Graduation!!!!

Today I am a graduate! I less than 3 hours we'll have our graduation ceremony from Elon University. They've been a long four years, and I'm really excited to be starting this new chapter of my life. I apologize for neglecting my blog this past week- life has been crazy! I'll be sure to post pictures from graduation!

*I just wanted to give a quick thank you to ALL the men and women honoring our great country in the Armed Forces***

I'm Back

Sorry I've been MIA the past couple days. I've been working on a big project and getting ready to move. Please hold tight- I promise I'll share all the deets on this super sweet project soon enough. My cute townhouse has turned into rows and rows of boxes, and lots of bare walls. This is just the breakdown of my bedroom!

Almost Done

{Mr. SE and FBIL SE}

My roomate went home for the summer, so I'm hanging by myself tonight. I've stufed my brain with 5+ hours of HGTV (and counting). Just found out I got a 50/50 on my long Responsible Leadership paper. In the essence of tooting my own horn, our professor said he's given "only several" 50/50 after teaching the class for 15 years.

My final tomorrow is in Business Policy and it's open book- YESSSS!!! After the test I'm heading out to Greensboro for some Forever 21 goodies! Hopefully I'll find a cute dress to wear for graduation. It's so not cool to wear the same dress for college and high school graduation.

Pizza Face

I've struggled with acne since 6th grade; I've even done two courses of Accutane. Thankfully, I'm good with makeup so it's not hard for me to disguise these pesky little visitors. But the truth is, I hate wearing makeup and I'd rather leave the house without it.

My dermatologist office has a MedSpa and I can get facials monthly for only my copay ($15)! My Dr. informed me that my skin isn't great at cycling itself, and doesn't naturally shed dead skin; thus, the breakouts occur. Before college I always broke out on my forehead, but since college started I've been breaking out on both cheeks.

Here's what I'm doing now:
A. 2 antibiotics
B. Yaz
C. Prescription face wash
D. Differin at night & Duac in the morning
E. Changing pillowcase nightly

Honestly, I've reached my wit's end! I'm 22 years old and this shouldn't be a problem any more. I've made an appointment with Ellen Jacobson (SkinMD) in Nashville, and I'm excited to have a new Dr's opinion. Recently I've bought a couple new products to try and fight this battle: Dermalogica CLEAN START (starter program) and a Zeno Pro. The Zeno was a little pricey $130, but there's a 30-day money back guarantee. The problem is that you can only use it on deep breakouts- which aren't really my main problem. I will definitely let you know how the new products work.

Do you all have any great derm recommendations in Nashville? Also, I'm nervous about the hard water. My skin always seems to break out worse when I'm in TN. I didn't grow up with hard water, and I don't have it here- so my face isn't used to it. Did any of you have a hard time adjusting? Don't worry, Mr. SE already got me a super nice filtering shower head, but I can still tell a little. Any advice would be great! Sorry for the long post- love you all.

The Shred: Part II

I successfully completed my 2nd workout (level 1) of The Shred. I'm feeling pretty good. Seriously- I'm feeling it during the workout, but afterward I'm not sore or tired. Maybe it's just because I'm so buff to begin with...riiight. I'm sure she'll kick my butt soon enough. Anyways, I've got a big bottle of water + 1 Imitrex (3 day headache-super) and I'm off to bed.

Psst- there's only 8 days until graduation!!! I have an open-book test Saturday afternoon, but other than that I'm done. Yay!

Okay, this picture is kind of funny. It's migraine Barbie and the caption says, "Barbie was worried she might not have enough drugs for her next migraine, she was going to call her doctor now!" If you get migraines you'll understand this one. Love you, readers!

The Shred: Part I

Last night I did my first Shred workout. I'm not sure how many times you're supposed to do it (per week), but I'm going to try for every day. Also, my DVD has 30 day free access to Jillian's online program. I'm going to sign up for that and I'll let you know how it goes.

Review on the program: I used 3lb weights and found the strength exercises difficult, but manageable. Cardio was a little difficult for me because of my recent ankle surgery, but I think that's to be expected. Abs weren't easy and weren't hard, perfect medium.

Review of JM: She's hilarious. Honestly, when she was like "If you're going to die, watch Anita"

My girlfriend came over while I was doing the workout. We left our garage door open, so she let herself in and thought it was hilarious when she found my in my room PURPLE doing Shred. It's that time again. I've been running errands ALL DAY, and I'm super tired. But Jillian says that's when it counts the most (when you're tired). It's time to get my shred on, ladies....

Perky Purple

This is my new obsession: Essie Perky Purple. I painted a little bit of my nail at Ulta yesterday and I LOVE IT! It's such a fun shade for summer. Most likely not for fingernails, but toenails definitely. Although, Ginnifer Goodwin looked super cute in "He's Not That Into You" with her purple nails.

On another note, I've started thinking about how to get "involved" in Nashville. I have a couple girlfriends through Mr. SE's friends, but I'd really like to start making friends of my own. I know, it sounds like I'm 10 years old. But I think having female relationships are crucial to finding balance, especially if you're married or living with your significant other. How did you get "involved" and meet people?

Breathe, Stretch, Shake, Let it Go

I just saw this quote on Yellow Brick Blog and I think it's perfectly applicable for this stage in my life right now. Yes, I thought I'd be engaged at homecoming. Yes, I wanted to have a job by Christmas (at the latest). We're still not officially engaged and I'm still unemployed. But guess what? I'm learning to roll with the punches and love the life that's in front of me.

I love Mr. SE and have loved him since he wished on a shooting star "that I'd be his wife" in 2006. The purse strings got a little tight with Q4's financial downturn, but we're still planning for a future. Companies aren't throwing jobs at new grads like in '06, '07, and '08. But I didn't get discouraged and settle for a lifetime of something that didn't interest me. I've tried to keep a positive outlook and maintain a focus on the things that make me happy. I think there's some good things in store for the SE's in these next couple months.

AKPsi Banquet

We had our banquet for my business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi, this weekend. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to attend. Here's a picture of my "little" and I. Guess what my senior superlative was...Done guessing? "Most Likely to Marry and Athlete". Fitting, I think :-)

Happy Mother's Day

To all my readers who are moms, to children or furbabies, Happy Mother's Day! I wanted to post my gift to Mama SE earlier, but sometimes she reads the blog. Obviously I'm a little short on cash, hence the unemployed almost-new grad, so I had to do something inexpensive. Enter Taylor Swift "Fearless". Her song "The Best Day" really hits home for my relationship with my mom- especially the part where she's 13. I won't even get into those details, middle school was awful. Anyways, my mom and I have transitioned from a disciplinary parental relationship to a friendship over the past four years I've been in college. Not so much a friend that we'll get drunk together, like some parents I know. But more of just somebody that I can talk to about anything. I think it's really great when parental relationships reach that point of maturity.

Anyways, back to the gift. I printed off the lyrics to "The Best Day" on really thick paper (with something pretty from DaFont, of course), along with burning a copy of the actual CD. Also, Taylor has said some really sweet quotes about her mom- in reference to the fact that she dedicated the song to her. My mom was SO excited and surprised. She said it was the best gift I'd ever given her. Here's the new music video for the song. We love you moms!

Breaking News: It's Sunny!

Yes, you read that right. It's FINALLY sunny again. I'm not sure how long it's going to last, but I'll enjoy it while it's here. Tonight I'll be celebrating with my girlfriend "A". She just landed another interview and the company will be flying her up to Boston for the next round! We're planning on paying a visit to our new classy wine bar (super small campus, you can't even understand how exciting it is to have a new place). Hopefully it'll still be nice afterward and we can sit on the patio at our campus bar.

Sunny spring days make me think of baseball, and naturally that turns to thoughts of Mr. SE. Here's one of my favorite pictures of Mr. SE hitting; you can see the ball off to the right. Ps- this hit was a home run! What a hunk!

The Fifth of May

Happy Cinco de Mayo, readers! Last night my girlfriends and I celebrated my birthday over queso and margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I hope you all can make time for a margarita today- you deserve it! For now, it's still projects and papers. I'll try and post something more fun later today. Perhaps the picture of me in the birthday sombrero last night?!?

Happy Birthday to Me

Today's my 22nd birthday! I can't believe it's been a whole year since I turned 21. I'm looking forward to finally being able to celebrate my birthday as a non-student. My special day is always marked by projects and the beginning of finals. Hopefully I'll be able to celebrate at dinner later tonight. For now, it's term papers and group projects du jour.

Oooh isn't this cake pretty? It's a wedding cake, but would still be lovely for a birthday!

Letterpress Lovelies

Mr. SE is busy watching the Hawks/Heat game, so I can make a quick post. How cute are these letterpress cards from Things Are Better With a Parrott. I can't remember how I stumbled on her site, chalk it up to a gazillion hours on the internet, but I'm in love. Sarah makes custom letterpress stationery and invitations. Her blog is updated a lot, and of course she has an Etsy site. Enjoy!

On another note, Mr. SE gave me another birthday/anniversary gift last night. We're going to cooking school again! He gave me a gift certificate so we can pick the class together. He's the best!

Why I Love Mr. SE

Similar to Amy at {With the Pixie Grin}, I've got a special post about something super sweet Mr. SE did. You see, he's visiting this weekend for my birthday slash our 3 year anniversary. Yes, they fall on the same day. How sweet. Anywho, Mr. SE surprised me with the most fantastic birthday gift. He bought us BOATHOUSE STRIPE!!!! Our bedding is something I've been stressing about for awhile now, and I'm so happy to have it taken care of now. Mr. SE saw how bad I wanted it (maybe from my multiple postings), and surprised me with it! What a cutie. Just had to share with you :)

Mr. and Miss SE when we first started dating (3 years ago!)

The Final Countdown

Oh hi, it's me again! Expect a lot of posts this week, as the majority of my classes have been canceled. I haven't used my Windows Sidebar for awhile, and I just decided to put it up on my desktop.....What's this I see? 25 days, my friends! It seems like just last week I was picking out what to wear for Mr. SE's graduation (2007). I can't believe this is finally happening. There's so many things that I want to do, and I can't wait to begin this new chapter of my life. Andy advice you wish you would've had upon graduation?

Sigh of Relief

Good morning! I'm feeling really good right now- especially since I just booked a massage. FYI: I have really bad migraines and have been recommended to get a massage weekly. Luckily my mom is a teacher and we have amazing insurance! The massages have helped keep me calm and not feeling anxious, but it's been awhile since I've had one.

I'd much rather go the preventative route versus taking lots of pills and being reactive. Don't get me wrong- I head straight for a Relpax when I feel a migraine coming on, but I find myself having to do that less and less.

If you're into massages, I'd love to make a recommendation in the Nashville area. Essential Therapy (West End) is fantastic! Last summer I saw Susan every week, and I've continued to get massages every time I come visit. Their tranquility room is OUT OF CONTROL! Honestly, I would probably pay just to relax in that room.This would be a great place to head for a spa day with the girls in your bridal party. Don't forget your guys! Mr. SE had a massage there over Valentine's Day and loved it. Do you get massages? Or what helps you really relax?

Radio Station Advice

Here in NC I listen to K-Love. It's an awesome contemporary Christian station and I LOVE putting it on every day. But I'm getting really nervous about finding a station that is just as good in Nashville. K-Love is heard nationally, but I'm not sure if it's broadcast in TN. Can anybody shed some light on this question? Also, I'd love some recommendations for a Christian station in Nashville. The artists that I'd love to keep hearing: Michael W Smith, Big Daddy Weave, Chris Tomlin, and Brandon Heath.

On another note, the Dove Awards are being broadcast live from Nashville on Thursday. I tried SO hard to win tickets and I really wish I could go. Will you be watching?

100th Post

Last night marked my 100th post! In honor of this milestone, I'd like to have a Lady M Mille Crepe Cake and give one to each of my devoted blog followers. Okay just kidding- I can't afford one for myself, let alone all of you. But let's just gaze at the picture for a little while longer. Check out Lady M's website for more French inspired confections. Super chouette!
Cake from here.

In other news, Martha is doing her Weddings episode tomorrow. I'm going to watch the show and I'll be sure to give a recap for those of you who missed it.

What's Cookin, Good Lookin

Mr. SE and I love cooking together. So it's no surprise that I was pumped when Mr. SE gave me a cooking class voucher for our anniversary. Our class was at the Viking School in Franklin (at The Factory). Mr. SE chose Date Night in Paris because I studied abroad there and LOVE the city. The class was made up of 6 couples and one chef. We were put into teams with another couple (4 persons) and each team made the entire meal. It was neat that we were able to do every aspect of the meal, not just one part.

{where we ate after preparing the meal}

I highly recommend Date Night to any couple, along with their other classes. This would be a great wedding/engagement gift too!{getting the stock ready for our coq au vin}

Our chef, Dale, had a great personality and made the class a lot of fun. The course was listed as 1 1/2 hours, but we were there for at least 3! Ps- they give you two bottles of wine as a class
{flambee!! making our crepes suzette}
{Mr. SE showing off his knife skills}

Check out www.thevikingschool.com for more information regarding fees and class schedules


**Please don't forget to vote for Mr. and Mrs. SE at The Photographix Blog. Leave a comment on April 2nd's blog entry voting for picture #4***