Blonde to Brunette

I took the plunge and finally went darker with my hair. I have pretty much always been a blonde. I usually get 2 tone highlights, but recently I noticed how dark my natural hair color has become (roots ahhh), so when I went to my hairdresser yesterday and suggested dark, we went for it! It's a little darker than my natural, but it's semi-permanent and will fade over time! Since I already had highlights it pulled different tones as well. This will hopefully make my hair lower maintenance for fall and winter. I will have to post pics at a later time. It definitely going to take some getting used to. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! :)

Never Forget

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I was impacted personally on 9/11/01. I didn't lose anyone that I knew, but somehow when I watch the videos today, it takes me back to where I was that day. I remember thinking, how horrible it all was and how many children lost their parents. But when I watch today I know what the ending is. Watching it live as I did that day 10 years ago, I was at the edge of my seat, not knowing what would happen next.

I was a sophomore in college. I didn't have classes on Tuesday, so I was working that morning. I was opening the store when my dad called me and told me to turn on the news. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was hard to focus on work. When I got home, my dad and I were talking and I had pondered so much on the fact that it took place on 9/11 and found it ironic that it was also 9-1-1 a state of emergency.
As a family, we sat in our hot-tub outside that night looking up at the clear sky...with no aircraft within sight.

I hope that everyone who was directly impacted that day and in the days, weeks, and years that followed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are healing. I can't even imagine what today brings back to them. They live it everyday when their loved ones are not with them.

I used to think it was crazy that my dad wanted to watch the documentaries about JFK's assassination and The Vietnam War...but now I realize that he lived through those events and to him it was important to remember those historic events. Now I realize that the events of 9/11 and the Oklahoma City Bombings and Columbine shooting are those historic events for me. I will eventually tell my future children about them and I hope that I can describe the events as they unfolded that day and how they affected me.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, THE LAND THAT I LOVE!

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Times

So, last night I went solo to my friend Becky's get together. The hubs had to go to work yesterday, so his birthday dinner plans got moved to today and I wasn't staying home alone for the evening. It was a great night. We always have a great time. We try to get together every 6 weeks or so. I used to work with these gals at the hospital and I took a new job last August at an office. I'm glad to get the chance to see them. Husbands and children are also welcome and a few of the girls have new little ones. It gives me baby fever! :)  Ha!  I wish I had some pictures to share, but I didn't remember to take my camera. Boo!

My hubby is still sleeping (he didn't get in until 6:45am). I am trying to stay quiet so that he can get some rest before today's festivities. So blogging and Pinterest are occupying my time...as well as Dirty Dancing on the t.v. in the background.  It's one of my all time favs!

Hope you all are enjoying your long weekend!

XoXo
Tara

Finally Friday

Is anyone else as excited about the 3 day weekend as I am? My hubby probably is because this begins birthday weekend madness (we celebrate in days not just on the birthday)! My hubs is wonderful and his b-day is on Tuesday (the big 29)..so of course we must start the celebration early! :) He took the day off today to take his cousins fishing in his new boat...Yes, I got furniture and he got a boat, that was the agreement. Hopefully he will have fun. His cousin Lyle is in the military and is home on leave for the weekend. I'm glad he was able to pull this trip together. Should be a good day.

As for me...I am working, but luckily I love my job and the people I work with, so it's not so bad. But I still love Fridays. Especially ones starting off a 3 day weekend.  Who knows what all we will get in to this weekend. Plans change at the drop of a hat at our house these days...Zac is back on call 24/7 so the schedule that we used to share kinda goes out the window. If he is actually off tomorrow, we will most likely have dinner out with his parents (and maybe mine) for his b-day. If not, I may crash my friend Becky's get together that I declined an invitation to earlier this week (when Zac was still off on weekends and we thought we would be dining with his parents). Either way it is sure to be fun.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

MIA

WOW...it's pretty bad when you log in and you almost can't remember your password, but once you are logged in you notice that it's been 5 weeks since your last post. What has been going on in my life that I haven't had a chance to blog? ...honestly, home upgrades.

For anyone who has tackled home repairs and/or upgrades, you know how time consuming and tiring it can be. We have stained our porch, two coats of stain later and it is exactly what we wanted. We bought new furniture and it was delivered a little over a week ago, but that meant preparations of moving all the old stuff out and shampooing the carpet in the living room (not fun). In addition to the new furniture, I also installed curtain rods and new curtains. It was a task, but it really opens the room up and makes the ceiling appear higher. The last addition was a multicolored area rug to tie all the furniture and curtains together.

I am happy with the end result. This house is definitely becoming more our style. The only thing left to do in the living room is get the gas fireplace installed. Our goal for this project is to have it done by winter.

Is anyone else as excited about fall as I am? I absolutely love Fall in Virginia. We get those cool crisp mornings and evenings. I can't wait to wear sweaters, jeans, boots, and scarves. Some of my favorite foods are also enjoyed most in the fall chili and taco soup. Yum yum! Bring it on. I guess that's what makes Virginia an awesome state. We get the best of all seasons and usually by the end of one, I am ready for the next. But Fall is definitely my fav.

I hope everyone has a great week...I will do my best to not let 5 weeks go by without blogging! :) It is also a goal to get more pictures posted. Bear with me please.

I've got the itch

I have recently started plotting the makeover of our living room. It is the room that we spend the majority of our time in when we are home and it just needs some "me" touches! I feel like the current furniture makes the room seem smaller than it is and I am looking to open and brighten the room up a bit.

A little background...
Zac bought this house (an early 1900s farm house) from his parents. Prior to him owning it, they used it as a rental property. The house was fully furnished with perfectly acceptable furniture (for a bachelor pad nor rental). That meant when he bought it, it had his mother's decorative taste (which is very primitive country). As cute as it is in her house...I do not wish to have my house full of things from the 1800s. Haha!

When I moved in, so did my bedroom furniture. That made the bedroom a little more me and with a few changes...bedding, wall hangings, and a rug I fell in love with the bedroom.

The kitchen is super cute and aside from the white counter tops (which we both hate) there isn't much I want to change there, except for maybe a lighter wall color (that is yet to be decided).

So that brings us to the living room. The space isn't very big, so to make the area appear larger I want to get rid of the love seat and replace it with an arm chair and ottoman.  I don't think I mentioned that the couch and love seat are not in bad shape, but they are country blue and white check print and I don't like them. So a new couch is in our future. And of course a new recliner, perhaps a leather one. The other thing about our house is that it is all electric, so we are planning on installing a gas log fireplace in the very near future (before the winter). The last piece of furniture that needs to be replaced is the entertainment center. It is a really nice piece, but so large. I would like to just get a T.V. stand with some storage underneath...I'm hoping I can find a cheap wooden one at a Goodwill or thrift store and restore it myself...Zac will probably laugh at that statement...I have big aspirations.

I realize that there is a lot to do, but I have a goal in mind. I am hosting a jewelry party in our home on Oct. 2nd and I want it to be more "me" by then. I want everyone to feel at home when they are here, including me. :) So this weekend, we will begin our search for the couch.

SLACKER!

I am such a slacker. I have really let the blogging go. It isn't that I haven't had anything to talk about, I just haven't had the time to sit down and write about it! Since I last posted...

We went to Zac's cousin Holly's wedding. It was a really nice ceremony and they seemed very happy...I have to admit it kinda made me want to do it all over again (without the expense, of course). After having planned a wedding and gone through all the stress of it, I have to say, one is plenty! : )  But they are so much fun! Lucky for us we have yet another wedding this coming Saturday!  Congrats Tristian and Heather!

We celebrated the 4th of July weekend with both families on different days, making it a very busy yet fun weekend. This (July 3rd) was also the 2 year anniversary of Zac and I meeting and going on our first date! How time flies!
..............

Okay so now that I have written it all down...I'm not sure why I haven't had time to blog. Work has been super crazy, wth people on vacation. But that is not an excuse...I will do better. Promise! Hope everyone is staying cool...it's 104 degrees here today!

June...Where did you go?

I don't know about you, but I have no idea where the month of June went. May was a chaotic month for us...We were married on May 14th and for anyone who has ever been married you know that the weeks and months before a wedding are consumed with planning, parties, planning, organizing, planning, and more planning.  Then of course we spent the week after the wedding on a fabulous honeymoon in Riviera Maya Cancun, Mexico.See where we stayed here Everything was wonderful, but before we knew it we were home and back to the daily grind. Don't get me wrong, we have a wonderful life, but lets face it, reality is what it is. It has now been over 6 weeks since the wedding and I feel like all we get done sometimes is work, eat, sleep, and house work. I am very lucky though, Zac is very helpful, but who knew 2 people could have so much laundry...And now June is gone. Hopefully, July will prove to be a bit slower to pass by.

I was going to add a picture, but after waiting 20 minutes for it to upload, I lost my patience. Another day.

~Maddie Girl~

If you have read my "about me" section you will notice that I reference our golden retriever puppy Maddie as a fish. And after you hear about what she did yesterday you will see why.
I got home from work to hear Zac on the phone with his mom (who lives beside us and doggysits for us during the day). Apparently, Maddie girl decided it was too hot out and she needed to take a dip in the river.  Mind you the river is actually across the road from our house. She has never ventured outside of the yard before, but she thinks of running off from us a game sometimes and yesterday was no different. When Zac's mom realized she was no longer in the yard, she assumed that Maddie may have taken a stroll to our house, but when she didn't find her there she started to panic. Zac and I were both still at work and she was convinced that she wasn't going to find her. She drove down by the river and low and behold there was Maddie shooting out of the river. Maddie just got a bath on Saturday and needless to say the river water has quite a stinch. She knew that she was caught.
This isn't the first time that Maddie has taken a dip somewhere she wasn't supposed to. I took her to my parents a few weeks ago. They have a pool... Maddie had never been in a pool before and she wasn't supposed to get in their's either. My mom turned her head and before she knew it Maddie was in the pool...on top of the solar blanket. It was unlike any water she had been in before and she didn't like the way it felt.
I am not about to make this blog anything like "Marley and Me", but I do have to share cute stories like this about our "kid", because that is who she is! We love her!

Another New Beginning

As I start this blog, I am reminded of numerous things that I have started...but not finished. I am making it my goal to actually keep up with this thing. I never really kept a diary, but I think as I've gotten older, I wish I had. Time flies by and sometimes it's hard to remember the little things that happen on a day to day basis. The big events are easy to remember, but I think that it's just as important to document the small ones.  As I start a new chapter of my life, I want to write down the good, bad, and the ugly. Then one day I can look back and remember that all of those things have gotten me to where I am in life at that moment. I don't know if I'll have something to elaborate on every day, but I guess we'll see.