6.29.2007

puppy

I think we're getting a little sister for Pedro this week. I can't wait - will update with pics as soon as I know!!!

UPDATE: I am so disappointed. My Grammy "promised" the dog to someone else but didn't tell me. I was pissed because I'm thinking, "why didn't you just say something" but it obviously wasn't meant to be and Todd said we can pick our own doggie out.

friday fun #4

Rainy Day - from Five on Friday.

http://friday.criminalgrace.com/

This week these questions just seemed appropriate.

1. Does the rain make you feel blue? Absolutely. It has been raining for 4 weeks and I'm in a funk.

2. Do you find that rain ruins or improves your day? If it were hot and humid, the cool rain would refreshing. Lately, the rain just ruins my day.

3. Have you ever danced/splashed/ran in the rain? I have - all of the above. Just recently, S&S and I were running at LaFourtune and it started pouring, we ran about 1.5 mi in the rain and it was so much fun.

4. What do you like to do on rainy days? Sleep. Well, eat and sleep. But I like to do that every day.

5. Do you save for "rainy days"? No way, I don't save for any day.

6.28.2007

mmm... cooking

It's been awhile since I've cooked at home, besides a quick breakfast anyway. Since my fridge started working again, I decided it was time to buy groceries other than bottled water.

Monday after I did my grocery shopping, I made a frozen dinner. It was one of those Amy's organic stuffed focacia. It was pretty tasty, especially washed down with some wine I got in the Lou this past weekend.

Last night I was really excited to cook. I planned on having swordfish, mixed veggies and a salad. They all turned out great!

My salad was a mixture of organic romaine, roma tomatoes, fresh bacon pieces, goat cheese, and a tasty (bottled!) sesame vinaigrette that was more like a balsamic than an Asian dressing.

I marinated the swordfish from an altered allrecipes.com recipe that I found for "firecracker salmon". The marinade called for balsamic vinegar but I couldn't get mine open so I sub'd olive oil, vinegar, and soy mixed together. I mixed that with some brown sugar, Siracha, garlic, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and ginger in a bag and added the swordfish filet for a couple of hours. I preheated my handy Foreman grill and grilled the fish for about 8 minutes, until it was opaque and flaky. Meanwhile, I had a touch of water going in a pot with the steamer basket in it and added some fresh bagged veggies - a mix of sugar snap peas, broccoli, carrots, and some unidentified stringy things - after I picked the celery out. I let the veggies steam with some lemon-pepper seasoning while the fish was cooking. Here's the finished product:


It was a simple and tasty dinner. All in all, it took me all of 15 minutes from start to finish. Next time I'll get something other than swordfish, it's not one of my favorites but I enjoyed its steak-like texture.

6.25.2007

weekend

I’m back from the Lou! We had an amazing weekend and it was great to get away for a couple of days. Sometimes I just enjoy the break from my doggie, Pedro, whom I conveniently left at the kennel for a few extra hours today.

Friday was a hectic day. I ran errands at lunch, went and picked up the new White Stripes CD for my road trip. Good CD, not completely in love with it yet but I need to take it home and really rock out to it. We were short-staffed at work so it made the afternoon go by quickly. Bossman finally let us go around 3:30 (I know, we’re spoiled) so I ran to get gas and hit the highway. I hit traffic twice before even getting out of Oklahoma so I thought I was in for a long drive. Luckily the traffic stopped me long enough to let some nasty storms pass and I didn’t have to deal with that the whole way. I arrived in St. Louis, well actually a suburb of St. Louis, to find my honey and his roomie hanging out. It was about 9:30 and Toddles was rearing to go to the casino as he had cashed in his coin jar and had play money. After a quick shower and change, we headed out for the night. We started out at Ameristar with no luck so we headed to Harrah’s because I hadn’t been there yet. The crowd was better but the casino was nastier. You have to have a card to play at the casinos in Missouri so I waited in line for my turn to get a tracking device. They asked the funniest questions - how tall are you, when did you graduate, what is your zodiac sign - I joked about my future child’s name but they didn’t think it was very funny. We hung out there and played for awhile. We found two really cool games, one was War - casino style, and the other was this video poker with bonus hands. They were both a lot of fun and before you knew it 3:30 a.m. had rolled around and my little eyes were tired. On the way home, I could hardly stay awake but managed to chat until we got to the house.

Of course we slept in on Saturday. We were both completely wiped out. I think we got up around 1:00 and got ready for the day. We tried this little burger joint for lunch that I had read about on A Hamburger Today called Pete's in Wentzville. It was okay, certainly no Ron’s but still tasty. T is so funny, everything needs more meat and it disgusts me when he says that but I can live with it. After that we went back to the house and crashed out. All of the things we wanted to do were nixxed because it started pissing and pouring. So we napped... It was nice - our bellies were full and it was thundering, you couldn’t help but get sleepy. After a couple of hours of downtime we decided to go shopping. He took me to World Market because I hadn’t been and really wanted to. What a neat place! I got a whole bag of fun stuff for $30, I can’t wait to go home and unwrap it today. Then we went drove around and finally found Trader Joe’s. I had wanted to stock up on some Two Buck Chuck wine (Charles Shaw $2.00/bottle) and look around but by the time we got there they were about to close so I just grabbed a half a case of vino. I’m excited to try that as well, I’ve heard it’s pretty decent for the price. We grabbed some yummy dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory after making 3 laps down restaurant row. I had lasagna and T had some meat lover’s thing, along with some nice Chianti and a salad. It was reasonably priced even though the menu was somewhat limited. We just enjoyed being able to sit and talk and drink. After our meal we headed back to his side of town to the little bar in the neighborhood that we enjoy so much. There were two guys playing and one of them happened to be the dude who sold T his car. When I bummed an ashtray from the table next to us, one of the guys decided to turn around and chat with us. He was a St. Lou transplant from Louisiana. Right off the bat he asked us, “what’s the hold up?” on our living situation, to which we both laughed. Toddles and I had talked a bit at dinner about me moving there and if it’s going to happen it won’t be until September. We sat and listened to the music as we couldn’t really talk over it because of the volume. We drank our delicious drinks and made googlie faces at eat other until the bar closed. It was a perfect evening. No friends, no family, just me and my man - the way I like it now and again.

We stayed in his room most of Sunday, except for lunch and T actually picked something new to eat. We went to Qdoba and stuffed ourselves silly and headed back to the house in time to watch the race. I fell asleep like always and T woke me up in time to get home at a decent hour. I hate leaving and I now know how he feels when I beg him to stay - it sucks! I won’t do it again, I really promise this time. It’s hard enough as is...

So, that’s my weekend. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Well, except for the rain but what’s a person to do? We just deal.

6.22.2007

friday fun #3

May Flowers - from Five on Friday

http://friday.criminalgrace.com/

1. What are your favorite kinds of flowers? Gardenias, dahlias, and peonies are the most beautiful flowers to me...

2. Do you have any cut flowers in your home or office right now? What kinds? Not today, but I did have some fresh cut roses from the monstrous rose bush in my front yard on the coffee table this week.

3. Are you growing/planting any live flowers inside or outside your home? What kinds and where? I have two rose bushes in my yard, one that's over 8 ft. tall (I keep cutting it, it keeps growing taller) and one that's really wimpy. They both make pretty flowers!

4. Which flowers do you associate with specific people, places, or events? Well, carnations and peace lilies mean death to me. Roses equate love. Easter lilies mean it's Easter-time (duh). Hydrangeas remind me of my great-grandma. Tulips remind me of Spring.

5. When was the last time you were given flowers as a gift? Toddles gave me flowers in February just for the heck of it... Such a sweet guy!

6.18.2007

Case of the Mondays...

The reason I'm blah could be because my sweetheart is all snuggled up in my bed, snoozing away while I'm sitting at work trying to keep my eyes open. Could be the disgusting, gloomy clouds that keep rolling by my window.

We had a super weekend. Friday night was poker night with The Gang. Toddles almost won but he got beat by his dad. We went to a couple of places afterwards and ended up closing down a bar near my house. Saturday was funny, we both wanted to go do something indoors but we couldn't agree so we went and had a late breakfast and lounged around the house all day. I love those kind of days and we normally reserve them for Sunday, but since we had plans with his dad it was nice to still get it on our short visit. We both thought we were going to be miserable at the horse races that night but it turned out to be the most perfect evening, for June in Oklahoma anyhow. We didn’t have much luck until the last two races we bet on, I kept telling T that I wasn’t going to touch the money because I have bad mojo when it comes to gambling, so he was making the bets for me. I picked the winners of the last two races and we almost covered our losses for the night. I think we spent more on booze than horses, but man, they make a killer Crown and Coke at the track. We tried to go to Santino’s later that evening but it was packed a-holes to elbows so we didn’t stay. We ended up at the Depot like normal and we stayed until the cops decided to raid the bar, which is never pleasant. I guess they were checking the tax tags on all of the machines and the liquor licenses, I’ve never seen that bar clear out so fast at 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday night. I thought it was funny to watch everyone scramble outside, as they don’t know you’re safer inside, can’t get a DUI if you’re not driving. Duh peeps.

Sunday was another relaxing day. We headed to T’s dad’s house for lunch and the race. We ended up staying over there all day and they went to buy a new tv. I helped his stepmom clean up the house while they were gone. I really missed my daddy that day, it sucked being away from him on “his” day but Toddles’ dad makes a good back up. They’re so good to me and treat me like one of their own. We stayed over there long enough to take them to dinner since they got the pizza for lunch. We went to Chili’s and it was delish! I love those damn chicken crispers but they are so bad for me. After we ate dinner we met S&S for a drink and stayed until the second showing of Entourage came on, then we went to watch that.

It was really a nice weekend. We didn’t talk about moving but I’m thinking that will happen when I’m in the Lou visiting this next weekend. We were so lovey all weekend, it felt good to have my boyfriend and best friend around. I love that guy so much it makes me crazy, but in a good way, ya know? I bet the next 4 days go so slowly.

I'd like to give a shout out to my Pops, even though he doesn't have the internet or really know how to use it, maybe this will get to him in spirit. Thanks for always being the number one man in my life, you're always there when I need you - whether it's to talk or just listen, or to knock some sense into me. I'm glad you're my friend and my hero - my life would be so different if you hadn't made big choices to stick around and raise us. You did a fine job! I love you Daddy!

Pass the tissue, I'm such a baby.

6.15.2007

Friday fun #2

From Friday's Feast: http://www.fridaysfeast.com/

Appetizer
What do you consider to be the ultimate snack food? Popcorn with peanut butter M&M's.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), about how popular is your last name? Uh, 10! Bet you can't guess what it is?!?!?!!

Salad
Who is your all-time favorite sitcom character, and why? Phoebe from Friends - she was so quirky and funny!

Main Course
Do you shop online? If so, name some sites you like to browse for goodies. Not very often, if I do it's eBay. I like to shop IRL.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I think pot should be legal. Sorry, but I do.

Changes.

So I was feeling a little down in the dumps this week. I think it's the weather but whatever. I got off work early on Wednesday afternoon and was talking to Shannon the way home from work. I got home and decided that I was going to cut my hair off because it was jacked up after I colored it for the wedding. It was breaking every day and was almost melted together. Yucky! I had the girl cut it in a slant, she took about 8 inches off the back and 6 or so in the front. It's so damn cute! I love it, I am short-haired, sassy Tara again - woohoo!

I had plans to hang out with Sean so we went to dinner with Chris and his boys and then Sean informed me that we were going to get tattoos by Jaspyr. I'm thinking cool, he's going to get his worked on, whatever. Chad met us up there to get his back piece recolored, it was a cool parlor. Very nice space. I started looking through the books and found this beautiful cross that I wanted but didn't know where. I had wanted a girlie skull for awhile but hadn't gotten it. Until then. I got my skullie on my foot and I'm so happy with it!


Isn't she cute? : )

A little promo for SoulStyle Tat2 - it's at 11th and Peoria. They do good stuff!

6.12.2007

Binge.

Since I’m always a little slow on Mondays, I guess I’ll do my weekend review on Tuesdays. I was still drunk when I woke up yesterday morning so there was no way I could recount the weekend’s events. I felt like hammered doggie doo when I finally sobered up. Those late-afternoon hangovers suck.

I had a wonderful weekend! Let’s see.... Friday started off at the Depot with Chad and Sean. We stayed for about an hour and then headed back to Sean’s so I could take a power nap. Billy showed up so we went and grabbed some sushi, it was delish like always - from Asahi. Oh man, I choked on one of the rolls and thought I was going to die at the sushi bar. Bad deal. After we ate we went back to Sean’s to meet up with Chad again and the four of us went to Santino’s to see Ass for a minute. The guys were dead set on going to Cloud 9 so I took them, being the nice friend that I am. I don’t mind it, $1 dances and they have liquor now so it’s okay. We got pretty tanked, I stayed out way too late.

Saturday, oh Saturday... It was the down time that I needed. I slept until about noon and I woke up craving pot roast. It was a mean craving so I decided to go try the new diner down from my house. It was nice and clean, you couldn’t hardly tell it was an old Taco Bell. They got my food to me super fast and I ate it so fast that I thought I was going to ralph. I finished most of it and went home to nap. I was tired, what can I say? I woke up around 3 and found out Sean was ditching our movie plans to go with someone else. Dick. So glad I’m “#1" like he says... I went for some retail therapy to find a swimsuit for Jules’ pool party on Sunday. I found a cute one-piece that covered my chubs, some shoes, a dress, and a really nice shirt. I went back home and finally showered, I was pretty gross. Got out of the shower and watched 3 hours of a HBO movie about the Tsunami. Sad stuff. C&C called, they wanted to go sit on the patio at Los Cabos so I joined them for a late supper. I don’t really care for Los Cabos, it’s almost like glorified Taco Bueno, but the atmosphere is good so whatever. After that we went the Depot and hung out for a bit. It was dead but I think that’s because Country Fever was in town. Yay. Let’s go sit in the rain and listen to people whine. Sorry, not a fan.

Sunday was the big pool party. I woke up still full from dinner so I skipped on the brunch plans we had to do at Jazmoz or whatever Bourbon Street CafĂ© is called now. I laid around and watched another movie until the lawn lady decided to mow my front yard, I couldn’t hear so I hopped in the shower. I got ready for the party and headed to the store to fill my cooler. Beeeeer... I made some killer mojitos and we all got our happy buzz on. It was a really fun day, I saw some peeps I hadn’t seen in awhile, got some sun on my white ass, and just hung out. It was hot and muggy so the pool felt nice. We ended up going to the bar in our suits and staying until 2:00, which was the cause of my drunkenness on Monday morning. Bad, bad girl. Oh well, I don’t have binges like that very often so it’s okay every now and again.

Ciao folks!

6.08.2007

Friday fun #1

I'm tagging myself... : )


5 everyday favorites: coffee, the pond outside my office, seeing T's name on caller ID, my couch, putting my jammies on
4 mood-lifters: kisses from Nater, eating, driving, cooking
3 reasons to get out of bed: work, weekend, Pedro has to go potty
2 people you love: Toddles and Chris
1 thing you love about yourself: charisma


The show last night was amazing, I had a lot of fun. I was eye level because I found a perfect seat, he played for almost 3 hours and I was literally moved to tears during one of his acoustic jams. I am so glad that I decided to go.


6.07.2007

...

Independence.

Tonight I am going to see Ben Harper. All by myself.

I am officially a big girl. Uh... woman.

Saw him in 2005 at the Hard Rock in Vegas, it was a surprise birthday gift to Toddles on our first trip there. It was a short set because it was a fundraiser, most of it was us watching Robin Leech auction stuff off and by the time Ben got on stage we were both a little sauced so I don't really remember much of the three songs he sang. Oh well, it was really awesome just being there.

I cannot wait for tonight!

6.05.2007

yum yum yum

There is nothing better than a really big turkey sandwich on freshly baked "everything" bread...

My belly is so happy.

6.04.2007

Boy oh boy!

I am recovering from a long and eventful weekend!

My weekend started early as I had to be in OKC for the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night for my brother’s wedding. Everything went smoothly and the wedding party and their families went to dinner afterwards. That night I wasn’t feeling too well so I doped myself up on a lovely cocktail of muscle relaxers and pain pills to ensure a much needed heavy sleep. I woke up 10 hours later feeling quite revived except for the back pain from hell that would not go away.

Friday was a lazy day, I got to spend time with my daddy, whom I hadn’t seen since December. I hate that he’s living in California but I know he’s doing it for a good reason so I have to let it go. I just miss him so much. We talked about me moving to the Lou and Trevor’s impending marriage, as well as Tyler and what’s going on in his life. Dad fully supports me moving to be with Toddles, which I think I needed, since he’s always been my #1 fan. He knows that T and I are destined to be together, it’s just time for us to grab the reins and do something for ourselves.

Saturday was insane in the membrane! The day started off with a hangover, always a nice way to wake up. Toddles and I grabbed some lunch and headed to the park where the wedding was going to be to help set up the reception hall and chairs for the ceremony. The day could not have been more perfect, according to every weather channel and internet source, it was supposed to rain all day but we lucked out and the sky was clear and bright blue. We helped the bride’s family get everything set up and I took off to set up the honeymooner’s room for the night but couldn’t find anywhere to park so I had to skip that idea. I-40 was completely locked up because of construction so it took me 40 minutes to make my way back to our hotel and get ready and make signs for the park. Thank goodness for valium because I was stressed - big time. When I got back to the room, T told me that I only had 35 minutes until we had to be back at the park for pictures. What did I do? Grab a beer and take a breath... It kept me cool. I got ready in no time and we looked pretty freakin hot if I don’t say so myself. We headed to the garden for pre-wedding family pictures and did the meet and greet with all of the relatives. Of course, by this time, it was 10 degrees hotter and the sun was shining with full force, and I had 3 layers of clothing on. 3 layers + sun = sweat factory. I’m sure we’re all shiny in the pics but oh well.

Oh, they’re so cute - here’s a pic from the reception...

The ceremony itself was beautiful. R’s dad was the minister and he did a really great job. I think he made everyone there cry. I teared up seeing my little brother standing at the altar, waiting on his bride. It was a really lovely ceremony, just enough giggles and lots of love beaming from every person who attended. It’s funny because I thought I would be next, I wasn’t, and I am totally okay with that. I know our turn is coming... The reception was short and sweet, they kept the ball rolling pretty fast. I think T&R were pretty excited when we presented them with their honeymoon to Puerto Vallarta, they are ready for a break after this whirlwind planning. Here’s a picture of them riding off as husband and wife, aren’t they cute?

A group of us got together after the reception and went dancing. Dad was being so goofy, I love it when he’s like that! His girlfriend was so excited that I got him out of the house, that’s what daddy’s girls do - beg and get our way. We all danced and drank and danced and got drunk. It was so much fun! I can only dance with a strong lead - and T and Dad are both great dance partners. T has to count for me and Dad just swings me the way I’m supposed to go. It’s pretty cool that I can go out with my dad, his lady, my maternal aunt, a handful of cousins from both sides of the family and we all can have such a good time. Not many blended families are that cool!

Sunday, needless to say, I was t-i-r-e-d. Both of us were. All of us were. Toddles got to have his first Del Rancho experience, which was the yummo grease that we all needed. They really should expand to the entire state. It’s BS that they’re all at least an hour away, but it’s also a good thing because I would probably weigh 300 lbs if there was one closer.

T and I came home and crashed out. We slept for almost 4 hours, as soon as our heads hit the pillows we were both in lala land. I was a bad girl and begged him to go to CiCi’s Pizza for dinner, it was one of those weird cravings that you know you shouldn'y cave in to but do anyway. It was totally worth it - 4 words - macaroni and cheese pizza. Do I even need to explain? Two of my favorite foods combined into one. Delish! It hurt though, we both said we were going to be careful and not overeat but it’s T&T, you might get bit if you get between us and some pizza. Haha! We watched Deja-Vu last night - or T did anyway - I fell asleep an hour into it, go figure.

My baby flew home this morning, I had to have him at the airport at 6freakin30 after both us were restless all night. I bet we slept a total of 3 hours combined, which is not enough for either of us to begin move any body parts at 5:45 a.m. I hated to see him go but I know we have a lot to look forward to soon. Lots of plans in the works! Lots! : )

Only 3 hours until I can go take a nap. Cannot. Wait.

Peace, love, and turtles!
T Tot