Friday, Friday, Friday, Oh!

Yo yo yo what up what up, T-Bone is in the hizzouse!  Haha just kidding.  I didn't become a gangster rapper over night.  Funny thing is, at the bar I work at everyone calls me T-Bone.  I don't know why because I certainly didn't suggest it but is it bad that I don't hate it???  Anyways, Happy Friday ya'll!  Breathe a sigh of relief because we all made it through one more week!

For some reason I have had Justin Bieber's song "Baby" stuck in my head all morning but in my head everytime he says 'Baby' I replace it with the word 'Friday'.

And I was like friday, friday, friday, oh
Like friday, friday, friday, no
Like friday, friday, friday, oh
I thought you'd never get here, here

For you, I would have done whatever
And I just can't believe we're here together
And I wanna play it cool, but I'm losin you
I'll buy you anything, I'll buy you any ring

So my version is a little different but that's what's going on in my head today (over and over and over).  Uh oh, looks like Tarah's gone off her rocker again!

Alright, now that you've had to deal with that, let's move onto more serious issues.  I've been spending a bunch of money lately and I rally need to start thinking about Christmas because I absolutely love giving presents and if I don't have any money saved up my presents are going to suck, and we cannot have that.  So I have decided that I will not be spending any money on clothes, shoes, accessories, groupon shit I don't need, etc. for the whole month of October (at least that's the goal).  The only exception I will make is that October is my birthday month so I am going to buy myself a birthday present.  I do this every year and it's usually a birthday dress.  So other than that, October will be a "no purchasing things you don't need" month.  Today is September 28 which means I have 2 days to purchase things still.  Now, I'm not just gonna go on a huge shopping spree now because that defeats the purpose, but there are 2 things that I actually kinda need: knee-high boots and a new fall jacket.  

Boots:

As I stated previously my favorite boots that I purchased from Target over 3 years ago are starting to fall apart.  I realized my co-worker that told me they looked new the other day was just being nice.  So I am left with this tough decision, should I buy boots with a wedge or riding boots?  I love boots with a wedge but I think maybe I should step outside of the box and try something new.  Riding boots are really popular this season.

Wedges:

American Eagle

DSW

Nordstroms

Riding Boots

American Eagle

American Eagle

DSW

DSW

Those are some of the best options I have found so far.  I have a coupon for American Eagle, which is why I was looking there, I have a $50 gift card to Nordstrom's and have been looking at those wedge boots for awhile (and they're 20% off), and I signed up for Ebates so I got 4% cash back on deals at DSW.  It's a tough choice.

As far as fall jackets go, I am having problems here.  I don't know what style I want and haven't seen many cute ones in stores that I actually like.  Here is what I have come up with so far:

Old Navy:

American Eagle:
 

 
Decisions, decisions and I only have 2 days to decide!  I guess I could always just suck it up and stick with the boots and jacket I have, but what's the fun in that!

Happy Friday everyone!  Enjoy your weekend!!!

xoxo.
 

It's Ok Thursday

Hi Friends!  Thursday's here!  Yay!

This is how I ended my Wednesday night.  Marley and a glass of wine.  I couldn't ask for a better end to a night off, except if Vinnie was there.  He had to work pretty late so he didn't get home until I was about to drift off to sleep.

I relaxed for a while when I first got home from work but then spent the rest of the night doing laundry and switching out all of my summer clothes with my fall clothes.  During this process I realized just how much clothes I have.  Sooo much!  I could probably dress 20 girls for a week before having to wash anything...ok maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but I do think it's time that I go through my clothes and get rid of some of the stuff that I never wear anymore.  Which I hate doing, but it needs to be done.

I have to work tonight and tomorrow night so these 2 days are going to be a little rough but I need the money since I clearly have a shopping problem.  I got online and ordered even more stuff from Express yesterday...whoops.

Now I'm going to link up for "It's Ok" Thursdays!

It's ok....

That I've spent too much money on clothes this past week because I got everything on sale!

That I'm wearing a shirt that's stripes make me a little dizzy because it only cost $7.50 (sale!)

That I'm dreading going to work tonight and tomorrow even though I haven't worked at all this week and need the money

That I miss my parents even though I just saw them last weekend and I'm not 5 years old anymore (even though I act like it sometimes)

That I sometimes feed Marley people food because he looks so cute when he begs for it

That I forgot to pick up Marley's poo poo yesterday and today (whoops!)

That I didn't wake up with enough time to wash my hair this morning (dry shampoo!) so I had to twist the front of my hair back so you can't tell how greasy it is (eww)

That I'm on a caffeine high right now because I'm gonna be up late working

That I'm looking forward to Halloween more than most 10 year olds are and I'm not even planning on dressing up this year

That I'm wearing old boots from 3ish years ago because someone just told me they liked them and they looked new!

That I have enough clothes to dress a small army

That I want to carve a pumpkin more than anything right now!!!

That I watched Gossip Girl for 2 hours last night on NetFlix

That I haven't been to the gym this week because I've been pretty productive in other aspects so I don't feel that bad (ok I kinda do)

Well I think that about does it.  I'm feeling pretty good about things right now so I don't need to justify why "it's ok" much.  Happy Tomorrow is Finally Friday Day!!!

P.S.  Vinnie is at the Ryder Cup today and he just sent me this picture:

 
Tiger, Tiger Woods ya'll!  I'm jealous!

xoxo.
 

Fall Shopping Spree(ish)

Hellooooo Everyone!  It's Wednesday!  I don't work tonight and I'm planning on having a nice little night with my couch and Marley (and probably wine and netflix).  Tonight is designated as "Wednesday Relaxation Night".  I usually always try to do too much on my nights off and they end up flying by and I'm back at work before I know it.  As I'm typing this saying how I need to relax tonight I'm thinking about the dirty dishes in the sink, the laundry basket full of dirty clothes, and how I need to organize my clothes for fall and put my clothes from summer away.  Haha so we'll see about this "Night of Relaxation".

I went shopping yesterday and let me tell you, it was definitely a successful night of shopping.  I am proud to say almost everything I bought was on sale!  It was a good day in Tarah's neighborhood!  If you haven't checked out Express lately, go, now!  They're having a HUGE sale where all of their sale items that are already waaay marked down are an extra 30% off.  Let me show you what I bought:

I got this skirt in red

Love this skirt

 I also bought Vinnie a nice button up dress shirt super cheap too.  I stopped by Old Navy and Gap too and picked up a couple of fall items.  Old Navy tends to disappoint me but yesterday they did not.  Their prices are already pretty cheap but they were really cheap yesterday.  So other than the fact that I had to stand in line for 15 minutes waiting to check out because their employees suck (harsh, but true) it was a good shopping trip.  I think there were only 2 things I bought from there that weren't marked down.  Gap also had great sales but they let me down a little bit.  I only found one sweater that I liked, but since it was on sale, I bought 2 of it in different colors.  I also bought a pair of jeans that were not on sale from there (oops, what can I say I just love jeans!).

Here are some of the other things I bought:

From old navy in light blue and grey

old navy

Gap in navy/cream and teal/grey

old navy in white w/ blue stripes

Alright, short post today.  Happy Wednesday!  Make it a good one!!!

xoxo.

Good-bye Struggleland!

It's Tuesday.  Which means it's no longer Monday and it's almost hump day.  It also means that I don't have to work tonight and since Vinnie is working you will most likely find me at the mall shopping, in the kitchen cooking, or on the couch with a glass of wine in my hand watching Gossip Girl (since I can only watch this when Vinnie isn't around obviously).  I contemplated going to the gym too.  I really, really should go to the gym.  But I'm so tired.  This is the argument my conscious and I have been having all afternoon.

Anywho, let me tell you about my Monday struggles.  First of all, I failed to mention yesterday in my post that after my morning shower I started drying my hair and shortly realized that I forgot to rinse the conditioner out of my hair.  Seriously?!  Who does that?  I do, and this isn't the first time.  But since I always wake up with just enough time to get ready for work (I never give myself extra time for 'days that I'm having a bad hairday and should spend a little more time on myself' which results in me having many bad hairdays) I just finished drying my hair, threw it up in a ponytail, and looked like a nasty greaseball all day.  But hey, maybe the grunge look is coming back?  Nah I don't think so.  If Heidi Klum and Megan Fox pulled it off so can I!  Oh wait, they didn't pull it off either.

I guess nobody wins with greasy hair.  At least my hair smelled good all day though!

Well that was my main struggle of the day but I did look like I hated life with my outfit yesterday.  Sometimes I forget that I need to put style before comfort when I go to work.  My office has a 'smart casual' dress code.  I have no idea what the hell that means but I know that we can wear jeans so we don't have to look all businessy.  Yesterday I decided to pair my favorite black jeans with a dark charcoal colored sweater and my black Toms.  I apparently didn't look in the mirror before I left (I blame this on Vinnie not having to wake up early in the mornings because I often, ok always, get dressed in the dark).  I went to the bathroom at work and caught a glimpse of the vamipire/goth girl in the mirror.  "Oh shit, that's me!"

Me yesterday at work.

I had to work last night.  It wasn't that cold outside but I've come to the realization that as soon as it drops below 60 degrees people think it's freezing outside and refuse to partake in any outside activity, which includes drinking beer.  

You probably wouldn't find me eating/drinking outside in this weather.

Since I was scheduled to work out on the patio last night I made the mistake of figuring I would get called off because of the weather.  I was not called off.  I came in to work, had 2 tables, and left in less than 2 hours.  Waste of time.  Oh well, a little bit of money is better than nothing.  Then I came home, ate Chinese food, and watched 7 episode of some weirdass Australian dance show that Erin was watching (and probably had been all day from the looks of the indention in the couch) on Netflix.  And this my friends, was an even bigger waste of time.  What an unproductive Monday I had.

Don't worry, today I am much more put together.  As Drake would say, my hair did, nails did, everything did.  Oh I'm fancy huh?  No but really, even my nails are done today.  BTW if you are looking for a good nail color for fall, look no further.  Smokin Hot by Essie.  Done.

And now I will end this post with the 2 best things I have bought off of Groupon in a while, both for Marley (spoiled little baby).

I'm way excited about the treat launcher, mostly because I'm hoping I can use it with people treats too (you know cheerios, m&ms)!  I just bought them today so if they aren't as cool as they look I'm going to be pissed.

Have a terrific Tuesday!  Here's to leaving struggleland in the dust!

xoxo.
 

Weekend Recap

Hello evil Monday morning...we meet again!  You must have forgotten about our conversation last week, you know, the one where I told you never to show your face around here again!  I just knew you'd come back!

 
Seriously though, how is it already Monday?!  The weekend almost feels like it never even happened.  But it did, and now it's over.

In all honesty I had a great weekend, although it was filled with a little bit of drama!  I ended up not working Friday night because it was cold and rainy and I was supposed to work out on the patio.  Obviously no one was going to sit out on the patio so there was no need for me.  My parents got into Chicago around 9:30 pm.  We just stayed in that night since the weather was crappy.  Vinnie didn't have to work either so all of us had a few drinks and caught up with each other.

The next morning is when the drama happened.  WARNING: if you don't like hearing about blood, don't read the rest of this paragraph!  We were supposed to go to the Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley Field at noon so we all got up early, ate breakfast, and started getting ready.  Well my mom had lazer surgery on her ankles 4 weeks ago so she has some deep wounds all over her ankles that she has been battling with and waiting for to heal.  We all thought that they were starting to heal because it's been a month since she has had this surgery.  Well as we're all rushing around to get ready, one of my mom's wounds opens up and the artery broke open in her ankle.  Blood started pouring out of her vein and streaming all over the floor.  We sat her down and applied pressure to the wound right away.  It was possibly the most blood I've ever seen in real life so it's a good thing I don't get squeamish at this sort of thing.  She wasn't in any pain and didn't even notice that she was bleeding for a while.  She just thought she had stepped in some water, not the case.  The bleeding stopped pretty quickly and we called her doctor to see if we needed to go to the emergency room.  Luckily he said she would be fine, just to wrap it and stay off of it.  So we ended up watching the game from my living room instead of from Wrigley Field.  My mom felt so bad and wanted me and my dad to go without her but I just wanted to spend time with them so I didn't even really care that we didn't go to the game.  I was just happy that she was ok.

That night, with no more bloody occurrences, we decided to go out to eat to this restaurant called Fork that is nearby my apartment.  We dropped my mom right off at the door before parking so that she had to walk as little as possible.  Vinnie was working but met up with us after he got off.

My first Pumpking of the season!

I had so much fun with them!

<3

  After dinner we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some liquor and something to eat for breakfast the next morning.  Me and my mom decided to try some Hallowine.

It was a white wine that had a cinnamon/nutmeg flavor.  It was awesome and the perfect thing to drink for fall.  We drank it at room temperature but it said on the bottle that it is best served warm and I could imagine it would be!  After chatting some more we all went to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up and had some coffee and cheese danish before watching the Bears game.  They won!  Go Bears!  We then said our good-byes and I had to rush off to work for a wonderful 8 hour shift.  Eww!  But I can't complain because I hadn't worked at that job since last Monday.  I already miss my parents and can't believe how fast the weekend went by!  I love having them visit and I am so lucky to have a big apartment with an extra bedroom so they can stay with us instead of having to go to a hotel.  Now if only I can convince them to venture to Chicago more often (my dad hates the traffic more than anything)!
 

Marley said good-bye to Mom and Dad too!

 Hopefully it's another fast week, but not too fast.  I want to enjoy this beautiful fall weather while it lasts.  Before too long it will be snowing and we will be wishing for summer again!

Have a happy Monday!  Don't let him get you down!

xoxo.

My Friday Hangover

Hallelujah...it's Friday guys!  

This is how most of my Friday nights would look if I didn't have a second job working every Friday night.  I always daydream about what it would be like to still be in college, getting all dolled up and going out on Friday nights.  Ahh those were the days.  Now-a-days if I didn't work every Friday night I would still end up sitting on my couch, beer in hand, watching Netflix.

 This is exactly how I feel today.  I'm a little hungover (we'll get to that later) and it's Friday.  I don't want to deal with anything at work today but I know I'll be dealing with it on Monday if I don't.

This week has actually gone by semi fast, which is unusual but quite nice.  I have to work tonight but my parents are coming into town late and we're going to the Cubs/Cardinals game tomorrow.  I'm excited to see my parents and excited to watch the game tomorrow but here is what the weather forecast looks like:

It's supposed to be rainy, windy, and cold.  That mixed with being in Chicago mixed with being outside watching a baseball game = miserable.  I could deal with the cold, I could even deal with the wind, but I can't deal with rain (mostly because I don't want my beer to get watered down, jk).  So today I am praying that the weather people are wrong and the rain holds off for a while tomorrow.

Alright, so last night me and Vinnie went and met my friend Eddie at a place called Atlas Brewing in Lincoln Park.  I used to work with Eddie in college and we, along with a few others we worked with, became a really close knit group of friends.  

Me and Eddie out for his b-day a couple years ago.

Work friends doing what we did best, drinking!

 The restaurant we worked at was really picky about people they hired and were always understaffed.  All of the employees there worked insane hours and double shifts all through out the week (which is crazy because we were pretty much all college students).  Lucky for us, almost everyone that worked there was all really cool and we all got along great.  So we saw each other literally ALL the time because if we weren't working together we were out getting hammered together (seriously though).  

One of our work bar crawls.

 Eddie moved to Chicago a couple of months before I did so we've tried to keep in contact.  Another previous co-worker of ours actually opened up Atlas Brewing so we got to see him there for a little while and then another previous co-worker that we were also really close with and that moved to the city a couple of months ago, Spencer, surprised us by showing up for a quick drink with us too.

Me and Spencer on New Year's a couple years ago.

Typical.

Spencer and Eddie. Again, typical.

Just the 3 of us.

I felt really happy to be able to see these people that I was once so close with and to see us all being semi-successful and living in a big city.  I need to really focus on staying in touch with them more.  We live in the same city again so there's no reason not to see each other more than we do right now.

Enough with the friendship rant, I had three beers and 1 shot the whole 3 hours that I was there.  We got home by 11 which is actually even later than I wanted to get home.  I went straight to bed and didn't wake up until this morning.  When I did wake up, I woke up with a pounding headache and some other hangover signs.  WTF?!?  When did I get to the point that I can't have 3 beers and 1 shot in the course of 3 hours without being hungover the next morning.  It's now 11:30 am and I am still feeling sluggish, moody, and unmotivated.  It's official, I'm a light weight.  I'm not in the drinking condition that I was in in college.  

So here is what my day looks like today:

5:17 am Wake up to roommate's obnoxiously loud keys being jangled around while unlocking the front door in the loudest way possible (probably being done on purpose, we haven't been getting along very well lately)

5:24 laying half awake in bed listening to roommate in the kitchen turning the burner on the stove on so that she can cook, because everyone wants to eat at 5 am (bitch).

5:56 finally fall back asleep

6:15 there is NO WAY that it is already time to get up.  Something has to be wrong with my alarm.  Nope it really is time to wake up.  Snooze.

6:25 alarm goes off again.  Snooze.  Listen to Marley cry outside of our door because he knows it's time for me to get up and feed him.

6:35 alarm goes off.  Turn it off and get up so I don't have to listen to Marley cry any longer.  Feed Marley, make coffee, let Marley outside, hope he doesn't drop a deuce so I don't have to go outside and pick it up (it was cold out this morning), call him back inside so he doesn't get into any mischief.

6:45 use dry shampoo on my hair, even though it makes it look even dirtier, since I didn't wake up with enough time to shower.  Wash face, put on concealer and mascara (and that's it because more make-up = too much effort), throw hair in ponytail.

6:57 Remember that I made coffee after seeing my full cup of coffee sitting on the keurig coffee maker.  Chug half of it.

7:03 Look for something comfortable and warm to wear.  Decide on an awkward lengthed sweater that looks really warm and that I got 3 years ago from the Gap.

7:09 Watch Vinnie stumble out of the bedroom and into his bathroom to pee.  Get him a glass of water and put it on the nightstand for when he stumbles back to bed.

7:12 Grab whatever I can find to eat throughout the day at work and throw it in my purse.  See the RedBox movie that I rented on Tuesday still sitting in my purse because I keep forgetting to bring it back.  Damnit.

7:14 Say good-bye to sleepy Vinnie and sad little Marley (he gives me the best sad puppy dog face every time I leave him in the morning)

7:20 Get in my car and start the commute to work fuming and cursing the whole way because for some reason traffic has been unreal the past 2 days on my commute to work.

8:33 Park my car and start the 10 minute walk into work (yes I was supposed to be there at 8:30, that's how freaking bad traffic was)

8:41 Arrive at work and spend my time sitting at my desk hating life and chugging coffee and water to try and feel better while eating a piece of chocolate cake that was brought in for a co-worker's b-day (ok that part made my morning slightly better).

And now I've spent the last 3 1/2 hours answering phone calls and e-mails and trying to sound pleasant because all I want to do is crawl under my desk and nap.  So that's where we're at.  

Looking through those pictures I posted of me, Spencer, and Eddie makes me really miss those days back in college when I didn't have any worries at all.  I never had to worry about paying all of the bills that I have now.  All I worried about was what I was going to do on Friday and Saturday night.  I also really miss all of those people that were in my life those years.  I have some of the happiest memories with those friends.  Why do we have to grow up!?  

Hoping this Friday doesn't crawl by so that I can just be off of work and sitting at my apartment with a drink in my hand conversing with my mom and dad.

Happy Friday (it's Friday, how can I be grumpy anymore!)

xoxo.


 

I believe...

Well here I am again.  I feel like last night didn't even happen and I never left work yesterday at 5:00...that's how fast my night flew by.  

It took forever to get home (damn you Chicago traffic) so when I finally did get home Vinnie was literally walking out the door to go to work.  So I said hi/bye.  My roomie was home sick so she didn't do anything all day, oh wait that's everyday.  I sat and watched some bizarre show on NetFlix with her and then left for the gym.  I do feel I was productive at the gym because I sweated like a fatty.  After the gym I ran (not literally) to Target to buy one thing that then turned into me buying 8 things (I can't leave Target without buying shit I don't need at all).  By the time I got home it was already almost 9:00 and I had to make dinner still.   

So I made steaks with my new grill skillet (which is the one thing I went to buy from Target) while cooking veggies and making banana bread.  I was trying to do too much although, it did turn out well.  The steaks were pretty delicious.  I used a steak marinade (Stubb's beef marinade) which was really good.  It was a little spicy with hints of garlic, red pepper, and soy sauce.  The banana bread took about 40-50 minutes to cook so it wasn't done until about 11 pm so I basically pulled it out of the oven and went straight to bed.  I haven't gotten to try it yet.  It's a cinnamon swirl banana bread so I hope it turned out ok, like I said I was kind of rushing.  While the bread was baking we watched and episode of Breaking Bad and I was so tired that it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.  And then it felt like my alarm clock was going off 5 minutes later but it was actually 7 hours later.  So here I am again, sitting at my desk, waiting for it to be 5:00 so I can go home again.  Hopefully this night doesn't fly by too!

Alright today I'm linking up again!  I'm linking up with Erin for her I believe segment.

 

I believe...

If coffee didn't exist I would be passed out in the corner somewhere by 2:00 pm everyday

 

In laughing so hard that you cry because your stomach hurts so bad.

I do, and will always, tell Vinnie I love him a trillion times a day

Love of my life

I believe...

 

In having grumpy days but still being able to smile because your alive

Music can always make a difference in your mood

I will always be happy that I forced myself to work out on the days that I have no motivation to

Cooking is great therapy

 

In getting extra excited whenever I get to spend time with my amazing parents

 

I would be lost without him.

I would be lost without her.

 

I believe...

 

Whenever you're sad you should think about those less fortunate than you.

 

If you have your health, something you love, and people who care about you, you should be happy and feel lucky.

 

People shouldn't take for granted the loved ones they have in their life.  You never know when they will be taken away from you.

 

Everyone needs lazy days where you don't take off your pajamas or brush your hair all day.

 

Dogs are the most loving creatures on the planet.  They don't judge anyone, they just love.

 

It's not possible to be mad at this face.

 

 I believe...

In not taking life too seriously and just enjoying it.

Letting little moments really sink in because they are the moments you will always remember.

In thinking before you speak when you are angry.

Always saying I love you when you feel it.

Eating dessert if you want it.

 

Telling someone when you appreciate them, because everyone loves feeling appreciated.

Taking each day one at a time and remembering that life is too short to be anything but happy :)

Now that I've rambled on and this got a little bit more serious than I thought it would I will leave you with a picture of the out fit I am wearing today, only because I think it's a great fall outfit and fall is only 2 days away!

Dress: Express (old)

Sweater: Old Navy

Jeggings: Express

Boots: Target (super old)

Have a fabulous day!
 

xoxo.