Blog Award!

Erin at Every Branch gave me this blog award over a week ago and I was stoked.  It's been a while since I've gotten a blog award.  So thanks, Erin!

I happen to think it's fitting that the award has a German name, seeing how we live in Germany :)

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

To keep this award going and pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

I'm always trying to share awards with different people each time, so check out these cool blogs when you have the chance:

My Not-So-Little Guy & My Little Punky Pie

Lorie Babble

Bleu Dress & Dress Blues

We Took the Road Less Traveled

Brett & Alyssa

So ladies, enjoy and pass it on!

Oh yeah, go on over to Erin's blog when you have a chance, as she's one cool chick.  She's a teacher, in the Air Force Reserves and currently lives in my hometown!



Blog Award!

I am so behind on this....about a week ago, Em from Life to Bragg About gave me this Stylish Blogger Award.  I'd recently stumbled upon her blog and I can't remember how.  Just a few things about her:

She's an Army wife--hooah!

She's stationed at Fort Bragg--as I was years ago.

She's gorgeous and extremely fit--so jealous!

She is a fabulous (and healthy) cook!

And she's going to have a baby--how exciting!

So Em, thanks so much for this award!  I'll definitely keep following along on your blog!  As with most blog awards, the Stylish Blogger Award has a few conditions:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

Done.  See above.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

     1) I'm stealing this one from Em--No one can ever find my veins.  When I was in college, I was denied at the blood donation place because my veins were too small.  In fact, when the medics were trying to confirm that I was pregnant (during my deployment to Iraq--see story here), it took eight of them to draw my blood.  And after every blood draw, I always end up with a massive bruise .  It sucks.

     2) I miss school and would love to go back after I'm done with the Army.  I have an MBA, but would love to pursue either a degree in accounting (become a CPA) or in nursing.  I also secretly (well not anymore, cat's out of the bag now) want to go to culinary school.  Just for fun.

     3)  I want to have another daughter.  A boy would be nice too, but Sina has been so much fun, I can't help but want another girl.  The downside is having to fork the bill for two weddings, but still, they're fun.  And if we do have a girl, I'm thinking that I might name her "Sue Ella"--Malu says the name sounds too Southern Belle-ish.  But I like the name for two reasons--one, suela (pronounced "Sue Ella"), in Samoan, means Jewel.  This would be in honor of Malu's Aunt Jewel who recently passed away.  Second, growing up, my dad always called me "Ella" (for the "elle" part in Michelle) and it always made me feel special.  And Sue Ella would be whole first name, so I'd have to find a good middle name.  And who knows, all this could change as time passes.  And now that I keep repeating the name in my head, maybe it does sound a little too old fashioned.  Maybe "Ella" would do fine.

     4) I'm obsessed with caprese salad these days--tomatoes, mozarella, fresh basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Delicious!

     5) For someone who used to jump out of planes, I'm terrified of flying now.  Is it me, or are flights these days just a little too turbulent?  It freaks me out. 

     6) I'm going on a trip to Strasbourg, France tomorrow.  Yay!

     7) I still really want to learn to use a sewing machine.  I think that I could make some really good stuff if I only knew how--stuff that I could sell!

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

    I haven't really been browsing any new blogs lately, but I'll tag just a few:

     Crispin Chronicles

     Army of Two

     The Patriotic Peacock

4. Contact these Bloggers and tell them about the award! 

     I'll be doing this soon!

Well, I'm off to start my day.  There's a huge Spring Bazaar going on today and I can't wait to go.  I hear they have some Polish Pottery---here I come!

Another Blog Award!

Happy Tuesday you guys!  Still no new news on our baby girl.  I guess if I were her, I'd love hanging out inside this tummy too.  I mean, she gets a lot of good eats and good sleep in here!  In any case, and on a completely random note before I start on this blog award business, yesterday morning I told Malu that I'm getting a little tired of hearing Jack Johnson's "Better Together" song every time I open our blog.  The song was the inspiration for the new title of our blog and one of the songs I love to hear Malu play and sing.  So he says (jokingly, of course), "yeah, we're together now so you should take it off."  I think he's getting tired of hearing it too :)  What do you guys think?  Should I take it off?  I won't be hurt if you tell me yes.

Anyway, I'm amazed that people find me cool enough to keep sending blog awards my way.  I was actually given this award by two people--Nicole from Life in the Boys' Locker Room and Mrs. Gambizzle from Life as a Sailor's Girl.  So what you're supposed to do is tell everyone 7 random things about yourself.  Since I'm honestly not great at coming up with stuff on my own, I'm going to use 7 of the 8 questions from this past weekend's Getting to Know You Sunday, which is hosted by Keely at Mannland5.  I didn't get to answer this week's questions, so it works out quite well, don't you think?  So here we go:

1. If you were to win an award today, what would it be for?


Probably for being in pretty good spirits with Baby V still hanging out inside me.  We're at 40 1/2 weeks!

2. What is your shoe style?


I'm very casual.  I don't like heels at all, although I own tons of pairs (some with the price tags still on) just in case I need them later on down the road.  And I have flat feet, so the more comfortable the better.  I like ballet flats and flip flops best.

3.  Does your car reflect your personality?


We have a Jeep Commander which is big and rugged.  I don't think those describe me too well, but I love it!

4. If you could take over someones body for a day..whose would you choose?


Probably any body that isn't pregnant!  And one that's in shape too!

5. If you were on death row, what last meal would you choose?


This is a very difficult question...I think I'd like to eat something from Paula Deen's restaurant in Georgia--everything from appetizer to dessert!

6. Have you been on vacation this Summer, if so where?


Unfortunately, we've just been hanging around El Paso.  Hard to go places when we're about to have this baby and all.
7. What is your favorite food related guilty pleasure?


OMG...anything chocolate.  Right now it's Oreo cookies.  I even have the Oreo ice cream sandwiches in the freezer!

So there are 7 random things about me!  I'm also supposed to pass this on to 9 other blogs, but honestly, I'm not going to do that.  Every time I get an award, I'm in danger of passing them on to the same people and that's no fun to me.  So I'm just going to pass it on to one person!


I've recently become a follower on Nicole's blog, The Bingham Tribe.  She has the most darling little family and great stories to tell.  So check her out!


Thanks to Nicole and Mrs. Gambizzle for spreading the award love to me!

More Blog Award Love!

Last week, Maria (she's such a sweetheart) at Personalized Sketches & Sentiments gave me the Happy 101 Blog Award! What's cool is that the award was created by her daughter, The Luckiest Mrs.!  Maria is doing a giveaway on her blog (a $40 CSN gift card)--it ends tomorrow night, so go to her blog and enter!

So what you're supposed to do is:

1. Copy & paste the award on your blog.

2. List who gave the award to you and use a link to her blog (or hyperlink)

3. List 10 things that make you happy.

 Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10 Things That Make Me Happy
(and this is in no particular order)

1. The blessings that come from God (there are soooo many), as well as His forgiveness

2. My sweet hubby, Malu

3.  Our Lucy girl (7 year old fur-baby)

4.  The fact that our baby girl will be here in a few days (hopefully)

5. My loving family

6. Great friends

7. Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate! (or maybe just sugar in general)

8. My career

9. A clean and tidy house!

10. Blogging!

Because I've had so much fun getting to know her through her blog and because she made such a terrific Summer Essentials Swap partner, I'm going to share this special award with:

Allie of My Marine and Me

So enjoy...and pass it on!

~Spreading MORE Love~

My bloggy friend and new mommy, Ashleigh, over at A Deployment Diary, gave me this award forever ago.  Can you guys tell that I'm trying to get caught up? Again, Ashleigh is a beautiful new mommy to baby Julius and she lives in....Hawaii (insert wishful sigh here)!  She is an Army wife whose hubby is currently deployed, so we share much in common.  And I've just enjoyed getting to know her through her awesome blog.  Stop by and visit it sometime.

Anyway, for this particular blog award, you're supposed to tell everyone where you hope to be in 10 years and then pass the award on to someone special.

Let's see...

By then, I will be one year away from retiring from the Army.  My dad, who's been retired from the Army for years likes to tell me that I'll be a general someday.  I'm sure all retired Army daddies say that to their Army daughters.  I'm honestly just shooting for at least Lieutenant Colonel.  And heck, I'm almost there...my pin-on to Major is just around the corner.

Even though I'd be retiring from the Army soon, I'd definitely look at getting a job in the civilian sector--but still work for the government.  Either that, or take a break for a while and return to school to get a Master's Degree in Healthcare Administration...or maybe a PhD in business.  Who knows?

And I would like to retire in Colorado.

Baby Vaiosina will be 10 years old and hopefully have a sibling (or two).  She would probably have moved about two or three times and getting the full Army brat experience.  And hopefully, she'll be a great student, playing multiple musical instruments, a wonderful singer, a gymnast maybe.  Wow...is that a lot?

Malu and I will have been married for 13 years by then...and hopefully we'll be as blissful as we are now, if not more.

I think that's all I can dream up for now!

I'd like to pass this award on to Summer at Summer's Story.  Summer holds a special place in my heart.  She has a beautiful family and I admire her strength and courage as she battles through Dermatamyositis/RA/Lupus Multiple Connective Tissue Disease. Her story as well as she is inspirational to all.

And now...I'm officially all caught up with blog awards.

Hey, if you guys are interested...I just posted a recipe for a Pina Colada Freeze dessert on my cooking blog.  Yum-o! 

~Spreading the Love~

Man, I've been meaning to do this forever.  Two very special ladies gave me the Sunshine Award--one, almost a month ago and one gave it to me today.  So I decided that I wasn't going to skip out on it once and for all.

The hella cool chick that gave it to me a month ago was Jamie of Stuck in a World of Blue & Camo and the other cool chick who just gave this to me today is Mrs. Smith of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Both are such sweet ladies and I am honored that they chose to share this award with me.  Do me a favor, will ya?  And stop by both of their blogs when you have a chance.

Well, I've seen different rules for this award, but I'm going with this set:

You have to share 7 random things about yourself

&

Pass the Award On to 7 other ladies who brighten up your day.

So here goes:

1.  One of my biggest pet peeves is going to Walmart (or any other store) and seeing carts all over the parking lot.  I mean, how hard is it for people to put their carts away?  Our Jeep got scratched because of a certain lazy someone.  And it's so bad here in El Paso.  Even Malu is getting annoyed with it...and he's hard to annoy.

2.  I've never had anything major done in a hospital before...i.e. no broken bones, or anything more than a UTI.  So having this ECV tomorrow is totally freaking me out.  Hell, the labor and delivery is freaking me out more.  I know I'll be okay, but it's all still very frightening to me.

3.  I ALWAYS have to make the bed in the morning...even if it takes all kinds of work with the many pillows I have on my bed.  If I don't, it kinda throws my whole day off.  Malu hates having the bed done because he likes to be able to jump into it whenever.  So as a part of our "reintegration" period--I'm compromising and letting him have his way....at least every other day.  I can only take the sight of a messy bed for so long.

4.  I'm just now realizing that I missed the newest episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey tonight.  Bummer.  Oh well, I'm sure they'll show re-runs for the rest of the week. 

5.  I really want a Dyson vacuum.  I have for a while now.  I think I'm going to get one when we get to Germany.

6.  I also secretly want to get a European car when we get to Germany--an Volkswagen, BMW, or a Volvo.  Just seems like it's something everyone that goes overseas to Germany does when they get there or get ready to PCS back to the states.  Gosh, am I really trying to jump on that bandwagon?

7.  I'm so excited...I'm having my blog re-designed here soon. I've been dying for a new look and found someone who can do it beautifully and inexpensively.  I can't wait for you guys to see it.

Anyway....and drumroll please.....I am very excited to share this award with the following (and if you guys have the award already, well, then you're doubly loved!):

Angie at Just Simply Live

Jessica at Learning As We Go

Ashley at Alot o'Curls and a High 'n Tight

Alicia at More Than Words

Karren at A Bee & His Honey

Mrs. Wifey at Musings of An Army Wife

and

Steph at Got One Past the Goalie

Enjoy ladies...and pass it on!

Spreading the Love!

Last week, my new bloggy friend, Staci, over at Random Ramblings of a Military Wife presented me with the Sweet Blog award! I'm just sorry that it has taken me so long to pass it along. But when you have a spare moment, go and check out her blog if you haven't already. It's great!

I'm supposed to pass this on to 10 other friends whose blogs I absolutely love. And here they are, in no particular order. Now go ahead and spread the love too!

Oh, and I apologize if you already have this award. Just means your blog is doubly special!

1. Kimberly at Kimberly's Korner

2. Lorilynne at Lori Babble

3. Angie at Just Simply Live

4. Lindsay at What the Dinkins are Thinkin

5. Expat Girl at The Sand is Different Here

6. Summer at Summer's Story

7. Alicia at More than Words

8. Ashleigh at A Deployment Diary (in Hawaii)

9. Jennifer at Real Love Stories Have No Endings

10. Melissa at Together We Have It All

And you have to go and visit all of these blogs when you have the opportunity. Not only are the blogs great, but these are all fascinating, phenomenal women with inspiring stories.

'Honest Scrap' Blog Award & Getting to Know M&M More

My blog pal, Tori, of Tori & Chad, gave me the 'Honest Scrap' blog award a few weeks ago and I'm finally making the time to pass it on. As I've said before, I've received blog awards on my cooking/baking blog, but never on this one. So Tori...thanks so much for giving me my first blog award on here! She and I have gotten to know each other through blog comments and occasional emails and you guys, she's one cool chick. So head on over to her blog and get to know her!

As with any blog award, there are certain rules. This particular award has THREE rules! First, I have to pass it on to 10 other people. I have no problem doing that. Only, I don't think I can pass it on to ten people, but to the people that I've been blogging with the longest and are great friends. They all have cool blogs too, so check them out!

Melissa of Together We Have it All
Lindsay of What the Dinkins are Thinkin'
Misty of Mischief
Pamela of Cookies with Boys
Sabrina of Superfluous
Liz of Our Crazy Life
Sara of Sara's Journey

Second, I have to tell my readers ten things about myself that they may not know, but that are true. I'm going to do this, but do it slight differently. A few weeks ago, Tori had completed a survey about her and her hubby and I've been telling her that my husband and I have so much in common with them, that I couldn't wait to fill that survey out myself. So I am--only there are 30 things you'll find out about us. I actually think I've done this survey somewhere before (probably on MySpace), but I have no problem doing it again. Now you'll get to know Michelle and Malu a little bit better!

1. What are your middle names? Mine=pre-marriage, it was Rosete (my mom's maiden name, which is such a Filipino thing to do); post-marriage, my middle name is now my maiden name, Ioapo. I think I did it to appease my dad who didn't want the name lost. Malu's middle name is Milionea, which means millionaire in Samoan.
2. How long have you been together? We met in June 2005--so almost five years. Seems like it's been longer.
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? I think it was about two weeks from the time I saw him to the day we went on our church "date".
4. Who asked who out? If Malu was sitting here and I was telling this story to a bunch of our family and friends, I'd totally lie and say that he did. But the truth is that after I saw him for the first time, I'd totally stalked him on Army Knowledge Online (on which every Army employee has an email account), found out his email address and sent him an email asking if he wanted to go to church.
5. How old are each of you? Well, I'm 30 and Malu--he's 24. Yes, I'm a total cradle robber. I didn't find out until our church date. I had picked him up at his work and we were driving to the church when I had randomly asked, "so how old are you?" To which he responds, "I turn 20 next weekend." No joke...I slammed the brake halfway down a road and yelled, "what? do you know how old I am?" To which he nonchalantly responds, "well, I figured that since you're a captain and all, you should be around 25 or 26," and I'm like, "uh, yeah! I'm 25 (about to turn 26 in a month)." And that was that. He's younger than my younger brother. His older sister is younger than my younger brother. I didn't tell my mom how old he really was until after we were married. Funny.
6. Did you go to the same school? Uh, see response to #5. No way.
7. Are you from the same hometown? No.
8. Who is the smartest? As young as he was when we met, it was his charm and intelligence that roped me in. He is wise beyond his years and I will always say that he is the smartest of the two of us.
9. Who majored in what? I got a bachelor's in biology from Colorado State University (Main Campus--Fort Collins) in 2001 and an MBA from Colorado State University at Pueblo in late 2008. The Army sent me to grad school for free! My husband hasn't been to college yet. He entered the Army right out of high school, but has aspirations to major in Middle Eastern Studies when he finds a break from all these deployments.
10. Who is the most sensitive? Gosh, I'm oversensitive. He can be sensitive too.
11. Where is the furthest you have traveled together as a couple? Well, we met in Iraq so I don't think you can get any further than that. But the second furthest is Samoa. It was the first time I met his family as well as my dad's side of the family.
12. Who has the worst temper? Both of our tempers can flare from time to time. But I think I have the worst of the both of us.
13. How many children do you want? Malu has been known to want to a big family, which is typical of Samoans. I mean, my dad is one of 13. He's mentioned 6 kids before, to which I gave him my favorite "stink-eye" look. I say less than or equal to 3.
14. Who does the cooking? When we're living together--me.
15. Who is more social? We're both extroverts and love being surrounded by people. Malu, though, is so much more the "life of the party" than I am. He can brighten up any gathering, trust me. I love that about him.
16. Who is the neat freak? Um, I am. I have OCD.
17. Who is the most stubborn? I think he is. He will stick to his guns even in the midst of my tears....most of the time :)
18. Who wakes up earlier? Definitely me. When he's home, I usually spend the better part of an hour trying to wake him up to do something with me. He's nocturnal and can stay up all night long writing music and playing his guitar, which is why he sleeps in so late in the mornings.
19. Where was your first date? Our first date was to a Samoan church service in Iraq. See this blog entry.
20. Who has the bigger family? Well, considering Samoans and Filipinos generally have big families, I'd say that we're pretty equal. I have two siblings and Malu has four. I can't remember how many siblings his parents have (I know it's a lot), but as I've said before, my dad is one of 13 and my mom is one of 7.
21. Do you get flowers often? From Malu? Not really. He doesn't like giving me flowers too much because they don't last a long time. He usually gives me plants that do last a long time (well, sometimes, if I maintain them) or sweets that he knows I like to eat, or just things that he knows I will put to good use.
22. Who is more jealous? I am more jealous by nature. Malu is sooooo not the jealous type. He doesn't do things to make me jealous, I just get that way. I'm much more insecure than he is.
23. How long did it take to get serious? A week. But really, after two days, he was telling his friends that I was going to be his wife.
24. How do you spend the holidays? Always with family. We're both home bodies.
25. Who eats more? Definitely him.
26. What do you do for a living? We are a dual-military Army couple. I'm a Human Resources Officer and he's a Psychological Operations NCO.
27. Who does the laundry? We both do.
28. Who's better with the computer? I think we're both the same. We know enough to get by.
29. Who drives when you are together? He does. But our greatest point of contention when he does drive is where to park when we get somewhere. I feel like he parks the furthest away that he can just to irk me. And I'll nag him until he reluctantly moves somewhere closer. It's even worse when it's cold/rainy outside.
30. What is your song? We don't actually have a song-song. But Malu wrote one just for me, so it's my song. He also plays and sings lots of songs to me...all of which I consider our songs. He loves to play songs by John Mayer and Jack Johnson so whenever I hear those songs, I always think of him and sing along.

Wow. That was longer than I thought. I hope you guys got to know me a little bit better because I enjoyed it.

The last thing that has to be done for this award is for me to let my blogger friends know that I'm passing it on to them. So I guess I'll go and do that now!