A Weekend Full of Celebrations

This week is kind of flying by.  I can't believe it's already Thursday.  I guess that's what happens when you take a vacation day on Monday so you don't start your work week until Tuesday.  Monday should be included in the weekend.  Seriously, who do I need to talk to in order for this to happen? 

I was a lucky girl and had a four day weekend this past weekend because my brother was graduating.  I headed to Iowa (parents' house) Thursday night after work.  We drank a couple of banana bread beers and then headed to bed.  Quick story about banana bread beer (besides the fact that it's to die for): Last year when Vinnie and I still lived in the suburbs we stopped in bar that we had heard about called Bigby's Pour House.  This bar only serves craft beer and wine.  They don't have any fancy cocktails or even any liquor.  From the outside it looks kind of trashy but on the inside you'll be pleasantly surprised by the comfortable, cool atmosphere.  It's very small but makes you feel like you're hanging out in your buddy's pimped out garage with a bunch of couches, tables, and seats.  We loved this place.  Anyways, we tried Well's Banana Bread beer for the first time while we were visiting this place and fell in love.  We have not been able to find it anywhere since then.  Imagine my surprise when I get to my parents' house last weekend and my dad pulls out the same banana bread beer and asks me if I've ever tried it.  Good start to the weekend if I do say so myself.

Find me and try me now!

Friday morning we woke up and packed up the car to head to St. Louis.  I realized when I was driving to Iowa the night before that I forgot my dress I was planning on wearing to Kiefer's graduation.  Face palm.  Luckily I found a dress at my parent's house that I had worn to a wedding a couple of years ago so I didn't have to go out and waste money on a new dress.  I did however have to run to Target to buy some shoes to match my dress but new shoes never hurt anyone right?

The drive to St. Louis was a long one but we finally made it there around 6 or 7.  We all grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed back to Kiefer's apt (which is a tiny one bedroom apt btw).  We decided to watch 'Silver Linings Playbook' (my second time watching it, still love it) and then head to bed.  How did the four of us sleep in a tiny one bedroom apt?  Well, my parents slept in Kiefer's bed, Kiefer slept on his futon, and I slept on a single blow-up air mattress.  Not my best 2 nights of sleep but I can't complain. 

We woke up early Saturday morning, all got ready, and then headed to The Muny theater in St. Louis for my brother's graduation.

His graduation lasted about 4 hours, which was 3 too many in my book but he did it!  The youngest of the siblings graduated and my parents can now proudly say that all 3 of their kids have their college degrees.

We grabbed some lunch at a little cafe and then came back to his apartment and celebrated with champagne!

And then we all took a 2 hour nap. 

That night we headed to an Irish pub called Llewelyn's for dinner and more celebrations.  It was a cool place.  It wasn't fancy but Kiefer picked it and he's not fancy so it worked well for all of us.  

After dinner we headed back to Kiefer's to consume cake and watch a Korean horror film that he chose.  I was skeptical because we had to watch it with subtitles but it was Kiefer's night and he recommended it.  It turned out to be pretty good.

Also, Saturday just so happened to be the night that my niece, Emma, had her very first dance recital.  That's why my sister wasn't with us for Kiefer's graduation.  We wished she could have been there because we all have so much fun together.  We also all wished we could have seen Emma dance as a little bumble bee but the picture below that Shanna sent us all would have to do.
 

Cutest bumble bee I ever did see!

Sunday was Mother's Day so we all got up, ate cake for breakfast, got ready, and headed to lunch to celebrate my amazing mom.

We said good-bye to Kiefer and headed back on the road.  We got to stop about half way back to Iowa to see 2 of my aunts and my uncle, whom I haven't seen in a very long time.  Even though we didn't get to visit with them for long I am so glad it worked out and we were able to stop and see them.  

By the time we got back to Iowa it was pretty late.  My mom, dad, and I drank a glass of wine together and watched SNL before heading to bed.  

I had to get on the road pretty early Monday morning because I had to work that night and heading back to Chicago during rush hour traffic is not something I'm too fond of.  

This weekend was filled with family and celebrations and I am so glad.  A nice, relaxing weekend with my family was just what I needed.

XO, Tarah

 

Happy Graduation :)

Today is my Friday so I am counting down the minutes until the end of the work day.  After work I'm packing up and heading to Iowa to stay with my parents for the night and then tomorrow we are heading to St. Louis to visit my little brother, who is graduating from college on Saturday!  I can't believe he's already graduating from college.  That means he's an adult, and I don't even consider myself an adult yet.  The good thing is, this means he is one step closer to landing an incredible job, making tons of money (because he's got brains for days), and allowing his older, much less successful sister live off of him.  My master plan is finally coming together!

 
Congratulations Kiefer!  Your hard work is finally paying off and soon you will be more successful than me!  Yay!  A celebration is in order...don't worry I already bought champagne :)

XO. Tarah

Staying Positive

It's hard to stay positive all the time.  Actually, it's impossible.  Nobody can be positive every single second of every single day for their whole lives.  Life is not perfect, but that is the beauty of it.  Every single person has their own unique life, no 2 people are the same.  You have to go through struggles to really appreciate the good things that happen in your life.  If you didn't go through challenges and hard times, you would never know what it feels like when something amazing happens.  It's human nature to get discouraged and negative every once in a while.  It is how you choose to deal with those feelings that really defines who you are, in my opinion.  

Sometimes I look at the people around me, whether they're friends, family, colleagues, or even people that I don't really know who just seem to have it all together and I can't help but be a little jealous and sometimes even discouraged.  I see things happening for the people all around me.  They're all getting engaged or married or they're climbing up the career ladder with these amazing job opportunities, or they're buying their first house, and I can't help but think 'why not me?'  I have worked really hard for everything that I have but I don't have one stable job that I really like where I make enough money to live comfortably and still save for my dream wedding/honeymoon/house/'insert adult thing that people save for here'.  I have 2 dead end jobs with no room for growth and I still live paycheck to paycheck.  I haven't put money into my savings account in months, I don't get paid for another week and I've definitely got less than $100 in my checking account right now.  I apply for new jobs everyday but so far I've heard nothing back.  I get discouraged because 'it's' happening for everyone else around me, so why not me? 

My problem is that I am constantly thinking about the future.  I'm always thinking 'what's next?' and sometimes I just need to slow down, breathe, and think about right now.  Yeah, maybe I don't like my current job situation but I have a lot that I am appreciative about.  I moved to Chicago and started a life here for myself.  That was brave.  I may not make as much money as a lot of people I know but who cares?  You cannot compare yourself to other people.  You are you and you will never be those other people, nor should you want to be.  You are unlike anyone else in this world, you are unique.  Embrace it.  I know that things will come around.  Some day I will have a job that I like, I will be able to live comfortably while saving, and maybe I'll even have weekends off like 'normal' people.  But until then, I'm getting by, I have plenty of 'things' that I don't necessarily need, I'm healthy, loved, and happy.

What I'm trying to say is that it's ok to be unhappy and discouraged every once in a while.  You're human, you're supposed to feel this way sometimes.  But once you've felt sorry for yourself for a little bit, think about the things that you do have, appreciate them, and start thinking positively.  

Truth.

XO. Tarah

 

Cinco de Mayo Weekend

Hola!  Happy Tuesday!

This week is jam packed with work for me.  I'm working both of my jobs 3 days in a row.  But it is also a short week for me so I can't complain too much.  Also, I get to see my family this weekend because my little brother is graduating from college!  So I will endure this hectic week because I know it will be ending early with a lovely, family filled, stress-free weekend.

Since my weekends pretty much all look similar, I don't really know why I continue to recap them.  But, without further ado, here is my weekend:

Friday - work duh!

Saturday - I got my hair cut and my hair dresser who I've been going to now for a year told me she's quitting and going back to school to fulfill her dreams.  Good for her, bad for me!  Getting a good hair dresser in Chicago who doesn't charge a month's rent to take a little off the ends of my hair is like finding your contact that just fell out of your eyeball in a 90 ft deep pool...impossible!  I really like my hairdresser.  She was nice, not awkward at all, and always knew what to do to my hair.  Boo.  So, in 8 weeks I shall start the impossible task of finding my contact that fell out of my eyeball while diving into a 90 ft deep pool a new hairdresser that doesn't suck.  Oh and then Saturday night I worked, again, duh!

Sunday - Vinnie and I actually both had the whole entire day off.  BOTH OF US!  The last time that happened was when we went to Vegas last month, and that was obviously because we planned it.  So I slept in til noon (don't judge me, I worked until 3:30 am Saturday) while Vinnie got up at 7 am like a crazy golf obsessed person and went golfing.  By the time I got up, had some breakfast, and got ready for the day, Vinnie was just coming home from golfing.  Worked out perfectly.  We spent our day running errands at Home Depot and Target, like a lovely little couple.  We purchased our first grill.  Yes, it is a tiny, table top, charcoal grill, but we both couldn't be more excited to bust that thing out and cook hamburgers, hotdogs, kabobs, and anything else we can possibly think of to grill this summer.  We spent all of last summer without a grill so we made sure to jump on it this year and get one before it's even nice enough to grill outside yet.

We also got new toilet seats for our bathrooms but that's not quite as exciting so I won't share pictures.

When we got home I made Mexican Porkchops and we enjoyed a couple of Coronas to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  Actually when we got home I went to make Mexican Porkchops because I had just bought all of the ingredients while we were out running errands but I realized I forgot a minor ingredient...the porkchops!  So I ran to the grocery store down the street to pick up porkchops...and tequila.

After letting our stomachs digest the massive amounts of Mexican food we just inhaled, we took Marley for a walk to Baskin Robbins and got some ice cream.  

Waiting for Vinnie to purchase the ice cream.

Then we walked home, ate ice cream, watched 'This is 40' which wasn't that good but I didn't hate it, had a tequila shot, and went to bed.  Nice little Sunday if I do say so myself.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Cinco de Mayo weekend!

XO. Tarah

 

What Happens in Vegas...

Happy Friday!  

Last night I worked both of my jobs so I didn't get home until about 1:30 am and then I had to get right back up at 6ish am to get ready for another long day today.  I'm working both jobs again today so I'm going to be running on empty around 10 or 11 pm tonight.  Since I got food poisoning and was sick the other week I haven't consumed one cup of coffee.  Yep, you heard that right.  The girl who is addicted to caffeine has gone a whole week and a half without any coffee.  Coffee was upsetting my stomach and making me feel sick so I quit cold turkey until I started to feel better.  Well, this morning I decided it was ok to have a cup of coffee while I was getting ready for work since I was running on about 4 hours of sleep.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  It's been quite an accomplishment for me.  I've been drinking Yogi green tea instead of coffee and it's been giving me a little boost, but not quite the boost that coffee gives me.  But it is A LOT  healthier and I've been trying to be better health wise lately.  So even though I had a cup of coffee today I am still going to try to limit my coffee intake.

Ok, so now that it's been 3 weeks since my Las Vegas vacation, I figured it's probably about time to talk about my experience there.  We got up early Friday morning and packed our bags, took Marley to the boarders, and had lunch with my room mate because she was moving to Washington the next day.  After lunch she drove us to the airport and we boarded out plane to Vegas.

At O'Hare, waiting to board our plane

Starting our vacation off in the air

The flight was about 4 hours long and we gained 2 hours.  We landed in Vegas at about 6:30 pm, got our bags, and took a shuttle to our hotel on the Strip.  We stayed at the Cosmopolitan.  It's only 2 1/2 years old so everything was super updated and modern.  

Image from Google Images

We checked into our room, changed our clothes, and went to find a restaurant within the hotel to eat at because we hadn't eaten since about 1 pm and we were starving!   Everything was pretty packed since it was a Friday night but we walked up to one restaurant that looked interesting and they were able to seat us right away.  The place was called D.O.C.G. (no idea what that stands for).  We ordered drinks and decided to split a pizza that our waitress recommended.  It was quick possibly the best pizza I've ever had, and I live in Chicago where we have the best pizza, so I've had my fair share of amazing pizza.  This pizza was called 'The D.O.C.G. Pizza' and had fonduta, egg, and truffle.  To die for!  We also split a dessert.  I don't remember what it was at all but I remember loving it as well.  So we were off to a good start in Vegas.  

After dinner we went down to the main floor of the hotel, where they have the casino and a couple of bars.  We had a drink at a sports bar where Vinnie watched the Lakers game and I watched people.  Seriously, Vegas is the best place for people watching, which just so happens to be my favorite sport (jk).  We went back to the room and enjoyed a celebratory cigar out on the balcony, which had the most amazing view.  

This was the view from our balcony!

My parents finally arrived at around 11 or 12.  They checked into their room and then met us downstairs for a couple of drinks.  We called it a night around 1 or so because we were all exhausted from our day of traveling.

First night in Vegas with my parents

The next morning we all woke up and went to the pool to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The pool was packed but luckily we were able to find a few sports and we just so happened to have a great view of the strip while we were sun bathing and enjoying some breakfast and mimosas.

After hanging out at the pool all day we headed back to our rooms and got cleaned up and headed to The Wynn where we had reservations to eat at Lakeside Restaurant. 

Image from Google Images

I didn't feel very good while we were at this restaurant so I didn't really eat a lot.  The place was really cool though and everyone else enjoyed their food.  One thing I noticed about all of the hotels we went to in Vegas was that they had decorated ceilings that were very unique and awesome.  The Wynn's ceiling was one of my favorites.

After Dinner

Ceiling of the Wynn

After dinner we went back to our hotel because we had tickets to go see The Yeah Yeah Yeah's concert that night and they just so happened to be playing at our hotel, outside by one of the pools.  We went to our rooms to grab sweaters because, even though it was almost 90 degrees that day, it was starting to cool off as the sun went down.  Then we all headed to the pool for the concert.

in the elevator heading to the concert

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

best picture we could get.  it was super windy this night!

The concert was awesome!  We were all really glad we went!

The next day we decided to head out and explore the strip.  Our first stop was The Paris hotel.  The ceiling of this hotel was really cool because it was painted with clouds like it was the actual sky.  It also had trees and other decor that made it look like you were in Paris while you gambled in the Casino.

Image from Google Images

We decided to buy tickets and go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower where  the view was unreal.  I only wish we could have seen it at night time because the bright lights would have looked really cool from up there.

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

View from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower

Next we went to the Bellagio to explore and have lunch.  The Bellagio Fountains started going off as we got closer but I didn't get a very good picture of it.  One thing I regret is not seeing them at night.  I've heard it's amazing.  The ceiling of the Bellagio was of course really cool and artistic.  We walked through the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and it was gorgeous!  It also smelled amazing!  I couldn't tell you what the restaurant we ate lunch at was called but it was located right off of the Gardens.  It was pretty good but we just ordered some appetizers so it wasn't anything special.

Best picture I got of the Bellagio Fountains :(

After lunch

After lunch we headed back to our hotel rooms and got cleaned up again.  I forgot to mention in the beginning that the reason we went to Las Vegas when we did was because my dad had a convention to attend for work.  He goes to this convention in Las Vegas every year and my mom always goes with him.  We figured that we needed a vacation, I had never been to Vegas, so we decided to tag a long with them.  My parents were supposed to go to an Orientation, meet and greet, type of thing this night but my mom ended up getting really sick (she is where I inherited my terribly sensitive stomach from) so my dad had to go by himself.  While my dad was at the orientation and my poor mom was feeling awful, Vinnie and I headed down to the Casino on the main floor of our hotel to do some gambling.  It was fun but we didn't win any money.  This was my first time gambling and it's crazy how fast you can lose money.  

This is the only picture I actually took of the Casino

Image from Google Images

Image from Google Images

Image from Google Images

I was so afraid that my mom was going to be sick the rest of the night.  This was me and Vinnie's last night in Vegas so I was going to be so sad if she didn't make it out with us.  Luckily she did start feeling better so her and my dad met us in the Casino and we went to another restaurant in our hotel called Comme Ca.  It was a French brasserie and the food was really great here.  The cocktails were even better though!  What was really nice about this night was that we went to dinner pretty late, around 8:30 pm, and there was only one other couple in the whole place.  It was also a Sunday night so it wasn't a prime night to be out.  The atmosphere was really cool and we were able to relax, have a nice conversation, and relax.  Our waiter was also really great.  This was probably my favorite part about the whole trip.

In Comme Ca after dinner

Finally found someone to take a picture of all 4 of us together

After dinner we headed back down to the main floor and ended the night having a few drinks in the Chandelier Bar.  This bar actually looks like a giant chandelier and even has different levels with more bars.

My beautiful mother doesn't even look like she had been sick just a few hours earlier

 
We woke up the next morning, reluctantly packed our bags, checked out of our hotel, and said good bye to my parents because they were still staying in Vegas for a few more days.  I was happy to be back home with Marley but I sure do miss the beautiful weather, the carefree attitudes that we got to have because we had nothing in the world to worry about, the relaxation, and of course my wonderful parents.  It wouldn't have been the same without them there!  We had so much fun but the trip went so fast.  3 days and 3 nights in Vegas might be enough time to spend in Vegas but I do wish I had a few more days to spend with my parents.  

Now I'll spend the rest of my weekend working and wishing I was somewhere warm, like Las Vegas, since the weather decided to do a nice little switch-a-roo and go from 80 degrees to 45 degrees in 2 days. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

XO. Tarah