Bad Hair Day

How did I wake up today, on an important Friday, with Robert Plant's hair??? (Lead singer of Led Zeppelin, top right, for those who don't know.)

That's right! My guy is coming in town today and will be at my apartment by the time I get home from work and my hair looks like that! All I can do is laugh. He'll have to wait for me to take another shower so I can blow dry and straighten this mess before we go out.

Reason #107 of why I love my guy: He calls often to tell me we're having "Date Night". Tonight, after I tame this mane, we're going to The Cheesecake Factory and then to the movie theatre to see The Hangover. I'm so excited!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Words?

Words can not even express how much I am in love with this man. I am officially at that point where not only do I sob like a baby when I leave him because I don't know when we'll see each other again, but I cry even while at home because I miss him so so so terribly bad. This is so hard and yet so beautiful. Make sense?

The serious photo wouldn't upload, so I'll leave you with the "what kind of face is that?" picture.

Note To Self

Finally revealing his face, blog style. This isn't the day he said "I love you", but I will definitely be sharing that story and that photo soon!

Procrastination does not make perfect! (and sometimes the truth is ugly)

Ready to hear a secret? Here goes...
I come from a pretty lazy family.

Because of this, the idea of filling up my time productively and making the most of every day was foreign to me. That is until I met a girl named Suzanne in the spring of 2000. Suzanne was a free spirit, artsy chic born to two former hippies who still burned patchouli in the house at night. She was one of those girls who constantly dreamed, thought outside the box, set goals and wanted to change the world. She had a fire in her that I was not familiar with at all. But I liked it.

Suzanne hated wasting time and she'd repeatedly tell you that. She couldn't stand it. Yes, every once in a while she'd just lounge around in pjs with her family watching a movie but even in her world that wasn't lazy, it was spending time with family. The rest of her time was working on art projects, taking classes to learn new things, coordinating bible studies (hippie style as I called it), writing songs, playing gigs, meeting new people, traveling, networking, joining organizations, creating ideas, reading, writing, or doing things for others. It blew my mind.

And as much as I'd like to be like Suzanne, I'm not. I find that I am a lot like what was modeled for me growing up. I work, I come home, I eat, and either spend the rest of the evening on the computer or watching tv, with the occasional get together with friends one night a week. Weekends are a bit different though. I try to keep my weekends packed and do stuff because I do hate to waste my weekends.

There is a point to all of this...I promise. :)

I'm sick of being lazy! No, I'm not the type that can be too terribly busy because I can't stay sane that way. I do need my down time. However, I'm sick of wasting my time, just like Suzanne always said.

When I'm at home on week nights, there is no excuse why I couldn't be pulling out my sewing machine and trying to learn how to sew. It's something I've always wanted to do. So why have I not been doing it? I'm wasting precious time. (I believe I've posted about this sewing dilemma before.)

I see so many blogs of people who are always working on something and spend a good portion of their day dedicated to that thing. Every time I see someones handmade purse, jewelry, stationary, curtains, scrapbooks and even clothes I think to myself "Why am I not doing this?". Most of these people even have a job, a spouse and children to take care of and yet they still make time to do these things. What's my excuse?

I hate looking back on my life even now and thinking that there is this one thing I always wanted to do and had all the time in the world a few years ago and never did it. And now I have even less time than before, and as life goes on my free time will get less and less and less. So why am I procrastinating?

It's time to change!

No, I don't want to be so busy that I'm overwhelmed and can't handle everything I've put on my plate, because I can't operate that way and it will just drive me crazy. But I can start small and set 1 goal for now and see how I do. I admit I've never been good at setting goals and acheiving them, but every day is a day to start over, right? If I want to be different, then I have to do something different, it doesn't just happen on it's own.

So here it is folks...goal no. 1 - Sew!

I'm a huge perfectionist and making mistakes is going to aggrevate the hell out of me and make me want to give up, but I am going to have to keep at it. Because only practice makes perfect. (Not that 'perfect' even exist, but you get the idea.)

Thankfully I have a ton of blogs out there to help me with inspiration:

• Heart of Light
• How About Orange...
• Making It Lovely
• Posey Gets Cozy

...just to name a few.

If you have any suggestions, tips, advice, links or words of encouragement I'd love to hear it! I'm going to need all the help I can get to stay on task.

Once I get my s**t together, the ultimate goal is to make my own clothes. It's always been hard trying to find clothes for a 6'1 girl with a 36 inseam and other abnormally large porportions. :)

Step-By-Step

I am one of those people that prefers step-by-step instructions or formulas to do things. I like detailed how-to's I guess you could say. The more detailed the better.

Well, it's been a long while since I browsed through a beauty magazine and I haven't exactly been doing anything out of the ordinary to pamper myself lately, so when I came across this article today I knew I needed it. It's just little suggestions and tips like this that make me so happy.

And had anyone else ever heard of the Rooster Pill???

Read here...
10 Ways to Wake Up Beautiful

P.S. My date night went very well. He surprised me by taking me to The Melting Pot. I had never been there before but had always wanted to go. And it was more than I had ever dreamed. It was soooo good. So good in fact that I craved that meal as soon as I woke up the next morning. Yum! Too bad it cost so much, because I would be there at least once a week!

Date Night

He told me last night that he wants to take me out this weekend, as in out on an actual date.

Later, after he returns home from partying with his neighbors at 1:30am, he calls.
"So I know where I'm taking you!"
"Where?"
"I was talking to the neighbors and I asked them where I should take you and they told me."
"You're so cute! You asked your neighbors where to take me?"
"Yep. And you're going to love it. I've never been to a place like this before. I'm making reservations right now on line. I've NEVER made reservations before...."

teehee!
I like when he does stuff for me that he's NEVER done before. Makes me feel special. :)
It's even cuter that he goes to hang out with his neighbors and talks about me. :)

I can't wait to find out where we're going. More importantly, I have to go find something cute to wear!!!

photo via: Le Love

T is for...

So I drove to Knoxville this past weekend to visit the man. (I still haven't chosen his blog alias.) We had made a list of things we wanted to accomplish over the weekend and surprisingly we did every one of them.

• Eat sushi


• Drive to the mountains


• Visit Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg


• Go to a baseball game


• Go shopping for a new patio set for his new patio that he built


• Go with him to buy fish for his many fish tanks (this guy really loves fish!)

The mountains were beautiful. We looked at patio sets but didn't buy anything. And at the "fish store" he bought 2 Clown Fish, 2 Green Chromis, 1 crab and some algae. I'm learning more than I ever wanted to about aquatic life. :) But learning new things is fun, so I really can't complain.

The highlight of the whole weekend though had to be the baseball game. Knoxville has a double A team called the Tennessee Smokies. Great stadium, crowd of almost 7000, and amazing seats! About half way through the game we make the connection of the TS that stands for the team and the TS that are our initials. (He and I have the same initials. It's funny.)

We talk about the humor we find in this for a moment and then he gets this idea. He wants to go buy baseball caps with the "TS" on them for us both. He said my hat could stand for his name and his hat could stand for mine. I laughed, thinking he was joking. Turns out...he wasn't.
We wore our matching caps all the way back home and just laughed. Now when he wears it he tells me "I wore my Tara today." He's so cute. :)
Yes, we are fully aware we are dorks, but we're okay with that. haha

It was a great weekend!

Oh! Yep!

This is where I wish I was right now.

Life has really been getting to me lately and I just need a vacation.

Camping on the beach would be more than lovely.

photo via: I Suwannee

She's Gone Country!

...and it's all his fault! True, I live in Nashville, TN and did grow up on country music, but Nashville is a big city compared to where the rest of my family members live and I have always considered myself a city girl.

The past month or so I have spent walking around on farms and riding 4-wheelers. Who would have thought? I sure didn't!

P.S. I am completely aware that I said I was going to blog more often and have not been doing so. I hate to admit it, but it's amazing the things you let fall to the waist side when you all of a sudden have someone special in your life. My apartment desperately needs to be cleaned! :)

OMG!

I had absolutely no idea what to title this post, so forgive me for the "OMG!". Since I couldn't think of a clever title, I just went with my reaction to the subject matter.

For 2 weeks now my new guy has been telling me about this gift he bought me. He was so excited and said he had never put so much thought into a gift before and that he was so proud of himself. (This was incredibly cute by the way.) Every day that we spoke on the phone he would mention this gift and try to give me hints as to what it could be. I honestly had no idea. His hints were so vague that I was completely clueless.

Saturday evening, after a 3 hour drive from Knoxville, he arrives at my apartment. He calls me from outside and tells me to go in my room and to not look out the window or come out into the living room until he said so. The anxiety was too much!

I'm sitting on my bed and I hear him open the front door. I hear him rustle around and then he appears in my bedroom doorway. After the hugs and kisses being glad to see each other he covers my eyes and leads me to the living room. I believe he counted to 3 and then uncovered my eyes. What I saw was this....

He bought me an Audrey Kawasaki giclee print!!!! (This is where the "OMG!" comes in.)

He knew Audrey Kawasaki was my favorite artist and has been for years. I even made him sit down with me one evening to look at her work on her website. He's not a fan, but he humored me.

Original pieces of her artwork cost thousands. A giclee print can cost between $100-$250 on ebay.

It's a 14x18, signed and numbered print called 'Two Sisters'.

My reaction was exactly how he expected it to be he said. I was so shocked! I think I literally sat down with it and starred at it for an hour. I couldn't believe it. I finally had my very own Audrey Kawasaki.

He did so well!!! I am so proud of him! :)

Weekend Bliss

Wow, it has been a long week. I am sooo ready for the weekend!

This weekend I will be:

• getting my eyebrows waxed (woohoo!) I am desperate for a good shape!
• seeing Him Saturday afternoon, and every day after that until Easter!
• wishing for good weather and no more tornadoes!
• and just relaxing!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

photo via: Le Love

Feline Update

I took Molly to the vet Wednesday morning. They looked her over and said she seemed healthy. They needed a urine sample to check for infection and of course her bladder was empty. So, I had to leave her at the vet all day while I went to work, hoping she wouldn't be too stressed or scared to do her business while there.
Around 2pm I get a call from the vet. They found crystals in her urine and think she has bladder stones? So they wanted to do an x-ray. (I began seeing dollar signs!)
An hour later they call me back with the results. Nope...she doesn't have them. Must be just an infection they said. So they gave me antibiotics to give her every night and they hope it'll fix the problem.
Vet bill: A lovely $270
I pretty much had a heart attack!

Bad kitty? Sick kitty?

You see that one right there? That would be Molly.

Molly has always been "special". Not as smart, patient, and normal like her older brother Riley. But what she lacks in the head was made up for in her beauty. She has always been a pretty cat. Very prissy! See how she puts that paw out there? When both front legs are stretched out in front of her, she crosses them like a lady. It's the funniest, yet cutest thing.

Well, I've always had issues with Molly. I don't know if it's her "specialness" or her prissiness that causes her to have unusual bathroom behavior, but I have been putting up with it for 4 long, frustrating years. And this "mom" has about had it!

Lately she has been having even more unusual bathroom behavior than what is normal for her. From all the research I've done online she is either suffering from a Urinary Tract Infection, or she is pissed off at me for something I am completely unaware of.

Either way, I am sure you all know how horrible smelling cat pee is. God, it is horrible AND very hard to get rid of. And no matter how many times you spray, wash or deep clean, even if you can't smell it anymore, the cat can and will go right back to that same spot! Ugh!

Tonight was my last straw! When I found her new favorite place to potty, I lost it! I can't even tell you where it was because I am so embarrassed. It's awful and apparently she must have used that spot all day because there were multiple offenses!

So as I'm typing this, my apartment is filled with an aroma of citrus pet odor eliminator spray and laundry detergent. I am washing as much as I can right now and to be honest, I just washed the same load twice, just to give it everything I had. Although I wonder if my efforts will really even work.

So as Molly is very confused as to why she's locked in the bathroom with a fresh litter box and her food, and unaware of her trip first thing in the morning to the vet, I wanted to ask:

What is your best known remedy for cat accidents?

I've heard of something called Urine Be Gone? But when I raced to Wal-mart (the only thing open at 11:30 at night) they didn't carry it. So I purchased what they did have, some citrus (probably-won't-work) odor eliminator spray. But hey, I'm trying.

I've also heard of a homemade mixture of baking soda and lemon juice. This one I have not tested yet, but I am curious.

So yeah, for all you readers out there, I would love to hear what you have to suggest.

I am looking forward to reading the comments.

Until then...I have more laundry to tend to. (sigh)

And I hate to admit it, because I don't want to hear how bad of a person I am from all the extreme animal lovers out there, but I'll probably be looking for a new home for Molly. I love her, but I have had my fill.

It Was A Good Weekend

He went back home today. Home is 3 hours away. This is getting harder. I can't wait to hold his hand again.

photo via: Le Love (check it out!)

Fun In The Mud

This, my friends, is quite possibly the most "redneck" photo of me I have ever seen! I mean come on, me standing in mud, the back of a truck and a beer can? haha But I do live in Tennessee, so....

My guy decided to invite me along on his 4-wheeling adventure last weekend with his buddies. Cute, right? (He happens to absolutely love the picture above, which I find strangely odd, but whatever.) :)

Here are five things I didn't expect:

1. The mud! (I knew I'd get a little dirty, but woah! This photo was taken mid day, which means you should have seen me when we left that evening.)


2. To feel like such a redneck. haha


3. To actually learn to ride a manual 4-wheeler. Shifting gears was easier than I thought.


4. That after 3 loops around the "track" I attempted a jump all on my own. (You should have seen the looks on those guys.)


5. To have so much fun!!! It brought out that tom-boyish little girl in me that hadn't been seen in quite a while.

So since we all had so much fun, we're going to do it again tomorrow. And I'm actually really excited about it! haha

I wonder what's next...

I'm back.

My assignment is to continue blogging, no matter what. So, here I am. I'm back. Let's see if I can keep it up.


Spring is almost here. Although every year the weather gives me more reason to be concerned. One day it's 80 degrees and the next it's 40? What is going on?

I am currently taking a photography class which is awesome. I can't wait for the weather to brighten up so I can not only go practice what I've been learning but also get out my Holga camera and play! (Thank you sister!)

There's a new man in my life (a big reason I've been M.I.A lately) and I'm ridiculously happy. He makes me smile every single day. We live 3 hours away from each other so it's rough, but we're making it. He'll be here tomorrow and due to work he'll be here for possibly 11 days. I am soooo excited! :)

Everything else is pretty much the same.

So there's the quick catch up. More goodness to come...

photo via ffffound.com

Message

I have been getting a message today, a message for my soul. It's been pretty loud and clear. It's quite shocking how it's popping up everywhere today in the most unexpected places.

I'm in a transition of change right now, I'll tell you that much. Something is going on. It's scary yet exciting at the same time.

photo via: ffffound

Pressure

The photo above pretty much describes how I've felt lately. So much coming at me at once and not feeling equipped to handle it.

Luckily in times like this I have a support system I can gather up and lean on. Unfortunately, I probably lean on them a little too much, but they still love me.

It's moments like these, when you're calling someone to cry every single day, or just sitting down and talking about what you're going through, that you realize just how blessed you are. You have people in your life that are willing to listen and they truly do care and want to help. It's amazing to me.

I laid in bed last night literally overwhelmed with emotion because I realized just how loved I was. I felt soooo unworthy. My parents, my sister, my friends....everyone has really come through for me and I can't thank them enough. Nothing I could do could repay these people in my life enough for the countless hours they have spent listening to me sob or express my thoughts/fears.

If you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Luckily, this too shall pass and I'll be smelling the roses again. And I cannot wait, because I am sick of the rain! :)

Me Time

Tonight I finally sat down and enjoyed some much needed Me Time.

I lit a candle, made some green tea, grabbed my journal, a book, turned on the Garden State soundtrack and curled up on the couch. Ahhh.... I had been needing this!
(I recall this was the best way for me to write essays in school because it was the only true way I knew how to clear my head.)


I have begun reading Beauty for Ashes by Joyce Meyer. It was a book my mother gave me several, several Christmas' ago and, like many of my other books, has remained on the shelf collecting dust.

It's a great book about overcoming abuse and a dysfunctional past and tries to help you begin your emotional healing. Granted, it is a Christian book and is covered in scripture, and I know I have a lot of friends that don't care for that stuff and may scoff at the fact that I'm even reading it. For me it's okay though. I was brought up in a God believing family, so honestly reading this book is like talking to one of my family members. I can take what I need and leave the rest as I see fit. For me it's all about the message behind it. The lesson to be learned.

So I read some chapters of that and then wrote in my journal for a while to get out some of the stuff that has been going on with me lately. I'm really glad I did that too because it has been too long since I truly wrote in a journal. I used to journal almost every day, but these days I find myself too busy, or I pick up the phone and vent to a friend or family member. Tonight, I wanted to write out what I was going through and try to figure things out on my own...or at least attempt to start. Again I'm really glad I did. My sister has always reminded me that it's often helpful to get it out on paper and see it for yourself.

All in all, it was a good night. I might just do it again tomorrow.

Names

So I saw this on Rockstar Diaries today and my eyes lit up.
Apparently this is where they go for Key Lime Pie in NY.

Why did my eyes light up?

Because this is my Bubby...

I've never heard anyone say that name before. My sister and I started calling him that when our "baby" in a baby voice kept coming out "bubby".

It stuck.

We like it. :)