Voting Day

With all the nasty, pathetic, political ads going around right now it's hard to admit it's still important to vote. I'm serious! I'm so sick of watching all this political garbage! I can't wait for 8pm Tuesday night when the voting polls are finally closed!

The truth is, we have to vote! Republican? Democrat? Independent? Confused? 

I want to pass on a little something I learned the other day from a very wise woman.

"You must vote for the lesser evil."

--Morgan Kent Molden.

(...hint hint)

It shouldn't be about fighting!

It should be about working together!

It's important to vote. However you choose. 

VOTE FOR THE LESSER EVIL

A few of my favorite "You Tube's"

Introducing my top 3 favorite "You Tube's" right now. (feel free to refer to this post any time you are in need of a pick-me-up.)

1) The cutest thing you'll ever see...
Marcel the Shell



2) I had to watch this in my End-of-Life class... don't be afraid. Is got a humorous twist to it!
The Lady and the Reaper



3) A little pick me up from the last one...
Black Eyed Peas... you wont regret watching this.

I hope everyone is having a great week! I haven't posted lately but I'm simply trying not to fail out of graduate school... I'm sure you understand. :) 

ISU vs. IOWA

TOP 5 REASONS WHY IOWA FANS ANNOY ME:

1.  Most of them never attended the school
2. If they did attend the school, most of them dropped out/kicked out
3. T:hey are only fans because their friends are fans, and their friends are fans.
4. Bad losers (ie-when ISU beat them a few years back, admittedly unexpectedly, and 90% of them fled the scene immediately instead of going out on the town... like ISU fans do every year!)
5. Typical ISU/Iowa conversation:

             ISU: "why are you an Iowa fan when you never attended the school?" 
             Iowa:  "WHAT? how could you ask that? I've always been an Iowa fan!"
             ISU: "really? I thought you graduated from ISU"
             Iowa: "yeah but..."
             ISU: "so... you're an Iowa fan because your friends are Iowa fans?"
             Iowa: "uhhh... gotta go!"


I feel confident that 80% of the fans are not loyal fans. They are fans because it's the "cool" thing to do. With that being said, when ISU becomes the "trendy" team Iowa fans will quickly relocate their football passion. I imagine all of those fans saying something like, "what? I've always been an ISU fan." Yeah...


TOP 5 REASONS WHY ISU IS BETTER:

1. The people
2. The Education
3.  Their passion for tailgating
4. The fans are ALL authentic. True ISU lovers!!!
5. We aren't about "omg, that black and gold looks so good on you!" We are more like, "just put on some overalls and get your ass to the tailgating lots!"

 ISU college experience recap:

GO ISU!!!

Happy Labor Day!

I've had a fun-filled Labor Day of playing with my niece, doing homework, painting, watching TV... can't complain too much. I figured while watching a Bridezilla marathon I could probably blog at the same time...

Here's what I've been up to lately:

1. Weddings. 

One of many weddings: Alex's wedding 

Me, Mom, Morgan, Tabby, Allison, Dad

2. Concerts.

The Black Keys.

I must disclose that the Val Air Ballroom, where the concert was held, was roughly 150 degrees. (possible exaggeration) I had sweat in my socks, shirt, teeth, contacts, probably my purse too... it was SICK! But, once I realized I simply wouldn't leave this concert looking normal, I really enjoyed myself!

 This was the first time I had ever even heard of this band (before rolling your eyes everyone, remember, I am a self proclaimed musically uncultured individual!) And I must admit, this band was awesome!

3. Parties

Toga Parties

Morgan's Birthday 

Allison's Birthday

4. Half Marathon

Dam to Dam

Damn the Dam to Dam!

Allison, me

5. I-Cubs Games

We are all supporting the I-Cubs in our red and blue outfits. (this was not planned) 

Lori, Brad, me.

6. Dog Park Pool Day!

Me, Morgan, Allison

TABBY TIME:

And here are a few summer pictures of the cutest little creature in the world... my niece! haha She's also had some summer fun!

Where's Tabby?

Just so we're clear, I stole these pictures from Morgan. :) To view more go to Morgan's blog: click here

What's your personality?

At work HR gave us this super long, VERY hard personality test. I suppose the purpose was to learn about our co-workers but we haven't done that yet. Anyway, I became somewhat obsessed with finding out people's personality type. Particularly, my family and BF.  Here are the results:

Dad: ESTJ
Mom: ENFJ
Me: ENFJ
Brad: ENFP
Morgan: ISFP
Allison: ESFJ

ENFJ (me/Mom) =(Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging)
"The Mentor."
To no surprise, my mom and I are the same... which I find a bit encouraging because I like her. :) In a nutshell we are charismatic, empathetic, passionate, and sometimes a bit of an enabler. Instead of describing this in full detail I will say this: Oprah, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagen, Abraham Lincoln, Maslow, Peyton Manning, Johnny Depp, Michael Jordan, Diane Sawyer and ... Bob Saget (odd man to add to the mix, I think) But there are countless actors, entertainers, etc. I wonder if that means I'm dramatic? I guess that will be my excuse for watching Jersey Shore.

ESTJ (Dad) = Extrovert, Sensing, Trusting, Judging
"The Guardian"
The family-centered, conservative one who has traditional views. This seems about right. Although they should call it "The politician" Mostly all presidents: Monroe, Jackson, Harrison, Pierce, Cleveland, Truman, Johnson, and George W. Bush (puke)

ISFP (Morgan)= (Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving)
"The Artist." 
They kind of beat to a different drummer. Donald Trump, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, BRITNEY SPEARS! haha! Sorry Morgan... you may be an ISFP but no matter what mom told you when you were young... you don't look like her and you certainly don't act like her! HA!

ENFP (Brad)=(Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving)
"The Inspirer"
His actually described him to have a "silly switch." When the "silly switch" is turned on they can appear intoxicated. HAHA this is really hilarious and SO true for Brad! Bill Cosby, Sandra Bullock, Dr. Seuss, 

ESFJ (Allison)= (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging)
"The Caregiver"
I think the care giving part is self-explanatory and I suppose it's pretty accurate considering she's getting her Bachelor's in Nursing. Bill Clinton, Nancy Kerrigan 


To conclude this post, I would just like to say that the test results concluded that my mom and dad are the least likely to have a relationship. HA! Oddly, they weren't surprised by that but looks like opposites not only attract but actually work out sometimes.
Although, both Brad and my results concluded we should have a relationship. So I decided to keep him around a bit longer ;)

You can take the test here: Personality Test

ANTM: FREAK-OF-A-WAIST!

 America's Next Top Model thinks this is a good thing? Am I the only one who thinks this is a little extreme? Even for a show like this... I mean, seriously, did they forget to look at her face? Maybe a face doesn't matter when you have a skeleton body so small that a guy can put his hands completely around you.

Let's all try it: Put your hands out. Touch your middle fingers together. Touch your thumbs together. Imagine your hands as the size of this girls waist. That's how small that freak's girl's waist is! Small isn't it? Holy crap.

This is not what women are about... we are not about being 6'2'' and 50lbs (quick estimate). We are not about having eyebrows touch each other! We are not about looking frail! We are WOMEN (hear me roar!) Not hipless, boobless, curveless, and FATless people! We are WOMEN! WTF! I feel bad for those 13-year-old girls who have one chubby leg weighing more than this girl's entire 21-year-old body. I think it's sending the wrong message.

I know a lot of people who already find Tyra annoying but I've always kind of liked her. She advocates for people from all walks of life and as a social worker, I certainly appreciate that! On her hit show she has featured models that are blind, plus-size, transgender, lesbian/bisexual, and countless races, cultures, and ethnicities. But featuring some freaky-skinny girl completely based on the fact that she's freaky-skinny truly disappoints me. I would like to disclose that freaky-skinny people certainly deserve attention for their talents and life probably isn't always perfect for this 6'2'' freaky-skinny girl but I don't think modeling is lacking in the freaky-skinny department and therefor there is really no need to advertise this gal's freak-of-a-waist as a desirable feature in a woman. Let's all say it together, FREAK!

Or maybe my 5'3'', way more than 50lbs frame is just jealous... it's hard to tell.

MORE B.S. MEDIA CRAP:

In case you have not read your weekly tabloid trash mag:

... Jessica Simpson is fat again... or something.

 This is the picture they (uvtblog.com) show next to the caption: Fail Tail. (I must admit it's a catchy caption) If we're going to debate whether she's fat or not... I'd like to argue that horizontal stripes could trick ANYONE to think they have gained a few. This is the teeny-bopper type of celebrity that I love. So everyone, BACK OFF! Jessica's weight is probably equal to the weight of 2 chubby legs from one of those 13-year-olds overweight girls walkin' around! How do you think that makes them feel when we're calling Jessica Simpson fat? Those chubby legged girls are probably super annoyed.

Chicago Weekend

About mid-spring Brad and I decided we would take a little trip somewhere during the ONE WEEK of the entire year in which both of us had time off from school. So, of course, the end of July approaches quicker than expected and we're stuck looking at each other on the Thursday night before the Friday we planned to leave for our vacation.... and we still needed to decide where we were going to go, make reservations, and cash our checks from work ask our parents for money. I woke up Friday morning feeling certain our "vacation" would consist of a fancy dinner for two at the local McDonald's in Des Moines. I get a phone call 2:30pm Friday afternoon:

 "Mal, we're going to Chicago"
 "I already looked there and all the hotels are full" (due to some XXX convention!)
 "I've got it taken care of. Just go home and pack."
 "oook I'm scared."

To my hesitation, I packed anyway and we were off... to Chicago. 5 hours later we pulled up to the Hampton Inn and Suites downtown Chicago! Beautiful! Thank God for parents, credit cards, and Brad's creepy secret connection with travel coordinators!!! Here's some pics:

 Right outside our hotel & on our way to eat at Navy Pier

Navy Pier

 Navy Pier

 Me, Allison, Theresa

And we were luck enough to have my sister, Allison, as our waitress (please do not pay any attention to her t-shirt... she was very embarrassed that she had to wear it!) haha

One of my best friends from college, Theresa, made it out and her attendance made our night extremely entertaining!!

 

Of course we couldn't visit Chicago without attending attempting to attend a Cubs game. But by the time we got our late butts to the stadium the game was sold out. We went to a nearby bar with Allison, Joe (Allison's BF), and Matt (Brads bro) for some drinks... cheering on my favorite team (of the day). 

Go Cubs!

On Sunday I was craving the beach! But as we were on our way we noticed some very dark clouds. Yep. Of course. Rain. Thunder. Lightening. Did we turn around? Heck no! What's better than watching a crowd of people sprint to the nearest place with a roof? It was hilarious! People were so scared of being touched by rain you would have thought humans were allergic!

About 20 minutes later it cleared up and it remained an absolute GORGEOUS day!

Even Brads Bro, Matt, decided to join us!

And that's about it. If only I was able to take off work we could have stayed longer than 3 days. However, if we did that we'd either:

A) Have to open a new credit card 

B) Ask our parents for more money

C) sleep on the floor of one our siblings apartments. 

It's weird... when I was 15, I thought I would definitely NOT be living with my parents anymore and I would most certainly be able to afford a hotel room for more than 2 nights. That's life. Maybe next year... well, probably not. Maybe in two years when I've graduated making a bunch of money as a social worker. :) You never know!

Catch up

Anyone else ever feel like they are constantly playing Catch Up? Work has been CRAZY (pun intended) and my waste-of-time summer class is finally over! I've got so much to talk about!


First, my favorite time of the year... 4th of July. We had our 3rd Annual Motorcycle Adventure!

We departed from Des Moines and traveled to Atlantic, IA

(with Twizzlers in hand, of course)

 We met up with the other half of our group who were departing from KC and they made quite the entrance... 

Jeremy and his bike were in a fight and I think the bike won because he met us in Atlantic riding
<--------THIS!

From Atlantic we ventured off into the beautiful countryside of rural Iowa. 

And we made it to Sioux City, Iowa to attend one of our favorite festivities: Saturday in the Park. We listened to Santana (apparently it's a popular band that I was made fun of for not knowing about... the music was OK, but again, I'm not known for knowing what "good" music is.

Here's a picture of our entire group

                          

May I add, this was at the VERY end of the night. And most of us were still standing... most of us!

From Sioux City we traveled to Boji, Iowa--which is known for it's 4th of July party crowd. 

We obviously fit in perfectly, considering we are playing flippy cup directly off a nasty wooden table. I think I hit my "word limit" for the amount of times I am allowed to say "eww, gross" while playing on that table!

Boji treated (most of) us kindly and after a long weekend we were on our way home. We dodged the rain but when I walked into my house my family looked at me like they've never seen somebody who went on a 3-day drinking binge, hundreds of miles on a motorcycle, and showered for less than 10 minutes over the course of 3 days. I mean come on, don't be such sissy's. 

Hunk Day!!

It's already Wednesday... and I haven't even been to work this week! Nonetheless, it's Hunk Day. Time for your Hunk Day Hunk. 

This hunk might appear to be a biased choice, however, it only seems fair. He is smart, has great hair, handsome, sweet, can grow a goatee in less than 3 days (unfortunately...) he's clever, kind, rides motorcycles, plays guitar, sings like a... well, not so much a singer but you get my drift. He was my partner in crime this weekend on our Motorcycle Adventure for the 4th of July. Anyone guess who it is?

He rides a Harley...

He is masculine and strong...

He is sly and cool...

Lastly, he loves corny pictures... 

My BF,
 Dr. Hottie 
Brad!!!!
(Brad may or may not have requested this title)

 Fireworks in the background... definitely corny, but seriously how cute is this picture? (just try to ignore the new addition to his face, "the goat.") Any of you that know me knows I might be just a little itty bitty bit corny! Considering we were partying like it was our 21st birthday... photo turned out nicely! 

Sorry for cutting this post short... I've got a TON of pictures from our trip to put up! Coming VERY soon!! Unfortunately I'm taking a summer class for school and it's keeping me annoyingly busy

Hunk Day Wednesday!

I got some hilarious responses about Hunk Day last week! In fact, one response in particular encouraged my decision for this weeks Hunk Day Hunk! 

ZAC EFRON!

On the cover of this weeks People magazine

I know... some of you are thinking it's "wrong!" but whatever! He's OBVIOUSLY not a child! Plus, he's WAY over 18... he's like... 20! He sparked my interest ever since I watched High School Musical 1, 2, and 3. Naturally, I continued to watch his films like, 17 Again, and I thought... he's kinda hot. Crap, that's probably really wrong. But when I saw him on the cover of People's magazine "50 Most Amazing Bodes" my feelings were validated (and intensified!). It's all good. Seriously.
I really think he's a good, all-American kid! AHEM! I mean, adult! And I adore his relationship with his girlfriend, Vanessa (who also stars in High School Musical 1, 2, and 3... that's probably where they met. So they're kind of like high school sweethearts?)


In light of my fascination this week with People's magazine "50 Most Amazing Bodies"I thought I'd add a Hunkette(?) of the week. This woman went through HELL with the tabloids a year or two ago when she got bombarded with captions like "cottage cheese for thighs!" In her teens she was the girl next store, the beautiful, well-natured, good-girl girl. And apparently the tabloids had a problem with some healthy meat on her bones--but now, I must say... she's looking healthier than ever!

Jennifer Love Hewitt

She took a TON of crap for her 5'2'' frame actually having some kind of butt! In People she talks about how embarrassed she was about the tabloids a year or two ago and she decided to get her workout on at the gym 6 days a week. That's hardcore people! Like, ZERO of us do that! 

Happy Father's Day!

To a truly amazing Dad! Who spent his day playing golf, then opened up gifts... new golf bag and a golfing outfit (I see a theme here...) He was even lucky enough for me to "cook" him dinner. Frozen pizza? Yup! He ate it... happily!

Here's some pictures of some joyful times I've had with my Dad:

Dancin' at Morgan's Wedding in 2007

Dancin' at my cousin's Wedding in 2009

I wish I had some pictures of the times I really remember vividly! Like the time my dad was upset that I ran away from the ball instead of toward it when I played second base once in middle school. After the game he made me stay late and take grounders to "improve." This is when I discovered I was scared of the ball. I cried the entire time and begged him to stop. Did he have mercy? No. I kept crying but he just kept hitting those grounders (I think he thought I'd get over my fear if I faced it more than 200 times in a row). 

I never played infield again.

He was patient. He was kind. He didn't always go soft on me... but most of the time he did. My dad is more than a dad to me now... he's my roommate. I can't imagine a better male roommate in my life right now! (sorry Brad, no offense!) 

He's also a grandpa! Here's a fantastic example of his charming sensitive side with my niece

Tabby and Grandpa 

Happy Father's Day! And Grandfather's Day! You all are appreciated more than you even know! Thanks for all you do! And to my dad--thanks for being a great roommate, too! You're the best! :)