Happy Easter!

TGIF! This has been a long week and I'm so happy it's almost over.  Today is Good Friday so we get out of the office at 3 pm, which will be nice because I have some Easter shopping to do before I have to go to work at 6:30 tonight.  

Last night, Vinnie and I went to the gym and then picked up some Panda Express and brought it home to eat for dinner.  We were both so exhausted that we took a shower and were in bed by 10.  How old are we again?  Oh yea, 70.  Thursday night I had to leave work early to get sized for my bridesmaid dress.  I walked the mile downtown and met my friend Katie, who is also going to be a bridesmaid in the same wedding.  The fitting took us both about 10 minutes and then we headed over to a bar down the street for a couple of drinks and to catch up on each others lives.  We haven't seen each other in a while so it was very nice.  

I don't really have any plans for Easter because I work all weekend and then I have Sunday off, but Vinnie works that day.  My family is too far away to visit for just a few hours so instead of getting dressed up, going to church, and spending the day eating with family.  I'll probably be in my pj's all day spending time with Marley.  That's ok with me, even though I do wish I could see my family and of course wear a pretty dress.  I might try to cook something special, maybe a ham...that's what people eat on Easter right?

Looking on the bright side (literally), the sun has finally come out and Spring is showing it's face.  The weather is slowly getting a little warmer and it's starting to actually feel like the beginning of April.  Also, I leave for Vegas in 2 weeks from today.  Yessss!

I will leave you with some cute Easter facts:

Source

Hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend!  Make sure you get all dolled up and eat lots of candy and yummy food for me!

XO. Tarah

Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.  ~S.D. Gordon

 

Shine Bright like a Diamond

 

Happy Wednesday!

XO. Tarah

 

Life Lately

from google images

Happy Friday folks!

I'm looking forward to sleeping pretty much all day tomorrow until I have to work in the evening.  Since I'm getting closer to my Vegas trip I might try to squeeze a little gym session in but maybe not.

This week has been pretty busy and I feel like I haven't really stopped moving until last night when I had a night to relax...and relax I did.

Monday night, Vinnie and I headed to the Bulls game.  Vinnie had gotten me tickets for Valentine's Day and we were hoping that Derick Rose would be back from his ACL injury but we had no such luck.  That man is still out :(  The first half was pretty boring and they were playing awful but the game picked up in the second half and even went in to overtime.  They ended up losing after a blown (in my opinion) last second call by the refs.

Starting Line Up

It was still a really awesome game to see.

Tuesday I had a terrible day at work so Vinnie and I stayed in that night and I cooked for us.  And by cooked I mean I made Sweet and Sour Chicken from a box.  It was good and since I'm clearly not a stay at home mom/housewife, judge me all you want.

We also had ourselves a couple black and blues.  Blue Moon and Guinness.  Delicious and well deserved after a rough work day.

My glass was obviously the Bears glass...I hate the Cubs!

I found out on Wednesday that the Bears couldn't reach an agreement with Brian Urlacher so they released him.  Sad day for Bears fans.  Urlacher has been with the Bears for 13 years and even though he is getting old (for an NFL football player) I still think he had a good couple of years left.  He will be missed.  I had to work that night and then I met Vinnie at a sports bar across the street to finish watching the Blackhawks game.  

Last night I went to the gym finally (first time all week, bad Tarah!), made a Target run, and then took a nice, relaxing bubble bath.

I quickly realized that the key to relaxation is a bubble bath + glass of wine + candles + Maroon 5 pandora station.  I felt great after this bubble bath.  Too bad our pipes are apparently now backed up.  This was the first bath I've taken since I was probably 10.  And it will probably be the last one I take while living in this apartment since the water took about 2 hours to fully drain and Vinnie's shower filled up with about an inch of water and gross dirt (our bathrooms share pipes I guess).  We put Draino down the drains today but I don't know...our apartment is old as shit.

I've gotten a few new items of clothing recently that I will have to take pictures of soon and post on here because they're pretty awesome and super cheap.  Too bad they're Spring/Summer clothes and it's still freezing in our neck of the woods.  Today it's 40 degrees and sunny but I can't even enjoy it knowing that the forecast is calling for snow on Sunday...AKA my only day off.  Lovely.  Oh well, I'll be in Vegas soon enjoying some nice weather (hopefully).  

I'm on cup number 3 of coffee for the day, preparing for the long night of work ahead of me.  My co-workers are really going to enjoy me for the next few hours!

Have a wonderful weekend!

XO. Tarah

Minty Fresh

Minty Fresh by tjmath3 featuring j crew

Naven halter dress / Dorothy Perkins pastel dress, $41 / Old Navy top / Forever 21 scoop neck tank / Ann Taylor jeans / Forever 21 / J.Crew j crew / Old Navy / Wedge heels / Tory Burch handbag / Turquoise jewelry / Kate Spade jewelry / Essie nailpolish


So this is my first set I've ever created on Polyvore.  I know that emerald green is supposed to be the 'it' color this year but I am loving the color mint for Spring and Summer.  I searched and found some pretty awesome items that I am now dying to purchase!  I don't currently own anything that is this color but I have a feeling that will be changing very soon (mostly because I definitely just ordered a mint green peplum tank from Express and I'm just waiting for it to come in)!  Now we just need some Spring weather.  Yesterday was the first day of Spring and one of the coldest days here in Chicago with a windchill of 12 degrees.  Come on Spring weather...please make an appearance soon before I freeze to death!

XO. Tarah 
 

The Luck of the Irish

Top o' the morning to ya!  Ok, it's actually 3 pm and yesterday was St. Patrick's Day but I figured I would try to get one last bit of Irish love in.  How's everybody holding up after this past holiday weekend?  Yes, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday in my book.  I guarantee there are a lot of people feeling hungover today, I am luckily not one of those people. 

I worked a lot this weekend and I didn't get much sleep so I am pretty exhausted today.  Saturday afternoon my mom, dad, and brother came to Chicago to visit.  We spent some time together that afternoon but then I had to go to work at 5:30.  It was a shit show, as expected, since everyone was out drinking and celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  My parents, brother, and Vinnie all came into the bar where I work and had dinner and drinks to visit me.  Even though I was working, it was nice to see them.  The fact that Vinnie went with them even though he didn't have to makes me love him even more than I already do.  He's the sweetest and I am so lucky to have him.

Sunday morning we all woke up and went to brunch at Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro for a little St. Patrick's Day brunch.  

Image from Google Images

Vinnie had to work so he couldn't come with us.  We were all a little sluggish and tired since we stayed up late Saturday night, err Sunday morning.  I didn't get off of work until around 1:30 am but when I got home I had a couple of late night drinks with my family who was waiting up for me.

Baily's Bread Pudding

My mom and I

Kiefer and I

For some reason I didn't get an iPhone picture with my dad but don't worry I didn't get a picture with him on my regular camera (I know you were worried).  After brunch we all went back to my apartment and before long my family was leaving me.  It felt like they had just gotten there and they were already leaving :( I miss them already.  It's a good thing I had Marley to keep me company.

He's a little attention whore but I don't mind.

Looks like someone was a little sleepy!

Vinnie got home from work before too long and we rushed out of the apartment and to his Mom's house for a little corn beef and cabbage for St Patrick's Day dinner.  It was delicious.  His mom is a great cook.  Mix that with a some Jameson and Green River and you have yourselves a pretty awesome St. Patrick's Day.  Oh and don't forget the grasshopper brownies I made.

I was quite proud of the way these puppies turned out.  

After dinner we looked through a bunch of old pictures and year books of Vinnie's.  He was the most adorable child I've ever seen.  By the time we got home we were exhausted and it didn't take long for us both to pass out with Marley at the foot of our bed.  It was definitely an eventful weekend and I really wish I didn't work so much so that I could have enjoyed it even more, but I made the most of it.  

St. Patrick's Day 2013 = success.

Hope you all had a successful one too.  Oh and if you're still battling a little hangover, here's some tips for you.

Source

XO. Tarah  

 

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

No, really!  I am.  Even my name is Irish.  Tarah is a variant of Tara, which is Gaelic.  This name was the name of the sacred hill near Dublin where the Irish high kings resided.  It means 'hill or star'.  Yep, I always knew I was born a star (joking, clearly).

With St. Patrick's Day coming up on Sunday, I figured I would share a little St. Patrick's Day knowledge with you.

Image

St Patrick's Day last year.  Vinnie clearly isn't Irish...blue shirt?

 In Chicago, we go all out celebrating St. Patrick's Day because many residents are of Irish descent (Chi-rish).  Dyeing the river green has been one of the biggest traditions in Chicago.  I have never seen them dye the river green and am not planning on seeing it this year because I have to work.  You better believe I will be wearing green and drinking a Guinness (or 2 or 3) on Sunday though.

Image

Someday, when I actually don't have to work on the weekends, I plan on heading downtown and actually watching them dye the river green.

Have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day!

XO. Tarah

An Irish Toast:

"May your glass be ever full.  May the roof over your head be always strong.  And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead." 

Viva Las Vegas!

Hi Happy Tuesday!  It is a happy Tuesday indeed for me because in exactly one month I will be at the O'Hare Airport, about to board a plane and fly to Las Vegas!  BOOM!

We booked our flights yesterday and already have reservations so it is official.  Since my life has been quite boring and hasn't provided me with much to blog about...this Las Vegas news is the best thing that could be happening right now!  I've never been to Vegas so I'm already starting to research the best, most awesome things to do there.  We are only going for 3 days and 3 nights so we are going to try and jam in as many activities as we can.  All I know for sure is there will be drinking, gambling, and sun bathing.

Oh April 12...just get here already. 

Until then, I will be daydreaming, working out A LOT, shopping for outfits to wear.  Come on, did you expect anything less?

XO. Tarah

 

They call me King Hov, capisce?

Happy Thursday peeps!  It's almost the weekend!  Yay!

Today's post will be much lighter than yesterday's...mostly because I don't have a whole lot to say today.  

I got home last night, without any snow issues.  I decided to have a productive night and I dove head first into my piles of laundry (not literally though).  In between doing laundry, I cleaned up out bedroom, did all of the dishes, and had a nice little chat with my landlord.  He's the nicest man.  The woman who lived on the bottom floor of my apartment building just recently moved out so he was downstairs painting her old apartment when I came down to do laundry.  

After all of that cleaning I realized that my throat was feeling kind of sore, so I decided to heat up some water in my tea kettle and have a nice cup of hot tea.  Then I saw this bottle of whiskey sitting on my counter and I had a brilliant idea...HOT TODDY!  No, I have never made a hot toddy.  No, I have never even had a hot toddy.  Yes, I have always wanted to have one ever since that song by Usher came out and I googled 'hot toddy' to try and figure out what the eff they were singing about.  

 
I don't really know exactly what's in a hot toddy but I googled it and found several recipes.  Since I don't really follow recipes very well and I hardly ever really measure out ingredients, this time was no different.  

Ingredients:
tea bag
hot water
whiskey
honey
cinnamon
nutmeg
lemon (I used lemon juice though cuz I ain't got no fresh lemons)

So basically I just put my tea bag in my cute little polka dotted mug, poured hot water until the mug was half full, poured some whiskey in, then added a spoonful of honey, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a few drops of lemon juice.  I stirred it all up and then waited until I thought it wouldn't burn the tastebuds off of my tongue (3 1/2 minutes is not long enough).

Yes, that is a weird giant asian fan thing hanging on the wall behind me.  Don't judge, my roomate is Vietnamese and will be moving out in a month (aka that wall decor will be long gone)

 
Hot Toddy = success!  It was just as delicious as I thought it would be.  It also made my throat feel better which is just an added bonus!

The rest of the night consisted of snuggles with Marley until Vinnie got home from work.

Ok, maybe some kisses too.

So the moral of the story is...buy yourself some whiskey and make a hot toddy.  You won't regret it (unless you don't like whiskey, tea, or Usher).

XO. Tarah

*if you don't know the song I'm talking about you might need to google it.  this post along with this post's title will make a lot more sense then.  sorry i'm not sorry.

Beauty is the Light in the Heart

Hi.  I have never been more jealous of people who live in warm, tropical states.  It snowed over 9 inches in Chicago yesterday.  

They let us out of work a little early so I bundled up and made the long trek out to my car.  I was parked on a side street that, of course, hadn't been plowed.  I was also parallel parked in between 2 cars both who only left a few inches in between me and them.  Not only was there a pretty good amount of snow on the ground at this time, but there was also a solid inch of ice under all of the snow.  So I started my car, wiped her off, got in, and tried to drive away.  I couldn't move an inch.  My tires just kept spinning and the more I tried to get out of that parking spot, the more stuck I seemed to get.  I dug all of the snow away from my car and tried to scrape the ice off of the ground near my tires.  For over an hour I scraped away with my little ice scraper but my car still didn't move.  Finally, an angel arrived in the form of woman smaller than me.  She brought gifts of salt and a big ass shovel.  We salted the ground in front of my tires and she pushed my car as I tried to accelerate out of that spot.  After a half hour, I finally got out.  I couldn't thank that woman enough.  If she hadn't have stopped by I probably would have never gotten out of that spot.  

Wanna know the best part?  I parked in front of a bunch of townhomes.  There were at least 8 men outside of these townhomes with big shovels, shoveling the snow away from the paths in front of these townhomes.  They were literally all a few feet away from me and watched me for over an hour as I tried to scrape the ice off of the ground with my little ice scrapper.  Not one of them came over and offered to help me shovel or even for a little push.  I realize that they were out doing their jobs but seriously...you couldn't be a human being and help a girl out?  Or did my silent sobs scare them away?  A man with a golf cart sized plow drove by me 3 times.  Couldn't he have just plowed some of the snow next to my car away?  My faith in humanity was almost completely gone until that angel woman came to my rescue.  She should have good karma forEVER.

So I finally got home, drank some wine, calmed down, and vowed not to move off of my couch for the rest of the night unless I got hungry.  

This morning, I got up early, got ready for work, and went out to get in my lovely little car.  Oh P.S., there is still tons of snow and ice on the ground.  Guess what happened when I tried to drive away?  Yep, wheels spinning, car moving nowhere...again.  I made Vinnie get up and after an hour or so we finally got my car unstuck and I was about 40 minutes late for work.  I don't know what the eff I did for karma to come around and bite me in the ass twice in less than 2 hours, but I think I should be good for awhile now.  

So I've had a pretty rough go at it lately and I've been feeling a little sorry for myself (not only for the snow incidents but for other reasons as well).  Then I found this video this morning:

I literally wanted to kick my own ass for feeling sorry for myself after I watched this.  Jill Brzezinski Conley is an amazing and extremely inspiring woman who has gone through such heartbreaking journey but still manages to live her life to it's fullest and enjoy every little moment of everyday.  The fact that this woman gets out of bed in the morning blows my mind.  She is happy and beautiful, not only on the outside, but on the inside as well.  The video makes me want to change my outlook on life.  There I was last night, crying, feeling sorry for myself, because I don't like my jobs and I have to work harder than a lot of people just to get by.  Who cares?  I should be happy that I am able to work hard, it means I'm alive.  I have provided a life for myself.  It is by no means ideal, but it is something I should be proud of.  If I want something to change in my life, I need to do something about it.  So I am going to.  And when I start to feel sorry for myself, or sad about my life, I am going to think about Jill.

Looking through my 'Words of Wisdom' board on Pinterest, I found a lot of inspiration today.  It's amazing how words can cause you to think and inspire you in such a way.

 
It's hard to always stay focused on the good things in life when negative things can affect you so deeply.  Today I am trying to push the negative thoughts out of my mind and let all of the positive things that are involved in my life shine through.  I have way more to be happy about than to be upset and sad about in my life.  

Yikes, this is a long post filled with lots of words but I plan on referring back to this when I get down on myself and start feeling sad again.  There's nothing like a little inspiration on this snowy Wednesday afternoon.

XO. Tarah

 Linking up with Oh, How Pinteresting! and Random Wednesday

A Pretty Lame Weekend

Hi Friends!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  Just as I was getting excited because it was sunny yesterday and starting to get a little bit warmer, I wake up today and find out that it is supposed to snow 6-9 inches tonight :(  My hopes are that it either completely misses us and I get up and get to work without sitting in snowy traffic for 2 hours or, if it does snow, that it snows 5 feet causing everything in Chicago to shut down and everyone to stay in their houses and cuddle with blankets.  Too bad the chances of either of those options happening are very small!

My weekend was nothing to write home about.  I worked Friday and Saturday and then slept in late on Sunday.  Vinnie and I both had the whole day off Sunday (PS this NEVER EVER happens) so we woke up and made breakfast together.  We lounged around and watched the Blackhawks game and then headed off to the gym where we both kicked our own asses.  We came home, showered, and then headed to his mom's house in the suburbs to have dinner with her, her boyfriend, Vinnie's sister, and his sister's boyfriend.  It was nice because we haven't gotten to hang out with all of them in a really long time.  We got home and crashed and then before I knew it, I was waking up for work on this lovely Monday morning.  See, nothing exciting.

I'll leave you all with my boys, sorry (I'm not sorry) but no pictures or videos of me today.

Marley goes to great lengths for his favorite toy.

XO. Tarah

I Slipped and I Fell on Friday

Happy Friday Friends!  I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow morning!

A couple of interesting things have happened to me today, let me tell you about them.  First, on my drive to work I noticed the car in front of me had a pretty sweet license plate.

If you can't read it, it says 'PMP JCE 2'.  Yep, pimp juice 2.  Immediately started singing the song 'Pimp Juice' by Nelly circa 2003.  I wish I could've seen the guy who was driving this car so I could be like 'hey so the decision to get that sweet ass license plate back in 2003 to put on your awesome Honda Civic is really biting you in the ass now isn't it?!'  Or maybe he still enjoys his pimp juice license plate and that's why he hasn't gotten a new one in 10 years.  Either way, that made me smile.  Oh Nelly, whatever happened to you?

Well, about 30 minutes later I think karma came around and bit me in the ass for making fun of this person.  I parked my car and started on my long walk in to work.  I took 2 steps, hit a huge patch of ice, and was laying on my back in the street before I could say 'what goes around, comes around'.  Seriously, it probably looked like a scene from a movie.  My legs flew up from under me and I hit the ground, hard.  I popped right back up and looked around immediately and luckily nobody else was around to witness this embarrassing fall.  My jeans were soaking wet all morning, part of the heel sole of my boot is missing, I've definitely got bruises, and I felt like a jack ass.  But, it could've been worse.  At least I didn't hit my head on the ground and knock myself out.  

Vinnie and I went out on Wednesday night for a date night.  We both work a lot so we don't get to spend much time together anymore.  We both happened to have Wednesday night off so we took full advantage of it and went to Olive Garden.  Mmmm salad, breadsticks, pasta, wine...my mouth is watering just remembering it.  We stopped by a little hole in the wall bar before going home that had great specials and was quiet enough for us to chat, catch up, and gaze lovingly into each others eyes (I'm only half kidding about the last part because Vinnie does have beautiful eyes that I like to gaze into).  We had quite a few drinks but were still home and passed out in bed by 11 am.  I only had a slight headache the next morning too which was nice since I, the light weight, was expecting to feel like garbage all day.  

Last night I went to the gym after work, did some laundry, had a glass of wine, showered, and went to bed early.  Vinnie got home from work kind of late and I was already all snuggled up in bed.  He wasn't ready to go to bed yet so he came in to give me a kiss and then go play video games.  I have a bad habit of forgetting to take my earrings out before I get into bed and when this happens, I take them out and hand them to Vinnie, who is usually laying next to me, because he sleeps next to the nightstand so he puts them on the nightstand so that I don't lose them.  Well last night I was laying in bed and he was standing up next to my side of the bed talking to me about his day.  I realized I was wearing my earrings so I started to take them out.  Before I could even say anything, Vinnie put his hand out so that I could give him my earrings.  He then walked over and put my earrings away for me.  I smiled at him and said 'you're the best'.  He didn't even realize what he had just done.  I know it sounds really lame but it's the little things he does that really make my heart happy.  How did I get so lucky?

Have a wonderful weekend!  Oh, and happy March!!!  Praying for warm weather!

XO. Tarah