The Only Day Acceptable for Ugly Manicures

Are you a big fan of Halloween?

Do you pour your blood, sweat, and tears into your costume?

I've never been one to get all excited about Halloween.  I admire everyone else's elaborate costumes and I really think it's great when people come up with original ideas.

I, however, lack creativity in all sense of the word.  I can never come up with a great costume.  I don't know if I've ever put 100% effort into it, but it just never works for me.

I've been to a few Halloween parties but really the themes are not my cup of tea.  I don't do scary or icky. I'm not into the club scene either so really what I'm trying to say is that I'm a huge Halloween Party Pooper.

Ironically, I won a costume award on Monday.

Yup! You read that right...I won a freaking costume award for Halloween...whoo hoo!!!


On Monday we had a small party at work.  The invite said there'd be prizes for the Scariest, Funniest, and Most Original costumes.  Since I'm not a fan of dressing up and costumes in general, I ordered a shirt on line. I didn't want to be completely lame and not have any effort, so I wore my t-shirt and painted my nails.

AND WON!!





I was voted as Funniest Costume (if you can't read the words, I'm a Pumpkin Smuggler!). I painted my nails orange (which I actually didn't mind and might have kept it on during November) and added Black Crackle nail polish on top.  This is what I thought it might look like (but w/ orange of course).



But here is what it turned out like:



Seriously the most ugly home manicure I've ever had.  I need to fire my nail lady- oh wait, that's me!

For real- people pay for this?? I'm sorry if you are drawn to this look but this is another trend that just isn't for me.  I usually put a lot of effort into making sure my nails don't  turn out this ugly.

But I still won, ugly nails and all.  I guess Halloween is the one day a year it's OK to be ugly on purpose.

My prize? A box of Fiber One bars, 2 boxes of Jell-O, and a mug filled with candy.  Way better than the prize for Scariest Costume who one clinical strength deodorant!!

And just for fun-


A NEW BELLY PIC (32 weeks!)



Just for comparison, the pic on the right is me at 27 weeks.  Looks like Baby has moved up and is squishing more of my organs- especially the lungs!



And of course I'm going to share the cutest picture I saw on Facebook- It was his first Halloween and he was Russel from the movie UP!



Do you dress up for Halloween?  Do you like to go to parties, throw your own, or stay low-key with the trick or treaters?

Blogging FYI- Awards/Buttons/GIVEAWAYS!!

I've always said that the best thing about blogging is the community it builds.


Sometimes I read a blog and think, "Hey! We could be friends in real life, fo' sho'!" (in a non stalker-ish way, of course).  It's really nice to connect with fellow bloggers whom you may have never had the chance to build a friendship, ever.


And that being said....


I would love to thank SUZ from COWS AND LASERS AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN for honoring me with this:

The Liebster Blog Award!!!

No, not lobster. Liebster.  I'm guessing rhymes with Leapster.


Liebster means beloved German.  And this award gets me all warm and fuzzy inside because one of the main reasons I keep blogging is because of my readers and the immense amount of support that we're able to share through our blogs.


Here are the rules:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment at their blog.

3. Post the Award on your blog.

4. Enjoy the love of some of the most supportive people on the Internet!

My top 5 picks (oooo this is always so hard for me!)

1. My Journey to a Healthy Berg

2. Healthy Strides

3. Katie Runs This

4. Words to Run By

5. Dashing in Pearls

Krista @ My Journey to a Healthy Berg is a weight loss success and a pharmacy student! She always has great healthy advice in nutrition and fitness.  So inspiring!

Kimberly @ Healthy Strides is also a weight loss success and new mommy! She keeps it real with her healthy lifestyle and honestly her pictures of her baby boy just melt my heart.

Katie @ KatieRunsThis is a soon to be mommy (4 days and counting!) and still keeps her running game.  She's a true inspiration to me to stay active during my pregnancy and beyond.

Sara @ Words to Run By is another inspiring blogger.  I feel like I can relate to her because she's come so far from those first steps of running (which is where I am) and makes me feel like I can accomplish my goals, too.

Tara @ Dashing in Pearls is one of the first bloggers I've followed since starting my blog.  She's a teacher and loves running, cupcakes, and "things that sparkle" (honestly, who doesn't?).

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Have you seen Blog Buttons before?

I've seen them around, but have never understood what they were all about.  Why would I want another blogger's button on my blog? Well, duh- because bloggers SWAP buttons! 

I learned this through my girl at Jenn's Adventures.

She is always helping me out with my technological aspirations (or lack thereof) and her most recent post has inspired me to create my own button.

Just gotta figure out which pic I want to use and then I can swap buttons with all you fellow bloggers out there!

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And now for more fun stuff: GIVEAWAYS!

Both Tara @ Dashing in Pearls and Savanah @ What Makes Savanah Smile are having fab giveaways!

You have two (2) chances to win this great prize by entering their giveaways:

A Dolce Gusto Piccolo Coffee Maker!!!!!