Memorial Monday

Today I am very thankful for those who have fought, and are fighting for our freedom. I am also thankful for a wonderful weekend with great friends. We spent Sunday and Monday at Courtney's family lake house, and it was a blast. I have to say, though, it was WAY out of my element/comfort zone. Considering I can't swim, have never been IN a lake, usually get boat sick, and burn to a crisp, I wasn't sure how this weekend would play out. But, I tried my best to go with the flow, and I think it paid off. Thanks again, Courtney. Some of my favorite memories from the weekend are:

1. "Dusty, do you know who's here?" "Yeah, The Avatar!"
2. Dinner at Jaxson's
3. Riding on the boat and not getting sick!
4. Learning to pee in a lake..this was harder than I thought it would be
5. Watching my husband try knee-boarding for the first time, tear it up, and land a jump

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Off to sleep off the sunburn.

xoxo,
Emily

An addition...

I know it's late, but we just got home and I had to add this. My sweet husband knew how badly I wanted a watch, and let me pick this one out today while shopping. It is my early birthday present. You are too sweet, husband. I love you.

xoxo,
Emily

Rainy, Rainy Day

I haven't blogged in a few days, because nothing very exciting has happened. However, something very exciting did happen today, I just can't mention what it was as it is not public knowledge yet. So, just pray for this mystery person and just know that it is very, very exciting.

Mystery person, we love you and are very happy for you!! :)

On a wetter note, it is very rainy today. It has put a damper (ha ha, DAMPer) on our weekend plans as we were supposed to be all into cleaning mode today, and then off to the lake with friends tomorrow and Monday. It is quite difficult to get motivated to do anything, let alone cleaning, on a rainy day. Therefore, that is not going very well. I'm doing laundry though..does that count?! I think we're going to go do some shopping tonight, so that should be fun (for me, not so much Tyler).

What are you doing for Memorial Day weekend? I sure hope you are enjoying your time off.

xoxo,
Emily

P.S. I saw Sex and The City 2 with my friend, Charlotte last night and LOVED it. :)Highly recommended.

Beauty Product Review

So, nothing very eventful happened today. Which, mind you, isn't necessarily a bad thing. Hence, I have nothing very important to blog about. So..instead, I will blog about some of my favorite, new, beauty products. In high school, my friends and family used to refer to me as the "product queen". I was obsessed with the latest finds. Flash forward to today, I still maintain my interest in products, but now shop for them on a budget. Some of my favorite things right now are as follows:

1. Banana Boat Summer Color Self-Tanning Lotion in Light/Medium - a lot of people have been telling me I have more color lately. In part, this is due to some recent beach trips. Some of the color, though, is because of this great product. I put it on about once a week after exfoliating in the shower and drying off thoroughly. I apply it to my body with gloves on first, then use a cotton ball to apply it lightly to the palms of my hands. A con is that it has that icky self-tanner smell, but other than that I have no negatives about this puppy.
2. Almay eyeliner in Brown - goes on very smoothly without pulling the skin. The liner is a rich, chocolatey, brown that isn't too harsh, can be used to create a dramatic, defined line, or a more subtle, smudged look. Very easily removed in the evening, but won't smudge during the day.
3. CoverGirl LashBlast Mascara in Very Black - I have tried a lot of different mascaras, but this one is the best. Granted, I refuse to pay a lot of money for mascara, but this one has even better reviews than the comparable, yet more expensive DiorShow mascara. LashBlast goes on extremely smoothly with no clumps thanks to its brush and evenly distributed formula. It also comes off easily in the evenings and is gentle enough for even the most sensitive of eyes.
4. Lorac Blush in Desire - I was given this blush as a gift around Christmas time, and I still have a lot left in the container. Not because I don't use it, I actually use it daily. It is because it is very concentrated and you do not need to use much at a time. It also lasts all.day.long, so re-application is not necessary. It looks somewhat shockinly pink in the contatiner, but goes on like a soft, light, ballerina pink, sure to flatter a variety of skintones.
5. Crest Pro-Health Enamel Shield Mouthwash - Everyone wants a clean, white smile. I've tried a variety of products claiming to whiten teeth to a shimmery clean, but this one I REALLY like. It isn't even particularly used to create super white teeth, but it seems to make them look really healthy and feel really clean.

Well, those are my reviews of the day. Hope someone finds them useful. :)

xoxo,
Emily

When I Grow Up...

I was thinking today about my choice of career, and why I chose such a stressful one. On one hand, I love helping people. So much so that it is, quite possibly, the thing that makes me happiest in life. However, when I can't help someone, or when I see someone getting hurt, mistreated, or ignored, it KILLS me. I literally cannot.take.it. I mean, granted, I'd be super social worker in a crisis situation. I have gotten really good, if I might say, at keeping a straight face, and working both quickly and efficiently in an emergent situation. But, and yes, there is a but of course, when the situation has passed or I go home at the end of the day, the stress from it is still there. Something about myself does not allow me to just "let it go". Again, I'm not saying I can't act like I've let it go. I can go on with my usual routine and be so good at fooling everyone that I fool even myself! Yet, somehow, some way, that built up stress has to make its way out of my body and unfortunately, it usually does it in a nasty way. My health suffers.

So, this brings me to my question. Why, again, did I choose social work? Oh yes, I remember, I like helping people. So what are some other ways I could have chosen to do that? If this were a dream world and we could do anything we wanted (in reason), what would I be doing?

1) singing - If I could have ever gotten over stage fright, and took the time to work on my voice, I am confident I could have done at least something with it. In a traveling choir, recording Christian music,kids music something.

2) being an artist - I do have some serious creative juices flowing in my body, I just don't know how to channel them into creating pretty pieces of art. But, it would be fun.

3) being a writer - I have ALWAYS wanted to write children's books to help kids cope with big issues i.e. stories about divorce, death, etc. in ways that children can absorb and understand.

4) a pre-school teacher - This is what I originally really wanted to do. Pre-school age is my absolute favorite. In high school and early college, I LOVED creating themed, weekly lesson plans for this age. A week all about yellow: birds, bananas, giraffes. A week about circles: the sun, a smiley face, an orange. You get the point. I would enjoy this one especially, I think.

Anyway, just my random post for the day. Hope you all are having a good week.

xoxo,
Emily

A Case of the Mondays

Today was just, blah. I feel like I've had too many "blah" days lately. I'd like to say all is well and post about something in a super positive, perky way, but I just truthfully don't feel positive or perky right now. So, in order to improve my mood and not to put you in a worse one, I am going to post things that make me happy. These are the things that can take me out of pretty much every funk I've ever been in. Hope you have a nice Tuesday!

xoxo,
Emily

Bittersweet Sunday

I love Sundays. I love spending time with friends at church, I love worshipping God, and I just love relaxing Sunday afternoons. BUT - I also dread Sundays because they are my last day of freedom! I realllly, reallly, enjoy my weekends. Don't get me wrong, I like having a job. In fact, I think I need a job for my sanity. I get SO bored when I am home for more than a day due to sickness, personal day, etc. Tyler and I really tried to make this a good last weekend day.

This morning, we made a stop to Dunkin Donuts on the way to Sunday School, and even brought some goodies to share. Always a good start to the day. After church we went out to eat, stopped at Verizon (grr...that's a whole different story), and went weekly grocery shopping. Never a good idea to go to Wal-mart on Sunday afternoons, but we still.have.not.learned. We do it EVERY week. Anyway, in order to save time and money, I decided to strategize our meals this week ahead of time. I've tried to do this before, but I get lazy when I get home from work, or forget what recipe I had pulled for which night, etc. Today though, I took time (yes, during church, Tyler, don't judge me - I need to multi-task!) to plan out my weekly dinners. So, here's the plan folks:

Tonight - Spaghetti with meatballs, salad, and Texas Toast. Thanks to a few hints from my mom (i.e. diced tomatoes and sugar), I am getting pretty good at making a semi-homemade spaghetti sauce. :)
Monday - Grilled chicken on the George Foreman with mixed veggies and chicken/broccoli rice.
Tuesday - homemade pizzas! These are inspired by mom. She and my dad have been making homemade pizzas as a type of date night every Friday for some time now. I got all kinds of veggies, pepperoni, cheeses, etc. Yumm.
Wednesday - I figured, it's hump day and we'll be feeling kind of low. So what better pick-me-up than some real comfort food?! I'll be making Blue Plate Specials with mushrooms, beef gravy, and mashed potatoes. This is a really good recipe and makes great leftovers, so I posted an appetizing picture of it above. You can easily find it on the Taste of Home website.
Thursday - Taco Thursday! We crave Mexican about once a week, however, we've been trying to be "good" and put some money away in savings. So, I'm trying to make some yummy international food in our home kitchen. Thursday will be Taco Bake Casserole night with all kinds of yummy toppings (including my own personal sour cream as Tyler can't stand the sight of it).
Friday - well, to be honest, I really hate cooking on Fridays. But, to curb the urge to eat out every week, I've been trying to keep "Friday night/hang out night" foods in the house. I got yummy, bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good frozen pizzas, mozzarella sticks, etc.

Anyway, nothing TOO particularly exciting, but this did seem to really save me a lot of aimless shopping time and money at the register today. Who knows, maybe I can make this a regular thing.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and enjoy what's left of it!

xoxo,
Emily

A Day At the Beach

Well, as of last night we were just going to stay around the area and get some work done. I needed an oil change, Tyler needed to cut the grass, we needed to get our phones looked at, and I really wanted to get a library card.

Happily enough, Tyler texted me this morning that he would be getting home early...so off we went to the Gulf! I truthfully don't have much to say today, other than that it is days like these that make me completely thankful for the weekends, and for a husband who enjoys exploring and going places as much as I do. I am just going to leave you with some pictures from our trip today, as well as one of my new bangs! They turned out different than I was expecting, but I am really learning to love them.

xoxo,
Emily

Finally Friday

So, TGIF! Yes, I missed two days of work this week due to illness, but for some reason that just makes the other days seem even longer and more tiring. I'm not going to write a very long post today, as I pretty much wrote a novel yesterday. BUT - I must mention a few random things on my mind today.

First and foremost..
My husband is wonderful. I could literally write a week's worth of posts on why and how he is so wonderful, but instead, I will just tell you what he did today. Tyler does not cook. He cooks breakfast wonderfully, and he cooked delicious pork chops for me once. Other than that, in the 7ish years we've been together, he has really not cooked. Tonight, however, I got home to find a REALLY clean house to start with. Not just a, "Honey, I straightened up a bit so you'd thank me later tonight but didn't really clean" type of way. He cleaned in a "I just really love you and want to show you with no selfish motives" way. *Sigh* As if that is not enough to please this little lady, he...be still my heart...drum roll please...COOKED. Cooked. Let it sink it. He cooked me a wonderful casserole and bought me a cake. All set out with a really sweet note. Oh, husband. Thank you for marrying me despite all of my faults.

Secondly, this is quite random and not very exciting at all, but I am going to get my hair retouched tonight. Something about refreshing my existing color to make it last longer? Anyway, I have decided I think I am going to get bangs. I used to have them. I've had the short pixie bangs, the straight long hippie bangs, the off to the side bangs, etc. So, without further ramblings, here are the pictures that are inspiring what I hope to be cute bangs. I'll leave you with these and my love. Off to the hairdresser with a very full, happy belly. :)

xoxo,
Emily
P.S. I guess I sort of lied about the long post, so sorry. If you made it through both yesterdays and todays, kudos to you!

In the beginning...

Hello to my family, friends, and those of you random cyberspace blog followers who have accidentally stumbled upon my humble, feeble attempt at blogging.

As a lot of changes have happened and will continue happening over the next few years of my life (ours, I suppose I should say), I felt this was a good way to document them. Yes, I know most of my blog entries will fall on deaf ears (or eyes?), but I think blogging might be good for my health and sanity, as well. I don't really have a focus, other than that I think it is time I learn to live every day to its fullest. Yes, everyone says that. But do I REALLY, TRULY mean it? YES! Due to health concerns in recent months, my eyes have been opened by our Great Maker to the wonders and small miracles that exist in our little world. So, in response, I feel it is important I start making a conscious effort to enjoy every moment, and work on focusing on the positives, small or great, obvious or more hidden.

So, to celebrate the start of this blog and of a new chapter in my (hopefully) more free-spirited life, I find it absolutely necessary to take a moment and pick out the things I am most grateful or thankful for at this very moment in my life. At 5:11pm on May 20, 2010, this is what I am thankful for.

• First and foremost, my Savior. My God, my Father, my Maker, my best friend. Thank you, thank you, for my life and for giving me a chance to live, breathe, and praise You.
• I want to also give thanks for my family; immediate and extended. Without the continued love, support, forgiveness and patience (especially from my parents), I would not be "me".
• My wonderful husband, Tyler James. Thank you for almost 1 1/2 crazy, scary, manic (on my part), yet absolutely beautifully perfect years of marriage. Thank you for putting up with me and my downfalls, all the while lifting me up and encouraging my strengths to grow and blossom. I love you.
• My pets! Granted, none of them can read (although sometimes I wonder about Sidney...), but they are indeed part of my continued sanity and provide me with unconditional love, support, loyalty, and the best listeners a girl could ask for.
• My job. Yes, everyone has days they feel less than thrilled about waking up and going to work day in and day out, but I am thankful for both my and Tyler's employment, and that both of our jobs are in our fields of interest and study.
• FORGIVENESS. I don't even know how more to explain this one. It is just a wonderful, perfect gift in every way.
• A new day. A new day, a new life, a fresh start, a new chance to grow and touch lives.
• Our church family. Yes, we are new to our church and are really just now getting more involved. But our Sunday school class, in particular, is full of wonderful, Godly, happy couples who inspire Tyler and I to stay focused on God, and each other, daily.

I am thankful for a lot more, but this sums up what I am thinking about currently. I took the last 8 minutes of my life to focus on what I am thankful for, and it felt good. In 8 minutes I could have:

1. Gotten on facebook
2. Stressed about work
3. Yelled at my husband
4. Say something I'll regret
5. Watched a negative television program
6. Hurt someone deeply
7. Say something displeasing to God
8. Spent too much money

But instead, I started quite a list, and I'm thankful God let me breathe, allowed my fingers to move as quickly as they did, and gave me a brain for thinking in order to create the above list. I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend as much as I am.

God bless, I love you.

xoxo,

Emily.