Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Wouldn't It Figure..

Wouldn't it just figure that the day after I post about turning a not so great day into a better one... I have a grouchy day. Did I follow any of my own advice for today... why yes I did... I drank wine and am going to bed early. Today I'm just in a slump mood; dealing with cramps that have me in a fetal position and an extremely sore neck/back from yoga last night... I'm not the bubbliest person to be around right now. I apologize for the attitude but in light of the bad mood, I am choosing to post about my favorite things, hopefully it will lighten my spirits.

Favorite flowers:

(peonies and hydrangeas)

Favorite movies:

(The original)

( no I'm not kidding... don't judge until you've watched it)


( I might be able to quote the whole movie)

Favorite beer:
(Sounds weird... but so good!)

Favorite foods:

(I am from Maryland...)

(Never gets old)

Favorite Actresses:

(Reese Witherspoon)

(Julia Roberts)

Favorite Actors: (possbily based soley on looks)

(George Clooney)

(Robert Redford)

Thats it for today dolls! Hope you had a fabulous day!
Yours truly,
Em











Monday, February 27, 2012

Conquering A Case Of The Mondays...Or Any Not So Great Day..

Well Monday we meet again... however on this day I have chosen to share what can help make your Monday... not so "Mondayish". These ideas can also be used on any day that may just not be going quite as planned!

1. Start your day off with a great shower! Maybe choose to use your "special shampoo" (everyone has one right?) or even just take the extra 2 minutes to shave your legs. This will help you in feeling more put together and add a little something extra to the dreaded start of the week.



2. Wear cute a cute pair of underwear and bra. It's something no one but you will know, but will make you feel extra special all day!


3. Take the time to make breakfast. I can't express how much I love breakfast. It is by far my favorite meal of the day and it's often quite difficult for me to decide what I'm going to have. An average morning consist of a protein smoothie and maybe a piece of whole wheat toast on some mornings, or a cup of plain oatmeal and a 2 egg white omelet. If you're someone who doesn't have breakfast or just has a granola bar, I promise incorporating the extra 10 minutes it takes to make an actual breakfast is well worth it!



4. Treat yourself to something. Now for this one, I don't mean treat yourself to huge shopping spree or make it a "eat what ever you like" day- I mean one little thing that will make you smile. Maybe it's grabbing a Starbucks on your way to work or buying a new nail polish you've been eying the past couple times to Ulta.



5. Now you know what they say... if all else fails- have some a glass of wine and go to bed early.

Also I want to share a new blog with everyone! One of my best friends- Kaitlin has decided to enter the blogging world! I was crying last night from laughing so hard at reading her latest post! Be sure to check her out!


Hope everyone had a fabulous Monday!
Yours truly,
Em

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Inspiration- Do You What You Do

Here's some inspiration for the upcoming week!

(slight girl crush)

(I'm beginning to learn this)

(It's never too late for a fresh start)

The next topic I would like to touch on- is doing you. Lately I feel like my life has been changing in so many different areas that it can be hard to bring myself back to reality and remember what it is that makes me- me. Since graduating college, moving back home, starting a job, and trying to lead a semi functional and independent lifestyle, life seems to be changing on a daily basis. Now that I'm not constantly surrounded by friends or even others my age, I've noticed that I've started developing myself as a person. By no means do I mean drastically, but in little ways such as listening to different music, dressing differently, and my overall outlook on life. (I guess this is also called growing up?) I think when your in college and around the same group of people constantly, it can be difficult to distinguish what you actually like and what everyone else likes that you just go along with. Anyone else know what I mean? So in light of this new realization...


Yours truly,
Em




Thursday, February 23, 2012

Taking it back to Thankful Thursday

I'm feeling extra thankful this week and thought what better way to show it then by posting a Thankful Thursday! I hope everyone is having a great week and just a few more hours until Friday!

- I'm thankful for hot yoga- This week I went on Sunday and tonight, and honestly could not be more happy about getting back into this habit! After leaving class I always feel refreshed, stretched, and super sweaty.


-I'm thankful for my dad having a conference in town, therefore coming to see me and taking me out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants to get sushi! Since my dad lives outside Philly I don't get to see him as much as I would like, however when I do I cherish the time and look forward to the next! He also surprised me and brought me a beautiful bouquet of tulips!


- I'm thankful for Tylenol PM. (enough said)

- I'm thankful for the great run I had on Tuesday and for pushing myself to beat the clock (anyone else do this?)

- I'm thankful for my wonderful toddlers,who continue to make my day- everyday

- I'm thankful for my getting together with 3 of my best friends tomorrow night for dinner and drinks on the water


- I'm thankful for finding a pair of red skinnies on sale at old navy and can't wait to try them out!




- I'm thankful for pinterest and helping me think of crafts to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday next week!



That's it for today dolls!
Yours truly,
Em




Wednesday, February 22, 2012

That one time I had a mental breakdown...

Hello Dolls, hope you are all having a fabulous day so far! A few days ago I shared that last week I unfortunately had a few mental breakdown. Just for the sake of clarrifying, let me define what my own mental breakdown looks like... a few tears, possibly a glass of wine or two, my mom to comfort me, and a few amazing conversations with my best friends. Pretty mild I would say, compared to what others think a mental breakdown might look like.

I usually try not to post too much about my personal life on the blog because I love to use it as an outlet, an outlet of creativity, expression of things I love such as fashion, food, crafts, beauty, books and whatever else I happen to find. However when I thought more about it and what I want my blog to be and what it already was... an expression, meaning how I express myself. A mental breakdown I would most definitely say is expressing myself, perhaps not in the most constructive or postive way but an expression none the less. Therefore I have decided to share my mental breakdown and the thoughts that preceeded it ::drum roll::... where the heck is my life going?

As a newly post college grad who has recently just moved home, this question was particularly lingering in my mind last week. While I am blessed to have a very supportive, fun to be around, loving family and have definitely enjoyed spending more time with them... I also do miss living on my own. I miss cooking my own meals, doing my own grocery shopping, not having to call to say I'm running late or not coming home, and most definitely not having to hear the vacum above my head every sunday morning at 8am.

Another issue I am having, in addtion to struggling with adjusting to moving back home is the daunting task of finding a job and figuring out what exactly I plan to do with the uber narrow degree I have obtained. As discussed before I have a Bachelors of Science in Child Development and Family Relations and more specifically- Child Life. Child Life specialist work in hospitals or alt. settings and help children cope with the hospital/medical environment. This means explainging diagnosis and procedures in terms they understand, creating therpeutic outlets, and overall normalizing the hospital environment for children. While I am absolutely in love with my future career path, I am not in love with how competitive these jobs are and how hard it is to even find openings. Child Life is not a paid service in a hospital, therefore it brings in no money and therefore not something all hospitals have available to children and their families. While I do currently have a job as a Toddler Teacher and can't even begin to put into words how much I love my students and those I work with, it is definitely not something I want to be doing for the rest of my life... or eve possibly the rest of the year.  

Wow I seemed to have just written a novel. Sorry about that everyone but I think that helped in getting everything off my chest! Anyone else relate? Let me know!

Yours truly,
Em

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Meals for this week

Happy Tuesday Yall! I hope everyone had a great weekend, especially if  you had a long weekend like myself! Yesterday I got a chance to pick up a few things from Trader Joes...






This week and hopefully in the weeks coming, I am going to try and get back into meal planning! Here is what I have for this week so far...

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Banana Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Turkey and Cheese sandwhich, kiwi, quinoa/blacb bean chips
Dinner: Hopefully pancakes for Fat Tuesday!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: oatmeal and 2 egg white omelet
Lunch: Rice Medley and chicken sausage
Dinner: Sushi date with dad!

Thursday:
Breakfast: cereal with banana
Lunch: Chicken Lime Burger, quinoa/black bean chips & salsa

Friday:
Breakfast: Banana Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Pizza day at school!

I've chosen to not include dinners because most nights I eat with my family and its never decided until we're all home at the end of the day what we're going to have. However I do have some things in mind that I thought I would share..

Spicy Cauliflower

Light Turkey Meatballs

Yours truly,
Em


Monday, February 20, 2012

How I spent my extra day off..

Heres some hints as to how I spent my extra day off!

Starting the day with a hot yummy bowl of oatmeal and banana


Hot Yoga

A quick stop by Traders to stock up on some items


Laundry and clean sheets for what I hope will be a better nights sleep then the past few nights


A really tasty not so healthy takeout from the one and only Chipotle with the family


I have to admit that after last week's episode I'm just not sure if I even care to watch Bach anymore. I am getting more and more frustrated with Courtney every week and have enough to be stressed about in life then worrying about the outcome of this show, anyone else with me? I say he proposes to Kacie B and we call it a day.





Sunday, February 19, 2012

Happy Sunday!

I know what you're thinking... do I even exist anymore? I apologize for the extreme absence I took from posting but I assure you that this past week was crammed with business and also a few mental breakdowns." Post college/where is my life going/what am I going to do" thoughts semi filled my week and as a result I seemed to have taken a mental vacation from civilization. I'll post later this week more on my mental breakdown but for now lets discuss how I've been spending my long weekend!

Friday night I headed up to Baltimore to see my best friend for her boyfriend's birthday! I made both Alison and Aaron a special treat that included gluten free cupcakes for her and jalapeno bacon poppers for him!



We went to the same bar we went to a few weeks ago, Howl At The Moon and had such a great time!


Saturday was spent in recovery mode and a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few items for today's breakfast... Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon. I make breakfast for my family every Sunday and this week, eggs benedict was requested.

(Not my actual picture)

It turned out amazing and definitely something I will make again. Also while pursuing the isles of the grocery store I picked up a few items I wanted to try out desperately needed...

I put this on my ends last night before going to bed while my hair was dry to see if it could help my dry ends, I'll let you know how it works!

As for today I will be heading to hot yoga! I signed up a month at a local yoga studio and am so looking forward to getting back into hot yoga! Also on my to do list today is to find a new pair of sheets, I would love to get a set of jersey sheets and am thinking I will find them at Target. Does anyone have jersey sheets? If so let me know how you like them!

Also I've chosen to include the anthem to my weekend, a song that is been on repeat all weekend...


Hope everyone has had a great weekend!
Yours truly,
Em

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Why I'm excited to start this week on the right foot...

This may come as shocking news but I have been without a planner all year! And yes I am referring to all 44 days of the year we have had thus far. This is completely unlike me and I will be the first to admit- it has been torture not having something to organize my days and plan for upcoming weeks. However this problem was solved on Friday when my Sweet Tea Paperie planner arrived in the mail! I ordered this planner about 2 weeks ago and have been counting the days until I would get it and could not be more happier with how it turned out!


Amanda over at Sweet Tea Paperie even included the cutest hand written note along with the planner. Also the first page contains one of my favorite quotes...


I spent a majority of Friday night filling in upcoming events and even planning for weeks ahead. I am beyond excited to have something to refer to now and am hoping it will help me plan out my workouts and meals during the week!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Yours truly,
Emily

Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday Dolls! I hope everyone had a great week and has some exciting plans for the weekend! I myself, am currently snuggled in my pj's, space heater next to my bed, and about to watch a movie... talk about a wild Friday night. I promise to not be an old lady all weekend though, here are my plans for tomorrow!
- Dentist appointment at 9

-Come home and go for a run

- Lunch, laundry, clean room

-Take car to get emissions check ( I hate doing things like this)

- Hair appointment at 2:15 ( FINALLY!)

-Run errands aka search for "the perfect red lipstick" and maybe find something to wear out

-Possibly nap

-Get ready (while having We Are Young by Fun and Janelle Monae on repeat...anyone else obsessed with this song?)

-Meet friends in D.C

Tomorrow will be filled with lots of errands but fully worth it for a night out with friends in one of the best cities and the Nations capital.. D.C! Hope everyone has a great weekend

Here are a few things over the week that have caught my attention...






Yours truly,
Emily