Feel Good Friday

First off, I have to say that tomorrow is officially June.  So...where are you nice weather????  It's almost summer and we've had the worst weather lately.  The beginning of May started off super nice, for like 4 days.  It's either been rainy and warm or sunny and cold here.  I'm not complaining, oh wait that's actually exactly what I'm doing.  I'm just hoping that June is a little nicer, weather wise, than May was (except I just looked at my weatherbug app and next week is supposed to be in the 60's all week, that's not very summery).

Ok, now that I'm done bitching complaining about the weather not being perfect, it's Friday!  Even though it was a short week, it DID NOT feel like a short week.  My workload has been nuts.  I'm welcoming the weekend with open arms (and an open mouth...for some much needed alcohol duh!).

I'm definitely feeling good about several things this Friday, number one being...

last night me and Vinnie bought a new TV!  We went to Best Buy 'just to look' and ended up leaving with a 55' LED Samsung flat screen TV stuffed in the trunk of Vinnie's Saturn.  Guess who got to sit in the front seat with her boyfriend's golf clubs in between her legs?  And guess who was wearing a dress while doing this?  Oh just me.  I'm sure getting out of his car when we got home was a really attractive site to see.  Anyways, we now have a brand new TV but we can't set it up yet because we don't have a TV stand big enough to fit this little piece of wonderful.  First world problems.

After we brought the TV home, we left again to grab some dinner and then go to the movie theater.  We saw Hanger 3, which was ok, but the first one still takes the cake in my opinion.  

We did manage to sneak travel size alcohol bottles in though.  Brings me back to my reckless days.

Yesterday I received a blouse that I had ordered from Groop Dealz in the mail.  I don't know about you, but getting things in the mail is like Christmas for me.  Even though I bought them and paid for them myself, it still feels like I'm getting presents.  Maybe that's why I have an online shopping addiction.  I should just start sending things that I already own to myself so that I can still get the thrill but save a little money.

Of course I'm wearing it to work today.  This particular shirt is an Anthro knock off and only cost $15.99.  I don't know how much the original one from Anthro cost but considering everything from Anthro costs an arm and a leg (even the sale stuff) I'm assuming this deal is a steal (see what I did there).  Also, Anthro = Anthropologie, just clearing that up.

Speaking of Groop Dealz, I should really stay off of that site if I want to save money.  I checked the site again today and bought a J Crew inspired statement necklace that I've seen several times.  It probably costs $80 from J Crew but I bought it today for $19.99.  I just can't say no to a good deal (and pretty jewelery). 

Aaanndd that's pretty much all I have to share today.  Feel good Friday is in full effect over here and I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow morning and relax all day Sunday.  Maybe the sun will decide to make an appearance so that I can tan my snow white self and look a little less like a dead person and a little more like a sun kissed chick.  Here's to hoping!

XO. Tarah

Shoe Love - Summer Sandals

Summer Sandals by tjmath3 featuring flat shoes

  



Now that the weather is starting to warm up (it's getting hot up in here) and it's alllllmost officially summer, sandal shopping is a must.  Some of my favorite trends that I'm looking out for this summer are metallics, pops of color (especially neons), and natural sandals.  Metallics and pops of color can really spice up an outfit.  You'll want to make sure you keep your neons in small doses though so that the look doesn't go over board.  Naturals go with everything and are always flattering.  Sadly, this girl is on a bit of a budget right now so I'm really trying to save my money.  Since I have more shoes than I really know what to do with, my shoe shopping budget is pretty much non existent.  Don't worry, all of these sandals are under $50.  

A girl can never have too many shoes right?  Try telling my boyfriend that...

XO. Tarah

 

A Weekend for Family

Back to reality!  I had such a great holiday weekend, and I hope everyone else did too.  But now I've got a lot of catching up to do at work and of course loads of laundry, playtime with Marley, and finding time to get back in the gym on top of that.  So this is going to be a short one.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Sleepy doggy on the drive to Iowa

Jack and Papa Joe saying cheeeeese

brother, dad, and nephew...handsome boys!

This is the seat that Barack Obama sat in when he ate at this pizza place...Kiefer is looking presidential I believe.

Dad taking the whole family's picture

Monkey faces

Sad faces

Emma aka Sugar Eyes

Silly faces

Me, mom, and niece Emma :)

These are all from Sunday night.  We decided to go to Antonella's Pizzeria in downtown Davenport, IA.  The pizza was seriously to die for and we even sat at the same table that President Barack Obama sat at when he came to visit Iowa.  Kiefer sat in his chair...there was a plaque behind it stating that Obama himself sat right there.  Pretty cool.

Monday was full of playtime with the kiddos, relaxation, and grilling out.  Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole time we were there but my dad found a little time to grill out and we ate inside due to the weather.  No picnics outside in our neck of the woods :(

Watching 'The Shining' Sunday night.  Me, Kiefer, and mom were the only ones to watch the whole thing.

Marley's Memorial Day treat!

Jack and Emma laying on Papa

Watching TV

Sleepy Jacky napping on papa

In the blink of an eye the weekend was over and Marley and I were heading back to Chicago.  No matter how old I am, I always get sad when I have to leave my family.  They mean the world to me and I just don't get to spend enough time with them.  It was a wonderful holiday weekend but it definitely ended too soon.  Now it's back to the grind and I've been super busy here at work.  

When's the next long weekend?

XO. Tarah

 

Happy Memorial Day! (almost)

Happy Friday!  And happy three day weekend for most!  I'm getting out of work a couple hours early today and didn't really have time to prepare anything so here's to hoping the weather is nice and sunny, the grills keep on a grilling, and everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday weekend with their loved ones!  

Marley and I will be heading to Iowa bright and early on Sunday to visit my parents, siblings, and niece and nephew.  We haven't all been together since Christmas so we are way past due for a get together.  I have to work tonight and tomorrow night so I'm hoping the rest of today and tomorrow flies by so I can get on the road and see everyone!  Vinnie has to work (MLB doesn't take the day off for Memorial Day, bogus!) so we're leaving him all alone back in Chicago :(

Image via Google Images

Make sure you take some time out of your day on Monday to honor America's heroes.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!  Happy Memorial Day!

XO. Tarah

 

Baked Red Pepper Cheesy Ravioli

Oh happy Thursday...as in I'm really freaking happy it's Thursday.  I've been told at least 8 different times today that this week is really flying by.  I do not agree.  I think it is crawling at a snail's pace.  Also, this weather is not helping.  It was 80 degrees just a few days ago and I was sweating sitting outside on my lunch break in a skirt and a tank top.  Today is 50 degrees, windy, and rainy.  I wore my North Face fleece and a scarf to work and debated on wearing mittens.  I also debated not going out for lunch with two of the girls I work with so that I didn't have to face the wind that makes Chicago the famous 'Windy City', but since they were going to get soup I couldn't say no.  I love me some soup...especially on a cold, gloomy day.

Before we get into an actual topic worth blogging about, I have to give a shout out to my one and only (aka my boyfriend, aka the man who will never read this blog).  We've been dating for exactly 1.5 years as of today.  I love him more and more every single day.

What a hunk.  Also, 1.5 years of dating = a lot of pictures.  And I thought I was lacking in the picture taking department.

Now for the more delicious part of this blog post, although this is debatable because my boyfriend is quite delicious if I do say so myself.  I definitely got lucky with not only a funny, sweet, and loving boyfriend but also with an extremely attractive boyfriend as well.  Alright, alright you get it, I love him.  I was in a cooking mood last week but didn't want to stumble out to the grocery store for ingredients so I decided to play the 'let's throw a bunch of shit together and hope it tastes good' game.  I had frozen cheese ravioli in my freezer and a jar of vodka sauce as well, so we were off to a good start.  If you knew me, you would know that I can't just put pasta and pasta sauce together and be satisfied.  I'm a little more complex than that.  After finding some ingredients I came up with something pretty delicious, which is why I am sharing it today.

Baked Red Pepper Cheesy Ravioli
by: the one and only TMizzle (first and last time I ever call myself by that name)

Ingredients:

1 Package of Cheese Ravioli

1 jar of pasta sauce (vodka sauce is what I used)

½ cup red pepper (diced)

1 cup shredded cheese (Parmesan is what I used)

1 tbsp onion salt

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp diced cilantro

Directions:

1.    Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook cheese ravioli according to directions on package.  Drain.

2.    Put a layer of pasta sauce on bottom of 8x8 casserole dish.  Layer some of the cooked ravioli on top of pasta.  Add a little bit of red pepper, shredded cheese, onion salt, chili powder, and red pepper flakes to top of pasta.  Add another layer of pasta sauce and repeat process until you run out of pasta.  Finish with ravioli on top.

3.    Add cilantro to final layer of ravioli along with spices.

4.    Cover pasta dish with foil and put it in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  You can take pasta out of oven and add more shredded cheese to the top with 10-15 minutes remaining.

5.    Take pasta out, remove foil,  let it cool, and enjoy!

So simple and so yummy in my tummy.  Also, just an FYI, I didn't measure any of the ingredients (as usual) so I'm just guessing on all of those measurements.  

And now I will leave you with an adorable Marley picture because, well, I'm obsessed with my dog.

  
XO. Tarah

 

I'll Fly a Little Higher

Today is a rainy, gloomy day.  The temperature has dropped from the 80 degree weather that we've had the past few days and it's supposed to rain pretty much the rest of the day and into the weekend, which kinda stinks because this is Memorial Day weekend so plans to grill out and soak up the sun are sure to be ruined.  Rain, rain go away!

I was going to share my recipe for Red Pepper Cheesy Ravioli that I just created last week but I found a video on Enjoying the Small Things about a teenage boy with terminal cancer.  I read an article about him a few weeks ago and saw a video of his song 'Clouds' that he wrote.  It was really inspiring.  He passed away a few days ago and this video on Kelle Hampton's blog is of his last days.  It was incredible to watch his story and see how he carries himself.  He is brave.  

I love to share inspiring stories like this one because when I am having a bad day I look back at these and I think, if these amazing people can live their lives to the fullest battling the difficult hands that they are dealt, then I can suck it up and get through my miniscule problems as well.  Life isn't supposed to be easy but reading and seeing stories about remarkable people, like Zach Sobiech, is truly encouraging.  

  
Be thankful for what you have, love life, and make people happy.

XO. Tarah

 
Linking up with Because Shanna Said So... for Random Wednesday.
 

A Wedding & Spring Cleaning

My weekend was pretty lovely.  I worked Friday night and then slept in Saturday.  After I woke up, I poured myself a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee and ventured outside to enjoy my breakfast in the beautiful weather.  Marley and I played frisbee for a while.

He was a happy puppy dog.  And then he was a very tired puppy dog because someone is very out of shape.  So we went back inside and cooled off.  

That night Vinnie and I went to his boss' wedding.  Well, we went to the wedding reception because Vinnie had to work during the actual wedding.

Selfieeeee

Always on his phone

So before we left for the wedding I decided to spray a little self tanner on my legs and arms since I haven't exactly gotten my summer glow yet.  Well when we got home from the wedding I noticed that I clearly didn't do a very good job because there were streaks of white on all of my arms and legs from spots that I had missed.  Last night Vinnie wanted to touch up my spray tan so after I showered he sprayed all of the white streaky spots.  I must say it does look better today except for my hands and feet.  They don't look so good.  I took a picture of my hand while I was outside for lunch today, eek:

Did that girl rub up against an oompa loompa?

Lesson learned - if you want a spray tan, just go let a professional do it.  I feel like Ross in that episode of friends where he tries to go spray tanning on 2 different occasions and ends up with his front side being extremely orangey brown.  Ok, mines not that bad but you get my drift.

Sunday was our Spring cleaning day, and clean we did.  Our apartment looks so much nicer.  We still have a few things to clean but we both did work yesterday and rewarded ourselves with hotdogs and brats on the grill.  It was our first night grilling out with our new grill.

In the second picture, that's our backyard.  You can see Marley peering into the neighbor's yard because they were outside playing ball and Marley is obsessed with balls.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing.

My boys <3

Look at that face :) I melt.

I'm so glad the weather is finally nice.  Hopefully we will be having lots of weekends like this one where we can grill out and enjoy the sunshine.

XO. Tarah 
  

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday.  She is the most amazing woman in the world and I am extremely lucky to have her as my mother.  I seriously have never met a more caring, loving, kind, and over all beautiful (inside and out) person and I know I never will, for the rest of my life.

She is my rock.  If I'm ever having a bad day I call my mom.  If I ever need advice, mom again.  She would do anything for me and my siblings.  She has always put us first and has provided us with a fabulous life.  When you're a kid you don't always realize how great you have it and how much your parents have sacrificed to make it that great.  Now that I'm older, I am able to look back and really appreciate how hard my mom worked to make sure I was happy.  I am so grateful.

 
I only hope that one day I can be half the woman my mom is.  

Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you!