Mixtape Monday #4

Happy Monday! Today's playlist is dedicated to my 31st birthday, which was last Friday (Friday the 13th, so spooky lol). I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane!

1. Happy Birthday- NKOTB They are my life long loves lol. I became a fan at five years old, and haven't stopped since. 

2. Motownphilly- Boyz II Men This would be the first of many Boyz II Men songs that I loved. Stephanie Tanner danced to this on an episode on Full House, does anyone else remember that? 

3. Listen To Your Heart- Roxette It was a tie between this and The Look. Roxette was played a lot in my house. On vinyl. Before it was cool. 

4. Straight Up- Paula Abdul Another one where I had a tough time choosing just one song. I adored her when I was little. Especially after that video when she danced with the cartoon cat. 

5. and 6. Landslide and Big Love- Fleetwood Mac I didn't know where to place these on my playlist timeline. I grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac, but didn't really appreciate the lyrics until I was much older. Tusk is another one of my all time favorite FM songs.

7. All That She Wants- Ace of Base This was the first CD I ever purchased. I saved up my catsitting money to buy a radio with a CD player in it, and just enough to get a CD too. 

8. Just A Girl- No Doubt Junior high brought me Gwen Stefani, her crazy cool skater wardrobe, and sassy lyrics. I tried so hard to dress like her for many years (still do sometimes!), and have had a mad girl crush on her ever since.

9. C'mon 'N' Ride It (The Train) - Quad City DJs I remember this playing at the first dance I ever attended in junior high, and how excited everyone got over it. This song, and the Tootsie Roll. 

10. What's My Age Again?- Blink-182 I had such a crush on Mark Hoppus. I wanted a skater boy just like him. Blink is another band that stayed around in my life for a very long time, with mostly happy memories associated with them :)

11. Genie in a Bottle- Christina Aguilera The first time I heard this song, my sister and I were watching a brand new soap opera called Passions. It was awesome in it's weirdness. It wasn't too much longer after that episode that we started hearing it on the radio, and then Christina Aguilera became a huge star.

12. Oops.. I Did It Again- Britney Spears My sisters and I listened to her, but secretly lol. Our cover was blown when one of them basically became her one summer. Oops.

13. I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing- Aerosmith Armageddon was a huge movie my freshman year of high school, so this song was the song to dance to. I got to dance with my crush at our end of the year luau. Naturally I read way more into it than I should have, but that's what high school is for, right?

14. Ex-Girlfriend- No Doubt and 15. Pretty Girl (The Way)- Sugarcult- More high school songs. 

16. Cadillac- Mest My sister and I would drive around in her car senior year and listen to this song.

17. Sweetness- Jimmy Eat World Another high school song. I would listen to the CD that this song is on all the time.  

18. Hey Baby- No Doubt They played this at the start of my senior formal, everyone went nuts of course. The DJ ended our formal playing that song Sandstorm, you know, the techno song? All the cheerleaders were super pissed that he didn't play a slow song. Since I went went friends and not my boyfriend, I was grateful. 

19. Awake- Finch I have mixed feelings about Finch. I really liked them, then shared them with some friends. They listened to Finch so much, I almost got sick of  them. Then things got hairy with those friends, and now all I do is remember those friends when I hear Finch. But I still really love Finch.

20. Suffocate- Cold Cold and Finch are related, time-wise. While things were getting hairy with those Finch friends, I was breaking up with a boyfriend that I thought I had that forever potential with (which is stupid, because I was like nineteen) and binge listening to Cold to cope. And just like Finch, I really like Cold, but all I think of when I hear them is that crappy breakup. 

21. Hollaback Girl- Gwen Stefani Still loving Gwen, and this was around the time I met my husband. What's funny is we went to see her in concert when I was about four months pregnant with my son. I had just lost the job that I thought was going to be my forever place of employment (forever things don't seem to work out for me), and my doctor just days earlier had basically told me I was stupid because I hadn't felt my son kicking, even though he so clearly was. The concert was just supposed to be a mood enhancer, but it ended up being the first time I felt my son move! And after he was born, when we would wake up late at night and MTV would actually play music videos, he would get quiet whenever a Gwen video played :)

22. The Feel Good Drag- Anberlin I would never expect an Anberlin concert to have a mosh pit, but it did. It was insane!! Anberlin is another long time love. I found them in high school and haven't looked back. 

23. Heartbeat- Childish Gambino Shoutout to my days on Tumblr! I found him on there one summer, when my dashboard just blew up with photos of him. I thought he was mega cute, then once I started Googling, I found out that he was more than just a pretty face. I think Donald Glover is amazing. Hes a good actor, and he raps about more than just cars and clothes. He's rap music for the nerd set.

24. Push and Shove- No Doubt My husband and I went to see them in LA at the Gibson Theater. It was supposed to be like a warm up to a tour they had planned, but then Gwen got pregnant with her third son and they cancelled the tour, so we considered ourselves very lucky that we got to see them! We've seen Gwen perform twice as a solo act, so it was neat to see her with No Doubt. 

25. Remix (I Like The)- NKOTB Even though this song is like, the nerd grew up into a hottie and that's why they like her, I like to think of this song as kind of a nerd anthem. I was teased a lot growing up, so I like to think that maybe there is somebody out there that's like "dang, I shouldn't have said those things about her then! look at her now!" even though right now I am at a nasty stage. Some of my medications are making me gain weight (yuck), so I dealing with that, but I still like to daydream.

26. Everything is Awesome- Tegan and Sara ft The Lonely Island  My kids love The Lego Movie, and they love this song even more! If I have my iPod in the car, I have to be careful to not let this song come on, otherwise they will ask for it on repeat. I like the song just fine (love love love The Lonely Island guys), but not when you hear it looped for twenty minutes while stuck in traffic!

This playlist could have been way longer, but I don't want to bore to tears! 

Stickers Giveaway! (CLOSED)

Since I did a giveaway in honor of my son on his birthday, its only fair that I do a small giveaway in honor of my daughter on her birthday! So here it is- stickers!! She loves stickers so much, so I'm giving away some extras we have.

Here is a picture of some of the stickers up for grabs.

Now for the rules: This is open to US addresses only. Once the giveaway is over, a winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received within that time frame a new winner will be chosen. No giveaway accounts can be used for entries in this contest. That means, if you do what the widget says and one of your entries is chosen, and I can very obviously tell that you use that FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/BlogLovin account for contests only, your winner status will be thrown out and a new winner will be chosen. This is not a sponsored giveaway. It is not affiliated with Jinx, Disney, so-so, or any other brand of sticker I may send to you.

Good luck!

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Personally...30

Thirty, flirty and thriving. Jennifer Gardner's character in 13 Going on 30 sees that tagline in a magazine, and that's all she wants for her thirteenth birthday. In a Big like twist, shes get what she wishes for, then finds out that she maybe doesn't want that after all. End the movie with her and Mark Ruffalo living a happily ordinary life.

Today is my thirtieth birthday. In terms of birthdays, this is one of those big ones. Celebrities say that thirty is great. All the insecurities of their twenties just fluttered away, and thirty is awesome. I'll be honest. These past few years have been rough for me. I guess its the depression or whatever, but things have been hard. I have also found that navigating these years without friends has been harder than I thought. It was easier in my earlier twenties. I had a job and no kids, so I could spend all my money on distractions like books, movies, and clothes. But once I lost my job and started to have kids, the ability to spend on distractions vanished. And while concentrating on them has been good (and I love them to pieces), I miss doing my own things. They've also noticed that mommy doesn't have any friends, and the comments are hard to take sometimes. They are little, so they don't say it to be mean. But when my husband is constantly going out to do his hobbies and see his friends and they see me staying at home all the time, they say things. I feel like I am setting a bad example for them, and I don't want that. I want my children to have very happy, fulfilled, and social lives. But at the same time, I feel like its too late for me to make any friends anymore. Everyone pretty much has their set of lifers, and then every once in a while they add to the acquaintance pool. I feel awkward trying to meet people and make friends. I feel like they notice how insecure and friendless I am. Is all this really supposed to go away now that I'm thirty?

Of course it won't. I am not a celebrity. I don't have access to all the things and people they do that make their lives easier. I still have a lot of personal work to do. I think being alone for so many years has made me unacceptable as a friend. I wouldn't even know where to start anymore. Living in your head is no way to live, and that's pretty much where I am right now. I still need to lose weight. Feeling fat hasn't done me any favors in the self esteem department, which hinders all kinds of other areas in my life. And with all the health issues I've had lately...it really scared me...and all this extra weight isn't helping with those.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't bemoan this birthday, even though it sounds like I am. I am using it as a reflecting period. I am grateful for the thirty years I've been given so far, but I do have a lot of regrets. A lot of missed life experiences because I was afraid to say yes to things, afraid to let people in. And look where that's gotten me. Maybe if I can finally get all my feelings out in the open and not stuck in my head, I can get started on what needs to get done. No more excuses. There's no more time for those. I've already lived thirty years, and they've gone by way too fast. If I'm lucky, I'll get thirty or forty more. It sounds like a long time, but its not. And I've got too much left to do to keep on wasting it.

Happy Birthday IGGPPC! An Interview and a Giveaway! (CLOSED)

If you've been reading along these past few months, I'm sure you've seen me talk about International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club on more than one occasion. So imagine my great surprise to find out that they are celebrating their first birthday just a few days after my 30th! March is a great month for birthdays, what can I say? Emily Farquharson, co-founder of IGGPPC, recently took the time to answer some questions about the group- where they started, where they want to go, and do guys really sign up for pen pals? Read on to find out!

1.This has been a busy time for IGGPPC! A new site, a first birthday...When you started IGGPPC, what did you hope would come from it?

It's crazy busy at HQ, we are nonstop with the planning for the birthday and beyond! When we very first started Leslie and I really just wanted candy! We never thought it would become this amazing, versatile community that it has become at the time. The best things are those you aren't expecting to happen! -F

2. Do you feel like the response from geeky girls/guys has been largely positive, or have there been some Negative Nellies in regard to IGGPPC and its community? 

You know, we are so lucky, the response to the project has been resoundingly positive and there has been no negativity within our ranks. We've nurtured an environment of support and acceptance that is universally embraced across our members, which just makes IGGPPC a fantastic community to be involved with. There have been a few people who have tried to goad us into petty arguments on twitter but we don't rise to the bait. Internet survival 101: don't feed the trolls! 

3. And speaking of guys... are there any that actually sign up for pen pals?

Yes! They are definitely in the minority but their numbers are steadily growing!

4. Is there anything you'd like to achieve with IGGPPC that you have yet to?

So much! We joke a lot about one day being able to have a proper IGGPPC convention with all the trimmings; like comic con but with more stationery and Lisa Frank stickers. 

5. There are so many fun things going on to celebrate your birthday; a week of giveaways, a birthday video and a House competition. Regarding the House competition, I am stuck between two Houses. I will be House GlaDOS until March 13th, then its onto House Organa. Should I post my awesomeness to both houses or how does that work?

Hot damn that is tricky, as leader of house GlaDOS I am inclined to say stay with us until after the comp because switching teams half way a game is just not cricket. The amount of people who are so generously giving their time and products to help us celebrate our first year has blown us all away. A lot of the prizes for the week of giveaways have come from shops owned by our members which just makes it even more special! 

6. Anything else you'd like to say about the community that we didn't touch on?

I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to express my love for all aspects of IGGPPC. Where would I even start? The beautiful friendships that have blossomed; the candies, mix tapes and postcards swapped; the healthy twitter debates about everything and anything; the generous nature of our staff and members who give up chunks of time to organise, plan and promote the club; the list goes on and on. If I dwell on it too much it kicks me right in the feels because I cannot wrap my wee pea brain around the fact that a project we started on a whim has turned into this magnificent beast! 

If you have never signed up to get a pen pal, do it! You never know you might be a top 5 geek love away from meeting your new best friend!

For those of you that are not IGGPPC members, Iggles and Miggles are broken up into Houses by their age. House GlaDOS houses the twenties basically, and the House Organa is for the 30+. Currently, House GlaDOS is winning the competition. The House competition started March 3rd and is running through April 3rd, 2014. The giveaways are happening March 13th (Happy Birthday to me!)- March 19th (Happy Birthday IGGPPC), 2014. Every day is a new prize, and they're all pretty awesome.

Now for my giveaway! As my way of saying goodbye to House GlaDOS, I am giving away some Portal gear. If you subscribe to Loot Crate, it may look familiar to you. And it should, as this came from September's (I think) crate :) Also, I am giving away a super cool measuring cup that looks like a beaker and an ice cube tray that resemble a tiny elements chart. Now for the rules:

This is open to US addresses only. Once the giveaway is over, a winner will be contacted by email and has 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received within that time frame a new winner will be chosen. No giveaway accounts can be used for entries in this contest. That means, if you do what the widget says and one of your entries is chosen, and I can very obviously tell that you use that FB/IG/Twitter/Tumblr/BlogLovin account for contests only, your winner status will be thrown out and a new winner will be chosen. This contest is not sponsored, and is not affiliated with Loot Crate, Portal, IGGPPC or Target. I purchased everything for this contest.

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday Mix Up #18

Happy Monday everyone! This week's Monday Mix Up is a little birthday wishlist. Thursday is the big day!

Gallery Opener Heel from ModCloth.

Handbag of Holding from ThinkGeek.

Element: Ballet Conditioning DVD

Studded Ballet Slippers by Capezio.

Childish Gambino tickets.

Glass Starbucks Cold Cup.

Pokemon DVD Giveaway! (CLOSED)

In honor of my son's birthday today, I'm doing a small giveaway. Pokemon is his favorite thing right now, so I am giving away Pokemon Collector's Set: Pokemon Heroes / Pokemon 4Ever / Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys / Pokemon Jirachi: Wish Maker.

This giveaway is not sponsored and is not afflilitated with Miramax or the Pokemon franchise in any way. This is for US addresses only. Winner will be contacted by email. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email, and if no response is received by that time, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

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Monday Mix Up #17

Happy March Everyone! Its birthday month here (my children and I are all March babies), so I happen to like this month quite a bit :) My grandma was also born in March (her birthday is the day after mine), so this month is also really hard for me because it just highlights how much I miss her. I also found out that the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club will be celebrating their first birthday this month as well, so its birthdays all around!

*March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.

*Loving this California tee from Stately Type.

*I need this notebook from Denik up in here, up in here.

*Ladies Against Humanity (not for the faint of heart or politically correct)

*Speaking of Tumblr.....KMT is now on it! Follow along if you like :)

*Hot chocolate sounds so good right now. Looks good too.

*A fun St. Patrick's Day care package to be sure you or your loved ones don't get pinched!

*Any excuse to show my age and use a disposable camera.......