Adventures In: The Little Things

So I woke up this morning, before the sun, which is something I despise! A few mins before I was ready to leave I looked outside and grumbled to myself something about how I should not be leaving my house for work, of all things before the sun is out.

Jump to a few mins later, walking to my car, and pause because I see the most beautiful lovely pink happy fabulous sunrise.

It's the simple things loves!!


I didn't try to take a picture because I knew my little iPhone 4 couldn't/wouldn't do it justice. But for the whole ride to work I was smiling, loving the cotton candy blue and pink sky.

I hope your day got off to a great start too my loves!

Happy Tuesday!!

XO TaraPants

Adventures In: Becoming a LEGIT Bride!

Ya'll. I'm a legit bride now!

Until last night I was a fiance, now I'm a bride too. There is a difference, at least in my head.

I fiance is a bride who isn't in the stages of planning her wedding. That's not me any longer!

Mr. BRad has been bit by the planning bug, and is ready to get things rolling.

So last night we ventured to Target at 9pm to get a wedding planning binder! Yay for organization!! 

Today I exchanged emails, and phone calls with the possible venue, and we are meeting them/touring the site on Sunday!! Brad has been emailing with the possible caterer's, we'll be setting up a tasting soon too. 

The wedding still is going to happen until 2015, but getting thing started has been so much fun. 

We actually even bought vases for our center pieces this weekend. Umm hello Michael's clearance sales!!! Vases that were normal 9.99 for 1.99 each! SCORE!!! 

I love that BRad and I have very similar visions for what we want in this wedding. I'm even more exciting that he's, so far, willing and eager to take part in the planning. I'm a lucky girl!!

Okay friends that's all for now.

Anyone reading this has the right to call me out/shake me/etc if I turn into a bridezilla!!! :)

XO 

Love

TaraPants

Adventures In: Upcoming Adventures

Ya'll I can NOT wait to for October!!

I'm babysitting/having a best friends day on the 4th with my sweet "niece". Her brother and I start calling our special fun days "Best Friends Day". AddiCakes had been included, but we've never had a one on one day. I'm very excited!!! She cracks me up when we talk on the phone. She's developing such a big personality!

They next day the bestie, her hubs, the niece and nephew and I will meet up with my love in Indy for a Children's Museum adventure. I've never been, but I'm pretty excited.

The next weekend my love and I are off to my home town for The Fall Festival. The 2nd largest street fair in the US!!! He's never been. All my Evansville people know he's in for a treat!!! I'm excited!!! Yummy food, rides, THE MOUSE GAME!!!!  Eeeks. Excited!!

We also have a possible wedding venue in mind. We are going to check out that tommorw possibly. My lovely fiancé is getting pretty into wedding planning mode. It's adorable.

I adventured to the downtown Farmer's Market today with Brad's mom, aka Momma Bear. I loved it!! Yay for new things!

Ok lovelies. Hope you are all having a happy fall!!

XO
TaraPants

Adventures In: Wedding Venue Heartbreaks!

Okay okay.

I know I said we weren't making any official wedding plans yet, but I have started informally looking around at venues.

I'm going to have to sell a kidney on the black market to pay for a wedding!!

I've found a few venues that I LOVEEEE then I get their price sheets, and I fall over dead.

One place for the room and the food alone (no chairs/no tables/no liens/no soup for you) was $10,000. Yes 10 freakin' grand!  FOR A BARN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wedding venues be straight TRIPPIN'!!!!

Please please anyone give me suggestions for venues in the Indy/Bloomington area that won't make me have a stroke when I see the price tags.

Darn me and my champagne dreams on my beer budget!! :)

Anyhoo-- happy Fall to my lovely readers!!

This is my favorite season!!

I'm super pumped to head back to Evansville for the Fall Festival!!


XO-TaraPants

Adventures In: Wedding.... Dreaming?

Yes it's true I've already started having wedding dreams.

We aren't officially planning anything yet, but I've had at least 2 dreams.

The first one is fuzzy.

In the one I had last night everything was going wrong. OH NO!

I didn't have enough time to plan things, it was my wedding day, and none of the projects were done. I didn't have time to craft all the thing I wanted to. I was asking family members for help, and they wouldn't help me. It was bad news bears.

Lets hope that this is NOT for shadowing of how things will really go down. It can't be. I'm too anal about things being on time/planning etc.

It's just funny to me I'm already having wedding dreams.

I wonder how nuts my dreams will get once we set a date, and really get this wedding planning show on the road!!

Any other brides/brides-to-be have wedding dreams? Nightmares?

XO
TaraPants

Adventures In: ioS7

So here are my thoughts on the new IOS7 for iphones.

I like several of the features, however the overall look, to me, is cheap and ghetto. Honestly, it's just so basic- not what I'd expect from Apple!  

Here's what I am loving though (so far)

iTunes Radio: hello no ads. So long Pandora!!! I'm really loving this! 

The fact that you can open the flashlight from the home screen. Came in super handy last night when the boyfriendy  fiance fell asleep before me! 

I haven't played around with it much, but so far I do like the camera changes, and the way the "MOMENTS" and "YEARS" are organized in the photo albums. That's pretty cool to look at. 

The way the windows are organized in Safari are pretty neat. But nothing to write home about I guess.

I like the weather app a lot more too.

To be fair I only have a 4 so some of the changes/updates I'm not privy to. 

Anyhow. 

I really have no clue why I wanted to write this. Just sharing my thoughts with the world  :) (That and I'm super bored at work today!) 

Have a lovely day!

XO-Tara Pants

Adventures In: Nashville

So I had this massive post started about Nashville. But, honestly who is really going to read all that nonsense. 

Quick review. 

 

Trip down fun, lots of laughing, talking, singing along with the radio. Felt like it went by quick. 

We ate awesome food. 

The Dog of Nashville 

Blvd. Nashville

Monelle's (with my beloved former RA!! Thanks again Kricia) 

We saw awesome sights. 

The Strip 

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Blue Bird Cafe 

Antique Archeology (will always be special to me) 

The Ryman

Etc. 

The Butch Walker concert was amazing. As always.   Just amazing. 

Met cool people in line! 

The hotel sucked. The pool was closed. Thank goodness the neighbor hotel let us swim. Super relaxing. 

The trip home was fun. Stopped at

Sad Sam (fireworks and souvenirs) 

Lost River Caverns 

The National Corvette Museum 

That's a quick summary of our amazing trip. Even if he wouldn't have popped the question it would have been one of the best trips ever. We both needed to get away. We had fun focusing on us, relaxing, sight seeing, and officially taking or relationship to the next level. I'm so blessed!!! 

I'll share a few pics I have on my phone, the rest are on the computer. I'm slacking on posting them, but I will soon!!! 

Xo TaraPants

Adventures In: SAYING YES

Now this is the story all about how..... I GOT ENGAGED!!

OH MY GOODNESS friends, I can't believe I'm typing those words. Me, engaged. WHAT?

It's true.

Let me tell you lovely folks how this all went down. It's a pretty fun story, and really it fits BRad and I pretty perfectly.

So.. it was July 20th (ish) and Brad and I were having dinner. I think I blogged about this already. He texted me to ask if I wanted to go look at e-rings. I was over the moon excited about that. Well we went to look. We both fell in love with a ring and band. I was told to leave this store. Enter thoughts of OMG YAY OMG OMG I'm getting engaged at some point in the near future. OMG I'm so happy. Etc.

Cut to about 45 mins later. He calls me to find out where in the mall I am. I proudly show him the present I bought him. And casually mention, "did you find a present for me". AKA-- where in the French is my ring :) He tells me the financing didn't work out. I think umm what, you have super credit. But he goes on to say something about how he just got a limit on a credit card increased, and was just pre-approved for a home loan so those things probably caused him not to get approved. I bought it. Seems legit. Credit card companies are weird/I don't really understand them. BUT hey at least we are heading in the right direction. I'm excited.

Jump to a few weeks later, on a Saturday, we head to the near by town of Crawfordsville to spend the day, explore, see a movie because I won free passes from a radio station. We had a fun day, went to this crazy round jail museum place, antique stores, etc. I was DYING of thirst. BRad, likely sick of my whining, pulls into Taco Bell to get me a beverage. We are waiting in what has to be the slowest/longest drive thru line EVER. I'm bored. I'm fidgety. I'm pressing buttons, wiggling around in my seat, I'm basically a 5 year old. THEN IT HAPPENS.

No he didn't pop the question at T-Bell. I flick open the glove box, for ZERO reason other than I'm still bored. Andddd... WOOP THERE IT IS!! The bag from the jeweler!!! I'm not sure who slammed the glove box closed, I think it was both of us. My hand fly up, and cover my mouth. I'm sitting there in shock, happiness, excitement, OMGness I ruined it-ness. I almost cried, because I was so very excited. My sweet BRad is just like oh no. He's sort of in freak out mode. He finally asks me, "do you want me to do it today, or stick to my original plan?" I tell him of course stick to his plan, that way something will still be a surprise. I felt really bad that I messed up his plan. But we laugh about it now. I would be the one to find my e-ring in a Taco Bell of all places. It's just so us. I'm so very glad it's something we laugh about now.

Actually oddly enough we had went to dinner at good ol' Taco Bell the night before and he gave me a sauce packet that said WILL YOU MARRY ME. Hahah maybe they will cater our big day! :) Just kidding!

So I spent a few weeks trying to get hints, etc. I even convinced him to go ahead and take my ring in to be sized before it was official so that I won't have to part with it once it's mine!

So lets jump to Friday September 6th. We are in Nashville to enjoy a mini vacation, and see Butch Walker in concert. We went to Antique Archaeology the store from American Pickers. I got out of the car, and walked ahead. He told me to stop and stand on the grass that was in the parking lot. I wasn't facing him, but I stopped and stood there, looking around. I turn around after a minute or two and he was standing there with the sweetest look on his face and a sign that he had made that said "PICK ME". OMG So cute! He bought a cute little hard shaped box that was on the sign too. I walked up to kiss him, and said "pick you  for what" and he smiled even bigger. I was told to open the box, and there was my beautiful shiny ring!! I said YES!!!! And gave him another big smoooch. There was no big speech, but I'm sure I would have been a melted make up mess if that would have happened. It was sweet, and perfect. He told me over and over through out the weekend how much he loved me and what I meant to him, and we started using crazy words like fiance, and future husband/wife!!! :)

The next day, more than 24 hours later when we were driving home, it FINALLY clicked in my head why the sign said PICK ME..... we were at the American Picker's store!! Dingy me!! :) We cracked up about that aspect of the story :)

We also agreed on that drive that we would hold off making any big wedding plans until after the first of the year. We want to take time to enjoy this stage of our relationship. We don't want to rush into the stress and craziness that comes with wedding planning. Now of course I'll keep pinning things on my beloved (secret) wedding Pinterest board, and we'll discuss things I'm sure between now and then, but no plans will be officially made until after the holidays, and all that stuff.

Anyhoo-- that's the story of how I'm not a bride to be!!
Clearly I'm very excited, and so this story may not be the best written thing ever, but you can deal with that right? :)

XO
Tara

PS I was FLOORED to see that within one day over 100 people liked the first picture I posted of my ring on my facebook, it was my hey we are engaged announcement. We are feeling so loved!

Adventures In: Catching Up

Hello my long lost blog :)

Hello anyone reading this!

So what has happened since my last update?

I'm loving summer. It's been great to me. I haven't had any pool time so that's a bummer, but I'll survive.

My sweet "niece" Addison turned two! She is so smart, adorable, loving, and brave. Her turning two also gave us a reason to road trip to Bloomington!!

I turned 29! Brad had a great birthday weekend planned for me. I'm getting close to my "scary age", but I'm so very happy with my life right now.

My awesome "nephew" turned 4!!! FOUR I can't believe it. It makes me cry. He's so smart, funny, brave, etc etc. His birthday celebration meant another B-town visit! Yay yay!! Side note: last year for him and this  year for Addison I blew up tons of balloons and filled the hallway with them while they slept so they'd have a nice surprise before their parties. I didn't for J this year. One of the first things out of his mouth when he woke up, "where are my balloons". HEART CRUSHED!!!! I did water balloons for him later in the day so he could have a water balloon fight with me, the boyfriendy, and his friends and he seemed to enjoy that. Hopefully it made up for my aunt fail!!!

Things the the boyfriendy are going amazingly. Last night we.....LOOKED AT ENGAGEMENT RINGS!! It was 100% his idea. I was floored, in the best possible way!! We were at dinner, and I was giving him a hard time for looking at his phone. He texted me (while sitting a foot and a half away) to say "I love you". And I said "don't text me while we are sitting here together", and he was still typing away. I was getting annoyed slightly. He says something about he needs to send one last text. It was too me, and it said "want to go to the mall and look at engagement rings" Insert me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him to pieces, and I'm beyond excited about what the future may have in store for us!!

Oh speaking of the (not so distant) future--- - we are going to Nashville in Sept. Why? Oh to see my favorite (Butch Walker) in concert. My favorite musician, one of my favorite cities, with my favorite person. Color me EXCITED!!!!

Oh and COLORS-- I did The Color Run in Indy yesterday.  So much fun. I was sad that not everyone could go (ie Brad) but it was a blast, even getting stuck in the rain and having the color dust turn into color mud :)

Oh the 4th of July has come and gone too. We made it to 3 fireworks shows this summer. Love it!

We've become great friends with one of my co-workers. We've had many game/hang/chill nights with him and other pals. We've also started geocaching. However, apparently we are like 6 years behind on this trend. We've also done some fun exploring.

Okay that's my life update.

I hope anyone reading this is loving life as much as I am right now!!!

XO
TaraPants

PS this rambly post being brought to you by the fact that I got called into work at 6am on a Sunday. I'm exhausted, and needed something to focus on to stay awake. Thanks blog, and sorry for the million errors I'm sure I've made.

Adventures In: Running

I ran today. 

Yup! Okay. So maybe it was for only like 3 mins, but I'm calling it a win. I KNOW I could have gone longer, but I was wearing a crappy bra. 

5k here I come :) not that I'll run it, but this gives me hope I won't die!! 

Ok, just had to document/share!

XO loves. 

Adventures In: A Day In The Life.

So a blogger I follow is doing a Blog A Day in the month of May challenge. I'm clearly not doing that. Blogger fail, but I liked the prompt for the day today. It's probably going to be extremely boring, but why not share with my 3 readers what I'm up to today! :) I'll also share what I eat. That's because I'm trying to drop some major poundage, and accountability is key in that for me. This is why I use MyFitnessPal. Plus I like the blog Post that Emily at www.runninglikeamother.com did called "What I Ate Wednesday". Yay stealing ideas from other awesome bloggers :)


5AM- The boyfriendy's alarm goes off. BARF! 5am is evil. I mumble something to him. Glance at my phone,  and see I have a few texts from the bestie. Decide it's best to text her back later, after all it's 4am where she is, and I don't want to get cut for texting her that early!

7am(ish)- Boyfriendy comes to kiss me goodbye. I'm still snoozing. He asks me to check on his clothes in the dryer before I leave for work, because he turned them on, and after an hour they were "still soaked". He gives me a smooch or 2 or 4, he's off to work.

7:11am- my alarm goes off. I hit snooze.

7:20- I think "I don't want to go to school today". Boyfriendy and I say this to each other all the time. Neither of us is in school. I force myself out of bed, and start getting ready. I like to sleep in as long as possible, so I shower at night.

7:40- Check the clothes, they are dry. Text the boyfriend that clearly he must be drunk, because the dryer is fine! :) Text the bestie back, and head out the door. Call the bestie while driving to work, because you know DONT TEXT AND DIE! :) We chat while I drive, park, and walk into work. We have to park blocks away, which sucked in the winter, but is pretty awesome now.

8am- Ugh another day at work. Check the fax machine, check the other things I need to check in the morning. Check emails. Handle calls. Yahoo news story reading. Chatting with my office mate. More calls/work stuff.

9am- Check facebook, and the blogs I follow. Get the idea for this blog.

920- Breakfast at my desk. Since I've started this job I've become a breakfast person. That's good, or so they say. I had a Jimmy Dean English Muffin with egg whites, turkey sausage, and cheese. 250 calories. Not bad, and pretty tasty.

920-11ish more boring work stuff! 

11 take a walk around the block. My office is in the basement. Fresh air and sunshine are nonexistent down there. I'm so glad it's finally warm so these walks are enjoyable. 

11:15-1:30 more work stuff. Somewhere in there I need a snack. 6 starburst it is. Bad choice, but so yummy! 

1:30 I head home for lunch. Leftovers from last night. Meatloaf, peas, and a small amount of mashed potatoes. 

2:30-5 finish up the day. Mostly by reading more blogs, and looking at wedding dresses, because I'm that bored at work. 

5 notice my back tire looks flat. Call boyfriendy to see if anyone at the dealership he works for can look at it. No such luck. All the techs are gone. I stopped and put air in it until tomorrow when I can take it in. 

525- get home. Lounge around for a bit, and fell asleep. Whoops. But I did boil the eggs I needed for dinner before crashing. 

615 my honey is home. Smooooch! We chat a bit. He goes into the office to work on organizing his DVDs. I start dinner. Filets wrapped in bacon for him. I wanted grilled hot dogs. We love you Gorge Foreman!! We had Mac and Cheese and deviled eggs to go with it. I haven't added it into MyFitnessPal yet, but it should be within my calorie goal. I also started some chicken for chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. 

715 dinner is served. We eat, chat, start to watch Shrek.  After dinner he goes back to the office. I make chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. Boyfriendy taste tested. Thumbs up. 

8- off for a walk we go!! 

9- back home. I call my bestie in Bloomington and chat with her for a bit while sitting in the office watching the boyfriendy try to organize it. 

10 shower time for me. Come up with a great idea for the office. Make BF come in there to hear my awesome ideas. He's on board. Yay! 

1020 NASHVILLE!!! We thought tonight was the season finale, so we stayed up to watch it. It wasn't, but it was really good 

11:15. Snuggles and bedtime!!

So that was my day!! What did you do today?? 

XO

Tiara pants 

Adventures In: Being A Lucky Girl.

I don't know how I got so lucky to find my boyfriendy, but I'm oh so glad I did. Maybe it was my reward for putting up with so many assholes. So glad those days are behind me, and that they seem like a life time ago.

Why am I feeling so lucky friends? Look at the attached pictures? The boyfriendy sent me those messages recently. One while I was making dinner for us, the other last night while I was in the shower. It was pretty cute how he brought the one last night to my attention. I went to snuggle up with him on the couch. I grabbed my phone but didn't look at it when I sat done. He says, "hey I think your phone rang while you were in the shower". It didn't, but I saw that text and it made my night!!

I hope everyone as feeling as loved as I am. Also hopefully this can be a reminder to make sure your loved ones know how you feel!!

XO- TaraPants

Adventures In: LOLing

Just a quick post.

Two things:
I lost 2 lbs in my very first week of dieting. So exciting. Shout out to my bestie who lost 3!!!

And while talking to my bestie about our goals she suggested we celebrate after reaching a certain goal. I suggested we celebrate...... with cake!!! #fatkidlovescake

Ok bed time!!

XO love muffins

Adventures In: Friendship

I have a couple of thoughts I want to share about friendship.

First and foremost I'm so so thankful I have people I can call my best friends. I know they will be my true BFF's, and that last will truly mean FOREVER!!! Sara and Sarah and Alicia I'm so lucky to have you all in my life!!! I'm also lucky to have a handful of other people who are great friends. It's so nice to have people in your life that you may not see or talk to as often as you like, but when you do reconnect you pick back up right where you left off. It's a great feeling. I'm also so very thankful that the boyfreindy is also one of my best friends.

What sucks about my current friendships is that I have ZERO girlfriends in the city I'm currently living. My co workers are great, and I enjoy chatting with another co-workers wife, but these friendships aren't the same. We are work friends, and I need outside of work friends. Again, I'm super thankful that I can count the boyfriendy as a friend, but I NEED my girls! It's rough not having them in the same town. I miss being able to hop in my car and be at Webby's in 10 mins. or the late night trips to Steak and Shake with Silly. I'll never in my life be too old for slumber parties with these girls, but it's hard when they are 2 and 4 hours away.

I also don't understand why it's so much harder to make friends as an adult. I enjoy meeting new people, I think I'm pretty friendly, but man it's rough! Being in a new city with no girlfriends sucks. I don't recommend it! That's why I'm so glad I can talk to the boyfriendy about anything, and I can be my same silly self around him that I would be with my girlfriends, and he loves me, and laughs at my sillyness/randomness.

Friendships, especially when you are far away, and at different stages in life, take work. I fully get that. I make the effort to keep in touch with people, I feel like I really do, at least I try. When the other person doesn't seem to try it sucks. It hurts. I'm an emotional girl, and when people don't put the same effort into the friendship that I do, it makes me sad. (Just for the record Webby and Silly are NOT who I'm talking about here, they are great about making equal effort in our relationships). I don't like endings, or goodbyes, so when I feel friendships fizzling it's hard on me. I wonder do I keep making efforts, and continue getting my feelings hurt, or do I move on and close that chapter in my life, and smile at the memories made with said friend. Both are hard.

I love love love that I have amazing friendships, and great people in my life, but at the same time I'm sad because I feel other friendships ending, and have no local besties.

Okay--- there is no real point to this I guess. I can't sum things up in some nice little way. Just more Tara rambles :)

Do me a favor-- call a friend you haven't talked to in awhile today :) It'll make their day!!

XO
Tara Pants

Adventures In: Getting Healthy (Or Trying To At Least)

It's time for this girl to get her butt in shape. I'd never in a MILLION years be brave enough to post my weight on my blog like Emily did over on RUNNING LIKE A MOTHER WAY TO GO!!! Not only for being brave enough to post your weight, but more importantly for all your hard work. You are an inspiration! 

Yesterday I started (re)using the MyFitnessPal app. It has helped me in the past. I think just knowing I'm going to have to document what I put in my body helps me make better/smarter/healthier choices. I really like how easy it is. Plus it's free. Score. 

The boyfriendy and I also took a walk for over an hour. Tonight we are heading to the gym. We started off so strong with our workouts, but then he got sick, then I got sick, then we both got sort of lazy about it because of the cold. I wish it was warm enough to talk another walk outside, but Indiana weather is INSANE, and it'll be too cold. Such a bummer. 

The best friendy is also doing the app with me. We are going to be each others encouragement from afar. 

I'm excited and motivated. I hope that lasts. 

I'm also signed up for a 5K in July. I won't be running it. My boobs just DO NOT allow for running to happen. However, I'd like to complete this awesome super fun Color Run without feeling like I'm (or actually) dying!!! 

Wish me luck pals!! 

XO

Love TaraPants

Adventures In: CONFESSIONS!!

*These are my confessions*
Yup I just sang to you Usher style dear blog readers :)

So I was just chatting with my co-worker about Disney, and I stated "Disney movies are freaking scary".

It's true. They are. Why they are marketed at kids I'll never fully understand. The villains are too much.

So here is my confession.

At 28 years old I still have a reoccurring nightmare that I'm stuck in the mother freakin' Cave of Wonders.

Yup. The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin still gives me nightmares. It should be called the Cave of I'm Going To Haunt You For The Rest of Your Life!

Am I alone here? Maybe, but I doubt it. And maybe it's not the Cave that still haunts your sleep, maybe it's Ursula, or Scar, or being swallowed by the whale in Pinocchio, but I bet there is someone out there who still has bad dreams from enjoying "Disney Magic" as a child.


Anyhoo. I hope everyone is having a lovely day.
To anyone in the Mid-West who awoke to more darn snow this morning, I feel your pain.

Sending you all warm thoughts :)
XO -TaraPants

PS Spring, please come visit us, and stick around for more than just a day. I miss sunshine and flowers!!

Adventures In: Blog Failures.

So I wrote my last blog about wanting to post more, and all that jazz. Then I failed miserably.

Whoops.

But, I have been super sick. It's been awful. It started over a week ago, I got a little better, now I'm worse. No fever for the time being, but it was over 102. Now I'm just coughing my head off. It's not cute. It's actually pretty annoying, and painful. Urgent Care, which was a total joke, said I had an upper respiratory infection. They gave me steroids, which did nothing but make my face red and hot. I just want to cough up whatever is making my lungs feel like they are being squished and move on with my day!!

Basically the only time I'm not coughing is when I'm eating Edy's Whole Fruit Barfs. Thank goodness they are amazing!

So that's my quick update. When I get better its my goal to make this bloggity blog better!!

Xo TaraPants

Adventures In: Being A Blog Slacker

I totally admit 2 things. I started this blog because I really wanted it to be *something*, and I'm totally slacking on making that happen.

I'm not really sure what I wanted to make this blog into, but I wanted it to be fun, entertaining, updated often, and have more than one follower. (Thanks Kelli!). I guess the problem is I'm not really sure how to make some of those things happen.

My new goals for this blog will be posting at the very very least once a week, and I need to start following other bloggers to get inspiration and such.

Hey, at the very least this blog is currently my way of ranting, gushing about my boyfriendy, and having those things to look back on later in life. However, I want more out of it than that. I want people to enjoy it, or at least comment, or something.

Time to brain storm new ideas!! Thinking cap is on.

Stay tuned!!

XO TaraPants

Adventures In: Awesome Music Taste

So in case you weren't aware, I have super awesome taste in music.

I also wake up pretty much everyday with a different song stuck in my head.

Today that song was Canadian Ten- by the amazing Mr. Butch Walker.

This afternoon the song stuck in my head is This Party Just Took A Turn for the Douche by the hilarious Garfunkle and Oates.

I'm guessing most of you said "huh.. Who... What" about both of the above bands. So do us both a favor and check out one or both amazing artists. Very different from one another, but both still spectacular.

These aren't my favorite songs by either, but they are the ones I'm singing over and over in my head today!

Share with me the songs stuck in your head. Please? I'll love you forever because you'll be the first commenter on my blog!!

XO-
TaraPants

Adventures In: Having An Amazing Boyfriend

Hi friends. I'm going to get sappy in this post.

You've been warned!

So I'm laying here next to the boyfriendy, listening to his sleep breathing (poor boy works so hard. Eleven hour days and every other Saturday. I really should ease up on him for falling sleep before me, but anyhoo), and I am feeling so blessed. We've had some conversations in the last week that have stuck out to me. I want to share them. Mostly so I'll remember, but maybe it'll spark some fond memories in my readers. Ok. Reader. Ok person who is skimming this. Okay probably just the boyfriendy who I convince to read my sillyness somehow :)

Me: sing some sad song in the car (out of tune of course)
B: (turns radio down) you know, you've ruined every sad song for me!
Me: Huh?
B: I just can't relate to them anymore
Me: (melts into a pile of smiles) Awww!!



Me: (getting out of the shower, drying off) (shouts) Babe come here!!!
B: what?
Me: Feel my butt. I think I'm actually getting a butt from the gym. Omg I have no butt, do I have a butt now... Etc
B: (grabs butt) it is pretty juicy!!

Lol. One he never says things like "juicy butt". Two score!!! I hope this butt thing isn't some fluke. I have or maybe (hopefully) had the flattest butt ever!!!


Then this one is one I'll remember forever.

We were laying in bed Sunday night. We were discussing what a great weekend we had, and his birthday party etc. We were snuggled, and warm, and happy.

B: Will you marry me someday?
Me: YES!
Gladly.
But only say that if you mean it!

Then fell asleep with the biggest smile!! We've talked about marriage before. Where would we have the wedding, what songs we'd want played, etc. But hearing him put the question to me that way made it so much more real. I love him, with all that I am. I can't wait until the day I hear that question again, like for real, with a ring and all that jazz!!

Ok sorry if you barfed from my sappyness.

I love you all, and hope you all are feeling very loved today!!

Big Xs and Os from meeee!

-TaraPants

Adventures In: Personal Reflection

So at work today my office mate and I were listening to old school 90's jams. I played Graduation (Friends Forever) and then remembered the Sunscreen song. We listened to it, and I thought WOW. This is great advice! I'm going to highlight some of the lyrics that really stuck out to me, and made me think, and encourage me :) 

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.

Some of the highlighted parts are just fun, and remind me to enjoy things in life. Like DANCE, and SING, and Enjoy the beauty and power of youth.

Other parts really hit home for me. I found myself in a puddle of tears last night because I found out someone was saying some things about me that really hurt my feelings. But this song reminded me to shake it off. Easier said than done of course, but I need to focus on enjoying life, loving the people I love, and having as much fun as possible. 

I'm also going to challenge myself to be more positive. Negativity breeds negativity. I don't want that in my life. I can be one judgmental B, but I'm going to work on it. Sure I'll still look at the annoying girl at work, and want to make comments about how stupid she is, and I'm sure I'll sometimes still share those comments with others, or chime in when others are making comments that are negative. I'm not perfect. BUT I am going to be more mindful of saying mean things about people, and even try to stop thinking the negative things, and focus on the good in people. Life is so much easier when you can be positive. I know there is a fine line between positive and naive, but in all I've experienced in my 28 years I'm pretty sure I know the difference! The old adage "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is so NOT true. Words HURT!! I never want someone to feel what I felt last night because I discovered someone was talking trash about me because of something I said. Again, I'm not perfect, I'm for sure a work in progress, but I'm going to add this to the list of things I know I need to improve upon, and actually do something about it!! 

STARTING NOW! :) 

Wish me luck! 

Hope anyone reading this knows I appreciate them for taking time to read my (rambling) thoughts!! 

BIG X's and O's

Tara Pants

Adventures In: Being SUPER excited!!

Hello pals. I am so super excited today. Let me tell you why

• It's Friday
• It's nearly 60 degrees outside, hello crazy Indiana weather!!
• I'm going to Evansville tonight
• I'm road tripping there with my boyfriendy
• I'm staying at my besties all weekend
• I'm seeing my other bestie and her babies this weekend
• I'm finally celebrating Christmas with my mom and sister
• I talked to Jonathan (my handsome, smart, hilarious 3 year old 'nephew') on the phone last night, and he melted me heart into a giant puddle. "I get to see you this weekend" Me "YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Him. His excitement was so very sweet. He kept telling me how happy he was to see me, and called me his best friendy which is so cute because I call everyone "friendy" or Brad my "boyfriendy". Then he wowed me with his smartness. He sang me the ABC's and I know most kids at that age sort of mumble/smash together the LMNOP part, not J Man. He sang it clear as day! Then he was telling me about the car accident he was in, and I said "Did Daddy get his car fixed yet", he replied with, "Me and Daddy were thinking there is no way it can be fixed". Seriously? SERIOUSLY. So cute/funny/smart!!! He also sang me the IU fight song, which of course made this Hoosier girl proud!!! :)  Hence the IU logo at the top of this blog that I can't seem to figure out how to move.
• I figured out that Butch Walker produced one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs. That made the music nerd/Butch Walker lover/Taylor Swift fan girl in me super excited! 

Okay that's all for now from me!

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!!

XO- Tara Pants

Adventures In: Being Baffled By People

People just baffle me. The things people post on the Internet amaze me.

I think I should call up Mark Zuckerburg and convince him to hire me as the "bitch keep that shit off of Facebook" police.

Wonder why people are gossiping about you? It's probably because 1. you think you are being cryptic and posting things that 'no one will ever figure out'. Wrong. You aren't as clever as you think you are, everyone sees through your game. Or 2 you put way too much information about yourself, your baby daddy, your relationship, your kids, etc out there. A great line from The Social Network "the Internet isn't written in pencil". So very true!!!

Maybe people think I post to much about a certain thing, maybe I do. Feel free to share those opinions with me, Im open to constructive criticism. But I really don't think I use my Facebook page to cause drama, hurt people, or act like poor little me.

People seriously can we make a resolution to not throw pity parties on Facebook, especially when a) you create all the problems yourself and b) there are much bigger things you should probably be concerning yourself with.

*bows*
*steps off soapbox!*

Thank you that is all

XO TaraPants

Adventures In: Recapping/Looking Forward

2012. WOW. That really sums it up. It will go down in history of one of my best years EVER! 2012 brought so many great things. I had a blast bonding with friends, laughing with family, and loving my boyfriendy! The boyfriendy came into my life mid year, May to be exact. My life has been forever changed, for the best. We became "offical" in June, and I moved to Lafayette in August to be with him. Most people say it happened to fast, but darn it; when it's right its right!!! With him it was just right. Sure it was a major life change for me, but it hurt me so much being away from him. The road trips were fun, but I'd cry almost the whole way back to Evansville. Things were difficult with the move at first, finding a job took over a month, but sleeping next to the one I love every night made it all beyond worth it! I'm so lucky to have found him.

Anyhoo. Enough sappyness about the boyfriend. You can put your barf bags away!

This year had other great things too. Countless "slumber parties" with Webster, where we did all sorts of things, and nothing at the same time. Hours at pool this summer where my freckles exploded, and I got sunburnt lobster like! Many concert/road trips. Cowboy Mouth on NYE, and my birthday, Butch Walker in the spring, and on 12/30/12 too. Celebrating my the first birthday of my AddiCakes, and JMan turning 3. Those two cuties are some of my favorite people on this planet! I love love love watching them grow! We had plent of "Best Friends Day's" this year, went to the zoo in both Evansville and Indy. I also attened several wedding this year. I was honored to be a part of Emily's big day as a brides maid, and attned weddings of two great pals this fall. I had a trip to the ER this summer, that wasn't fun, but thankful I've had no major issues since.

Thank you 2012 for all of your amazingness!!

2013- bring it! I'm ready! This year I'm going to strive to be the best version of myself that I can be. In my work, in my relationships, in my health, all of it. I can't wait for the gym to open so I can start getting on track with my working out. I miss my awesome zumba class from Evansville so much. I'm going to make more of an effort to stay connected to the people who I love who don't live near me. I'm going to work hard to make new friends in my new city. I'm going to continue to be happy in my relationship with the boyfriendy. Relationships take work, and I'm ready to do the work to continue to foster amazing relationships with all the people I love!!

I hope anyone reading this has an amazing year!!!! Make each day count, and all that jazz!!

XO TaraPants

Adventures In: Being A Sap

In honor of the new year I wrote out for my boyfriend 13 (for 2013) things about him that I love.

Thanks for making 2012 amazing boyfriendy. I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us.

I love you!!!