What a Pain in the @$$!!

Well, its official. Not two minutes after I had taken the test, the nurse peaked her head into the freezing cold run that I was sitting in and whispered the words "positive for....

STREP!!!!".

Blah.

Ick.

Ewwww.

Why me?!

I of course being the "let's take the quickest way possible out of things" opted for the shot. I'm not sure at what point I regretted my decision the most...the point where the oh-so-flamboyant male nurse told me that he passed out from the same shot just last week, the point where he told me that now I had to lay down there for 10 minutes to make sure there were not "bad reactions", or the point where I could barely walk out of the doctor's office and starting bawling/laughing from the pain/tickling in my butt when I sat down in my car.

Now I am armed with my PJ's, a bottle of Advil, and two movies rented from "the red box" (how cool is that thing?!).

Twilight has successfully been watched...now onto The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I am usually so A.D.D. that I can never sit still long enough to watch a whole movie. When I'm sick (and usually only when it has been confirmed by a doctor), will I allow myself to "chill out" and sit still. Tonight is that kinda night.

Of course I did substitute today...and I already committed myself to subbing for the same teacher tomorrow and Friday because she broke her foot yesterday. I'm hoping that the shot will kick in and I will feel better by tomorrow.

Oh yeah! One more thing...Just check out this drawing that I received today...from a first grader who said I was "hott".

gotta love it.

And also a boy update. Mike called last night while I asleep...of course I woke up to talk to him. I have talked to him in 10 days because he has been in Costa Rica camped out in a tree house in the jungle with his friends. Yes. He is THAT kind of guy. Why I think he would ever settle down is beyond me. I had been waiting for him to call and was happy that he did. But we will see about that one. I think it may be a lost cause. (for those of you who do not know the "Mike" story check here.)

Alright kiddos, just thought I would fill everyone in on my very eventful series of events today. Back to some Brad Pitt and NyQuil to lull me off to sleep. Its bright and early again tomorrow!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

Back to Blogs!

Man! Not having the Internet all weekend is rough! Especially when I want to read all of your awesome blogs! Lets just say that last night and this morning was def. spent catching up with everyone that I missed sooo much. I also want to thank everyone for wishing me good luck this weekend, it really means a lot.

So I left big JC on Friday afternoon and set off on the 5 hour drive to Nashville. I didn't really mind the drive there though, because it was SO pretty the whole way and I had my IPOD jammin' on shuffle. I snapped a couple of pics just so I could show you how gorgeous it was.

Not a cloud in the sky!

On the way there I saw a whole row of these old time-y bugs traveling together. I thought that it was pretty amusing seeing them all together in a little group. So I snapped a pic of that too.

I made pretty good time because of the weather and arrived in Nashville to meet my Aunt around 6. I don't know how many people heard about this, but there was a HUGE tornado in Nashville last week (which is pretty rare for Tennessee). Anyway, it hit about a mile from my aunt's house. I have never been in a tornado and I sure have not seen anything like the devastation from the aftermath! My aunt took me around to show me where it hit. I have never seen anything like it! It made me really sad about all the people that lost their homes and businesses. My Aunt told me that the volunteers have been great with helping out all week though, and there were still tents and things providing water and food.

I was shocked by all the damage that the tornado did, like I said I am just not used to that kind of thing at all. I don't think we have ever had a tornado, or at least a bad one, in East Tennessee.

Moving on...Saturday morning was the job fair. My Aunt and I arrived there early and ready to go. There were sooo many people there. It was kind of overwhelming and discouraging to see all of these people trying to get the same job as me. What would make me stand out from the rest?! But, I handed out my resume to a bunch of different schools and talked to a lot of principals and assisstant principals. So now all thats left to do is just cross my fingers and hope that the phone rings soon. I'm desperate for a teaching job right now!!!

I also LOVE the Nashville area. It is so nice and there is so much to do. Also, running is a HUGE deal there, so there are plenty of places to run and TONS of running groups to join. My Aunt told me that there is even one especially for teachers who run! Oh how I would love to move there.

After the stress of the job fair, my Aunt and I had a "girls" day to de-stress. We went to the hair salon, TWO different malls, to the movies to see Seventeen Again (umm when did Zac Efron get so freakin' hot?!), then out to dinner, and more shopping. Yep, by the time we got we were drained. But it was great spending time with my Aunt in an AWESOME city. Did I mention that I LOVE it there?!

Unfortunately, the drive back to JC on Sunday did not go as well as the drive there. It was pouring the rain the whole time! At one point it was raining so hard that I could not even see in front of me. Therefore, I missed my exit and ended up about an hour of track somewhere in Kentucky. I'm pretty sure that this would only happen to me. I was so glad when I finally got home and could relax.

All in all it was a great weekend. I'm really hoping that something comes out of it, but we will see. Thanks again everyone for your good luck wishes, thoughts, and prays. You guys are the best and I missed you all this weekend. I'm glad to be back!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

Sushi Lover's Heaven

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

I woke up yesterday to go take the GRE (graduate exam). It lasted for 4 HOURS and they were freakin' hardcore! They made me take off my hoodie, spit out my gum, and they even said they had a take a "digital picture" to prove that it was me taking the test. Geez. I think I did pretty good though...and now I can start thinking about applying to some Grad schools.

Lunch yesterday was delicious:

• Italian Herb Flat-Out Wrap
• Garlic and Artichoke Hummus
• Turkey Slices
• Loads of Spinach
• Salsa
• White Wine Mustard
• Quacker Cheddar Mini-Rice Cakes

I just love the mini rice cakes as substitutes for chips. They are so much better...and only 60 calories for 11!! So that means I can eat like 300, right?!

Last night I also worked my last training shift at stir-fry. For the last night of training they always want you back in the kitchen helping to prep the food. This was sooo much fun! Can you imagine?! I got to see all the yummy food and how it was made...and even got to sample some of it :). The manager was quizzing me on what some of the food was, and I may not have known all the food, but I knocked her socks off on the sushi. There was a big tray of like 10 rolls, and I named off all of them like that. Sushi is my favorite food, of course I know about it :) It was a sushi lovers heaven <333

I didn't get off work in time to go see the movie that Lucas and I had planned to see, but he did come over and we are planning to see the movie tonight instead :). We are going to see I Love You, Man. Which I have heard mixed reviews on, so we will see. I just hope its not one of those awkward funny movies that you feel uncomfortable seeing with a guy. you know what I mean? Has anyone seen it yet?

In other random news the past three mornings, for no apparent reason I have woken up singing the theme song for "salute your shorts." Anyone remember that show?

Gotta love 90s Nickelodeon. Am I right?!

Currently, I am enjoying a nice big cup of coffee and contemplating what to have for breakfast. It may just be some toast with cottage cheese...I'm pushing that 130 years. haha.

Oh yes, and you just KNOW I have pool night pics to share.

Grant snapped this picture because he said that all I did all night was text. I think some of it was checking blogs, though. hehe

We lost...we were sad.

Alright girlies, time for brekkie! I hope everyone has a great start to the weekend...I have work at the ol' Rave and then a cute baseball player is picking me up for date #2 ;)

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

V-Day Recovery

hey hey pretty ladies! Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday and recovering well from the valentines weekend. Last night I spent V-day with my friend Tina. She was my date to the movies. We saw The Uninvited, which was surprisingly really good. I didn't think it would be scary at all, but it was and it had a really good twist at the end ;) After the movie we hung out at my house and drank some wine and talked about guys. haha. Pretty good valentines, I guess. Here is a pic of Tina and I driving to the movies.

This morning I was definitely feeling the wine that we drank last night and unfortunately I had to get up and work open to close today!! I packed up my lunch to go. It was a repeat of yesterday's "apple, peanut butter, and jelly sandwich." Because it was just THAT good. I mean look at this:

Honey Wheat Bread, Mighty Maple Peanut Butter, Blackberry Preserves, and half an apple thinly sliced. And allll toasted up!

Archer Farms Blueberry Pomegranate yogurt topped with blueberries.

All packed up and ready to go to work :)

After work I came home and made up some din-din.

Brown rice with Chinese veggies stir fried with soy sauce and served up with a side of steamed broccoli.

Salad with cucumbers, onions, tomato, celery, and green peppers with a light vinaigrette dressing.

Now I'm going to take a nice bubble bath and get ready for some sleep. I need it!

Goodnight dears! <3 Ems.

P.S. Am I the only one that was not aware that it was a holiday tomorrow?! What the heck is presidents day anyways?! haha. Does everyone have the day off?

The Three F's of Friday

I have to say I am a strong believer and follower of the mighty Three F's of Friday:

• Friends
• Fun Times

ANDDDD FRENCH TOAST! :)

Ok, this is really more of a "Saturday morning cartoons and pajamas" type of breakfast...but heck I love it on any day of the week ;)

I am oh-so sorry that I missed posting yesterday! I pretty much worked all day long and then I went and meet some of the girls from work for a drink at the end of the day. Yes, I took picture documentation of these lovely girls that I call my co-workers.

Jaime and I

Kayla and I

My happy face :)

ok girls, someone else that understands the wonderful-ness of eating yummy fruits and veggies and quote-unquote healthy foods NEEDS to see what I fall witness to almost everyday. NONE of my real world friends eat like this AT ALL. In fact I get HELL from most of them about the "weird" foods that I eat. That being said this is my manager with her usual DINNER.

yes gals, that is a huge-o plate of ONLY tortilla chips! haha. Jaime how is that for "unique" eating. :)

Not enough for ya? how about this:

There's Jaime munching on a fry, seems normal right?! But what do you think she dips it in?! ketchup?...NO, mustard?! NO...then what, you ask? A HUGE PILE OF SALT!!!

YEP you gotta love my friends. And they say I eat weird! disclaimer: I LOVE them no matter thier weird-o eating habits are...and I will be there to give jamie CPR when her arteries decide they have had enough! J/K. :)

In other news I wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the responses on the tennis shoe question. You guys really helped out ALOT, just like I knew you would ;) I just LOVE all the beautiful bloggers. Asics seem to be the general consensus, so I will probably check some of those out when I go BIRTHDAY shopping on Wednesday. hooray!

Since I missed yesterday I might be feeling a multiple post today! I know your excited.

HOPE EVERYONE IS HAVING A GREAT FRIDAY! Lots of love <3

Snow Day, Slow Day

Well, it was another snow day today! Even the college shut down, which kind of sucks because that means that my gym is closed as well :(. So today was just one of those BORING slow days, because I could not even make it out of my drive way! blah. Making this a semi-boring post, because I have nothing to talk about! haha.

Lunch:

Flat Out wrap with turkey, red pepper hummus, sprouts, spinach, and salsa. YUM YUM!

And on the side the BIGGEST, JUICEST pear. :)

After lunch I decided I just could not sit around any longer! I hopped in the shower and got ready, and slipped on my new Whitney Port-inspired headband:

haha. I know, Im SUCH a nerd!

So I scooted on over to the mall because I am in the market for some new tennis shoes. YOU GUYS I NEED HELP! I am the world worst at making decisions, especially about something as utterly important as tennis shoes. Anyone have any recommendations for me?! What are the best shoes to run and also workout in?

Then I decided to come home and fix up some din-din. I made me up some of this yummy stuff:

It was on sale at the grocery store and I thought that it looked good and quick to make so I thought I would try it. OH MAN! It was sooooo good!!! I highly recommend it! I also sauteed some spinach and mushrooms again and had that with it as well. Just look at how awesome this set up looks :)

And of course I had to have my salad on the side. I dont know what it is but I always have to have different things to eat on, I cant just eat a plate of one thing, I have to two different things to go back and forth between, and my dinner just doesnt seem complete without a side salad. haha.

Now I am about to make up some hot coco, get in my pjs, and cuddle up with this:

Yes, Im finally making good on that promise to watch a romantic comedy. We have a love/hate relationship. Hopefully this one will live up to my cheesy expectations!

I hope everyone had a wonderful hump day! We are HALF WAY to the weekend gals! LOVE YOU GUYS LIKE CRRRRAZZZYYY!! <3

Ups and Downs

So today has just been one of those days that has been filled with ups and downs. It started off pretty good. I woke up got caught up on my episodes of The City. Boy, do I love that show! Did you know that Whitney was named one of the top 100 hottest blondes on AIM.com?! I just love her style, I wish I could steal all of her clothes (and especially her shoes!).

Anyway, then I had breakfast (the usual) and went on over to the gym for a GREAT workout. I was not really feeling going to the gym today and I almost turned around about 3 times on my way there, but I knew I would feel better if I went, so I did and I got in a good 35 minutes on the eliptical and 25 minutes on the bike :). I got home and made up another DE-LISH wrap.

Flat Out Wrap with garlic hummus, 3 slices of turkey, salsa, spicy mustard, and spinach. And obv. an apple ;)

Does anybody else have a certain order that they stack their ingredients in sandwiches or wraps?! It has taken me a couple of trial and error tries, but I think I have the discovered the OPTIMAL order for wraps. Maybe if your lucky one day I'll reveal it! Also, maybe one day I'll discover the secret to eating them without needing 39208402834 napkins!

After lunch i hopped in the shower and got ready for work, which was....ehhhhh....lets just not go there.

I did some REALLY cute things from Charlotte when I went on my interview that I broke out last night though.

Feather printed shirt from Forever 21

Fish necklace from Forever 21

Here are some pics from my dinner and movie "date night" with the bestie.

When we got to the movie we were the only ones in the theater, so we started jumping down as many of the stairs that we could in one jump. I tried to get a cool-looking mid-air pic, but it just was NOT happening! damn camera delay!! haha. Here are my attempts:

The movie that we saw The Unborn just OK. Im not really all that into movies about possession and stuff like that, it just REALLY creeps me out. I wasnt aware that this was that kind of movie, but oh yes it was! Lets just say coming home alone to a dark empty house at midnight was less than a fun time.

In other news...TOMORROW IS FRIDAY GIRLS! WHO HAS FUN WEEKEND PLANS?!

Dinner and a Movie Night!

So I wake up this morning to a text from the bestie saying "dinner date tonight?"...um of course! I have not seen her in about a week and we have a TON of catching up to do over dinner. I got even more excited when I realized that it was Wednesday and my all time favorite SUSHI restaurant has HALF-OFF of all their sushi rolls :) talk about the ultimate BEST night for a dinner date. My friend doesnt really like sushi too much (im trying to get her into it), so I asked her if it was ok to eat there but that we didnt have to, but she said it was fine! YAY! Then we decided that we might as well make a night of it and go to a movie afterward as well. I have been in the mood for a scary movie, so we decided that we are gonna go see The Unborn.

Purrrrrtty scarrrry! haha.

You guys will be so happy to see a break in the flat out wraps streak. I was in the mood for a just plain-o sammie today. I have been craving mushrooms for the past couple o' days so I picked some up yesterday and just HAD to use them in my sandwich for lunch today. Here she is with some Kashi crackers on the side:

roasted red pepper hummus, spinach, mushroom, and salsa sandwich on whole wheat bread...grilled on the Fore-Man!

BURSTING with mushrooms! :)

And then I may have snuck in a couple of these thing-ys for d-cert.

and maybe a few more ;)

I just wanna say thanks again for everyone who was thinking about me and gave me such awesome support for my interview yesterday. Your kind words and thoughts meant soooo much more than I could ever say. It really was a big accomplishment for me to even go. I had to wake up at 330 in the morning to drive the 3 and half hours to get there for the interview. There were so many times where I thought "im just not going to go, there are too many things working against me, it wont be worth it." But, I bit the bullet and I went for it! I knew I wanted to and I WAS NOT going to let negative thoughts get in my way. In a way it kind of reminded me of overcoming the negative feelings and thoughts associated with ED. There was that little voice in the back of my head that told me I couldnt do it, just like with ED telling me I needed to control my body by restricting and exercising, that I was weak if I didnt. But I turned around and looked that little voice right SMACK in the face and I said "I am strong and I can do this", I shook it off and I DID IT! and I was so proud of myself for accomplishing that, whether I get the job or not :)

Ok, time to get ready for "date night"...im GONNA take pictures of the food, im not going to be embarrassed! haha...because you just have to see how AMAZING this place is!

oh yeah, and you bet your Valentines Day Lovin' booty i WILL be particpating in Lee's "Secret Cupid" extravaganza and you probably should too :)

I might try something new tonight...What is your favorite sushi roll?

Movie Reviews and Dinnerware

"If your not living life on the edge your taking up too much room."

Good morning everyone!...or should I say afternoon?! I dont know, I didnt really sleep in this morning, but im just now sitting down to eat breakfast and im definitely still in my PJS.
Last night, some of the girls from work and I went and saw the movie Doubt after work. I have one word for this movie...BORING! I have a pretty hard time sitting through movies anyway (I have serious ADD) and this one was especially hard to sit through!! The acting and the production in the movie was great, but it was just very slow and never really got to the point or got too exciting. I can definitely see it being nominated for all those awards though, just not my type of movie. I give it a 4.
Here are my AMAZING colleagues...I love every single one of them, it really is like a big family at work and I am so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and strong women everyday.

From left to right Tina, Tanya, Renee, and Stephanie.

Ok, I just feel like I need to praise these girls just a little bit more, because I truely look up to and admire every single one of them.
Tina is one of the strongest women that I know, she has been through so much in her life and works so hard everyday. She is going to school now to become a nurse, so that she can support herself and her two sons. She has had a ton of obstacles, but has never let that stand in her way.
Tanya is the friend that I always go to for advice. She always gives the best advice and thinks of things in ways that I would never think of. We have been through a whole lot together and I consider her one of my best friends, she is my shopping my buddy and my partner in crime. She is currently expecting her third child! we hope its a boy!!
Renee is my boss, but she is more like a second mother to me! I feel like I can talk to her about anything. we even argue like mother and daughter. She is the best boss that I have ever had and I really look up to and respect her for that.
Stephanie is like my older sister. She and I always butt heads because we are both so stubborn! But we always hug and make up in about five mintues! She just got married a few months ago and I threw her bacherlotte party and helped decorate for her wedding. She is the kind of friend that would be there for you in heartbeat if you needed her. no questions asked. I love her to death and I would do anything for her in return.
Ok, thats enough of that seriousness! haha. I just fell so lucky to have such great friends that I just had to brag a little bit.
On to other things...I MUST have this plate set
How cute is that?! Its got sushi all over it! haha. I think I need it.
I need to decorate my house a little more, I feel like it needs more personality! where is the best place to get cool, unique home decor?