What I learned this weekend

Numero uno-- I do not like wrestling! 

Ok, this is a really random post but my weekend was lame and I have nothing else to update you on. Saturday, Dt's little brother was in the state wrestling championship in Lexington so we decided to go to the tournament. My boyfriend is 26 years old (goodness, when did that happen?) and his little brother is 14. Yes, that's a solid 12 year age difference and there are no siblings between them. It's weird, but whatever it's what we're working with.

So we venture to the high school around 10:30 a.m. (yes this was a saturday morning but we woke up nice and early to be supportive, go us!) and pay our $16 to get in then proceed to walk into the main gym. I wish I would have taken a picture of this hot mess but I didn't so use your imagination. First and foremost, let me emphasize HOT!!! Disgusting, muggy, hot! Once you catch your breath after getting hit by this wave of heat you realize breathing is the worst thing you can do because of the smell. Have you ever smelled a 14 year old boy? How about a 14 year old sweaty boy? Now multiple that by 200. Did you just pass out? Yea I almost did.

Numero dos-- teenage boys are disgusting

On the floor there are four big mats with two boys wrestling on each and tons of boys wandering around and all of their redneck parents cheering them on (this is also happening in at least two other gyms at the school). Oh it is a scene! So Dt and I take a seat with his mom and older brother (that's the 29 year old. Did you catch that, there's a married 29 year old, a 26 year old, and a 14 year old. They keep it interesting!) We then proceed to wait three hours until Dt's brother has another match. 3 hours of sitting on those horrible bleachers, in the hot smelly gym, watching wrestling.

Numero tres-- gym bleachers are extremely uncomfortable

Don't be confused, it was not like watching this guy. This I could at least pay attention to!

Now I'm very familiar with sports tournaments. I grew up playing club sports which meant we spent all of our weekends at tournaments. I loved playing in them but even when I wasn't planning it was interesting to watch the sport being played. Wrestling is not one of those sports. It's the most boring sport I've ever had the misfortune to watch. I'd take golf, weight lifting, and track over wrestling. For those of you who are lucky enough to never have watched a wrestling match, let me explain it to you. Two boys start out dancing around each other. They may hit each other in the head or poke one another but for the most part its just dancing. Until one of them falls to the mat and the other jumps on top of him and they proceed to lay there and wiggle for however much time is remaining in the 1:30 minute round. Every time they dance out of bounds, the clock stops. Every time they wiggle out of bounds, the clock stops. Every time one chases the other out of bounds, the clock stops. Then they proceed to do this for three rounds and who ever has the most "points" (which you aren't really sure what qualifies as a point) wins.

Numero cuatro-- I hate wrestling

This is what we were basically watching.

So we wait the three hours until Dt's brother finally wrestles, it happens really fast, he wins his match and proceeds. Wait, I waited three hours for THAT?!?! Well, he won so thats good, when does he wrestle again? Oh, four more hours! Well, we went and grabbed lunch, came back, sat around for another two hours then he finally wrestled again. He won again. Wooooo for him! But that means he is in the finals which will not occur for another 4 hours! This is where Dt and I decide to cut bait and head home. We're exhausted from sitting in that hot, horrible, redneck, crowded gym and ready to go. After some lovely goodbyes and more comments than were necessary, Dt and I finally made it home where I discovered that I would have to burn the clothes that I wore because I will never be able to get that smell out. Around 9 p.m. we found out that his brother won state for his weight class which was great! But I think we would have preferred to show up at 8, hung out for an hour, cheered him on in his last match and then celebrate. Hindsight is 20/20 huh? In good news, I've discovered my least favorite sport and I will never attend another wrestling tournament in my life.

How was your saturday?

Sunday night dinner

Well it's Sunday night which means the weekend is almost over. Does anyone else really not like Sundays? I don't know what it is about this half of the weekend but it just depresses me. Growing up Sunday night was always the night I had to finish all the work I had put off all weekend and get ready for a whole new week and whatever that may hold so maybe that's where my negative feelings stem from. Or maybe the fact that tomorrow is Monday? Or that there are a full 5 days until my next weekend? Who knows!

Despite my weird feelings about Sundays, in reality they usually contain positive things. Church, family time, golf, Sunday strolls, football, and a little bit of leisurely time are all things that people enjoy on Sundays. Growing up, my family had our own Sunday routines. We went to church every week, enjoyed the afternoon, then had our "Sunday night dinner." This dinner was a staple in my childhood. No matter what, every Sunday my dad would cook a serious dinner for us. Now, I'm not talking about a feast by any means but usually something like pork chops, cous cous, and roasted potatoes. Or flank steak, spinach, and lentils. Salmon, brown rice, and broccoli. You get the idea. But it was always some weird, gourmet version of a meal. My dad loves to cook, it's his passion, and growing up we never just had chocolate cake. We had chocolate, raspberry mousse, ganache cake or something crazy like that. So these gourmet meals are what I've grown up with and were just my norm but it turns out we were weird. These days it's weird for a father to do all the cooking, it's weird for a family to sit down and spend time together regularly during dinner, it's weird to have a balanced dinner every day of the week. But to me, this is what we did and I took it for granted. I didn't realize how unique this time of the week was for my family or how how it was just part of our routine. I can guarantee my parents and my 18 year old brother (the only one still at home) will be sitting down to eat Sunday night dinner any time now.

According to Time Magazine: Kids who dine with the folks are healthier, happier and better students. I think it worked for us! ;)

Looking back on it, I realize how lucky I am to have a father who takes his Sunday afternoons to prepare us an amazing meal every week. How lucky I am to have a mother who takes the time to set our table with different place-mats and silverware according to the season, because she cares. How lucky I am to have two siblings to share this family tradition with. And last but not least, how lucky I am to have a boyfriend who has experienced these Sunday night dinners (and is very fond of Dad's cooking) and understands what cooking means to my family. Dt and I definitely do not have a super fancy meal once a week but we eat together every day and enjoy whatever it is we are having. One day I know that we will have our own family traditions and I hope family dinner, as well as date night, are weekly occurrences but until then, I've realized how thankful I am to be able to enjoy my Sunday night dinner tradition with my boyfriend, even if it's only take out.

This is some of my actual family (some cousins and grandmothers included) enjoying a Sunday night dinner

What are you thankful for on this Sunday evening? Do you have any family traditions that you will continue in your future family?

Still proud to be a tiger!

You may have heard, my tigers lost on Wednesday. Lost may not be the best word to describe what happened in that game... we were obliterated. I think it was a record breaking high score for a bowl game and not because of Clemson. It was a very sad night for the tigers.

Very fitting. 

As hard as it was for me to watch my team self-destruct, it was even harder for me to deal with the aftermath. Unfortunately, since it was such a huge loss and a national bowl game, the whole country witnessed our implosion. Including all of those super classy gamecocks that I'm surrounded by. It was hard to see all of the horrible comments about my team on facebook and every where else (especially since I'm not sure how this game even affected the gamecocks but that's another rant for another time). People seem to expect us to be embarrassed for being tigers or think that we will give up on our team after that horrible loss. What people don't seem to realize is that Clemson is soooo much more than our football program. Yes, that is a huge part of Clemson but it will never make or break our school spirit.

To me, Clemson is...

my alma mater

a top 25 public university in the country

solid orange

where the tigers play

where I received my top of the line education

where I grew into the person that I am today

Tiger Town Tavern on a friday night

Bid day on bowman field

where I met the love of my life

about pride

searching for the perfect shade of orange all year round

waking up at 6 a.m. to tailgate for a noon game

first friday

running down the hill

homecoming floats on bowman field

Mac's diner

the cadence count

tiger paws

home to clemson blue cheese and ice cream

sundresses and bowties on gameday

purple and orange sunsets over Lake Hartwell

Howard's rock

in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains

listening to the bells in Tillman on your way to class
home to the band that shakes the southland

the botanical gardens in the spring

home to Death Valley

tailgating in the fraternity quad

a feeling that you can't explain to an outsider

traditions

a family

All of these things make up Clemson. Many relate to football but have absolutely nothing to do with winning or losing. That is why I proudly wear my orange and purple in a town full of garnet and I will do so until the day I die. Go Tigers!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Can y'all believe tomorrow is Christmas! Crazy! This month just flew by didn't it? Since this will probably be my last post for about a week because I'm heading to Philly to see my Grandmom after Christmas, I figured I'd leave you with a few pictures of the things that I've been up to this month and the last few days.

As I've said recently, I got an ice cream maker for Christmas (thanks to Dt sorta...) and have been experimenting with it so I thought I'd show you what I was working with!

I love it and it comes with two bowls so we don't have to wait to refreeze the main one!

I also bought some of these ingredients to make some of our first flavors

And yes, I bought a basting brush and that has nothing to do with my ice cream but it was part of the purchase so I thought it was rude to leave it out!

 I ended up using the vanilla starter, then mixed in two spoonfuls of the fudge and a couple shakes of the snow and it turned out great! It def gives Baskin Robbins' peppermint ice cream a run for its money. I also made just plain vanilla for Dt out of sugar, milk, cream, and vanilla and it turned out pretty good too. Overall, this gift was a success!

Another exciting thing that has happened this past week is that I got this lovely box in the mail!

I haven't had the chance to try any of the things yet but I'll do a review once I do!

And remember my post about the sugar scrubs I made and decorated for Dt's fam? Well this is how they turned out!

Sorry about the crappy pic, I'm not a photographer...

Pretty cute, eh? I think I made that ugly jar much better! I found the recipe on pinterest and you can find it here!

As I've been shopping for Christmas gifts over the last few days, I've also been picking up stocking stuffers for my brother and sister. Over the last few years, we've started helping my parents (or Santa) stuff our stockings and I really enjoy it because I love finding these fun little things. It also gives me the ability to give more gifts which you know I love. So this is what I've found for Tucker

Clockwise from  top left: I got him a small stuff sack which he can carry in his big bag but packs down so it's easy to carry. Then we got him this fire starter gel which will allow him to start a fire anywhere even if it's been raining. Hopefully he practices fire safety... The next thing is a really cool patagonia belt which is his actual present but accidentally fell into the stocking stuffer pic. Oh well! Then I got him a free sticker from the store where all this gear came from. Next are just some eating utensils, figured the boy could practice some manners out in the woods. Then we have some body warmers and last but definitely not least is a first aid kit, just in case!

I think he is really going to enjoy all of this stuff and worst case scenario, at least he'll be better prepared for his trips into the mountains!

Next we have Miss Amelia Bedelia and her stocking stuffers

We have a hot pink lint roller, you always need one when you don't have one! Some multi colored bobby pins, a chocolate sampler (I also got one for Tucker), two mini candles, a cupcake corer (may or may not have gotten one for me, I tried to be strong...), a new make up brush (you can never have enough), and finally a really cool eye shadow palette from e.l.f. I'm sort of hoping she doesn't want that one because I will totally take it from her!

So I think I found some fun goodies to stuff their stockings with and those kids better return the favor!

And last but not least, I gave Dt his final Christmas present (he still didn't make it until the actual day to open it...) You may or may not remember that our Tigers recently won the ACC championship and I was lucky enough to find a boy who is as obnoxiously obsessed with Clemson as I am so of course I had to buy the kid a t-shirt to document the event.

It says Another clemson championship. 14 times! How many y'all got? 

I thought it was pretty funny and a smidge obnoxious but hey, we have to represent in gamecock country. As you can see, he was pretty excited about it too...

Isn't he cute? SO excited!

So that's my recap and I hope it will keep you entertained until I get back in a week or so. Have a merry Christmas everybody!

Holiday update

I’m starting to realize that I should have started this blog months ago when I was fully unemployed and had lots of free time. Unfortunately, I didn’t (that’s just how my life works sometimes) which means that I now have to find time to blog around my crazy holiday hours. And who knew working in retail would mean crazy holiday hours? I mean, what was I thinking when I signed up for this? I think it had something to do with money and loans kicking in but the pain in my feet and lack of readiness concerning Christmas this year are blocking all of my financial worries so I’m not really sure what my motivation is. I’m exhausted, I’m nowhere near ready for Christmas, I don’t get to hang out with my boyfriend as much as I’d like, and I haven’t cooked any fun holiday treats all month L (insert snooki-style waaaaahhhh).

In between my crazy work schedule I have been able to do one or two things. First of all, I attended Dt’s family Christmas gathering yesterday which was fun, a little dramatic, and resulted in a lot of venting for good reasons afterwards. Doesn’t family just do that to you sometimes? After the really long day of family interaction, Dt and I came home and enjoyed the rest of our evening together, cuddling, watching the Grinch, listening to Christmas music, and driving around looking at Christmas lights which I think was the perfect ending to a bumpy day. I’m so lucky to have that boy with me every day of my life <3.

In order to prepare for Dt’s family get-together I had to think of something to get everyone. His family seems to be very fond of me and his aunts always get me a little gift, which is so nice of them and totally unnecessary but they do it anyway so I think it’s important to do something for them too. Considering the fact that I am on a very small budget and needed to gift 6 people, I knew I’d have to do something homemade but I didn’t want it to be super lame so I went perused Pinterest until I found the perfect idea. And it was this!

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/05/my-favorite-vanilla-brown-sugar-body.html

It was super easy to make (after two trips to the store because it didn’t make as much as I needed for 6 people) and came out perfectly! I found some great jars at the dollar store (holler holler) and one of the women who I work with whom is super crafty and amazing offered to help me put sunflowers on top of the jars (to mask the ugly top that the dollar store provided). The sunflowers worked perfectly with the brown scrub and I thought it looked great. I’ll post a pic of my version when I have time to upload my camera but until then, you can use your imagination with how it turned out.

In other news, I’m still lacking in the gift department for mom, dad, and Tuck but I have ideas for all three and just need to brave the Christmas crowds that I have to deal with every day at work and really don’t feel like dealing with on my one day off. Ahhhh, such is life sometimes. Wish me luck and I’ll let you know what I find! 

Love, Em

Christmas Gifts!!!

My favorite part of Christmas is the gift giving! Yes, everyone loves presents but I get a real thrill of picking out the perfect gift for someone and I’m a big believer in giving multiple presents. For example, last year I got Dt a north face duffel, a tennis racket, a few movies, yada yada yada. I just go all out, what can I say? I don’t know why, but sometimes I’m just hit with an awesome gift idea (I’m full of awesomeness if you didn’t know…) and I have to make it happen. Now, this is very difficult to do on a small budget so I usually only shower my family and Dt with these presents but I’d love to be able to expand my gift giving circle one day. Anywhooooo, this year I’ve dropped the ball on gifting ideas (as well as my decorating, what is wrong with me?!? I’ll blame it on the fact that this is the first year in the last 20 that I haven’t been going through final exams on my way to Christmas break so I’ve just let all of this creep up on me. Oh the woes of finally being done with school.) Either way, I’ve let it come down to the last minute and I’m not a fan of that because it means that I’ll be forced to give some shitty last minute gift. Not going to happen, so I’ve been putting a lot of brainpower into gifting over the last few days and have come up with some great ideas! Since my entire family has yet to discover my blog (i.e. I haven’t really told anyone about it yet because I’m not sure how I feel about it…) I can share with you what I’m giving them!

One lucky betch will be receiving 6 months of this lovely service!

Birchbox

She may or may not also be getting this from my parents even though I picked it out. I just thought she would love it (and her sorority sisters will love her for sharing it in their kitchen) so I picked it out for her, from them. Make sense?

Williams-Sonoma

Mama G has for some reason fallen for the jeggings craze. It seems that her BFF was sporting a pair at a recent Christmas party and mom told dad on the way home that she just had to get some (now I have to factor in the wine consumption that I’m assuming happened at the Christmas party but I think she really does want a pair. She’s always looking for ways to be stylin' and profilin'!) Dad mentioned this lovely idea to me but he had no idea what they were called or what the concept even was so just imagine the hilarious convo that we had trying to discover that the item he was describing were the lovely jeggings! I will prob end up calling mom’s BFF just to make sure that what she was wearing were actually jeggings but I’m pretty sure those are what she wants. So Mama G may be getting some of these

I mean come on, homegirl needs a pair of 7’s.

Then the little bro has asked for a plethora of movies including but not limited to the following

Pics from IMDB

Can you tell he’s an 18 year old boy? Gotta love ‘em! He’s also been asking for a belt which I might make happen if I can find a good one and if not, I’ll supplement his movies with something from this store because little bro has taken to camping with his friends (read: getting drunk in the woods with no parents around).

To round to the good ole’ fam out is daddy-o, maybe the hardest person to shop for… he’s asked for one of these babies

Williams-Sonoma

Which I will get him but is kinda lame so I still need ideas for this man!

And last but not least, is the lovely boyfrand. But there’s a problem, as I said in my last post, he has already opened his present. The story goes something like this….

You see, my bf is like a four year old in many lovable ways including the fact that he can’t wait to open presents until Christmas, or his birthday, or anyone’s birthday. This means that he tries to get me to open my bday gifts from him early and badgers me for weeks before Christmas to exchange our gifts early. Every other year, I hold strong and put off gift opening until as close to Christmas as I can get his little heart to wait but this year, I got tricked!!! You see, as I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, I work in retail. This means that on black Friday I was forced to work, which for some reason meant Dt wanted to go shopping. We never do black Friday. But I’ve led myself to believe that he did this because he was so lonely without me. Poor guy. Anyway, I’m not sure if he actually bought anything for anyone besides himself. He bought some video game that had just come out and decided that it was going to be my present for him. Did you catch that? He took all of the fun out of my gift giving by picking out and purchasing his video game without consulting me. I think he did this because he couldn’t come to terms with spending that much money on the game himself, but that he would be spending around that much on me so it would all even out. Ummm, except that I didn’t get to pick it out or even pick it up! Yes, sad, but I got over that. Until one day I came home from work and he was hard core gaming with his new game! What?!?!?! It wasn’t even December yet! Heart is crushed. So my favorite part of Christmas with him was savagely ripped from me and I don’t know what to do now (which may be why I have yet to purchase a Christmas tree…) I was also forced to buy my own Christmas present for myself (because I got the discount from my store) which was super lame but I did end up with one of these babies!

Williams-Sonoma

Once I purchase some half and half and freeze one of those bowls, I will have lovely homemade ice cream in whatever flavor I choose (and dt will get zero input in the first batch or two because I’m bitter. Ha!)

I’m sure I will end up getting Dt something small to go along with his dumb video game but I haven’t come up with anything cool yet. So, I think I’m well on my way and at least my family members will be pleasantly surprised on Christmas morning.

What am I asking for you want to know?

Just one of these

Michael Kors

Isn’t it purrrrrty?

As well as one of these

Target

Which is so random but I grew up taking piano lessons (didn’t appreciate it then, hated practicing) and I recently decided that I’d like to take up piano playing again. Of course my apt is way too small for a full sized piano so something like this would fill the void.

And that’s my current gift guide! I think I’m slowly getting excited for Christmas… Also, work was much better today than Monday which was good. My boss' boss and her boss both came to the store today which is why everyone was so freaked out and the attitudes where at an all time high earlier this week but the visit went well and they told my manager that I was doing a great job. Yea! So that was nice and hopefully things will get back to normal after today. 

Love, Em

Meet the fam!

Since you’ve officially been introduced to Dt, I think it is important that I now introduce you to the other significant people in my life. I am lucky enough to have one of the greatest families a girl could ask for. My parents are amazing and have been there for me every step of the way and I love that as I grow up our relationship continues to get closer. I also have two amazing siblings, Amelia and Tucker. Amelia (or Amy as we’ve affectionately called her since she was born) is a senior in college, a proud ZTA sister, the bubbliest social butterfly you’ll every meet, and gorgeous to boot! Tucker-boy has blown my mind these last couple years as he’s grown into a young man. He’s a high school senior who is currently applying to college, a captain of his lacrosse team, he shares a sense of humor with me and our father, which cracks me up, and he’s quite the gentleman. Take a look at these good looking people!

Mama and Daddy G. Aren't they adorable? 29 years and still going strong!

This is Christmas a couple years ago. (Mom, sorry I had this gem and it didn't make it to a Christmas card)

The fam at my Clemson graduation in 2009

Christmas 2010

Tucker in his LAX getup. Intimidating, no?

My 21^st bday

Easter

Clemson game

Mom and me on our trip to Florence

Well that's my fam and I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about them in posts to come!

Love, Em