Five on Friday

Another week has flown by, and no wonder- with school creeping up (T minus three weeks!), summer seems to be moving faster and faster! Last week, I was all about working out, eating healthy, and lovin' life... This week has been a little more about eating... Just eating. Crappy foods, like movie theater popcorn (you know we added that drizzly butter), cake (in my defense, it was the girls' dad's birthday...), and one too many Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches. I attribute these greasy, heavy culprits to how bad I've ended up feeling by the end of this week! I've felt super lethargic, and on top of that, early Thursday morning, I woke up feeling like I had swallowed rocks. I thought it might go away after some water, but nope. Thankfully, after some medicine and rest, I seemed to have kicked that tonsillitis to the curb. Now, it's just some congestion, but you didn't come here to hear me complain! Here are my five positives this week:

 

Cue the cute blogging linkup courtesy of Christina of Carolina Charm, Darci of The Good Life, April of A. Liz Adventures, and Natasha of Hello! Happiness

1. Birfday fun! One of my ultimate best friends is finally 21! Tonight, I'm going to Clemson to celebrate Kara's big birthday! Sadly, I won't be joining the girls in Asheville, because I have to move out of my apartment (yay, moving... not.), but I'm glad I'll get to spend some time with her!

 

Happy birthday to someone I've shared many a laugh and cry with over the last 14 (!!!) years. From our awkward beginnings in Brownies, to our first concert together in middle school (FOB and the All American Rejects, naturally), to our cheerleading terrors (and other, actually fun, times) in high school, to our changes in college, we've grown up together. Now I know you're rolling your eyes at my cheese-ball-ness, but I've been really blessed to spend those times and share those memories with you. LOVE YOU LOTS, KARA! WOOOO 21!!!!!

2. Zumba! Although I haven't been hitting the gym half as hard as I did last week (I think I didn't take a Zumba class one day last week), I still am lovin' this cardio par-tay! Salsa and hip-hop music pulsing through a studio filled with women ready to dance and sweat for an hour! 

When I was in high school, I got the nickname "Smiley" from one of the sweet women working upstairs at the YMCA- she loved the way my pony-tail bobbed as I elliptical-ed perkily. Sadly, that perkiness didn't ever last longer than 20 or 30 minutes on said elliptical. This time around, when I renewed my Y membership for the summer, I took advantage of the free classes offered, and since then, I've had several more instructors and workers comment on my always-present smile. My response? Always something along the lines of "Hey, if I'm gonna be working out, I might as well be having fun, right?!" And I mean it! I feel silly grinning in class, especially when I catch myself doing it, but there is not much I love more than feeling like my butt is being kicked into shape!

3. Movie magic! In the past week or so, I've seen two movies I'd recommend to almost everyone! The first? "The Way Way Back". John and I went to the obscure Manor Twin movie theater in Charlotte to see this indie flick. This movie was funny, sad, and above all else, authentic, which made it incredibly powerful. Definitely something I'd see again, encourage everyone else (13+) to see, and probably something we'll see winning awards. Only downside? Steve Carrel is a huge jerk, which is weird to watch!
Thankfully, Steve's voice is much less jerky (and much goofier, especially when he says "go-urls" instead of "girls") in Despicable Me 2, which I saw yesterday with the twins (and the big, buttery bag of popcorn...). This movie was probably as cute as the first, which is a pretty high standard of cuteness!

4. Work! I adore the girls I'm nannying, and I'm really lucky they are so sweet, polite, and fun! When they were gone the week after the Fourth, I missed them- not to mention that pay check ;) I think I've earned more respect with my vast knowledge of Neopets (please tell me someone else remembers these...) and a couple fun activities, like a mall scavenger hunt!

 

Sadly, my drawings aren't so impressive...

It was a little challenging to find a scavenger hunt online that wasn't too competitive (no fighting!), didn't require the girls to split up (there's only one of me), and wouldn't make the girls point out any specific people in the mall ("Oooh look at them!" Cringe.) I just made a couple silly things for fun, like find a new favorite Bath and Body Works scent and "style your sister" in an outfit of your choice!

5. LuLuLemon running shorts. I wasn't a fan of some of the company's kooky business practices I'd heard about, but as soon as I tried on a pair of the company's shorts, I understood what the positive fuss was about. They are hands down the comfiest shorts I've ever worn, and they make running easier, allowing full strides. I got lucky finding a black pair (AKA matches every tank and tee) in my size on clearance, which is essential, with the store's semi-ridiculous prices. The only problem (other than the necessity to find them on sale) is that I can't remember the actual name of the shorts.... Wish I hadn't gotten rid of that tag so quickly! Oh well, that just ensures I won't be spending any more money on them :)

Five On... Saturday

I really wanted to do "5 on Friday", the cute blogging linkup courtesy of Christina of Carolina Charm, Darci of The Good Life, April of A. Liz Adventures, and Natasha of Hello! Happiness, but yesterday was busy, and blogging didn't make the cut!

I had an early start so I could go to the gym before work (John thinks it's funny to hear me say I'm going to "work" when I'm going to nanny, but hey, it is a 48-50 hour per week, full-time job!). I knew that after a long day crafting and going to the pool (life is super rough), I had to quickly get ready for a double date with my best friend from kindergarten (!) and her boyfriend, who just so happened to recently graduate from Clemson as an electrical engineer (John's major). We all hit it off, and it was a fun night! By the time I got home, it was past midnight, hence the no Friday Five. However, no one said anything about a Five on Saturday being illegal, so here they are; five things I'm lovin':

1. My new Y membership. When I was in high school, the YMCA was one of my most-frequently-visited places (along with school and Costco, where I actually went with my mom this morning... we love that place). I didn't enjoy my monotonous workouts on the elliptical there, but whenever I went to a cycling or Zumba class, I enjoyed myself. Thankfully, after a few years away from the gym, I've gotten back into working out, but this time, I make sure I enjoy and get the most out of every workout, not just one every now and then. I even inspired John to join his family's plan, so we took a cycling class together this week! As sweaty as our intense spin class was, I'm not sure if it worked me as hard as this treadmill workout I did on Monday:

2. My kick-butt summer job. There is nothing that I can imagine loving more than nannying two sweet, innocent, fairy-believing 10 year old girls. The family I work for is a genuinely good family, and it's exciting to know I have the opportunity to make a little impact on their lives this summer!

 

One of the perks of the job? Sweet arm candy like this Clemson-themed friendship bracelet from Kennedy :)

3. This hilarious video, "It's Not About The Nail". My uncle showed my dad, who showed me this video, and it's something that both males and females can related to- so funny!

4. S'mores season. The past two nights, once I've gotten home, I've poured myself a glass of milk and treated myself to a Poptart. If you're thinking "Ew, Chelsea, I thought you were better than that!" then shame on you because I wanted to silence my sweet tooth and that was the only thing we had at my house! I'll admit, though, I would like to think I'm normally "above" Poptarts, too, which is probably why I told myself eating half a pack (the actual serving size... tricky, deceiving nutritional info!) was totally justifiable. Really, the only Poptarts that are actually worth the calories and crap they jam in the paper thin pastries are the Brown Sugar Cinnamon ones (toasted, naturally) or the strawberry ones with frosting and sprinkles. However, I digress. I say all of this not only because confessing it makes me feel better, but also because the Poptart pack I had was neither Brown Sugar Cinnamon or Strawberry; it was S'mores.

...Yum?

The engineered, faux-gooiness of the Poptart left me longing for the real deal. I can't wait to have my first S'more this summer, whenever or wherever that may be! Heck, I'll settle for any of these delicious looking S'mores inspired goodies I saw on Pinterest (just click the picture if you're as tempted to make these recipes as I am):

 

Does a finger (or entire hand) count as something appropriate to dip in this delicious looking S'mores dip?

S'more krispies.... Or technically Golden Grahams, but hey, no matter what you call these suckers, they're still genius.

 

Oh. My. Gosh. That is all.

5. I get to see my cousins tonight!!!!!!!!!! I should let you all know that I don't normally abuse exclamation marks in my writing, but since this is an informal blog, I thought approximately 10 obnoxious !'s would do a good job conveying how excited I am. I've been wanting to babysit my three adorable little cousins for a while now, and my aunt and uncle have a work party tonight, so you know what that means- John and I get to do the honors! I am beyond excited, and obviously we are going a tad bit early since I want to soak up as much time with these crazy, lively, charismatic, funny, sweet, smart, and overall just precious kids as I possibly can!

 

I "mustache" you a question: are there any boys cuter than these?! The answer is no way!

Since I've got places to be, I'll leave you all drooling at those S'mores pics. Happy Saturday!

Why I Love This Summer (So Far)

1. I got to see my brother, Corey, graduate! 

He did it!

2. I helped my family prepare for Corey's awesome graduation party! My mom worked so hard making food for this party, and she, my dad, and my extended family worked so hard at setting up and cleaning up before and after the party. Corey had the party with his friend, Peter, and his mom put together some decorations for the party. It was a blast getting to see my family and close family friends all in one place! Especially in a place with yummy food and lots of Clemson decorations (Corey and Peter will be Clemson roomies next year)!

3. I've celebrated Mother's Day, Father's Day, and a big birthday for my mom (somebody else is over-the-hill....!).

 

Can you believe these people are both 50?!?! Because I sure can't! People say I look a lot like my mom, but I can only hope I still do when I'm her age!

4. I've got a pretty sweet summer gig! I'm nannying two precious ten year old girls (twins!), and we are having lots of fun so far! My only challenge: prying their eyes away from the TV and their hands away from their parents' laptops.... Thankfully, there's just enough sass and bossiness in me to keep them in line when necessary ;)

 

The girls are cute, but are they silly cousin cute? Sadly for them, I don't think that's possible. Jamison, Brady, John, and I have fun in the "photo booth" at Corey's grad party!

5. I've still got two more months left and a lot to look forward to during those two months, like a trip to Michigan, a trip to Savannah, and more quality time with my favorites!

A trip to Michigan in August means I get to see the world's cutest baby again soon- I miss Charlotte's darling, rosy, little cheeks already!

 

A trip to Savannah means quality time with this goofball (okay, you caught me, I'm the goofball)!