Free Day

Filed Under Books, Food, Grandparents, Me, St. Louis | 1 Comment

Tomorrow my parents are watching Bailey so I can have a day to myself. They always watch her if we have kid-free plans, or if our schedules don’t work out right. But about once a month they take her for the day so I can just go do something fun.

Tomorrow I am going to deliver ONE Avon order (not wasting the whole day with work stuff!!) and then I am going to go to the new CVS and use my coupons! We are just starting to get CVS’s in our area but I am assuming it’s pretty similar to Walgreens. Only they mailed me some pretty sweet coupons! Like $10 off $20, which will be used for diapers…

Then I am planning on going to a book sale at the library and hopefully getting some new books for Bailey (25 and 50 cents each, if you are local, email me and I’ll tell you which branch!) and then I am going to enjoy a lunch alone with a book at either Macaroni Grill (Chicken Scalloppine) or Uno’s (deep dish pizza and dessert). I’m leaning toward pizza!

Sluggy

Filed Under Me, Second Pregnancy | Leave a Comment

I am starting to notice a definite decline in my energy level. 33 weeks pregnant means that I am only 7 weeks (or less!) away from having this baby. I know, I’m a math genius. But it’s just kind of snuck up on me. Everything has been so smooth for so long, but now I just feel TIRED a lot. I lack the energy to do the things I want to do with Bailey. We’re fine when we are out somewhere, but at home I feel really lazy. Jonathon keeps trying to make me feel better by saying that it’s not laziness, it’s pregnancy. Whatever it is, it’s interfering with my mothering. Today I fell asleep on the couch while Bailey played.

After this pregnancy I definitely want to get back into better shape. I know when I am exercising that my overall attitude and level of energy is better. I was thinking I would join a gym but I have also been looking at treadmills on Craig$list. Not sure whether it would be harder to get myself to the gym or to get motivated to do something at home… but something needs to change with my habits so that I can feel better.

Friendships

Filed Under Being a Mom, Friends, Me, Second Pregnancy, Thoughts | 6 Comments

I have been thinking a lot about my friendships and my friends lately. A lot has changed since getting married, and then again since having a child, and again since expecting a second child. “Mom” friendships are definitely not the same as single girl friendships with endless time. Also, it was hard to adjust to relating to my non-mom friends. Do they want to hang out with my child? Do they understand that I don’t have as much time? Do they think I’m old and boring now?

I feel like I have finally settled into a good place with a lot of my friendships. Sure, I wish I had more time. I wish I had that one really close friend. (If you didn’t know, my closest friend since college graduation recently moved to another state and our contact is much much less than I would like… but I will be standing up in her wedding in several weeks and hopefully once that busy-ness is behind us we can work on carving out a new track for our friendship). I have been making an effort to catch up with the people I care about most and honestly have let some other relationships slide. It was time to do that. I don’t have time for everything, as much as I wish I did. And in two months, I will have a new breastfeeding baby who needs mommy time much more than my feisty and independent almost-three-year-old does. Or at least on a different level. On an Oh My God I Can’t Leave This Child level.

This week has been so busy/will be so busy on the social front, but I am really filling an important part of my life right now. I feel like I need to connect with these ladies before we drift too far apart. And apparently I feel the need to ramble about it on my blog.

In the past week or so I have gotten to spend some quality time with Jen and Renee. Yesterday Emily and Ella came over to play. They really reassure me that I will survive with two children and that I will, in fact, love my second child just as much as Bailey. Today we had a playdate with Kim and Mackenzie. Where Bailey was not exactly on her best behavior… sorry Kim… On Friday we are getting together with Casey and Addison, which I am really looking forward to. It has been way too long since we’ve hung out. We used to see each other at least once a week and that’s a friendship I regret letting slide as much as it has. Then over the weekend we get to have dinner with Sarah and her hubby and cute little girl Claire. These people are all so important to me and I am glad that I am taking the time and energy to be with them. It’s also way too easy to be a lazy pregnant woman, not make plans, and sit home and feel lonely and bored. I need to stay out of that funk because I will have plenty of time at home after the baby is born!

So far in my life….

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Do you think you’ve really lived so far? This is a list of 100 activities–some I have experienced (bold), some I have not (regular).

1. Started your own blog (several- is there an extra bold?)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Bathed in a river
7. Been to the Taj Mahal
8. Walked on a glacier in Alaska
9. Caught and held a snake (hell, NO)
10. Spoke in front of a big crowd
11. Bungee jumped
12. Had a whirlwind love affair that broke your heart
13. Found an arrowhead or fossil
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Rescued an animal
16. Ate sweet breads, glands or tripe (not sure what these even are….)
17. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hiked to base camp on Mt. Everest
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Watched an animal being born
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Learned a foreign language
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Stayed up for more than 24 hours
31. Trained a dog to do cool tricks
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Can drive a stick shift car
37. Won over $1000 in a raffle or lottery
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Been serenaded (by fraternity guys, lol)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Broken a bone
47. Started your own business
48. Quit a job because you were totally unhappy
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain passionately
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Joined a prayer group
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
62. Gone whale watching
63. Received flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London
77. Broken something extremely expensive
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Got a tattoo
83. Been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam
84. Seen the aurora borealis in person
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Toured the UN
95. Hiked to Machu Picchu
96. Swam in the Indian Ocean
97. Conversed with someone when neither of you spoke each others language
98. Dirty danced
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Acted in a play

42 out of 100… I need to travel more

I would like to come back to this list in a few years and see where I stand… although I don’t ever want to do #82 so I guess it’s a list of 99 things for me.

How many of these things have you done?

Bailey’s First YMCA Shirt

Filed Under Clothes, Me, Twenty Months | 4 Comments

If you know me, you know why this shirt was fun for me to receive from my friend Sarah. I couldn’t get Bailey to cooperate but this is her new “jammy shirt” for the spring/summer. I did put long pants on with it after these pictures were taken.

If you don’t know my life story, I worked at a YMCA camp for four summers. It was weird, because it was like a place completely separate from real life. We could do anything we wanted to do (oh and trust me, we did plenty of stupid things). It was the land of driving golf carts and 15 passenger vans instead of cars, of drinking at a country bar at age 17, of having flings with college guys from other countries… of sneaking out and hiding on porches, of creating an elite club based on a wooden spoon, of spending the day baking in the sun and never getting enough sleep. Meeting locals who paid for a paternity test to see whether their uncle was their sister’s daddy, etc (Seriously). Karaoke-ing to Madonna after doing too many shots of something called c*ck$ucking cowboy. (Don’t ask me what was in that shot but I promise it was good. I’ve never found another bartender who has heard of it, though). It was a place where I grew up, where I was my happiest (until becoming a mother), where I took chances and had adventures and made some of my best friends. The YMCA will always have a special place in my heart.

These are not resolutions

Filed Under Me | 4 Comments

More like things I want to do in 2009. I hate resolutions because I break them. So I am just setting some goals. In no particular order.

1. Lose some weight. Seriously, it’s bad. I need to lose the Bailey weight plus some.

2. Continue to learn to cook. My goal is to cook at least two new things per week, whether its a main dish, side, dessert, etc. So far I have been successful in the three short weeks that i have been cooking.

3. Get pregnant- but I’d like to lose some weight first. I was a whale last time I was pregnant, I want to be healthier this time.

4. Go on another vacation. The only requirement is it has to be somewhere neither of us have been before. I don’t care where, just somewhere without Bailey so we can relax.

5. Go on our first family vacation (i.e. NOT visiting relatives) with Bailey. I am thinking maybe Branson and go to Silver Dollar City, or something simple like that. Within driving distance.

6. Learn to use my sewing machine. I’ve made a pillow and most of an apron for Bailey. The apron is a little crooked but not too bad. I’ll have to share a picture when it’s finished.

7. Participate in a wine tasting and learn more about wine. Not because I really care, it’s just something I don’t know much about. Obviously this year is all about learning things I should know and don’t.

8. Keep my Unit Leader title with Avon and perhaps move up to the next level. If you want to earn some extra money, let me know.

9. Get our house organized. Keep it that way. Actually iron some clothes.

Class Reunion

Filed Under Friends, Me, Thoughts | 4 Comments

Bailey JUST woke up in the next room but I want to get my thoughts out about this. In the meantime, I can hear her yelling Neener Neener Neener, which is her new favorite sound.

Anyway. My ten year high school class reunion was last weekend. At first I thought about going. I mean, high school was fine. All I really did was party and hang out with my friends and I did enough schoolwork to get by, but not enough to get in the way of my life… overall I have good memories… so anyway I was like, “Oooh a reunion! I’ll get to see all my old friends! They will all have babies and we can be mommy friends!” Then I started realizing this wasn’t so realistic. If ten years have passed and we haven’t talked, there is probably a reason.

I drifted apart from a lot of my high school friends while I was away at college. I got really involved with my sorority and life on campus and all that stuff. I was only three hours away but I only came home like twice a semester a lot of the time. I mean seriously, what 19-year-old wants to miss a weekend filled with barhopping and happy hours and take out food and sleeping late and hanging out at the gym, just to go sit at their parents house? Not me. I am bad about letting friendships fall apart. If I don’t talk to someone or see them regularly, I don’t really try to put effort into the friendship. I figure if it was worth staying friends, it wouldn’t take so much work.

Now that I am older, I see that most friendships do require work. A lot of them are “easy” as far as being friends, but hard as far as finding time to spend together. Now I am more mature about it and plan ahead and try to make those difficult “I know I haven’t seen you in nine months” type phone calls. (For example, I went out to lunch with Paige today, and literally I haven’t seen her since last Thanksgiving. But it was good catching up and I hope this time it’s not so long in between.) Back then, I didn’t bother.

SO all this to say, I really have one friend from high school. Yeah, I know I talk about her a lot so I am not even mentioning her name in this post. There was another girl who we weren’t really good friends with in high school but became friends with later… then once again became not-friends… Then there’s another girl who I see at stuff like baby showers and she’s fun to talk to for like an hour, but after that time there’s really nothing left to say for either of us and we both go our own ways again. Then there is one girl who I just recently got in touch with again and we are tentatively making plans to get together.

None of these girls wanted to go to the reunion, so I decided I didn’t really want to go by myself. I didn’t want to try to figure out who to talk to, only to find out that we had nothing in common. As far as curiosity- well I catch up with most of them on Facebook and we message two or three times and that is all taken care of. I’ve seen pictures of their boyfriend or kids, we’ve talked about careers… or my lack of career… i have gained weight since high school (although judging by the reunion pictures, oh Lord, some people have REALLY gained weight even in the last year or so! HELLO Leptovox…) and I try to dress somewhat cute but really I’m not into fashion all that much now… I wasn’t up for the competition or the dress up game at the reunion. My husband didn’t know anyone who would be there and it would be boring for him. So we never registered. At a few moments I thought “maybe I should…” but knew I didn’t really want to.

This week, I saw pictures on Facebook. Some people look the same. Some people look great. Others look like a fat, sloppy, tired, or trashy version of their former self. There was a weird guy in the background who kept flicking off the camera. Looking at these people, I felt a few fond memories. I saw girls I used to be close to, who I haven’t talked to in like eight years. It made me smile, seeing their faces. And at that moment, I realized that was all I wanted. Just a few memories. I have those. I didn’t feel a connection to those girls. I could have chatted for an evening, gone my own way, and not looked back. Just like I didn’t look back ten years ago when I moved away to school. I guess that’s just me. So I saved $100 or so, and didn’t bore Jonathon for an evening. And I got to show Jonathon the pictures and comment and laugh and smile and tell stories, which is all I would have done that evening.

I hope that I have stronger friendships now, that I wouldn’t just turn away and not care. I think adult friendships ARE stronger, because they require more work. You get deeper than just surface, boy, school, party talk. More than “the three b’s of a good party.” I had a few friends who were more than that but most were just that. I hope my friends now would keep me accountable and try to stay in touch with me, but you never know.

If you made it this far, I am impressed. I know this was rambly but I wanted to get these thoughts down. Now, I am going to get my kid. She is in her crib, “spelling” her name. There are letters above her bed and she points to them and says “E, I, A, E, A…” because I always spell her name out for her when we look at the letters.

Skin Care Product Reviews

Filed Under Avon, Me, This Rocks | Leave a Comment

I finally decided to be an adult, and I have started actually washing my face at night, and using a night cream and an eye cream. I can already tell the difference in my skin. It kind of makes me wonder why I didn’t do this all along. The stuff I have been using, is the Avon Anew Retroactive line. The products are all very affordable, especially compared to other department store skincare products or other home sales companies such as Arb*nne and M@ry K@y.

Here is what I do at night:
1. I use the Anew Retroactive 2 in 1 Cleanser to wash my face.
2. I put the Anew Rejuvenate Eye Cream (night) on my eyes.
3. I put the Anew Retroactive Youth Extending Night Cream on the rest of my face.

In the morning, all I do is use the Anew Rejuvenate Eye Cream (day) on my eyes before my makeup. I don’t use a day cream on the rest of my face because I use a primer instead.

I never thought I would be a skin care junkie, but I enjoy using this stuff. It makes me feel great about my skin, and I like that i can actually tell the difference. So I know it’s not a waste of my time, or my money.

Another thing I discovered recently is Clearskin Immediate Response Spot Treatment. If you are looking for an acne treatment, this is a topical cream that you can use as prevention or after you feel a zit coming up. My friend Faith says that it works better than any other stuff she has tried. I also have to tell you, she used to use Arb*nne. The reason I am posting about it again right now is because it’s on sale for 99 cents with the purchase of any other Clearskin product.

Check out my website for more info, and use the code REPFS for free shipping!

Self Portrait- Mommy and Bailey

Filed Under Into Everything, Me, Play, Thirteen Months | 3 Comments

Today Bailey and I did not go anywhere! I know, shocker. We very rarely stay home all day. But I have been feeling overwhelmed about the house being messy and having lots of things to catch up on around here. I am addressing invitations for two different weddings right now and I am a little behind on Avon stuff as well. Plus, I know tomorrow we are going to see my friend Sarah and her little baby, and on Wednesday we have plans with my mom.

I tried to put away laundry and do stuff in my office but Bailey kept getting into everything. We call her Destructo. So we ended up just playing in the living room most of the day. Here are some pictures I took of both of us- I know I have no makeup on but the point is that I have a picture with my daughter, which doesn’t happen too often because usually I am the one behind the camera!

Just a few of her while she was playing- you can kind of tell that she is walking on her tiptoes in this first picture. She does that every once in a while now and I think it’s so cute. I guess she just discovered it but she mostly does it when she’s really excited or being silly about something.

(By the way the summer attire of choice for around the house is a shirt and a diaper, yep, we’re classy like that). Hey, sometimes it’s even just a diaper. Whatever’s cool and comfortable.

And her new favorite activity- trying on Mommy’s shoes!

After

Filed Under Me | 11 Comments

I love it. It is so nice feeling like a girl and not a mom. That probably sounds bad but I don’t want to look like a mom! I am really happy with both the cut and color. If you are looking for a new hairstylist in the Manchester/Ballwin area I’d be glad to hook you up with Olivia’s contact info. Or obviously you can check out her blog. Let her know I sent you

Here is the after shot. Never mind the fact that I am in my pajamas… I look better anyway!

Then we just started being silly, and because I haven’t really posted any other embarrassing shots of myself lately, I might as well include these.

Updated to add: I just told Jonathon “My hair got fleas!” but he said the weird fuzzy look is from the flash reflecting off the shine in my hair. I must have had really dull hair before, because that has never happened!

Making some changes

Filed Under Blogging, Me | 2 Comments

To the look of my blog and also to me. I have got to find a better theme for this blog. Also I thought I was pretty smooth adding some pictures down the sidebar but they’re all funky. I need to get them all resized to the same size and then have Jonathon put line breaks in between them. Stupid HTML… or should I say Stupid Tara…

Tonight I am going to get my hair cut and highlighted. I am going to the girl who cuts my friend Nicole’s hair. Nicole always has good hair, so hopefully I can benefit from this. A while back, this girl gave away free haircuts to some bloggers and I was a winner, so I figured it was worth a try at least!

Here is my before picture. Don’t mind the horrible-ness of it. My hair really did look better this morning when I fixed it, but the problem is, it looks like crap after about an hour and I end up pulling it into a ponytail. It just gets flat and scraggly. Pray for a miracle.

Something exciting-

Filed Under Me, Milestones, Weight | 1 Comment

My wedding rings fit again! It’s been way too long. I was able to get them on a few times just here and there since B was born, but for about the last two weeks I have worn them consistently, every day. They are still a little snug but I love being able to have them on again, and not wearing the random sapphire ring on my wedding finger anymore. I feel married again

Also, I am so glad that I didn’t end up getting them resized. They even fit those few warmer days so I don’t think it’s just because of cold weather. If I had resized I would have lost the engraving, so that would have been a last resort.

Just For Kelli

Filed Under Avon, Me | 10 Comments

I was telling my friend Kelli the other day about my new Avon mascara that I love. I told her about how when I first put it on, I just had it on one eye and I was like, “Wow, this stuff is amazing! I actually look like I have eyelashes now!” So before putting the mascara on the other eye, I went in the kitchen to see if Jonathon noticed. He was like, “Um, something’s wrong with your eye makeup. I think you only have it on one side.” LOL

Kelli and I both laughed about that story, and then she was like, “You should put it on just one eye and then take a picture!” So I did. Here it is.

See, I’m not kidding about having no eyelashes without mascara. I look like a boy without it, but this stuff rocks! I didn’t use an eyelash curler or any eyeliner for that picture, just “Shell” shimmer eyeshadow and the mascara.

It’s $8.50 regularly, but right now there is a special where you can mix and match, two mascaras for $7.99 TOTAL! So it’s really good mascara for only $4.