I've reverted back to high school

Last week I went to the dermatologist. My problem? Lately I have been having breakouts worse than when I was 15. Seriously. It seems like I constantly am trying to combat yet another blemish, and usually multiple ones. It's annoying because I could not pinpoint the cause. I didn't change anything major, so what is the deal?

The dermatologist told me that because of where I experience the most problems- around my mouth- on my chin, right below my nose, etc.- it sounds like they are induced by something I am eating. She rattled of a list of things that are possible culprits and right near the top was citric acid.

Well, I'm pretty sure that's the problem. Although I have not had an increase in my citric acid intake in recent months, when I was younger I was highly allergic. I would break out if I so much as smelled an orange. The problem is, EVERYTHING seems to have citric acid in it. Basically any type of fruit juice has citric acid, then there are fruits themselves- oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi (yes, kiwi!). And of course there are things you do not think about. For instance, yesterday I looked at the ingredients on my yogurt, and there it was staring back at me- citric acid. Of course, it was key lime flavored, but this morning I have red velvet cake flavored and it has citric acid, too. Soft drinks have it- Mountain Dew is especially bad, kool aid has it.

So, it's nearly impossible that I will be able to cut it out of my diet entirely, but I'll have to be more careful to read labels. If citric acid is near the top of the ingredients, I'll need to stay away. What a pain. Especially since I love a strawberry limeade in the summertime. I had one yesterday, in fact, but I won't be able to have them with near as much regularity now.

The dermatologist did prescribe me a low-level antibiotic and a nighttime lotion to help, but apparently full results won't be seen until 3 months from now. Let's pray it works. I'm tired of feeling like a pubescent teenager!

Do any of you have weird food allergies that give you problems?

Ten years? Really?!

I am in the process of helping plan my 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been ten years since I turned my tassle and headed off to college. It's crazy to think how much has changed since 2000. I hardly even know the people that I went to high school with, and not only did I go to high school with them, I went to school for 12 years with the large majority of them. There were 30 of us. We had a very small class, but I didn't really keep in touch with many of my classmates.

I think the reunion will be fun, though. We'll get to reminisce on our high school years, catch up on each other's lives, and then go our separate ways again. And that's okay with me because I feel like my life now is the best it's ever been, and I wouldn't trade it in a million years for the chance to go back to high school.

But sometimes, it's fun to remember.

Here's a picture of my class at our Junior prom. There are only 2 people missing and one person in the picture went to a different school senior year. Otherwise, we're all there.

I'm the one in the red dress. The picture is from our Facebook reunion group, so that's why it's a bit small.

Friday, Friday, Friday!

I don't really have a cohesive post today, just some fragmented thoughts about this week.

First off, I finally joined the technologically savvy world and got a Blackberry, although I am far from technologically savvy! It is certainly a learning process to get used to a smart phone after all of my years with the basic phone model. I still do not think I will ever be Twittering, but I do like to read all of your tweets on occasion.

Next is the economy. When is it going to get better? I still don't see any remarkable improvement here in Columbia, SC. Gas is expensive (for our area), jobs are scarce, and budget cuts still loom. Maybe I am just in the wrong field of work- higher education. I had my performance review at work and it went wonderfully. However, the University and the College I work for are facing huge cuts again this year, so there is no money in the budget for a raise. My boss said she'd love to give me one, but she just can't. I know that I can't really complain because at least I have a job, but it's hard when you are told you deserve a raise, but can't have one, and it doesn't look to improve any time soon.

Anyway, moving on. We have another wedding this weekend. I am still trying to decide what to wear. I am deciding between this polka dot dress:

**This was the closest picture I could find to showing the whole dress. This was taken at WEG's 30th birthday party, and clearly, I did not get a full shot of the dress in any of the pictures.

And this coraly-pink dress:

**Again, excuse the picture with my crazy friends in the background ;-). The dress has eyelet detail at the top. I obviously need to focus on taking pictures where you can see what I have on!

Also, I have a hot pink J.Crew dress that I can't find a picture of that is also in the running. It could really use being taken up a bit in the top, though, so I may hold off on that one until one of our May weddings.

The wedding is at 5:30, and I really have no clue as to the people invited to gauge what they might wear.

Finally, I'm still sending up prayers for Bayler, and I hope you will, too. I posted about this yesterday, so if you didn't get a chance to read, check it out.

I hope y'all have a great weekend!! Happy Friday :-)

With God, all things are possible.

With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. Mark 10:27

Hey blog buddies! I come to y'all with a prayer request today. A little boy named Bayler and his family need your mighty prayers. Bayler is 7 years old and was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when he was 5. Over the past year and a half, he has been in and out of the hospital for most of that time. Just when the family gets good news, it seems they face another big setback. Right now, Bayler is in New York getting treatment from one of the best, if not THE BEST, hospital for this type of cancer- Sloan Kettering. Today, when doing scans, they discovered that Bayler has cancer in his knee and shoulder.

Here is what his grandmother updated on their CaringBridge page:

Our Dear Prayer Partners, Please lift Bayler, Risha, and Rob up high in your prayers as you go through today. They have just been told by Dr. Krammer that the “ monster” has reared its’ ugly head in Bayler’s left knee and left shoulder. Dr. Krammer told them this is not common. Dr. Krammer will be talking with Dr. Ron in Columbia about more chemo & radiation for Bayler in South Carolina to treat these areas before any additional tests can be completed in New York. This is quite a set-back and a shock for our families. But we continue to trust Our Lord, Our God to carry us along on this journey. Please continue to stand in the gap for us with your prayers. God Bless You All.

If you would, would you stop right now and say a little prayer for the Teal family? They have already been through so much, but continue to trust God in all they do. Their family is a true inspiration to those of us who sometimes struggle to see the good in bad situations and put our faith in our Heavenly Father. I know they'd appreciate a few more prayers, though. There can never be too many!

Thanks, y'all!

Bayler's CaringBridge site if you'd like to read more: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/baylerteal

It's wedding season, y'all

Well, y'all, it's Monday again. I swear this day occurs more frequently than the other six. Sure feels that way anyway!! Maybe it's because the weekends just FLY by. This weekend was no exception.

On Friday we headed down to Charleston for the wedding of some of WEG's friends. He grew up with the groom and his 3 brothers- yes, you read that right, 4 boys! And very rambuntious boys, I might add- can you imagine? We went to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, and after that a stretch Hummer picked up everyone who wanted to go downtown. Needless to say, that was a late night! We were pretty worthless on Saturday. Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal dinner.

On Saturday we just hung around WEG's sister's house until time to go to the wedding. Abe decided he would pull a Houdini and slip through a crack in the fence...while I was watching him, I might add (contact-less, though), so we had to search the neighborhood for him. That was the main excitment of the morning. We found him, but really, it gives me nearly a heart attack when he does that!

The reception for the wedding was at a place right on the water in Charleston. It was a beautiful venue! And, afterwards, we went out downtown again, so another late night! Here are a few pictures from the wedding.

We got home yesterday and decided it was too pretty to sit inside, so WEG and I went fishing on the river for a couple of hours. I caught a striper- not big enough to keep, though. Can you tell that I was not too fond of having to hold it while WEG took a picture??

All in all, a great weekend! And my Gamecocks won another series in baseball- fell a little short of the sweep, but I'm so proud of them!

Thursday is the new Friday

Today is a wonderful day! Why? Because it is Thursday, which this week, is my Friday. Yippee! I took tomorrow off because we have to go to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding in Charleston. I have had a gift card for a spa mani & pedi from WEG since Christmas, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. I can't wait! Then we'll head to Charleston sometime tomorrow afteroon.

It's supposed to be beautiful weather. The rehearsal dinner invitation said it was casual, so I am going to wear white jeans, a coral ruffled top (hard to explain- I'll try to get a picture!), and silver jack rogers (although I'd really like gold, but I don't have those!). I think that will be good for a casual rehearsal dinner, don't y'all? I am thinking turquoise jewelry- what do y'all think? I have some earrings that are tigers eye & turquoise that are so pretty. I think those would be different!

For the wedding, I am wearing the dress from Boden that my parents gave me for my birthday. Here it is:

And I am still undecided on what type of jewelry to wear with it. Any ideas?

I am so glad the weather is going to be nice to allow for fun spring clothes and dresses. It just makes everything better!

What are your big plans for the weekend?

Vacation Advice- Need your help!

Hey y'all!
I hope everyone had a great weekend! I did- it was pretty relaxing in comparison to a lot of weekends lately and we actually got to sleep late on Saturday...glorious! We'll be pretty busy for the next few weeks with weddings and various other things, so it was nice to have a bit of a break.

Anyway...back to the point of my post. I need your vacation advice. WEG and I are trying to book a vacation right now for sometime in July. We're pretty flexible with when we can go during that month, but we'd like to go the end of one week, weekend, and first of the next so we don't miss an entire week at work, just parts of 2.

We are trying to decide between a cruise and going to an all inclusive resort. The problem I have found with cruises is the 5 days typically run from Sunday to Thursday, which doesn't fit our parts of 2 weeks criteria, but cruises are generally less expensive than having to fly somewhere.

That's where y'all come in. Where have you been recently that was budget-friendly? What airline did you fly? What type of a resort was it where you stayed? If you went on a cruise, where did you sail? What are your tips for finding deals?

We really want to go somewhere outside of the US- after all, I FINALLY just got a passport, and I really want to use it :-)