L.O.V.E.

I don't really link up too often (I have nothing against link-ups) but I saw a few people do this link-up and thought it was really cute.  Plus, I love talking about my love so whenever I get a chance to do it, I jump on it.

So today I'm linking up with A. Liz Adventures to spill about my love!

New Years. January 2013.

 1.  Describe your dating life prior to finding your husband/boyfriend/fiance.

Yikes, this one's a doozy.  Skip over this one if you don't feel like reading a long, drawn out answer that I apparently feel the need to type out.  I didn't have a lot of boyfriends but I did date a lot, and by a lot I mean A LOT!  I dated the same guy in high school for a couple of years.  He was 2 years older than me and was the star athlete of our school.  We were the 'perfect couple' but after he graduated and went away to college he changed and ended up breaking my heart.  This relationship really affected me because even though I was young, he was my first love and of course I thought we were going to get married and be high school sweethearts (puke in my mouth).  After that fell apart, I guarded my heart.  I did date one guy who I gave the title of boyfriend to in college and he was an amazing guy whom I tried to make it work with for a very long time because I knew he was such a good guy and he would always treat me right.  I just never felt 'it' with him though and after trying off and on for years, we ended it.  

The rest of college was filled with a series of terrible decisions.  None of these terrible decisions ever became my boyfriend because I was on to the next one all too quickly, too afraid to let anyone get too close but knowing that none of these boys was even close to being worth giving my heart to.  I was going for the wrong type of guy though.  Not the kind of guy who wants to take you out to dinner and bring you home to meet his mom, but the kind of guy who only wanted one thing, and that one thing was not a girlfriend.  After college I started dating a guy because he treated me pretty decent and I thought it was probably 'the right thing to do'.  He also seemed to have his shit semi together which is way more than I could say for any of the other fools I was hanging around with prior to meeting him.  I ended up quitting my job and leaving my family and friends to move to the Chicago Suburbs with him.  We broke up after one month of living together and it ended badly and cost us both an arm and a leg to get out of our lease that we had just signed.  I always knew that he wasn't right for me in the back of my head and apparently my family did too, they were just waiting for me to realize it on my own.  I didn't want to give up and move back home because I always dreamed of being in Chicago and even though it was hard and I lived off of coffee and redbull working 2 full time jobs, I made it work.  

I met Vinnie shortly after while working at a bar.  He smiled at me and I was in love.  That might sound cheesy but it's hard to describe how I felt when I first met Vinnie.  It sounds super cliche to say 'I just knew' but that's the truth.  I felt completely calm and at peace and he hasn't left my side since the first day I met him.  My path, as rough as it was, led me straight to Vinnie.

Rehearsal Dinner for his cousin's wedding. December 2012.

 2.  Describe your husband/boyfriend/fiance in one word.  How would he describe you in one word?

HOT!  Haha, honestly I could never describe him in one word because he's so much more than that.  He means the world to me and how can you describe the whole world in one word?  If I absolutely had to choose, I would probably choose Charismatic.  He's funny, charming, and one of a kind.  He would probably describe me in one word - crazy.  Seriously though.  Either that or loving.

Vinnie's 23rd birthday. April 2012.

3.  You had a really silly fight.  Embarrassing silly.  What was it about?

Most of our fights are really silly because we don't fight often.  Most of them probably stem from sports.  We are both opinionated anyways but when it comes to sports we both can get pretty heated.  I literally think our last silly fight was over how tall Tony Parker is (also how tall Eva Longoria is, Vinnie lost because I'm a great height guesser).  Also, he is a Chicago Cubs fan and I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan and those 2 don't mesh very well because the Cubs and Cardinals are obviously huge rivals.  We often bicker about our teams.

Our first Cubs/Cardinals Game. May 2012.

4.  In three sentences (and only three), describe where you both hope to be in 5 years.

I hope that we both have stable jobs that we enjoy and that allows us both time to visit our families often.  I hope that we're living in a nicer area (whether it be Chicago or another city) and are able to save money and live comfortably.  I hope that we are married and happy.     

Summer. August 2012.

5.  Tell us something about your husband/boyfriend/fiance that we wouldn't know from reading your blog.

Vinnie and I grew up very differently.  He was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago.  His parents divorced when he was 6 years old and it was harder on him than I think he actually even realizes.  They don't communicate quite like my family does.  I was born and raised in mid-western Illinois and I grew up way out in the country.  My parents have been married for 30 years and they love each other more than anything.  We have always communicated with each other about everything and we've always shown love very openly.  I love Vinnie's family.  They're all amazing.  They're just different from mine.

Six Flags Fright Fest. October 2012.

6.  What's one thing that you never thought you'd do in front of your husband/boyfriend/fiance, but you did?

Sing.  I am one of the goofiest chicks you'll ever meet and I love to laugh, dance, and have a good time but one thing I don't do in front of people is sing.  Rap, sure, you could call me Snoop Tarah.  Singing is a different story.  I'm awful, just awful.  I don't know when it happened, and it might be the fact that Vinnie is also a very bad singer, but I sing in front of him now.  Actually, I kind of sing all the time in front of him. 

Las Vegas. April 2013.

OMG that was fun.  I should link up more often.

In other news, Vinnie and I saw 'The Purge' last night at the movie theater.  It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be and I'm still kind of up in the air as to whether I liked it or not.  I'm not a very harsh critic though so it doesn't take much to please me.

Happy Hump Day folks!

XO. Tarah

 
 

A Productive Summer Sunday

Happy Tuesday!

I had a great weekend.  Well I guess I should say, I had a great Sunday, since the rest of my weekend was filled with work.  Instead of weekend updates I should really start calling them Sunday updates since my Friday and Saturdays seem to always just be spent working.  Anyways, Sunday made up for the rest of my work filled weekend.

Vinnie and I both had the whole day off but since I got home super late (or early) because of work on Saturday night, Vinnie and Marley let me sleep in late.  And sleep in late I did!  When I finally ventured out of bed I texted my dad a 'Happy Father's Day' and told him I would call him when I'm a little more awake (he understands that it is not fun to talk to sleepy Tarah) and then had a yummy egg sandwich that my wonderful boyfriend made for me.  Too bad Marley ate half of it when I set it down too close to his little nose.  He got in trouble for that one.

So thankful for my fabulous dad!  He really is the best dad in all of the land!

After waking up a bit and calling my dad, we got our day started because we were planning on doing a lot.  We had a roommate who moved out in April.  She had the master bedroom while she lived with us and after she moved out we planned on moving into the master bedroom because, well obviously, it's bigger.  That was 2 months ago so we finally decided it was time to bite the bullet and move our stuff.  

First, we had to throw out all of the junk that my lovely roommate left in said room.  I moved one dresser that she left and found 4 dirty socks (none of which were a pair), a bag of cheetos still half full, and...brace yourself for this one...a pair of dirty underwear.  Vomit.  Moving on, we took about 10 trips up and down our 3 flights of stairs with various shit that she left (a computer desk, an old TV, a couple of crappy lamps, and several other boxes of junk).  Thanks ex-roommate, I'm not salty :) and then we cleaned the freak out of that room because it definitely hadn't been cleaned the whole time she lived in there.  It was also really hot on Sunday so we were sweating our asses off the whole time we were doing all of this.  I definitely didn't feel bad not going to the gym that day because we got a good workout in going up and down the stairs as much as we did as well as lifting all the stuff we had to lift. 

We took our bed apart and moved it into the new bedroom and then decided that we were hungry and we had been really productive so we needed a break.  I threw a load of laundry in the washing machine, Vinnie fired up the grill, and we popped open a couple of beers.  Haha, I said fired up the grill as if we own a giant, awesome grill.  Whatever, I love our tiny Webster grill. 

On the menu...Italian sausage with grilled onions and green pepper

This boy was in heaven...he loves playing outside more than anything in the world.  Also, how happy/adorable is he???

We relaxed outside while the food cooked on the grill.  By this time it was well into the evening and the temperature had dropped a little bit so it was very enjoyable outside.  Also, we saw a lone deer walking down the street in front of our apartment building.  Normally this wouldn't be so weird but, hello!?! I live in Chicago!  In the city!  I failed to take any pictures because I was pretty excited.  

Then we enjoyed our Italian sausage and macaroni and cheese outside at the picnic table.

After we ate, we headed back inside to do more work.  We moved the rest of our stuff into the new bedroom.  We have this one really long dresser and I have absolutely no idea how we got it in our bedroom the first time because it was the biggest bitch to move.  We ended up having to turn it on it's side so that it was tall and skinny enough to fit around the corner and into our new room.  After we got it into our room we were trying to turn it so that it was standing up the right way again but we didn't want to break the legs off of it.  So I ended up somehow being underneath it and bear hugging it to the ground.  I definitely got a couple of bruises from that big guy and a few laughs out of Vinnie.  I'm sure it was a sight to see.  Also, after this day, I refuse to ever move out of our current apartment until we have enough money to hire movers to do it for us.  So I better start saving now.

We also hung some new artwork above our sofa.

It's the Chicago skyline and I love it, but it's totally uneven and I don't care at all because it's really hard to put three panels up on the wall and make it look perfect.  I actually do care because I'm kind of a neurotic perfectionist but I was too tired from moving all day to do anything about it.

Then we ate ice cream, took showers to clean our stinky butts, and went to bed.  It was the first Sunday that actually felt like summer; grilling out, drinking some brews, and playing with Marley.  It was the perfect combination of productive and relaxing...ok maybe I would have added a little more relaxing into that equation in a perfect world but I felt good accomplishing some tasks that we've been putting off.  We definitely fell asleep smiling :)

XO. Tarah

Feel Good Friday

It's finally Friday and once again I'm feelin good!

1.  The weather was, once again, lovely

2.  The Blackhawks won the first game of the Stanley Cup!!!  Game 2 is tomorrow.  Go Blackhawks!

Blackhawks game last year

 3.  Vinnie and I enjoyed a nice little date night last night at Hopleaf, a super hipstery bar/restaurant 15 or so minutes away from where we live.  It was pretty good.

I love when we both have nights off and we get to spend some quality time together.  After dinner we took Marley for a walk around the neighborhood and then came back home, had a night cap, and enjoyed some Modern Family.

4.  It was just confirmed that I got all of the time off that I needed for my friend Maggie's bridal shower, bachelorette party, and of course wedding.  The bar I work at on the weekends is really hard to get time off at because we don't have that many employees that work there.  I was really stressing that I would miss some of her wedding festivities, which would suck since I'm a bridesmaid!

5.  I'm expecting several exciting packages in the mail soon...I've already talked about how much I love getting packages in the mail.  It feels like Christmas, even though I did purchase said packages with my own money.

6.  I just bought my dad's Father's Day present.  Even though I can't actually be with him on Father's Day since I have to work all weekend, I'm really excited to celebrate in a month when we actually use this Father's Day present.  Want a really big hint?  See image below:

7.  Vinnie and I both have the whole day off together on Sunday.  This literally only happens every once in a blue moon.  The last time we both had a Sunday off together we did some spring cleaning and were really productive so we're both hoping that this time will go as smoothly and we can get some things done around our apartment that we've really been needing to do!  Oh plus I kinda love spending time with that handsome man.

Seven is a weird number to end on but I think those are pretty much the only things worth highlighting on this feel good Friday.  So happy Friday! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

XO. Tarah


 
 

My Lazy, Rainy Night

My day started out a little rough.  Today and tomorrow are 2 days out of the every month that I dread since I typically drive to work and park on the streets for free...street cleaning days.  Ugghhh.  Of course traffic was slower than usual and there was nowhere to park so I started driving around different areas that were still semi close to the building I work in to try and find somewhere to park.  I tried to turn down a weird street but a huge ass construction truck was blocking most of my side of the street making it nearly impossible to get by...but of course I tried because my car is small and I thought it would be fine.  Nope.  I scraped the back side of my car up against said truck and took off some of the paint.  So I parked in the parking garage and will have to pay 14 damn dollars.  You win again Chicago!  Life's a bitch sometimes.

Anyways my day did get better because today is beautiful so I spent my lunch break outside in the sun by the gorgeous Chicago River reading.  Also, I'm joking...the Chicago River is freaking disgusting.  Seriously, I feel gross even breathing too close to that water.

At least I wore sparkly shoes and sat by pretty flowers.  That kind of made up for the grossness of the river water.

Today got even better about an hour ago when the building I work in let us all go outside and have ice cream.  Ice cream has apparently been a running theme on this blog as of lately.  But it's no secret that ice cream makes me happy so I've almost forgot about my rough morning, that is until I go out to the parking garage and pay for my day's worth of parking and see my pretty car with a big scratch.  Sorry Roxy (my car's name obviously).

Last night I was supposed to work on the patio but Chicago weather had different plans for me and I got called off.  It was supposed to be some kind of epic storm.  It rained but nothing too crazy happened.  So I watched the rain with Marley and then was just really lazy the rest of the night.

Don't make me go out there mom!

Rainy

I painted my nails, drank wine, and watched some of the Blackhawks game.  But then that game went into 3 overtimes and I was tired so I went to bed.  Sorry, I'm not super fan.  They won without me watching though so I'm not really that sorry.  

My whole night in one picture - pretty nails, wine, blackhawks, and marley

So the planned busy night at work turned into a wonderfully lazy, rainy night at home.  Thank you weather.

XO. Tarah

 

Cheer Up, Buttercup

So, first things first, it is currently 80 degrees and sunny and the big city of Chicago and all I can say is it's about fah-reek-ing time.  It's almost the middle of June and Mr. Summertime (is Summer a boy or girl?) has not made his presence known at all.  I've been wearing sweaters and even my NorthFace fleece up until pretty much today (minus a few days here and there).  I went outside for lunch today with a few co-workers and sat in the sun and sweated through my jeans...and I am not complaining about it.  But now I'm sure the midwestern humidity is starting to arrive, so give it a week or two and I promise you I will start whining about that.  Me...whine?  No, no, never.

This is what I picture when I think of Mr. Sunshine

Ok, now that we have that cleared up (since I'm sure you were really concerned about my current weather situation) let's move on.  I've been having a rough go at this thing called 'life' lately so I figured I would put together a list of things that I do when I'm in a bad mood and want to make myself feel better.  The key word in that last sentence is 'want'.  If I don't want to make myself feel better then you better believe I will sulk until I've had enough and beat myself out of that funk.

P.S. some of these are really lame but just hear me out and remember I'm kind of really lame sometimes.

How to CHEER yourself up (in no particular order):

1.  Listen to music 

This is definitely one of the top things that I do when I am feeling a little blue.  I did not mean to rhyme there, it just happened.  I love music all the time but when I'm feeling sad or upset, I either listen to music that speaks to me and makes me feel like maybe someone else knows how I'm feeling or I go in the opposite direction and listen to upbeat music that makes me wanna dance.  When I was going through my punk rock stage in high school (everyone went through this stage right?  I blame Avril Lavigne and Ashley Simpson before she got caught lip syncing on SNL) I used to listen to scream-o music and that used to make me feel better but now-a-days that just makes my ears feel like they're bleeding.

2.  Eat

Get in my belly!!!

Preferable ice cream.  I recently confessed my obsession love for ice cream.  I just think that if you are eating ice cream, you can't help but feel at least slightly happy.  If I'm sad, eating ice cream makes me feel better no matter what and if I'm happy, well, ice cream makes me feel like a unicorn (beautiful, unique if you were wondering what a unicorn feels like).  So whether it be cheetos or chocolate or pizza, just eat something you love to make yourself feel better.  It might not be a cure-all, but in my case (my simple minded case) it totally is at least 73% of the time.

3.  Work Out

"Look at me!  I'm working out and I'm so happy!"

Working out literally makes you happier because of the whole endorphins make you happy thing but it also gives you time to yourself to think and process the shit going on inside of your head.  When I'm stressed out or confused I try to go for a run to to sort some of this junk out.  Combine working out with music and you've got what we call a killer combo.  Throw some ice cream in after your work out...boom, hello happiness.  You could also go play sports if you're into that kind of thing.  I've been known to go to the batting cage or throw some softballs really hard into nets which sounds weird but I was a pitcher so it wasn't weird to me.

4.  Watch a 'feel good' movie

You girls know what I'm talking about.  Those movies that start out with the girl's life spiraling out of control but then she meets that cute, funny, amazing man that makes everything better and they get married and have babies and live happily ever after.  In other words, chick flicks.  These will make you feel better because they give you hope that your prince charming could still be out there or that your future doesn't consist of you living on the side of a street, under a bridge, in a box.  Feel good movies don't have to be chick flicks though.  Basically, they're just movies that end well and make you feel, well, good.  How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Any of the Step Up movies (or for that matter anything with Channing Tatum in it), and The Wedding Date are probably my favorites but it's not hard to find one of these types of movies.

5.  Cuddle with your Dog

"Smile Mom...I love you"

Need I say more?  If you don't have a dog or cat or guinea pig or rabbit, then cuddle with your stuffed animal that you've had since you were a kid and couldn't get rid of.  I mean I don't have one of those (I totally do) but some people might.  I wouldn't recommend cuddling with a pet porcupine, snake, or turtle though.  They just aren't good cuddlers and might leave you feeling more sad, or physically in pain.

6.  Call your Mom

This picture was taken when I was going through some hard life stuff.  Mom came to visit me

My mom is my best friend.  That sounds cliche but it's true.  I can tell her anything and she can always talk some sense into me or make me feel better, or at least sympathize with me and listen to me cry.  My mom has been through a lot and is the strongest and most independent woman I know so going to her with my problems I know will leave me feeling a little better than I did before. 

7.  Browse Pinterest Quotes

 I browse pinterest all the time anyways but when I need some inspiration or just need to feel a little better I go on and look under the 'quotes' section.  I always find these amazing, inspiring quotes that make me feel like they were made just for me.  I then update my facebook status with said quote and look at it throughout the day.  It helps.  And it might just inspire and help a few other people that happen to stumble across it as well. 

8.  Write

I used to write in a journal quite often.  I don't anymore but I do remember that it used to make me feel better when I was able to get all of my feelings out on paper.  This one is kind of like the working out one.  Writing helps you sort out and process thoughts inside of your head.  Maybe it's time I dig that old high school journal up.  I'm sure reading through it and all of the 'problems' I had back then will at least make me smile a little bit.

So that's my list.  A few things I suggest NOT doing to cheer yourself up are shopping and drinking, unless you have self control, which apparently I do not because I've done both of these things while trying to cheer myself up and it didn't end well for me, my bank account, or anyone who was in the line of fire of 'Drunk Tarah', whom I have been told is a total bitch.

Happy Tuesday Friends!

XO. Tarah

 



 

Ice Cream for Breakfast = I need to buy groceries

It's freaking Monday again.  Double boo hoo.

I've been super busy lately but not good busy, like the fun kind of busy where I've done tons of super awesome things that I want to tell you all about.  The dumb kind of busy where I've been working a lot and nobody wants to hear about working, unless you do something really cool (which I obviously don't).

So let me tell you about my weekend.  FYI it wasn't very exciting.  I worked Friday night.  This weekend was ribfest in Chicago and it's located just down the street from where I work so we were super busy with lots of drunkies Friday and Saturday night.  Vinnie and I went to ribfest last year and it was pretty spectacular except for the fact that you have to pay 20 bucks for 3 little ribs and you might as well give the beer vendors a couple of your fingers for the price that they charge you for a dixie cup of Miller Lite (not really that would be gross but you get the picture).  But I would have rather been attending Ribfest than working down the street from it.

At Ribfest last year

I woke up late on Saturday and did a whole lot of nothing because we finally set our new TV up and it's huge and amazing and I don't wanna ever leave my couch again for the rest of my life.  I also tried to lay outside in our backyard for a while because I am paler than pale and it's almost the middle of June but it was cloudy and slightly cold so back to the couch I went.  And then I had to work again.

Please ignore the fact that our TV is set up on a janky desk with our old, small TV stand below it.  We're not white trash, we just haven't gotten our new TV stand from my aunt and uncle yet.  Also, see that team on the TV there?  That's the Blackhawks...GO BLACKHAWKS!  They won Saturday night and made it to the Stanley Cup!  

Sunday I slept in a little bit and then headed to the grocery store to buy some much needed groceries.  I ate an ice cream bar for breakfast since we didn't have any breakfast items, but let's be real, I absolutely would have done that anyways.

breakfast of champions

grocery run outfit...jimmy buffet concert tee (classy)

Then I came home and changed into an outfit that is more reasonable to wear out in public and Vinnie and I headed to the suburbs for his cousin's high school graduation party.  I do love his family so that was fun.  His sister and I also whooped some ass in bags and I forgot how much I freaking love bags.  

Then we came home and enjoyed our first Blu Ray experience on our new TV.  We watched Jack Reacher and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nicely done Tom Cruise.

And that's about all that I have to say about that.  My weekend actually panned out to be a little better than I originally thought.  Cool.

XO. Tarah 

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans

 

Life Lately

I've been having a bit of a rough time lately.

I am trying hard to be better.  I have battled with things inside me for longer than anyone knows.  I do not know what these things are or why they are there.  I just know that sometimes they start to feel unmanageable and unbeatable.

Most of the time I feel alone.  I'm not alone.  The thing is, I tend to keep everything to myself.  I hold it all in.  Sometimes I think I'm going to explode with all of these things inside.  When you keep things to yourself and you push them to the back of your brain and try not to think about them, eventually they will eat you up.  Maybe that's what's happening now.  These things are eating my brains.   

I have so many flaws.  But I am made up entirely of good intentions.  I would never do anything to purposely hurt anyone and most of the time I think of anyone else, before thinking of myself. 

I always thought this was a good thing, but maybe it's not always a good thing.

It's not easy to change the way you've always been though.

XO. Tarah