It's a little scary but nothing compared to what would've happened if you were outside.

I don't live in Rockford, but last night I was staying in town so that this morning I could help Steve and Mandy out with their Smalltown Showdown live show.

What to do with my free time after work last night? The mall, of course. I figured I would walk around, get my FitBit steps in and buy some cute things, like this hilarious tank top from Victoria's Secret. I mean, this is funny people.

Then the funny kinda stopped when I was walking through Macy's ready to leave and heard one of their employees say to take cover because there was a tornado.

Not even 30 seconds later, an alert popped up on my phone saying that there was a tornado nearby and I needed to seek shelter until 6:45p.m. As you all know that alert lasted much longer, til about 8:15.

I'm not very familiar with tornado warnings, I think once in college in Iowa we had one, but it's definitely not my strong suit. Thankfully the Cherryvale mall was ready to deal with the weather situation and made me feel pretty safe.

We were called into the Tornado shelter area, which is near the food courts on the lower level of the mall. It's a safe, large area that we were supposed to stay in until the stormed cleared. I made friends with the girls who work at Justice, and finally mall security came around and said we were clear to leave.

Our digital guy at work emailed us to send storm pictures, I obviously sent my adorable feet in the shelter. You know, to lighten the mood.

Michelle, Townsquare Media
Michelle, Townsquare Media
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All of us here at ZOK are pretty lucky that we are safe and scar-free, but that wasn't true for everyone. You can see how you can help the storm victims here.

I wanted to share where I was last night, just in case you find yourself stuck in the mall during severe Rockford weather.

Also you should know that Mrs. Fields' cookies is right by the tornado shelter area, and they make something called a caramel sea salt chocolate chip cookie.

Michelle, Townsquare Media
Michelle, Townsquare Media
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You should get one.

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