No place like home

I'm home on Thanksgiving break. It's such a weird feeling. I'm in the town I grew up in and yet everything feels different. 

But, I'm excited to be home with my family for the next 5 days! We have full days ahead. 

I love being home because:

-I don't have to pay for laundry

-My own bed. Enough said

-Edible food such as eggs that taste normal, milk that's not in a nasty bag, and fresh fruits and veggies. It's the little things

-My own bathroom and shower. Peace

-I can wash dishes in a normal sized sink and wash things down the drain and not the toilet. 

-Coffee already made for me when I wake up

-Late night chats with my parents

-Dance parties with the sibs

-I get to work at the ziplines on Friday! so pumped! 


On a different note, I totally surprised my family last night. I was supposed to drive down tonight, but I showed up at 11:30 last night at the front door. My mom was shocked and just stood there haha. It's good to be home :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emily 

Summer after Highschool: '12

My summer was crazy full. I work 60+ hours a week and I really wanted to make time for my friends/family and make lots of memories. Especially because lots of my friends were going to college out of state and I didn't know when I would see them again.

Late nights spent at Applebee's or Starbucks. Pool days and lake nights, movies, hammocking. Little bit of everything. 

Here goes my insanely long Summa '12 recap. In no particular order. I just want to remember every detail.

My life story! ha!

Late night coffee and boy chats with Amy!!

Renewed my license.
 Hellllo permit face and minus 15 pounds.

Visited my daddy :)

Dinner 1 of 29 with these two!

Starbucks with El-bell! :)

Many retro nights at CS with Molly

My favorite ginger 

Met a famous actor with Morgan

Read this amazing book

Church with this cutie pie

Lunch date with Miss Julie :)

VOTED!!!

Trampoline and Ice Cream date with these two

Drove the company truck like a boss

Pool day with the bests

Mission Trip to intercity STL
 to love on these sweet babies

Line danced with these lovelies

Tried to get tan.

Cold Stone with my favorites.

Lake Day Birthday 

Mission Trip with Jared

Met/ate lunch with my roomie Jenae

Lake hammock and dinner with Alexis 

Half price app's at App's with the crew

Lake day with the Seester 

Closed the ziplines too many times.
 But with a view like this, who wouldn't.

Fender Bender :(

Filmed a retro Cold Stone commercial with him 

Worked with these boys 

Hammocked with these two

Funk Busting trips to Target with Kyle.

Sent her off to school

Tearful college goodbyes :(

Sushi back to school college night

 

Moved into college with her!

This summer was full. I checked items off my bucket list, made new friends, said goodbye to others, ate way too much food, drank way too much coffee, and stayed up way too late. But I wouldn't have had my summa any other way.

 

You can sleep when your dead

Sleep: I have a love-hate relationship with sleep. I do love to sleep in, but usually staying up late having fun trumps any reasonable amount of sleep. College prep maybe?


At the beginning of the summer, I saw this picture. I decided I wanted it to be the "theme to my last summer at home, summer '12"

This picture is so true. This summer I've had so much more fun than last summer, because I'm putting sleep as second priority. For those of you that really know me, this is a big deal. 

It has been completely worth it. 

I started making a list of what I've done so far this summer after say, midnight.

*Working doubles (not sure this counts as fun, but going to bed at 2 or 3....)

*Midnight swimming 

*Watching movie after movie with girlfriends and laughing uncontrollably.

*Cooking in the kitchen at ungodly times of the night

*See also: late night snacking and baking

*Late night blogging and blog reading

*Laughing and catching up with my little sister at 2am, after I get off a late night shift at work. 

*Dance parties with my little brother on our way home from work. Sleep deprived dance parties are better anyway. 

I can't wait to keep adding to my list. It's hard to believe that college is in 5 weeks. It's coming up quick! 

What late night fun have you done this summer?

oxox,

Emily  

Ps: huge giveaway over at Pink on the Cheek  :) 

TOMS Giveaway: Summer of Sight

I love me some TOMS! I love that they are helping sweet kids in need, and at the same time, we are getting a super cute pair of shoes! Double winning!


This past year, TOMS started selling eyewear! For every 1 pair of sunglasses you buy, they give 1 pair of glasses to a child in need. As of right now, they have given 60,824 pairs of glasses and helped a child see! I think that's pretty incredible.


This summer at TOMS is called the summer of sight! Their goal is to sell up to 100,000 pairs of sunglasses! 


Does anybody else have these? I'm so in LOVE!!

Now, for the giveaway! I have a $50 giftcard good toward buying a pair of sunglasses! How awesome is that? 


Enter below with the rafflecopter tool! The only mandatory entry is to follow my blog.


ps: I just hit 10,000 pageviews on my blog. For a newbie, I think that's kinda a big deal :) go enter!! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

On my heart: E. St. Louis

I'm leaving in less than two days for a mission trip. The team from my church youth group is headed to E. St. Louis, the very heart of the city. It is such a broken and hopeless place. People struggling to find hope in something.

It will be the 5th and final time I'll have the chance to surround my self and love on some of the most beautiful baby children. We'll be doing daycamp for children. We have over 100 kids, newborn through 20 year olds. 

This year, I'll be in the 1st and 2nd grade classroom with the best team of 6 people. It will be high energy and non stop the entire week. This is what I live for. I can't wait!

We feed them lunch, play games with them, teach them, make a craft together. Most importantly, we share multiple hugs, kisses and piggy back rides. Oh and did i mention the most legit dance parties ever? Ya, these kids can dance like nobody's business.

My heart is breaking this year because I have to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. I do.

I've graduated high school, and as amazing as that was, I have to move on and knowing that I'll probably never see these kids again, hurts me. I've grown to know and love them. Each year, we run off the buses to see familiar faces waiting for us. We know them by name and we love them so.

We've watched young girls become moms at young ages, teenagers pass away, and children grow up way too fast. But, these people have left a mark on my heart I'll never forget.

My favorite was praying with sweet Brittany last year! She prayed to ask Jesus into her heart. As soon as we finished, we started dancing and yelling! She went and told everyone that she invited Jesus in her heart! heart. melt. 

If you think of me this week please pray specifically for:

-these precious children; that they would learn through us and the Lord would use us to change their lives.

-safety for all going. we have about 45 people going, youth and chaperons. We are going into a very difficult and scary area. We have to leave by 5pm, because it is very dangerous at night.

-unity for our entire group. we live together the whole week.

-traveling safety for our two big church buses, plus the extra cars going.

I hope you guys have an amazing week! 

oxox,

Emily 

Summer Bucket List

-Run a 5K


-Take a roadtrip


-Read at least 5 books


-Make/Bake something off Pinterest


-Watch the Olympics (can't wait for swimming and gymnastics!)


-Buy a new pair of running shoes


-Save $3000 for college


-Blog at least 3 days a week


-Get to and host a giveaway for 100 blog followers


-Take a Zumba Class


-Go on a mission trip


-Own a car


-Get a Macbook Pro and sell my Dell


-Work at least 40 hours a week, if not 50.


-Eat out less (I do love me some Jimmy John's but it's so dang expensive and the only place that delivers to the ziplines)


-Get a post payday pedicure


-Sleep outside in my hammock at least once


-Find new music and upload to my iPod


-Finish blogging about my trip to Israel


-Have a big girl's night/sleepover at my house


-Clear out my closet and sell clothes/shoes on Ebay


What's on your summer bucket list?


If you blog about it, make sure you leave me a comment!


Happy Friday


oxox,


Emily 

WILW: Summa Edition

I'm loving that my ACT is done. 

I'm loving the perfect, post-rain weather.

I'm loving that my window is open and breeze is streaming in.

I'm loving working with my biggest broske at the ziplines. He makes a pretty sweet manager.

I'm loving that my best friend turns 18 today and we have a big party tonight

I'm loving that I've been to the lake/pool 5 times this week

I'm loving my new Nike shorts

I'm loving that my sunburn turned to tan

I'm loving that I hit 100 followers on Instagram

I'm loving all the late nights spent with friends

I'm loving cocoa roasted almonds and how healthy they are

I'm loving my ENO hammock

I'm loving that I go to college in 2 months

I'm loving that my car has AC again

I'm loving Regina Spektor's new album

I'm loving iced coffee from starbucks

I'm loving driving my boss's truck with the GIANT zipline logo on the side.

I'm loving that I've almost hit 100 GFC blog followers

I'm loving my new Big Star jeans

Happy Wendesday!

oxox,

Emily 

Dress Code: Ziplines

Effective this week: Dress Code.


No more Nike shorts, Chacos, and oversized staff t-shirts! Boo!


There are now 4 required uniform pieces.
1-Khaki Pants/Shorts
2-Required staff t-shirt by "position" (photo, guide, MOD etc)
3-Nametag
4-Closed-toe shoes


I found these perfect shorts from Old Navy! They are from the perfect khaki line!

My staff-shirts is royal blue and says PHOTO on the back! I'll post a picture sometime. Nothing too exciting!


Nametag:

Closed-toe shoes: 
My favorite Nikes!

And yes, sometime at work told me I have big a$$ feet. 

It's the truth! Size 11. Shoot

Now, I need to find some cute ponytail ideas! If you have ideas, send 'em my way!


OXOX,


E

Truthful Tuesday

Spilling my truth today. No judging just loving.


1-I take long showers. I'm not talking long like 10 minutes. I'm talking at least 20. I don't always mean to I just think time flies in the shower. 

2- See also: I take forever to dry off. I spend time thinking and it takes a while. I also do this in the shower.
3-I press my snooze button so many times. I'm such a heavy sleeper annnnd I even got the loudest alarm clock and wally world, but still no luck.
4-I'm great at writing thank-you notes and awful at mailing/sending/giving them.
5-I've gone to work 3 times this past week w/o makeup. 
6-I've been the worst blogger/blog reader/commenter this week. Have mercy.
7-I'm a procrastinator. I finally ordered my graduation announcements and I graduate in 2 weeks.
8-I am NOT a morning person. I don't say but a few words until at least an hour after I'm up. I'm not grumpy, I'm just in zombie mode.
9-I haven't run in 2 months. I started working at Cold Stone. Summer is coming. These are some awful combinations. must.run.quick.
10-When I love a song, I listen to it over and over and over again. My poor siblings.


Happy Tuesday!

Sunday Randoms

~I did watch the Miss America Pageant last night! It was the first time I had ever watched. I LOVED it! There were so many good stories, talents, and pretty girls for lack of a better term! ha! I loved Miss SC's suit. She rocked the white and the bikini and looked fab! I loved Miss Oklahoma's Irish Dance. I'm really not a big fan of Opera tho (Miss NY). Miss Iowa did an amazing job singing You Raise Me Up! It was so pretty! I really wanted Miss OK to win! But, congrats to Miss Wisconsin for winning Miss America!

~On a side note, I watched the MAP in sweats, ponytail, no makeup, and stuffing my face full of food!

~Yesterday, I did a mini-road trip to Springfield with some girls from church. We're having a pillowcase party on Monday night for our upcoming trip to KC! We bought fabric and had lunch together at Chick-fil-a! Branson doesn't have a Chick-fil-a :( There are rumors that Branson might be getting one in the near future! SO excited if that actually happened! haha

~Our family finally took down the Christmas tree today. It's been long overdue! This is the new record for how long our family has keep it up. January 15th.

~Speaking of overdue, I know y'all are dying to know my countdowns: 111 days till graduation and 54 days to Israel! I can't wait. They are both sneaking up SO fast! I'm glad time is flying!

~I had to give a speech in my public speaking class on Friday. Scared.out.of.my.mind. I hate public speaking, but I made it! We had to speak for 3 minutes so it wasn't too bad! I spoke on my mission trip to E. St. Louis. I've gone every year since 8th grade and it's something I'm passionate about, but still.

~I finished week 2 of C25K! Enough said. Tomorrow is a new day, a new week, with more running. baby steps.

~I'm reading Kisses from Katie right now. Incredible book. You might also fall in love with her blog! She is so inspiring and I can't wait to do a book review post on her book soon!

~Tonight, I met with our Lead team from youth group. I'm excited to see everything that God is doing and what He will continue to do through us in 2012.

I've got a crazy, full week ahead!

Happy Sunday!

Emily

Carolyn and Aaron's Wedding 1.08.12.

Carolyn and Aaron

1.08.12

One of my favorite couples got married last night in a beautiful ceremony at Integrity Hills Chapel. Carolyn was one of our youth helpers for many, many years! She spoke into numerous lives every week and poured into my life as well. It was so fun to be able to go and see her and Aaron get hitched! :) This is the first wedding of 2012 that I got to go to. There is at least 5 more on the calender! I can't wait! I went with my friend Hannah and my younger brother, Kyle! Hannah was so sweet to come over and do my hair before we left. I LOVED the final product! It was such a fun evening filled with laughing, dancing, eating and lots of pictures! They brought in a photo booth for everybody too! so, so fun. enjoy the pictures!

Hannah burned my nose on accident :)

We snapped a couple of pictures right before we left!

I LOVE how they turned out!

Miss Julie is awesome!

She leads our mission trip every year!!

Miss Lori is our smallgroup leader!

and we LOVE her :)

Carolyn was stunning.

so happy for her.

We sat with the Conner Fam :)

I LOVE Brianna! She sang last night

and did a beautiful job. She was my

team leader the first year i went on mission trip,

in 8th grade. so, so sweet.

Happy Monday!

Emily