Allergic to My Hometown

You know its time to move when you have an allergic reaction to coming home.

Let me just explain. Yesterday upon arriving back home my whole face breaks out in big red bumps all over! I have no idea what it could be, but its so weird. Except for the occasional zit, my face is usually pretty clear...and it was perfectly clear yesterday morning and all through the afternoon when my sister and I were driving home. When we got back home I ran to target to pick up some things, while I was there I noticed one big red bump on my face and by the time I got home my whole face and neck were covered!

I have no idea what it could be! I took some benadryl, because I am assuming it is some sort of allergic reaction, but I'm not sure to what. Maybe sunscreen? But why would it just now be appearing? What do you guys think?!

Moving on...

I have LOTS of informational pics from the past few days. Food, fun, fashion, etc., etc.

Lets GO!

Friday night my sister and I hit the town of Charleston for sushi, finally! We went to a restaurant called Tsunami.

I totally wanted to rock out the new shoes, so in true Jenny style, here is "what I wore"

Love the shoes, do not however enjoy the way they make my feet feel after walking in them all night!

Here we are at the sushi place, capturing the mood of the lighting:

My sister is new to the whole sushi experience, so I decided it would be best to share a plate of a few different rolls.

I started out with a salad with ginger dressing:

The came the Sushi! We got the white tuna roll, the great california roll, and the super vegetable roll:

Notice me in the background, ready to dig in with my soy sauce and chopsticks :)

After we ate we decided that since it was our last night at the beach we just HAD to get icecream. So we stopped at a frozen yogurt place called Fresh Berry.

It was so good we forgot to take a picture until we were almost finished:

The next morning I woke up and had my usual vaca brekkie:

All-Bran Flakes, Banana, Skim milk, and Coffee.

After eating a quick breakfast it was time to pack up and hit the road.

My sister and I drove the 5 hours back home. On the way we stopped for lunch at a subway (sorry forgot the pic).

When we got home I rushed to shower and get ready to go downtown for The Blue Plum Festival. It is a festival that we have every year downtown. They block off all the roads and all the bars serve drink outside and they are bands all over the place. It is sooo much fun and even though I was tired, there was NO WAY I was gonna miss it!

My friend lives really close to downtown, so we parked at her place and walked down. Which was good, because there are literally 1000's of people there and finding a parking place is like finding a needle in a haystack!

Some pics from the night:

The guy in the picture is one of my best friends, Ben. I was so proud of him, because he ran in the festivals 5K earlier that day, and clocked in at 21:50! I thought that was pretty impressive, def. better than me!

We pretty much spent the whole night talking about running and he agreed to start training to run a half marathon with me! Its in September and I am so excited. I am even more excited that I have a "running buddy" now.

Well, that is it for the pics...for now.

Tonight is wedding night with a few of my girlfriends! Should be fun.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing and fun Sunday!

Lots of Love <3 Ems.

Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture

Oh man! This weekend has just been crrazzzyy! I feel like I have pretty much gone non-stop. But I kept getting invites to do things, and if you know me you know I am always up for a fun time and when one of my friends wants to go out, I rarely say no.

Last night my friend Tina wanted to go out on the town, so of course she didn't have to twist my arm. Do I feel some pics about to go down?! I do think so.

We met up with some friends at a local bar downtown.

We laughed sooo hard at this picture because Josh failed at every attempt to take a decent picture. This was his worst shot. haha he is actually pretty cute, but he looks like a creep-o in this picture. Here are several more attempts.

Then I had to show him just how a great picture is taken:

As the night went on several more people showed up to hang out and I saw a lot of old friends. I tend to put the camera away after a few drinks though, because things tend to get a little difficult to keep up with after that. haha.

P.S. Aren't the little Polaroid cool? My friends told me about this program that you can find and download here. I just love it! Its so cool, this little camera pops up and all you do is drag and drop your pictures into the camera and out pops your Polaroid from your camera. Of course, you have to wait for the picture to develop. No shaking!

Today is a catch up day for sure, after that wild weekend. I woke up and fixed up some blueberry waffles with sliced banana and strawberries and maple syrup.

Then for lunch I was craving something just warm and good and comforting. What did I come up with?!

Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana DUH!

And just to show the ooey gooey goodness of the sandwich I present to you evidence #1

mmmmm

Also, this morning I was surfing the web for some owl tattoo ideas and check out what I found!

Its the tattoo that I described! An owl with the text "carpe diem", except I want "carpe noctem" and I want it a little smaller...and def somewhere less noticeable than smack dab on my arm. But other than that, thats it! I kinda thought it was an original idea, but guess not. haha. I still like it though...what do you guys think?

Ok Now its time for cleaning, running, tanning, and shopping with the sis. Then I gotta get up early to substitute teach for a Kindergarten class. AHH!!!

Hope everyone is having an awesome, relaxing Sunday.

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

Laughable Discoveries of a Tuesday Morning

So there have been a series of things that have made me laugh today so far and I just HAD to share these funny moments of the morning with you guys. Here they are in bullet form for easier reading.

1. According to Google Analytics someone apparently found my blog by goggling the term "Amazing race butt shot". I dont know if I should be more disturbed that someone is actually searching that term, or that my site was linked with it.
2. I get a text from my friend this morning alerting me to this alarming news story. Thats right kids...who knew he was so spastic?...oh wait, I take that back, I just watched his infomercial.
3. After telling my mom the other day that I eat cottage cheese nearly everyday, she calls me this morning to tell me about a report on the news about a lady who is 130 years old. What does she say helped her to beat father time?...eating cottage cheese everyday.
4. My roommate is offically off her "500 calorie a day INSANE diet". Proof? I open the cabinet this morning to find that she has gone through two BOXES of Special K in two days.
   

So much entertainment today already!

I am currently headed over to my mother's house to bring her some POM Wonderful and get her review of it. She called me this morning to tell me about a new "healthy" recipe that she was trying for lunch. We will get her to love healthy foods yet! :) I packed up the camera, pen, and paper, and will be writing up her review in the next post.

Lettin' Loose

So after the run yesterday I was def. ready for a fun Saturday night out on the town. My dancin partner in crime Britt came over and we got ready to go out.

Usual "bathroom mirror shot" No, she did NOT wear that t-shirt out. Its a t-shirt from my highschool that she had on while her shirt was in the dryer. haha

It was definitely a fun night. We ended up going out to our favorite dance spot and danced all night. By the time we got home I was exhausted and I crashed BIG TIME! I got up this morning and went to work, tanned, and now I am home again. WHEW! What a weekend. But I loved every minute of it :)

Random food shots from the last two days:

I tried the honey flavored Oikos yesterday and I liked it better than the vanilla. I still have the plain in my fridge and I have yet to find a blueberry. I think I would like the blueberry the best though, so that a total bummer!

They had Annie's Hunny Bunnies cereal on sale at the grogery store, so I picked it up and thought I would give it a try. I used it to make a new Breakfast this morning:

• 1 Cup of Hunny Bunnies
• 6 oz. nonfat vanilla yogurt
• Naner
• Handfull of Blueberries
• Cinnamon!

This combo was SUPER good and nice for a change of pace. Sometimes you just gotta mix it up a little! I really like this cereal too and I recommend it if you havent tried it.

It says right on the box "No icky additives or pesky preservatives"

Lunch:

Made up a wrap for lunch today before work. With all the usual ingredients.

Currently I just finished up the weekly viewing of Running with Heels with my roommate:

Its a reality show about three girls that are interning for Marie Claire Magazine, and it is one of my new "shows". It comes on Sundays at 8 on Style. WATCH IT!

Ok, so I have something that I just need to rant about. I really really hate to do it, but I just have to let it out. I can not be the only one who thinks this is wrong, so I need input! My roommate who is all ready at a perfectly healthy weight just started on this EXTREME diet and it is really bothering me. It makes me so uncomfortable when she talks about, and she talks about it all the time! Basically it is some sort of pill that makes it possible for her to live off of 500 calories a day!! And she is doing this for three weeks! I just wanna scream at her when she starts talking about it, because it is NOT healthy and I think she is crazy for doing it. I tried to look up info about it online, but I cant find anything that says its dangerous. But surely it is, right?! And I would think that it would only be used on people that were extremely overweight, which is she is not! I have told her before about some of the things that I have gone through, and that it makes me uncomfortable when people practice unhealthy habits. But, she continues to rub this in my face. Am I wrong for being totally annoyed by her right now?!

When I did some googling on whether or not this diet was safe I found an article from The Morning Show that really hit home for me. It talks about weight lose, but I think that it can be related to the feelings of ED as well.

"The only way to let-go of unwanted weight is to let-go of unwanted emotional baggage, let-go of fears and worries, let-go of guilt and shame, let-go of self-hatred and self-loathing, and let-go of the crazy beliefs about food, fat, weight, and dieting, that the “establishment” has fed you all your life. Look in the mirror. Look around you. What you’ve been told simply isn’t an accurate perspective of reality; it simply doesn’t work the way they say it does. It isn’t what you eat that’s making you fat; it’s what’s eating you. Most people say, “I’ll be happy when I lose this extra weight;” but, the truth is, this kind of “happiness” will last only as long as you keep the weight off. Finding true happiness, however, can be the greatest weight-reduction plan ever"

I just found that really inspiring, because I think that its so true, as long as you are happy with yourself and your life, weight will matter less and less. There is SO MUCH more to life than that and a lot of time and energy is wasted by worrying about external things. I am guilty of this myself, and it is something that I am working on everyday.

Ok, enough of that. Its just been on my mind all week! Now Im off to shower and have dinner and hit the hay...im EXHAUSTED!

Hope everyone is revved up for the week! Lots of Love,

<3 Ems.

Nashville Weekend Recap (LOTS of pictures!)

Oh my goodness I have MISSED you guys sooo much! I felt so out of the loop when I got home last night and tried to "quickly" scan through some of the updates. It just didnt work out because I was sooo behind! I even found out that I had won Angela's contest for an "oh she glows" fit gear hoodie! My first winning!! So that was a nice surprise to come home to :)

Anyway, on to the weekend. We took a TON of pictures, I'm not gonna put them all up here, because I think it might be overkill. But I definitely want to show you girls some highlights.

As I said in an earlier post we were going to Nashville for a going away party for my cousin Matt, who is leaving for Korea this morning to start teaching English over there for a year. I know he is super nervous about so everyone keep him in your thoughts and prayers (especially for his 14 hour flight!!) This is an awesome opportunity for him and I know he will do amazing things over there.

We started out the Nashville weekend on Friday afternoon. I picked up my friend Brittani and we hit the road! We stopped through Knoxville to pick up my cousin's girlfriend who goes to college at the University of Tennessee (that is also where my cousin graduated from). After we picked her up it was full speed ahead to NashVegas baby! My cousin had gotten a hotel right in the middle of downtown so that we could be within walking distance of all the bars and restaurants and it was so nice! We got there, got ready, and went out to eat. First things first, right?!

This is where it gets interesting. The guy at the front desk of the hotel suggested that we try a nice sushi restaurant that was on one of the main streets of downtown Nashville. We decided to give a shot. So we walk in and sit down. The waiter brings us out some water and we ask to see the menu. Well, he goes back to the KITCHEN to grab our menus. I take the menu, open it up....and THERE IS A LIVE ROACH CRAWLING INSIDE!!!! We were all up and out of that place in record time. I mean, I'm sorry, but that is just a deal breaker right there. We ran into the closest restaurant we could find and that was the Hard Rock Cafe. It wasnt bad, this place is of course more atmosphere than anything.

Ok, after we ate we hit the town. We went to one bar called Cadillac ranch. It had a real Cadillac hanging from beams in the ceiling and a mechanical bull to ride.

This was the view from the upstairs, looking down onto the bar. It was sooo cool looking.

In typical Nashville form, my friend Brandon decided to ride the bull. I think he lasted about .2 seconds. haha.

After we left there we walked up the street to a place called Paradise Park. This place was sooo cool, because it was a bar inside, but it was decorated to look like you were outside in a trailer park. I wish we had fun places like that were I live!

Britt and my cousin Matt

Matt and his friend Alex

Britt, Keely (Matt's Girlfriend), and I

Keely, Brandon, and I

Matt's friend Brandon apparently feel in love with me at first site and kept trying to tell me how pretty I was all night. Matt captured one of these moments on film. haha

The next day, the girls got up and went shopping (of course) While the fellas slept the whole day! When we got back we all got ready for Round #2.

My cousin and I. I am wearing a KILLER leather jacket that I bought at Forever 21 on our shopping trip earlier that day. I think I'm in love with it.

All of Matt's friends at his going away dinner.

Sunday morning we had a more formal get together after church where friends and family came to Matt's house to wish him well and say goodbye.

Matt and his girlfriend Keely. I felt so bad for her, having to say goodbye to her boyfriend for a whole year!

My aunt served some traditional Korean snack food at the get together. All of it was kinda strange! Even the "dessert" type things were hot and spicy! I did enjoy these "seaweed chips" that were just dried seaweed and tasted similar to crunchy sushi. haha.

The dessert spread. Ginger cookies (these tasted just like the ginger that you get with sushi, with a hint of sweetness. Kinda strange.), Rice cookies, and some other type of cookie that was almost the consistency of wax.

Alex chowing down on some edamame and Britt getting it with some rice cakes. haha

Matt and Alex.

After the get together we hit the road to go back home. It was really sad saying goodbye to my cousin, but he will be able to keep in touch through e-mail and such, so that goods. I look forward to hearing all the stories and seeing all the pictures. It was a fun and exhausting weekend. And I'm pretty sure that I fell in love with Nashville, it is just an amazing city with so much to see and do!

Well, I am glad to be back to my lovely blogger ladies. Like I said, I missed you guys tons and I am going to try to get caught up on everyones lives again! Please get me back into the loop!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday. Lots of Love <3 Ems.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians.

I told you that I would make up for missing a day and do two posts in one day!

So here are the updates on my eats for today:

Lunch: Turkey, red pepper hummus, spinach, sprouts, and salsa, wrapped up in flatout wrap.

Another HUGE-O pear.

And for dinner I had something I had not had in FOREVER and I forgot how good it was:

Amy's Indian Palak Paneer. Soooo good!

I sent off my Secret Cupid package today, so I hope it makes it there with no troubles! Its all in the hands of the postal service now! I actually have a pretty funny story about shipping my package today. I go up to the line and the guy helping me is this friendly older man. I go to pay for my delivery and whip out my debit card. After he scans it he says "would you like any cash back?" I reply "no thanks", and he says back "are you sure?! its the weekend you know!" hahaha. I said "good point!" Everyone was laughing that was waiting in line, it was just not something you would expect.

So I guess you probably noticed that the site looks a tad different. I had a little trouble when i posted last time and completely messed up my entire layout!! I was literally sitting here on the computer for about an hour completely dumbfounded with no idea what to do. So I just reverted it back to a standard layout and then messed around with it a little and relized that I kinda like this better. Its simpler, but I like it better I think.

Ok gals. Im all snuggled up in my pjs and ready to just watch some more romantic comedies and hit the hay. Unfortunately Friday nights are sorta slow around here. Its so weird because everyone usually goes out on thursday or saturday, but never friday. Does anyone else have a weird night of the week in thier home towns that everyone goes out on?

I hope everyone is having a great start to the weekend. Love and hugs! <3