Survivor to start again.

7. I'm very opinionated. Once I form an opinion, its highly unlikely that I will change it.

8. I can't stand styrofoam or cardboard. If I can, I will empty the contents out of a cardboard box in my cabinets. For example, breakfast bars go in a basket and the box is thrown away.

9. It is impossible for me to do homework or study if the house isn't up to my standards. (OCD?)

10. Matt and I have been trying to get pregnant since September. It hasn't happened and it's starting to bum me out.

And on to tagging 10 people.....

Honestly, I started trying to find 10 people who haven't received this award but that's too much work. If you haven't received this award, consider yourself tagged. I wouldn't read your blog if I didn't like it and think you were honest.

Happy 101 Award!

Katie at The Adventures of Katie and Josh passed along this award to me. Yay! I love Katie's blog. She's is very positive and creative. Thanks Katie!

The rules are simple.

1. List 10 things that make me happy.

2. Tag 10 bloggers that brighten my day.


So, first 10 things that make me happy.

1. My husband, of course
2. My family
3. My dog
4. Doing good in school
5. Silence
6. Naps
7. Diamonds
8. Driving with the music cranked
9. Having a clean house
10. Seeing others happy

Now, to tagging 10 blogs that make me happy to read. First of all, if I didn't like/love your blog, I wouldn't follow you. All the blogs I follow make me happy. But for the sake of following rules, here are my ten.

Bridget @ Always An Adventure

Short Mama @ A Family of Shorts

Christina@ Sugar Sweet Thoughts

Dawn @ Must Love Tots

Marsie @ Quite Contrary

Jessie @ What You Wish For

Katie @ Sometimes Life is Messy

Random Musings of My Life

Tattoos and Teething Rings

Jessica @ Learning as We Go

Happy Friday!!!

Award Time

Tuesday I was awarded this award by Katie at The Adventures of Katie and Josh. Check out her blog if you haven't already. She is very sweet, has great taste, and write hilarious blogs.

As per this award's regulations, I am to post it on my blog, write 10 interesting things about myself, and pass it along to 10 other blogs.

1. I always thought that I didn't like shopping. I recently came to the conclusion that 90% of the reason I don't care for shopping is the crap music they play in stores. The distinctly remember hearing that umbrella.. ella song in a clothing store for the first time and wanting to gouge my eyes out.

2. I can not stand wire hangers. I refuse to use them. Matt drags them home from work and I don't even like seeing them.

3. People at work call me "Steffi" (that's how they spell it too). I don't really care but I'm not sure why they do it either.

4. About this dress thing, its giving me anxiety. In the last ten years, I have worn a dress twice. One time was my wedding.

5. When I was 22, I was the General Manager of Denny's. It was a lot of responsibility and a lot of hours. I did that for about 2 years and realized I was too young to waste my life doing that.

6. My cousin's last band would let me play a couple songs with them whenever they had gigs. That was cool.

7. My mom and dad have been married 30 years.

8. Until a couple years ago, I hated pink. Now it is one of my favorite colors.

9. Also, until recently I couldn't stand country music. Now I will listen to country, but only Texas Country.

10. I love plants. I have a ton of them in my house since its getting too cold for them outside. I have only killed one since we bought our house.

Now on to passing it along....

Bridget from Always an Adventure

Short Mama from Family of Shorts

Christina from Sugar Sweet Thoughts

Dawn from Must Love Tots

Jennifer from Crazy Shenanigans

Tattoos and Teething Rings

Marsie at Quite Contrary

Random Musings of my Life

Tonja at Smile, You've Got French's

Lola at Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

What's on my iPod? and an Award!

Another band that is on my iPod is Alice in Chains. I recently downloaded the new Alice in Chains album, "Black Gives Way to Blue." That's right, a new album. I was a little surprised too considering the lead singer from the band, Layne Staley, died from an overdose in 2002.

The new album is definitely no "Jar of Flies" but it is good. Alice in Chains is a grunge band that became famous around the same time as Nirvana and Soundgarden. Alice in Chains always reminds me of being 16-19 and around a campfire or road tripping.

A few of my favorite Alice in Chains songs are Would, No Excuses, Don't Follow, and Nutshell.

Now, on to the award. I was awarded The Dragon's Loyalty award by Katie at The Adventures of Katie and Josh. Katie is very creative, has great taste, and I love reading her blog.

This award is to recognize loyal followers. All my followers are awesome and here a few of the most loyal followers:

Lola at Not All Those who Wander are Lost

Random Musings Of My Life

Los at Plethora

Jennifer at CrazyShenanigans

(army)Wife at More Than an (army)Wife

Fabulous? Me?

I was given an award yesterday by Jessica at Learning as We Go!!! I love her blog. She is so honest. Her blog is one of my absolute favorite blogs to read. I feel like if I knew her in real life we would be good friends. I can see a lot of myself in her.

The rules for this one are simple; just share 5 things you are obsessed with, and then pass the award on to five of the most fabulous blogs you read!

So here are five things I am obsessed with:

1. Reality TV... there I admitted it. Matt hates it. My favorites right now are Survivor, America's Next Top Model, The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Pawn Stars, and any kind of cop reality show.

2. Making Lists... I am also obsessed with making lists. I always have a list on the fridge of grocery items we need. I have a list for school stuff I need to do. I have a list for stuff that needs done around our house. I make lists at work. I have a little post-it note gadget on the desktop of my laptop and I make lists on it. And I probably even make lists in my sleep.

3. School... I'm probably obsessed with school. More specifically right now I am obsessed with figuring out which classes to take next semester. I think this is because when I got out of high school, I went to a four year college (used to be in the top ten of party schools in the US) and failed miserably. I failed because I spent more time at the bars and house parties than on campus. Oh well... you live and you learn. I just want to prove to myself and everyone else that I can do it.

4. Texas Country music... Before around three years ago, I despised country music. I still don't like a lot of it. But I love love love Texas Country. Its more like southern rock. My favorites are Cross Canadian Ragweed, Reckless Kelly, Whiskey Myers, and Back Porch Mary.

5. Bingo... Well not yet but I have a feeling I'm about to be. Matt and I went to bingo once with his friends when he was home on R & R about 2 years ago. His friends get t-shirts made. I can't remember exactly what they say but I know they say O 69 on the back. We were invited to join their crew this fall/winter. I have to decide on a Bingo Nickname by tomorrow. Bingo is at the KC Hall and they serve adult beverages their so it can get pretty interesting.

Now to passing this along. I didn't pass this along to anyone who has already received this award. I wanted to pass it along to bloggers that "do the award thing" and haven't received this one.

So in no particular order, I am passing this along to:

Marsie at Quite Contrary I just started following her blog but she seems super sweet.

Rachael at A Soldier and a Sweetheart

Bridget at Always an Adventure

Katie at The Adventures of Katie and Josh

Christina at Sugar Sweet Thoughts

My First Award!

I recieved my first blog award yesterday from Dawn at Must Love Tots. I love her blog as well. She's a very strong lady and a wonderful mama.




I'm going to pass it along to:

• Bridget at Always an Adventure

• Jessica at Learning as We Go

• Heather at Live.Love.Laugh

because I love your blogs.