The Dress...and a Bit More

Hello my lovelies! I'm still here in Charleston living it up. I swear you think of vacations as being relaxing, but I was thinking about it today and they are usually quite opposite! Or at least for me, I always try to take in as much as possible in the week that I am on vacation so I am worn out by activities every single day. But I like it that way, not complaining AT ALL!

Today I was up bright and early to fix up some breakfast before anyone else! We have been having a fight over the bananas (that I bought for ME) and I knew that there was only half of one left. Hey, you snooze you lose...especially when it comes to food, right?!

1 cup Special K, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 banana. Along with a nice cup of coffee.

Here was my view while I ate:

Everyone was pretty much burnt to a crisp after three straight days of hours in the sun, so we decided that today would be an indoor shopping day.

We ventured over the bridge again into Charleston for the MALL!

When we got there everyone was ready for lunch. Luckily there was a semi-healthy option in the mall in the form of a Jason's Deli.

I had the Mediterranean Wrap under the "Real Choices" menu. It had oven roasted turkey breast, roasted red pepper hummus, cucumbers, purple onions, kalamata olives, roma tomatoes and organic field greens in an organic wheat wrap. I got the baked chips on the side as well.

The wrap was actually really really good! I needed the fuel for shopping so I ate it up!

Sooooo here is the moment you have all been waiting for. The KILLER dress that I got at Urban Outfitters. I think it just scream "PAR-TAY".

Did I mention that I am a total sucker for snake skin?! And short black dresses?!

Here is a close up of the detail:

And here is someone who is totally NOT me, wearing it. Just so you get the full effect.

I am pretty sure that I am going to rock it tomorrow night when my sister and I go out on the town for sushi and dancing!

Oh yeah...did I mention that I got some KILLER shoes to match too?

And they were buy one get one for $10 AND like I said, I am a sucker for snake skin...so I had to buy another pair in a slightly different style and different color.

Cute huh?! You girls like?!

After shopping for solid four hours, my sister and I headed back home. But not before stopping off at a little place on the way back...

Some of you might be familiar, not sure...

Thats right bloggies, I am no longer a Whole Foods virgin. It was my first time *blush*

Now the little sisters and the moms and pops are down at the pool. My other sister and I are about shopped out so we opted to chill out in the room and watch some tube-age.

Hopefully dinner is soooon! I really wanna go get some yummy seafood!

Hope everyone is doing grrreat! Im trying to catch up on blogs as we speak. Love you guys to death!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

FULL Day!

I am EXHAUSTED girls and guys! Today has been quite the active day. Fun, but major tiring.

It started out at 7 this morning with another 4 mile run on the trail from the condo. I am really gonna miss this trial when we leave! When I got back to the condo everyone was up and eating breakfast.

My breakfast was a repeat of yesterday. All Bran Flakes, Banana, blueberries, and Skim milk.

Repeat Pic!

After Breakfast we all got ready and headed across the bridge into downtown Charleston:

We hit up all the shopping for a little while. I went to American Apparel and Urban Outfitters. I got the BEST dress EVER at UO. I'll get a pic a little later to show.

After doing a little shopping my sister and I decided to break from the fam and go have lunch on our own. Like I said, my family does not like anything "different", they like your typical chain restaurants. My sister and I just weren't feelin it, so we decided to go to Five Loaves Cafe, recommended by the wonderful Erica.

I got a Grilled Tofu sandwich with zuchinni, tomato, onion, and sprouts. And a salad with roasted red peppers, spinach, tomatos, and goat cheese.

YUM!

Here is a closer look at the sandwich:

My sister and I really enjoyed our lunch. We were both really glad that we decided to go off on our own and eat here.

Here we are, happy with our decision:

After lunch we met back up with the family and went to the market place in Charleston.

This is one of my favorite things to do when we come down here. It is an old market place that goes on for what seems like miles and it is just set up with vendors and hand made goods like jewelry, decorative things, etc.

Here is a pic of the entrance:

Here is my sister and I after going through. Hot and tired. I swear we probably walked about 10 miles in the 90 degree weather!

After that we walked into Charleston place were all the upscale shops are.

Made a stop at me usual shopping place:

YEAH RIGHT! I'm a recent college grad with no full time job yet...remember?!

We also saw a pretty fountain and I HAD to have a picture of all the sissies in front of it.

Notice how different we all look from each other. Or maybe just how different I look from all of them. I swear I must be the milk man's child!

After hours of shopping, miles of walking, and TONS of sweating we came back to the condo and chilled out by the pool. Now I am in the room waiting for everyone to get in from the beach so we can get some dinner!

I just don't think I EVER wanna come home. I think I may convince my parents to just leave me here ;)

Hope you guys had a good start to your week. Again, Im sorry if I am not on top of commenting. I am trying to read blogs and comment when I get the chance. DONT think I am forgetting about you guys at all!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.

AHHH...

So the majority of my day was spent like this:

In front of this:

Hangin' by the pool in my STUNNA SHADES. Just can't beat it.

It was the perfect "Me Day". I started out with my favorite breakfast...eaten slowly and in my PJ's and in front of the computer with my beloved cup o' joe.

Oh yeah I may have had this little gem of a show playing in the background for an hour straight.

FUN FACT: My little sister is named Kelly because I begged my mom to name her that. I thought that if she was named Kelly she would grow up to be as pretty as Kelly Kapowski. ohhh the innocence of youth.

Also I would like to take this time to confess that I am breaking from the norm and saying that Slater is WAY hotter than Zach. But then again, I always go for the "tall, dark, and handsome" men. I mean cant argue too much with this hunky image:

YES, PLEASE!

After breakfast and a good solid hour of acid wash jeans and teased hair I headed out for a little shoppage with the momster.

I picked up a cute little sundress (to add to the collection) and a little pair of white shorts, that are OH-SO beachy. :)

Did I mention that I am going to the beach in T minus 216 hours?! (Thats 9 days for those of you who do not possess the impressive math skillzz that I do) Totally kidding, its called a calculator kids.

After tearin up the mall, my mom and realized that it was nearly 2:00! Which means we needed LUNCH! One of the only places that my mom and I can agree on for lunch is Jason's Deli. I had the "build-your-own" sandwich with turkey on whole grain and a side of fresh fruit. Sorry dears no pic!

Later in the day (after the stunnin and sunnin time) my sister and I hit the town again for more shoppin. Where did we go?! uhh TARGET...of course! She filled out an application and I browsed the bathing suits. I really think they have the best bathing suits EVER! Unfortunately I am too low on the cash flow at the moment, so they had to wait. I said a tearful goodbye and we headed on to the next stop.

I had to pick up some party favors for this little babe:

ITS THE BFF'S BIRTHDAY!! Isn't she just sooo sweet and innocent?!

What party favors did I pick up you ask? Ill give you a hint:

We are planning on a SUPER celebration that I have been resting up and preparing for all week. I picked up one of these:

Little Black Dress Merlot. The wine of choice. Love it.

I also picked up a REAL "little black dress" to rock out tonight.

SUPER PUMPED ABOUT ROCKIN OUT IN IT TONIGHT!!

After picking up these "party favors" I went back to the familia's casa to watch this little know show:

I haven't really watched the show at all, but my family loves it. I didn't really have any opinion on who I wanted to win but I just don't think that it matter anyways...if you are in the top two you will be famous, end of story.

After that it was time to head home, get in the pjs, and wrap up the "Me Day". It turned out to be quite the success and I fell so much better now!

Today will be more laying out by the pool, working hard the RAVE, and then really ravin it up for the BFF's birthday celebration.

Hope everyone has a great day!

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.

Serving My Favorite Food

Oh my gosh! Last night was totally crazy. Starting out at a popular weekend hangout on a Friday night was def. overwhelming, but I actually liked it. I get bored so easily, so I need a job where I keep moving and always have something to do. It makes the time go by really fast, and I was done with my first night before I even knew it. I'm gonna break down the night just so I dont have a huge block of writing for you all to read through!

• We can wear whatever we want as long as it is a black top, other than that anything goes. Even with the top as long as its black it can be a t-shirt, tank top, whatever. That is AWESOME! You can even chew gum, wear your hair down, and wear whatever kinda jewelry you want.
• I get 1/2 off sushi, 1/2 off meals, 25% off alcohol, and free admission to any of their events. They have some really HUGE events like rail jams, "white" parties, magazine launches, and they have a band every Friday and Saturday.
• I got to sample all of the great food that I have never tried before!

The only bad thing is that the menu is so CONFUSING! They don't just serve sushi (which is hard enough to remember all those different rolls) but they have a full grill too AND a full bar! My trainer gave me a to-go menu and wrote little notes all over it for me to learn, just look!

Im def. going to be studying that all weekend. And probably goggling pictures of the food so I know what they look like :)

Ok anywho, before work I had to do a TON of running around, because my friend Jenni is having a baby shower today and I wanted to get her something great. I ended up going to four different places before I found a gift! After all that I came home for some lunch!

Turkey sammie, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Close-Up/Break-Down:

• Wheat Bread
• Garlic and Artichoke Hummus
• Turkey
• Spicy Mustard
• Spinach
• Cucumber

When I got home from work last night I was starving, so I fixed up something quick and easy:

• Kashi Pilaf
• Bit o Hummus
• Sauteed Spinach
• Salad (not pictured)

Now on to the fun part...the fearless and fabulous Miss Jaime tagged me! Here are the rules:

The rules are as follows: List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love! Be sure to tag them and let them know that they have won. You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sidebar letting the whole world know…you are Kreativ! Soooo here goes:

1. My Family:

I truely am so blessed to have the BEST sisters in the world! We are all so close and whenever we get together you can bet we are laughing and having the best time. My sister Allie (middle) is 19 and we have a great friendship. We hang out together and she was one of my biggest support systems when I was going through my hardest times. She went to group therapy with me, talked to me, and was there when I needed her, more than anyone else.

And of course my parents, who are THE BEST. I am also so lucky to have two loving parents that do everything that they can to provide and take care of us all. My mom is my best friend and my dad is my hero :)

ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2. My Second Family (AKA Rave Co-Workers)

This was when my manager Stephanie got married and that is all the girls. I know that I have talked about them before, but I can not say enough about how much I love them. I feel like I really found my place when I got a job there almost two years ago. I really clicked with every single one of the girls there and now they are my best friends. They also were HUGE supports when I was at my worst time with my ED. They helped me through it and they still are the first people I talk to when I have a problem or need good advice. I make sure that I tell them all how much I love them every time I see them.

And when we all get together and go out on the town?! You can BET we have fun and are the life of the party! We know how to do it right!

3. My Best Friends

First of all let me just say, I'm picky about my friends. I have had alot of friends come and go because they just are not good people for me. The friends that I surround myself with now are only the BEST. They are all the greatest people you will ever meet. They are kind, fun, and would be there for me in a flash if I needed them...and they know that I would do the same.

Thats one of my best friends, Jenie and her boy Chris. They are having a baby in less than a month! I am going to her baby shower today! She is from Korea and one of the sweetest, most interesting people that I have ever met.

Did I mention that we also have a freakin' blast together?!

4. Running

Running has also been something that I have been so lucky to discover. It really is therapeutic! It helps me think through my day, blow off steam, and energize me for all those fun times with the friends. Oh yeah, and its also freakin awesome bragging rights that I recently ran a 10k. Next up?! Half marathon!!

5. The Beach

I have been to both coasts! Above: Venice Beach, CA. (West Coast). Below: Panama City, FL (East Coast) During MTV's Spring Break last year!

No where else on earth could make me feel more relaxed and wonderful then the beach. Charleston, specifically has been like a second home to me and I hope to one day live there. Its my life goal. :)

6. Teaching

I have always had a special connection with children (maybe its because I am just a huge kid myself) And I love the rewards of teaching children something that they did not know before. Seeing their faces light up because of something that you taught them is one of the most wonderful experiences that I have ever had.

haha. Cracks me up everytime!

7. Shopping

Clothes shopping, grocery shopping, housewares shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, I LOVE SHOPPING. Ever heard of shopping therapy?! Um yeah...its what I do.

AND OF COURSE I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ON OF YOU! I FEEL SO BLESSED TO BE A PART OF SUCH A LOVING AND SUPPORTING COMMUNITY. I HAVE MET SOME GREAT FRIENDS THROUGH BLOGGING AND HOPE THE FRIENDSHIPS CONTINUE TO GROW. :)

Wow! This took me a good hour to complete, hope you enjoyed it! Now I gotta get ready for the baby shower!

Lots of Love, <3 Ems.