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.

Field Day!

Im pretty sure that this picture accurately describes my day:

Or maybe this:

• TONS OF KIDS
• TONS OF WATER
• TONS OF FUN!

I am still filling in for the art teacher at the elementary school, because she broke her foot and today was FIELD DAY! Do any of you remember field day from the good ol' elementary school days? I remember it was the best day EVER! Def. one that everyone looked forward too.

Today was sooo much fun even on the other side of the spectrum as a teacher. The event that I had to run was called "Finding Nemo"...the kids had to run down to a huge bucket of water, fish out plastic fish into a small bowl, and then run back while trying to balance the "fish bowl" on top of their heads. The kids were SOAKED!

Of course, in the spirit of fun I let the kids dump the big bucket of water all over eachother after they were done with the game. They all kept saying that my event was the most fun :) And the scary fifth graders may have gotten me a little soaked too! I didn't care though, it felt sooo good because it was HOT out there!

My internet was out all night last night, it was getting late so I just gave up on it and assumed that by this morning it would be all fixed up so I could do my normal routine of oats and blogs in the pjs. Well, no such luck...

Don't you just HATE that when the little "address not found" window comes up?! Ick! But, at least my oats were good :)

• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1/2 a Naner
• 1/2 cup of skim milk
• CINNAMON!
• Maple Syrup
• Kashi Flax Cereal

After I finished that up I hit the road to go to school. Lunch was packed, of course.

• 2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
• Deli Turkey
• Spinach
• Tomato
• Spicy Honey Mustard

I also MAY have stolen some pretzels from the regular art teacher's stash. Hey, I'm filling in for her for THREE WEEKS, I think I deserve some of her pretzels. haha.

When I finally got home OH MY GOSH I WAS DEAD TIRED!!! I swear, I can usually never ever take a nap. As hard as I try I just can NOT sleep during the day. Well, today I got home, walked straight to my room, threw down my purse, and landed face first on my bed. I woke up about an hour later with my tennis shoes still on and my sunglasses still on top of my head! haha. Good stuff.

After I woke up from my much needed nap I took a shower and ran to the grocery store for just a few essentials. Nothing too exciting because I am leaving for the beach on Saturday, so I'm trying to not buy too much food until then.

I got home and fixed up some dinner.

Veggie Burger on Arnold's Sandwich Thins with Spinach, Mustard, Ketchup, and Tomato. Also, on the side some steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Carrots.

One thing that totally made my today...when I FINALLY got logged on to the Internet I found this little award that the beautiful Megan had given to me!

I think this award was just great because it is soooo fitting. Everyone in this community is just such a great support! I was so surprised at how sweet everyone was when I first started blogging and there have been some of your girls that I feel like I have really built a great relationship with! I LOVE every single one of you and think that you are all amazing, beautiful girls. I am going to pass this award on to a few girls that I feel I have really gotten close to and who have been a great support to me.

• Jenny
• Mica
• Sam
• Katie
• Baylee
• Anna
• Amy
• Janetha

Love you girls <3

Ok I have two hours to get my stuff ready and packed up for my day of art teaching tomorrow, so gotta jet!

Did everyone have a good memorial day?!

Lots of Love <3 Ems.

It's Friday!

Please watch this video as many times that it takes to get you PUMPED about the fact that is Friday. It should only take one. Unless you are a SUPER stiff, then maybe two.

I had some requests to see my SUPA-CUTE detailed back shirt actually on. And since I did party it up last night and broke out the new shirt...and had to wait HOURS for my friend to get off work, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to snap a pic!

I just love it. And those little red "dots" on my back are not birthmarks, even though thats what they look like. They are hearts. haha.

Me making the MOST serious face ever. Seriously?! I think that I was concentrating more on getting the front of the shirt then on actually smiling. haha

I'm feeling pretty good about my day/night yesterday. I worked hard and played harder! FOR REAL! Here was my day;

• 9-1030: Job Interview at a Preschool...totally rocked it!
• 11: Quickly came home packed up a Sammie and an apple for lunch and headed out the door.
• 12-4: Work shift #1 at the ol' Rave
• 415: Back home, quick snack, quick change into gym clothes, out the door!
• 430-530: 7 mile run at the gym. No pain in the knee. Kicked the treadmills ass!
• 545: Back to work at Rave for shift #2. Kept my sweaty gym clothes on, just piled on the deodorant and Love Spell. rocked it out.
• 6-930: Rave shift #2. Sold some clothes, took out the trash, swept the floors like a pro, gossiped with my manager/best friend.
• 10: Home for a quick dinner of mac and cheese and broccoli and carrots:

• 1030-1230: Showered it up, prettied it up, waited for the Britt-ster to get off work.
• 1: Roll up in the club. Rock star parking, no lines. Thats how we roll.
• 1-3: Danced the night away. Techno style.
• 3-9: CRASHED OUT!

And now I am sitting here with a lovely cup of coffee and some awesome blogs to read. WHEW!

Hope everyone is having an awesome Friday...and if your not, watch the video again. :)

Lots of Love <3 Ems.

Good News and Bad News

Oh yes everyone it is officially Hump Day. For those of you lucky enough to have a Monday through Friday job you are half-way there! For me however, I havent even started this week yet! I have had Monday through Wednesday off this week, but starting tomorrow I work everyday until Sunday. That is if I still have a job!! The conflict STILL has not been settled between my two jobs. I have really only talked to Rave about this, but if Stir-fry doesn't wanna work with me on the scheduling, then it will have to come down to a choice between the two. I was literally in tears yesterday trying to work it all out. Its such a hard position to be in because one job (Rave) I'm absolutely in love with and love all the people, but make no money...and the other job (stir-fry) I'm not even sure that I will like, but will make more money. What do I do?!!

I do have some more positive news however. Today I get to go see Lucas! He is playing a baseball game at a college that is only about 30 minutes away, and he gets to pitch this game, so I told him that I would definitely be there. I have never gotten to see him play before, so it should be fun. PLUS I might just get to sneak in a pic or two, Jen! ;)

Yesterday for dinner I decided to try one of the new Healthy Choice meals, after hearing Katie talking about them on her blog.

I tried the Portabella Marsala Pasta, Here is the box:

Here's the Nutrition:

Serving size: 1 Meal (9 oz.)

Calories: 270
Calories from fat: 70

Amount/Serving %DV*
Total Fat (7 g) 11%
Saturated Fat (2.5 g) 13%
Trans Fat (0 g)
Cholesterol (15 mg) 5%
Sodium (550 mg) 23%
Vitamin A 0%
Calcium 10%

Total Carbohydrates (38 g) 13%
Dietary Fiber (5 g) 20%
Sugar (4 g)
Protein (12 g)
Vitamin C (0%)
Iron (6%)

And here is what it looks like all plated up:

Review:

It kind of reminded me of a stroganoff, which I love. But I just didn't really care for this one. There was a layer of cheese on top that just sort of got this super weird texture after you cooked it. You know the type that just adheres to your fork and won't let go?! The one thing that I did like about this was that they did not skimp on the mushrooms. At first, I was going to add a little more of my own, but after seeing the meal I decided that it looked like it had plenty! Very rarely do you see a microwave meal that has plenty of any ingredient. I will probably not purchase this one again, but I do want to try some of the others. I give it a 6 out of 10.

The salad I had on the side however, is a solid DIME!

I always stick to the "colors rule" and try to incorporate lots of different colors into my salad. Nothing is more boring then a salad full of all greens. And I am just lovin the purple cauliflower as of late.

Backtracking to lunch I had my "pre-workout" fuel. I still swear by it:

Grilled Peanut Butter and Banana with Strawberry Preserves, and a few Honey Twist Pretzels on the side.

Note: While the sandwich def. gives me the fuel that I need for a workout, I would not recommend eating pretzels with it before working out. The saltiness of the pretzels made me more dehydrated during the run, and I had to drink about 3 bottles of water in one 30 minute run! haha.

I got to the gym late, which is one thing in life that I try to aviod at all costs. Because it is a college gym the later you go the more people and the less serious they are about actually working out. I had to wait for an ET, wait for a treadmill, wait to fill up my water bottle, etc, etc. But it actually turned out to be a good thing because I got in a pretty killer workout!

• 35 minutes on the eliptical
• 10 minutes on the squirrel thing?? - i did this to occupy my time while waiting for a treadmill, but this burned almost 150 extra calories!
• 3 miles on the treadmill, average pace was about 10 minutes a mile, but I bumped it up to 9 minutes for the last mile.

Speaking of workouts, I have to go get in an early one before coming home to shower and go to the baseball game :) So, Im off!

Hope everyone is having a good "Mid-Week" Lots of Love,

<3 Ems.

Busy Girl

Wow people! I have been BUSY the past couple of days! I'm so sorry that I am letting my bloggin slack. But I'm trying to keep up because I just cant get out of the loop :)

So like I said before Saturday one my very favorite people in the world had a baby shower...Nutritious is Delicious asked me what I finally ended up getting (after four stores!). I wish I would have taken a picture because I got the cutest pack of about 10 onsies, some matching bootie socks, and two big furry soft blankets. Here are some pics of the party though

Here Jenie is reading the card I got her.

The Miss Preggers and I

After the shower I had to jet off to job #1 (Rave). After work me and three of the girls that I work with went to the movies to see The Haunting in Connecticut. Now, for those of you who have not heard of this movie, it is based on a true story. I have seen the documentary with the real people on Discovery and some of the story of course was played up in the movie. But it was pretty good...and really scary!

After the movie the girls and I wanted to go get a drink. Well, everyone except for my manager, because she never stays out late. She had rode with me to the movies from work, so the girls and I thought it would be funny to pull up to her car and then drive off before she could get out. haha. We kidnapped her and forced her to come have fun!

She didnt mind too much after we got a drink in her.

The two on the ends are my managers, and Tina is a co-worker in the middle.

Yes, that girlie drink in the corner is mine. Its a Pomegranate Martini.

She cleared the drink!

Then she attempted to kill Tina...

And strangle her.

Im so unorganized with all my pictures so here are some random eats throughout the past two days:

The people from POM Wonderful were nice enough to send me a care package of their yummy pomegranate juice. I finally got around to trying and LOVED it. As an avid supporter of cranberry juice, I think I may actually be making a switch! I liked this juice ALOT and it has TONS of nutritional value. I'm sending over some to my mom (who we are trying to get healthier!) And I will have her review up of it as well.

Also, for those of who are interested the new job is going great so far! I feel like I may jinx it by saying that so soon, because I have only worked two shifts so far. Today I'm working a double...I finished my first shift around 2 and I'm going back for the dinner shift around 6. The people are really nice so far, they play awesome, hip music, and I still get to wear whatever I want! I'm hoping it continues to go well. We shall see!

Hope everyone has a great Monday! I'm hoping that this week goes by pretty quick because I have a pretty exciting weekend planned...hint: it involves a boy ;).

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.