March Madness [Sponsor Edition] Pt. 4 & WIN SOME GERMAN CANDY!!

Happy Weekend!! 

If you haven't entered for your chance to win some German goodies, go here and do it! By midnight - please and thank you!

I hope you all are doing fabulous and have some awesome plans. I also hope that your weather isn't as craptastic as Germany's is!! 

That being said, I have three more lovely people for you to check out today. I had some pretty awesome sponsors for this, my last month of having sponsors (for a couple of months, at least), so you should definitely get to click-clicking and make some new bloggy friends! 
 blog.
 blog.

I Have a HUGE Favor that could earn you German Candy...

Can you do me a favor pretty pretty please and go like this page and tell them that Alyx Garner referred you? I may or may not bribe you by saying that if you do this and leave a comment saying you did, I will pick a winner and send you some German candy! 

Favorite Things Friday

Howdy, ya'll! I'd make such a good Texan, wouldn't I?!

First of all, I'm over here guest posting today!! 


Anyway. It's Friday, and you all know what that meeans!! Some of my favorite things! The theme today is spring. 


1. All of the trees are blossoming, and that means pretty things to decorate with!! 
2. Spring rain. We haven't actually had any yet, but I love the smell of rain, the smell after it rains, and the fact that it's not 33 degrees and rainy.
3. Fruit. There's so much more fruit available at the store now that it's springtime and more things are coming in season.
4. Spring Break. You didn't think I'd forget this one, did you? Can you guess which 2 places we're going? Just pretend that the second picture doesn't tell you...
5. These three lovely ladies, and their favorite things about spring. HA! I'm a cheater. That's three answers in one... all stolen from other people. But seriously - check out their bloggies!
 blog.
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PS: I bought red lipstick in real life because I dreamed that I bought some... and now I have no idea how to wear it without looking weird. I put some on today and I thought it looked sort of silly... 
Tips appreciated! 

Random. Vampire Bunnies. Books. Blisters.

Hi there! 


I have literally had the most random thoughts all morning, and I thought I'd share them with you. You're welcome.

- I had a dream last night that a vampire bunny killed me. Or brought me to the world of the undead where I then fed on other unfortunate humans. Seriously, though - it chased me through a forest and latched onto the flowy skirt I was wearing, but I was able to swish the skirt and swing it off. It eventually caught back up to me, though, and I stepped on it. Then, since it was a vampire bunny, it wasn't hurt, and bit my leg, and sucked my blood.
- I also had a dream last night that I went to Wal-Mart with some friends. I bought a bunch of random crap. Oh, the things you dream about as an expat.
- I have a blister the size of a small child on my foot. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit. But it IS huge.
gross, right?! Can you see the size of that thing?!?! 
- I think I'm the only blogger in the world who is not writing a book. Or thinking of writing one. I'm reading one, though. Does that count?
- I'm confused by what is considered "professional" photography (and a good photo) in the small German town where I teach... I think the picture below speaks for itself.
- I'm refusing to get dressed or do my hair today. Wanna see how I plan on walking around for the next 10 or so hours?
- I really need to tweeze my eyebrows. They're furry little monsters. Do you guys say tweeze or pluck? I used to say pluck, but then someone told me it made them think of chickens, so now I say tweeze.
- I need to do homework. Boooooo.

- Sarah - when I thought of chickens, I thought of your blog. I hope you're not offended that chickens make me think of you...
- The most overused phrase in my vocabulary has to do with crack. I really like to tell people that I'm on crack, or they're on crack, or their grandma is on crack, even though it's not true.

Seven.

YO!!! I wore a boring ole outfit today, so no what I wore (I'm sure you are all just devastated). Instead, I'm linking up with Gentri for 7 questions!  
my ridiculous picture. 
1. What is your favorite color TO WEAR?
Gosh, I'm so lame... black is actually my favorite color to wear, but if black doesn't count, I'm going to say red - it looks good on me, but I don't have much of it.
2. You are given the choice between visiting every country and landing on the moon. Which would you choose?
Every country, no question. The moon would be lonely.
3. What's your favorite animal and why?

Hmmmm. I guess my favorite animal would have to be... dogs. They're so loveable! 
4. You are forced to do one of the following, which would you choose? Sky dive, scuba dive, or this:



The rope swing, hands down. 

5. You are given the chance to go back in time. Which era would you visit?
Ummm. That's a really hard question. My first thought was the 1800s, but then I thought about Christ's time, but then I thought about how BADLY I would do without all my modern conveniences and realized that that's why I'm here now. 
6. If you had the power to remove one thing (ie: flies, mosquitos, junk food) from the earth for good- what would it be?
Mosquitos. I HATE mosquitos. 
7. What is one thing you've learned from Pinterest that made you think "GENIUS"!
Putting a rubber band around your apple to keep it from turning brown!! 

Germans love Panties...

I MEAN PANTYHOSE!! 


Oops. Anyway... Germans have this fascination with pantyhose, and I'm going to tell you allll about it. After I prove that I did, in fact, get dressed today. [Sometimes I have to document it, because let's be real - I spend 95% of my time in sweats.]
shirt: Primark belt: thrifted pants: alloy shoes: target
Please ignore the fact that I'm wearing my favorite skinny jeans yet again. I didn't say I got dressed in something different; I just said that I got dressed. 

Anyway. On to the main subject of this post, which is kind of a weird one - PANTYHOSE. 

I curse the things. In fact, I have only worn them maybe twice in my lifetime. My legs are ridiculously long, and I've never been able to find a pair that actually fits - instead they just sit a few inches below my crotch, and I walk around like a penguin, praying that they don't randomly fall down. If I don't have someone holding a gun to my head telling me to wear them - chances are high that those puppies don't go anywhere near my legs, no matter how pale or hairy they may be. 

The Germans, however, well... they're a little different. I noticed it when I was here a few years ago - all the women were wearing pantyhose all the time, even with jeans! I thought, "hmmm, must just be a phase." Fast forward 2.5 years and I'm back again, and the pantyhose wearing continues. Every day, with every outfit. Forget scarves, necklaces, belts, and earrings - in Germany, pantyhose are the main accessory. In fact, just the other day I was wearing this outfit, and a woman looked at me in complete shock and said, "Where are your pantyhose?" [Guys, I'm not kidding - I can't make this up.]
I just smiled and said, "I didn't wear any.

I'm sure this came as an utter and total surprise to her. She didn't wear any?! Where is this American girl's decency? Doesn't she know that we wear pantyhose with everything?! Shorts, skirts, jeans, leggings - heck, even sweats [if they wore sweats, which they don't]. These people love their pantyhose. Give me back my athletic socks and tennies, because this pantyhose thing? That's just one part of the German culture that I will never be able to adapt to. 

HUNGER GAMES MOVIE REVIEW LINK UP!!

Hello and Happy Hunger Games!!!! 


So the other day I had this genius idea of doing a Hunger Games Movie Review link-up! You can link up here with your posts all about the movie - whether they've just been written or they're a couple of days old! It doesn't really matter - the goal here is to meet other fans and to create a place where others can easily find reviews of the movie. I, for one, always love finding out what other people think of movies, so let's share our thoughts here! Grab a button and link on up! 
My Thoughts: 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. 


Characters: I loved the picks for all of the characters! The only person that I didn't really care for was Prim - I thought she was super annoying. I think the movie actually made me feel for Gale - Liam Hemsworth didn't have a very big role in this movie, but the shots of him watching the games and the emotion that he as an actor was able to portray without words (combined with the amazing soundtrack) sent shivers down my spine more than once. I could feel his heart breaking as he watched the "romance" between Peeta and Katniss unfold. I almost went from Team Peeta to Team Gale. It's a good thing that Josh Hutcherson did a fabulous job as Peeta, or else I just might have made that move.
As far as Katniss is concerned, I think that Jennifer Lawrence was an amazing pick. Even without the narrator giving us every thought running through her mind, I was able to feel what Katniss was feeling. Her emotion almost brought me to tears a few times - especially the scene with Rue. Speaking of Rue, let's just take a minute and talk about how perfect Amandla Stenberg was for that part - amazeballs. 
Am I the only one that thought that Cato was smokin'? I mean, wow. Alexander Ludwig is FI-IIIINE.
Likes: I loved the book --> film adaptation. There were only a few small things that I wasn't a fan of, and I'll get to those in a minute. I really liked how well the characters transitioned from the pages of a book onto the big screen - it was just as easy to identify with the characters in the movie as it was in the book, and that is really important to me. I loved the reaping scene - I was almost moved to tears - the same with Rue's death. Shivers went down my spine more than once, but the most memorable time was when Katniss and Peeta rode in on the chariot in the parade. How awesome was that fire suit?!?!
Dislikes: WHERE THE EFF IS MADGE?! I hated the fact that they changed the way Katniss got the Mockingjay pin. I love the history behind the pin and I love the pin's significance, and I think that that was sort of taken away when Katniss just stumbles upon it at the market. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE DOGS MAULING PEETA'S LEG?! Not that I wanted Peeta to have to go through that, but isn't his prosthetic leg a pretty important detail? And finally, WHY THE EFF DID I NOT GET THE CHANCE TO LEAVE THE THEATER CURSING KATNISS' NAME?!?!?! You all know how I felt when I finished the first book. I hated Katniss and wanted to high five her in the face with a chair for breaking poor Peeta's heart. Now why in the world would they leave out this very important part of the story? I guess to put it in the next movie. But seriously?! The last thing I wanted to do was leave the theater liking Katniss. Sheesh.
So. I could probably talk about the movie for days, but I want to know what you all thought. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Were your expectations for the movie met? Were you disappointed? Link up and tell all!!

Sunday confessions Link-up.

Hola! Que pasa?! Donde esta la Bibliotheka? Yo quiero cinnamon twists. [that is the extent of my Spanish, and I realize it is probably very, very wrong].


*ATTENTION*ATTENTION* I am interrupting these weekly Sunday Confessions to remind you to link-up tomorrow (Monday) for the Hunger Games Movie Review Link-up! Tell your friends - it'll be a fun way for all of us to easily find other people's thoughts about the movie! *Public Service Announcement is now over, now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.*


Oh, and a special birthday shout out to one of my sponsors, Erin!! She's the big 2-6 today!!


Grab a button and link on up - you know you've got some weird little quirks that need confessing!


1. I only own one white bra. This is a weird confession, I know. But I have this thing for fun bras, so I own like 15 bras [that does not include sports bras], and only one is white, one is black, one is pink, and one is nude. The rest are animal print and fun patterns.



2. Since we're on the topic of bras... I'm a bra snob. All of my bras are from Victoria's Secret. You can try to convince me otherwise all you want, but nobody makes a better bra than Vicki.

3. It really bugs me when people brag about how much money they have. I think it's tasteless. Oh, you have lots of money? That's great. You don't have to tell me about it. I think the only time it's really appropriate to talk about money spent is when it's money saved or you got an awesome deal. Here's an example: Me: Oh, I LOVE your shoes! You: Thanks, I got them for $10 - SUCH a good deal! See? That's fine. Now here's an example of what is tackyYou: I went and bought a $35,000 car yesterday, and after that, I went to the mall and spent $500 at the following stores. I love spending money, because I have so much of it. Guys, it's just rude. I'm not just saying that because I'm dirt poor for the first time in my adult life - I'm saying that because I've always felt that way - even when we had a lot of money. How much money you make shouldn't matter, and it doesn't to me (or most genuine people, for that matter), so quit talking about it. 
4. I almost bought lipstick the other day... but then I didn't. Because I'm a huge freaking chicken. 
5. The closer we get to going home, the more I miss America. Isn't this a little backwards? Shouldn't I be trying to get in as much of Germany as possible before we have to leave? I'm so torn. I love this place so much, but I'm so ready to go home and see my family and friends and move on.

March Madness [Sponsor Edition] Pt. 3 (Is Your Name Rondah Stepp?)

Oh, hey there! 


So I realized today that I never heard from one of the giveaway winners. If your name is Rondah Stepp, congratulations! You're the new winner, and you've won a new blog header from Erin!! Shoot me an email and we'll get you all set up! 


PS: I've noticed that Germans really like pantyhose. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to dedicate a blog post just to this phenomenon. 


PPS: Don't forget about my HUNGER GAMES MOVIE REVIEW LINK-UP on Monday, and my SUNDAY CONFESSIONS LINK-UP tomorrow! 


Anyway. It's a beautiful day outside, and in honor of the beautiful weather, I thought I'd introduce you to some of my beautiful sponsors and their blogs.

 blog.
 blog || twitter || etsy

So. go check these ladies out - you won't be sorry that you did! 

Favorite Things Friday

HEY!!! 
You can find me in a guest post here today. 
So... I don't have a lot of side commentary today. Let's just get to the good stuff, shall we? 


Favorite Things Friday! 


1. Hunger Games! And even better - my genius idea of doing a movie review link-up this coming Monday! Tell your friends and everyone that you know - lets get a ton of people to link up so that we can all nerd out big time!! 
2. Spending the bright sunshiny day in Frankfurt yesterday with husband and friends. Yesterday was glorious not only because of HG, but also because it was like, 67 degrees and sunny. We hung out by the river, went to the park, ate brats, and had dinner with some friends!
recognize daryl ?

3. Enrolling in classes! I'm sort of terrified to have to do homework and reading and writing again, but I need to finish 6 credit hours of English before I am eligible to start my master's program (that I will hopefully get accepted to) in June. That gives me 2 months to read and analyze 9 of Shakespeare's works and learn how to critique and analyze literature. Holy balls. 


4. Swinging. I forgot how much fun it was to sit on a swing and feel like you're flying with [almost] no effort. I will admit, though, that i'm much heavier than I was the last time I was on a swing, and my arms sure felt that! Ha!

5. Smiling/ acting like an idiot/ getting excited about the little things. Guys - I had such a blast with my 8th graders today, and we were not doing anything interesting or exciting - we were talking about different types of texts (diary, news article, movie review, etc.). I just had a good time teaching the lesson, and that translated to them having a blast with one of the most boring things we have ever done. Because I was such a happy-go-lucky/smile crazed teacher today, their homework was to spend an hour outside in the sunshine this weekend.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! 

HUNGER GAMES (MOVIE) THOUGHTS! OH, AND A GENIUS IDEA!!

Don't worry - no spoilers here, folks. 


THE MOVIE WAS AWESOME AND I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!! 


OH, AND GENIUS IDEA!!! I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M STILL YELLING! Okay, that's better, but I will leave the extra large font on because this is important... Okay, this really is genius, so let's make it all caps again...


LET'S DO A HUNGER GAMES LINK-UP ON MONDAY!!!! I will make a cute little button, and you can tell all your friends, and on Monday, we can all link up our posts about the movie!! 

Awkward & Awesome.

Hiiii Guys!!! 

In case you didn't know from this post, 

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!! If you don't know what day... you're disowned. Hunger Games, DUH!

Actually, while you're reading this... I'm probably in the theater. Yes, that's right, I'm scheduling a post for today so that I keep my little fingers from ruining the movie for everyone else. You're welcome. 

I almost never do awkward and awesome, but I figured, "What the hey. Anything is better than ruining HG for all those pretty people." So... if this a&a sucks... I'm sorry. But not really. 

Awkward. 

1. This video. I did debate putting this in the "awesome" category, though. I'm just that cool. 

2. Going on my first run after 6 months of not working out. Guys, I almost died (and not because I was running through the forest alone at twilight). I had an asthma attack, my knee swelled up to the size of a baseball (I'm actually not even supposed to run, but it's not like I have very many workout options here), and I tripped (on nothing) and flailed around for dear life. This is why I would rather bike 30 miles than run one, or swim 2 miles than run one. 
3.  My German. I haven't spoken German in forever. Anyone wanna practice with me? It's bad, though. 
4. Forgetting to tell my ride to work that I didn't have to work this morning, and then running outside in a tshirt (without a bra) and sweats (pretty much forbidden in Germany) to tell him, "Oh, yeah... I forgot to call you...

5. Always having to do things in groups of five even if you have nothing else to say. I believe this is self-explanatory. 

Awesome. 

1. I am probably watching the Hunger Games right now. Nuff said. 
2. This video. I was going to put it under "awkward", but I decided that "awesome" was the better choice. 


3. Freakin' Spring and Sunshine! Holy amazeballs I love this weather! 

4. Playing Hunger Games in the Forest with Husband. No, we did not kill each other, but we did run around with sticks. Yeah, we're freaks. And yes, you're invited to come to Germany and play with us. 

5. The 3 blog designs I've done this week. I think they're pretty freakin' rad, if I do say so myself. You can click the picsies and they'll take you to the blog so you can see the designs "in action" (and check out some pretty amazing bloggers at the same time)!
Happy Hunger Games!!