Malori Reviews All Sorts of Stuff

WARNING - this post is going to be very long. I had a lot of reviews to catch up on, and now that I have figured out my picture problem, I am excited to post about them. Feel free to stop reading at time.


My little sister got a pair of Toms shoes when she was in Florida. She told me all about them on the phone and when she came back to Arizona, she showed them to me, and let me borrow them - and they are seriously the most comfortable shoes ever!!! So, I finally was able to get a pair a while ago, and I am so happy - I wear them practically every day!
These shoes sort of mold to your feet and it feels like you are wearing comfortable slippers everywhere you go - but they are cute too! Bonus!
But wait, there's more!
For every pair of shoes sold, Toms gives a pair of shoes to children in Africa who need them. Their motto is "one for one" - one pair of shoes sold equals one pair of shoes given.
The children's lives are blessed so much by these shoes. Not only are their feet protected from cuts and scratches that can get dirt in them and get infected, but the schools there require that the children wear shoes, and if they don't have them, they can't attend. Simply by giving them a pair of shoes, they are able to have protection and have a better chance at getting educated. It's a really great cause.
There are so many different styles of Toms. Mine are "slate" - just a sort of chalkboard black color because I wanted them to be able to match most of my clothes - but they have everything from burlap to glitter!
You seriously need to check them out - you will not regret it! Just visit www.toms.com



Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix. Need I say more? This is like a party in a box! Without a doubt my favorite kind of cake is funfetti cake. When I was growing up I always said that I wanted my wedding cake to be made out of funfetti cake, so, my wonderful little sis who made my beautiful cake made the top layer funfetti for me!
Everytime I make a funfetti cake I get so excited! All of the great colors spread throughout makes me feel like I am celebrating even when I am eating it alone in my house on a typical Wednesday afternoon.
The cool thing is that the colors never run together to make a giant greenish looking blob in your cake like you would expect it to - each little sprinkle maintains it's individual color while still getting soft inside so you don't feel like you are eating a crunchy cake.
AND...this cake tastes like regular white cake - which happens to be my 2nd favorite kind of cake right after funfetti cake!
How could this get any better? Well let me tell you - Funfetti Frosting!

You still reading??

I have had a facebook account for a long time now, but have only been an addict since we moved in to this new house on campus and have the free internet. Before that, I thought that facebook was kind of a nuisance. Why would people spend so much time checking it? Why would people want to publicize everything that they do all day every day?
Since then my feeling have changed. Sure, I still feel like I am sometimes wasting my time when I sit in front of it re-clicking the "home" button to see if anybody has said anything new in the past 10 seconds, but I really see the value of facebook now.
I am a social person. I really like people. I like to think that I make friends pretty easily, and I like to keep up with the friends that I have. I am not, however, a person with a lot of time on her hands (I know that's hard to believe after I admit to re-clicking the "home" button over and over again). This is also the case for a lot of my friends.
I love being able to get on facebook and see what everyone is up to - look at pictures of their families, read about what is going on in their lives, and see what they are interested in now-a-days. I feel like even though I am far away from some of them, I am still able to celebrate successes with them, or lend support when they need it, and I feel that reciprocated.
Facebook also allows me to socialize on my own time. This means that I don't have to try and set up a schedule with other people - I can get on in the middle of the night and post and comment and you can get on whenever you have time and post and respond.
How convenient!
Now, a lot of people have really compelling arguments as to why facebook isn't a good thing - and I have to say that I agree with some of the points - but, I really like facebook and I plan to continue using facebook, and if you are on facebook and we aren't friends - find me!



My family told me about this show called "Eureka" on the SyFy Channel, so when I found the first season on my handy-dandy instant Netflix (seriously, how did I live without this??) I decided to check it out.
What can I say? This show is so fun! It is about a town called Eureka that was set up by the government to house all of these really brilliant people - like super-genius type people. Well, they bring in this sheriff who is really good at his job, and chock-full of common sense and street smarts, but he is certainly no genius. So he and his daughter are trying to live in this town and he is trying to take care of all of these problems that come up from different experiments and other things that go on in the town.
It may sound kinda lame when I just tell you about it like that, but trust me, it is not lame! This show is good clean fun. It never really gets to heavy, it never gets dirty or has bad language - it's just a really fun show. And, the sheriff is a really great character - charismatic, handsome, clever - in a way he sort of reminds me of Captain Mal for you fellow Browcoats out there.
If you get some time and are looking for a fun family show to check out - give this one a shot. It is certainly on my list of favorite shows - right up there with "Firefly" and "LOST"

If you are still reading, I'm impressed!

Just because I didn't post about the election before it happened doesn't mean you are getting off so easily. Of course I have to put in my two-cents about how I feel about the election....but don't worry, I will be incredibly brief.
Basically, I am very proud of our country for taking a stand against a government that had stopped listening to it's people. Hopefully this will give our voices a chance to be heard.
I was a little bit irritated at Mr. Obama when he gave his post-election speech in that he simply would not admit that the people were speaking out against his policies over the past 2 years, but maybe the new direction the House has taken will help convince him of that.
I was excited to see Jan Brewer win. Do I think she is a perfect candidate? No. But who is? She has a lot of rough edges that could use a little bit of smoothing - but the fact of the matter is that she has taken this immigration issue to a whole new level and it has become a personal fight for her. I think that is important in this critical time for our state as we watch while our federal government sues our state government. We need someone who is going to stand her ground, and as it has become a personal fight for her, I believe that she is the one who can do it.
And finally I just want to applaud our state for voting down medical marijuana. Good for us!



Another fun little thing my little sis and little bro introduced me to is "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog". With the help of Netflix I was able to watch this fun little internet show starring Neil Patrick Harris and (our own Captain Mal) Nathan Fillion. Neil Patrick Harris plays Dr. Horrible, a not-so-bad villain who is desperate to make his mark on the world. Nathan Fillion plays the egotistical Captain Hammer, the "hero" who is Dr. Horrible's nemesis.
The music is great and the whole thing is completely hilarious!

***SPOILER ALERT***

It was completely hilarious until the end - I could not believe that they just killed Penny like that! Here I was enjoying this sort-of light-hearted sing-a-long (a lot of hyphens in that last sentence huh?) and then WHAM! out-of-the-blue Penny has this shard of death ray sticking out of her chest! I was so not ready for that!

***SPOILER IS OVER***

It was a good time. I suggest you watch it, I liked it. Of course I like anything with Nathan Fillion in it, and when you add the talented Neil Patrick Harris, I am a fan!



I love Diet Dr. Pepper. I know it's not good for me. I know the caffeine is bad and I know that just because it is "diet" doesn't mean that it is any better for me - in fact it's worse.
I like the way diet tastes. I really enjoy a Diet Dr. Pepper, and I will continue to enjoy Diet Dr. Pepper - at least for the rest of 2010.
I am contemplating making it a New Years Resolution to stop drinking it - but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.
I just really, really like it.
I'll keep you posted on my New Years decision.

Whoa, you're still with me? You must be dedicated!

Last, but certainly not least, Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition came out recently. You can bet that I pre-ordered mine at the Disney Store, so I now own a shiny, new, blu ray copy of Beauty and Beast, and let me tell you, it makes a huge difference!
You see, Beauty and the Beast has always been my all-time favorite Disney cartoon of all time, ever! I love it so much that I can literally quote every word through the entire movie (yup, that gets annoying really quick, so I try to only do it if I am watching it alone - but I can't help singing the songs no matter who is around) and I always said that I was Belle when we were talking about who was which princess.
I have the VHS version in my closet right now, and I am here to tell you that blu ray makes a HUGE difference! The movie is so bright, so clear, and so vivid! They took some of the pictures and cut them out so there is more dimension to the movie, and they even added some animation and computer stuff (like really great rain in the scene where Gaston and the Beast are fighting on the roof) to enhance the experience!
Basically, it is AMAZING!!!! I love every darn minute of it!
Please watch the new Diamond Edition of Beauty and the Beast, and if you can't get your hands on it, please feel free to come over to my house and watch it with me - I am happy to watch it as many times as I need to! (Just don't get annoyed if I sing along to the songs!)

You finally made it to the end!! Thanks for reading this entire thing! Now, let me know what you think about these fun topics!