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.

Awards, Assignments, and Another Word That Starts with An "A"...

Good Morning Friends!

For some reason I was reminded of how we would start the day each morning when I was student teaching in a 1st grade classroom. We would always say good morning to our friends by standing in a circle and tossing a ball to each other. The person throwing the ball would say "good morning" to the person that they were throwing it to and the person catching the ball would say "good morning" back and then choose another friend to throw the ball to. This would continue until every one of the students had been greeted in the morning. I always thought that this was so cool, because my mentor teacher told me that she believed that it was so important for every child to know that they are welcome in the class and that they have friends there with them. All of the kids LOVED it. I think that this can be carried over into the adult world too, dont you think?! I mean who doesnt love it when a friend looks them in the eye with a big smile and says "good morning!" I know it always puts a smile on my face. So, Im bringing out the teacher in me and giving all of you an assignment. Brighten someones day RIGHT NOW and look over, send a text, give a call to a friend and "good morning"! I promise you will make a difference in their day.

My day was brightened this morning because Miss Mica gave me MY FIRST BLOG AWARD! Here is a visual representation of what I looked like when I saw that she had presented me with this lovely award.

Ok, but in all seriousness, thank you Mica, I think that you have one of the most creative and awesome blogs out there too. And I wanna just give it right back to ya. But someone beat me to the punch. So I'll pick five others...if I can!

There are so many creative blogs out there, I tag these lovely blogger girlies:

• Jenn: because she always has the most creative titles for her posts. :)
• Katie: because she is just so witty and funny.
• Leslie: because she never fails to entertain with her pictures and posts.
• Erica: because she always comes up with the most creative recipes for din din.
• Megan: because she is a fellow teach, with style and good food...and you cant go wrong with that!

Now for food! Lunch yesterday:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sammie with a Granny Smith

Time for a close-up/break-down:

• Wheat Bread
• Mighty Maple Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Nanner
• Blackberry Preserves
• a few randomly placed raisins

Breakfast this morning:

Weird. I NEVER eat cereal for breakfast, but I had the BIGGEST craving for it this morning.

Close-up/Break-down:

• 1 cup All-Bran Flakes
• Other half of the Nanner from my sammie yesterday
• Handful of Blueberries
• 1/2 cup Vanilla Soy Milk

Ok, I thought I would share this with you guys as well to see what your opinions are. As i was uploading my pictures I remembered this picture that my manager at work had me take last night of the cake that she ordered from a place we will not mention, to protect the innocent.

Horrible, right?! Keep in mind that this was a TINY cake and she paid about $30 for it. Its supposed to say "Happy Late 25th Birthday, Love Ya Daddy" IN ALL CAPS. hmmm...looks like it says "Happy Tote 25th, Lare Ya Daddy". haha. We got a pretty big kick out of it.

Anyways, time to get my butt of the computer and start my day. Its a pretty one! Dont forget your assignment and dont forget to have a WONDERFUL DAY! Lots of Love, Ems <33

All You Need Is Love...

First of all let me just give you a big "THANK YOU" to all of your comments, e-mails, and texts...WOW! You guys are amazing and I love love love you! How great is it to have such a wonderful group of girls in this "blogging community". You ALL had me smiling all day!

Yesterday I experimented with a sandwich combo. I started out thinking I just wanted to make a grilled cheese with tomatoes, but then I figured out that I was CRAVING more veggies. And I am a firm believer that you should always listen to your cravings, because its probably what your body needs. So I made up this little concoction of a sammie :)

• Two slices of Whole Wheat Bread
• Cucumber Slices
• Ooey Gooey Melty Yummy Cheeeeese
• Four Slices of Tomato
• LOADS of Spinach
• Spicy Mustard
• Onions

Lets just say that this combo was GOOD and definitely satisfied my craving for lots of veggies. Here is a close-up for ya as well:

I also had a pear on the side, you can kinda see it in the background there.

After lunch I ran on over to the gym for just a quick workout that included:

• 35 minutes on the eliptical
• 20 minutes on the arc trainer

I tried what some of you have suggested and did one of the "interval training" on the arc thing-y. I think I looked ABSOLUTELY RIDIC!! First of all, I had NO idea how to work this thing, so I was just pressing buttons and I could not figure out how to up the workout, so it kept yelling at me SLOW DOWN when my heart rate got over 120. hahaha what?! 120?! What kind of workout is that. But I ended up pressing things and ignoring the warnings and managed to get in a nice and schweaty workout.

When I got home I showered and got ready for the wednesday night ritual of playing pool at this local bar. On wednesday nights ladies can play for free, so Britt and I have been going with some other friends and brushing up on our pool shark skilllzz. I guess you could say we are pretty close to going pro by now. :) Here are some photos from said night.

We usually catch up on our blogs and have a glass of wine to start out the night. Oh the life of internet nerds. haha

Me and the Bestie, Britt.

She was having boy problems as well. This is a facial representation of what guys will do to ya! haha

and here is a facial representation of what a night out with friends that love you will do to ya!

Pool Shark #1

Pool Shark #2

My friends Grant, he is really not as creepy as he looks. haha

By the end of the night we were all smiles, and not worried about any stupid guy problems...cause who needs that?!

Ok gals, im off the dun dun dun TARGET with the mother. Im going to try my hardest not to go completely broke from shopping there. But its really hard...right?! I'll update you later on whether or not I picked up anything "blog worthy". Until then....

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday. Lots of Love <3 Ems.

Love and Support

Ok, this is not going to be a food post (I'll probably get one of those in a little later) I just feel like I had to get some of this out. The past couple of days have really been a big test for me, I wont go into too much detail but it has to do with boy issues and such. Im sure you girls know how that is. Anyway usually this would be the time that I would be beating myself up about it and turning to ED to help deal. This morning my friend and I were texting about it and what I said actually even shocked me, and I'm sure it shocked my friend. The conversation went a little something like this:

Friend: "Well, just keep that pretty little head up"

Me: "Not a problem. If things are going to be like this, then it just wasn't meant to be, and I'm totally fine with that."

Friend: "That's a mighty nice prospective to have!"

Me: "It's the only one to have!"

At that moment the beautiful Megan's words came to mind "If your not happy, then what else can you be?" I love this because it is so true. Why waste your life worrying about the things that you can not control? Everything is in God's hands and what is best for your life at that moment will happen, I really do feel confident about that. Things that are meant to work out, will work out. And the things that are not meant to be, won't. Sometimes it may not feel like the best thing at that moment, but I can honestly look back and say that all of the hard times I have had have brought me to the place that I am now. And I like that place, and I can only think that everything that happens from here on out will bring me to an even better place.

With that said, I also came to the realization of what a big help having this blog is. I don't know if I would have been able to have such a positive attitude about what is going on, if it had not been for all of you girls. Every day I am inspired by something that I read on one of your blogs, and I see the strength and positivity that each one of you possess. I feel so blessed that this has come into my life, and it is just one more example of how everything that pops into your life is there for a reason. I have gotten very close to some of you, and feel like friendships are being developed everyday. Even though I have not met any of you in person, I feel like I have become close friends with all of girls by sharing things from each of our days with eachother. So thanks to all of you for being such WONDERFUL, STRONG, and INSPIRING girls. I love all of you and just wanted you guys to know that!

Im gonna stay positive, because what else can I do? Its my life and being negative about it is no way to go through life. Because what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger...right?! and I feel like a lot of us are living proof of that!

So for keeping me sane and positive through the hardest times I love you all and send you lots of love and kisses! :)

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them."

- George Bernard Shaw

8 Hours of Driving + 5 Hours of 2 Year Olds + Shopping = EXHAUSTED!

Oh my gosh I am SO tired!!!

I woke up at 330 this morning in order to leave my house by 430 for the 4 hour drive to my interview at 9! whew!! Oh yeah, and did I mention that the "interview" was really 5 hours of interacting with the children in the classroom?! Lets just say it was a VERY busy day for me! But, I loved every second of it and the interview went pretty well :) Now, I just have to wait for a phone call from the director of the school to do one more phone interview...so we will see! I also wanna say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the good luck messages, it really meant alot and mad me WAY less stressed to know that I had girls backing me up!

Unfortunately, since today was so hectic and most of it was spent in the car, my eats were not so exciting today! BUT I did get some pics from yesterday! I was in the mood for something different, and warm, and YUMMY yesterday for breakfast so I made my version of healthy FRENCH TOAST. It is soooo easy! All I do is mix two egg whites, 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, and a dash of cinnamon sugar and VOILA! Dip your whole wheat toast in, pour on some maple syrup and blueberries and you have this masterpiece ;)

And lunch was a little repetitive, ill go ahead and admit it, but you will probably be seeing these things until they are gone (I think I have about two left)...they are THAT good!!

turkey, spinach, garlic hummus, salsa, and stone ground mustard wraps in a Flat Out :) with a side of DE-LISH apple.

And that is all...sorry this post is soooo incredibly boring but I am too tired to write anything more witty and fascinating. But I wanted to update you girls on my interview. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT SUPPORT SYSTEM :) I HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT DAY <3