Hey y’all!

Last night, I got to meet Rebekah!

I met her and her sister Sarah at one of the best burger places in town.

We had such a great time! I have always loved reading Bekah’s blog because she is such a sweet, genuine person, and she is just as wonderful in person! Sarah is super fun too, and I just felt like I had known both of them forever! Sarah, I’m waiting for your blog to start! :)

Tonight, after work, I’m heading down to SE Oklahoma for the holiday weekend. Wednesday, Momma and I both entered a Twitter contest to win a pair of tickets to see Sammy Kershaw in concert.

Within minutes of each other, we BOTH won a pair of tickets! I was a big Sammy fan back in the 90’s, and I’m excited to see him!

Saturday is my little N’s 4th birthday!

I can’t believe that sweet baby is growing up so fast.

I’m not sure what is in store for the rest of the weekend, but I’m looking forward to a relaxing time at home with the family.

What are your weekend plans?

Also, I hit 200 followers this week, which is just CRAZY! Thanks to all of you who spread the word on the Twit! Of course, y’all know I like to celebrate things by giving things away, so look for a giveaway next week!

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe holiday weekend!

Hey y’all! I don’t really have much to say today, so I’m going to share a few pictures and videos from my iPhone.

-Last week, the bro and I went out to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant. I ordered two enchiladas a la carte. They came to me like this.

Um…not quite what I meant.
One of them wasn’t done when the rest of the food was, so another waiter brought the second one out to me about 30 seconds after the first. He giggled a little when he set the plate down next to the other enchilada. When he walked away, I scooped one onto the plate with the other!

-I experimented with nail polish the other night.

I used OPI’s Feelin’ Hot-Hot-Hot, and then I put OPI’s Teenage Dream on top of it. Loving the sparkles!

-My latest project has been printing pictures to fill some empty frames. After waiting several days to get my 1 hour pictures printed (yes, I said days), I finally got several frames filled.

Picture frames are some of my most favorite things ever!

I think Jack approves of them.

Speaking of Jack…dear goodness, the little guy has been so crazy lately. I recorded a couple of videos over the last few weeks of his craziness.

He goes crazy when Colby lets the light reflect off of his iPod. He chases the light all over the apartment.

He loves playing with his mice!

-I’m excited for food dates with Lori and Rebekah today! Can’t wait to see them both!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Thursday!

Here are the things I’m loving this Wednesday!

I’m loving that I get to have lunch tomorrow with my sweet friend Lori!

I haven’t seen her in a couple of years, and we’ve kind of reconnected over the last few months, so I’m super excited to get to hang out with her!

I’m loving that tomorrow night I get to have dinner with Rebekah!

Y’all, Thursday is going to be a great day!!
I am so lucky to call Bekah a friend, and I cannot wait to get to see her!

I’m loving that I have a three day weekend this weekend! I’m excited that I get to go home for a few days and I get to go to my little N’s birthday party!

I’m loving that we had a large group at our new foster parent orientation last night!

It was so wonderful to see so many people who have a heart for caring for children in state custody.

I’m loving that as of when I wrote this post (10:45 last night), I was two followers away from 200!

When I do hit 200, there will be a giveaway! Tell your friends! :)

I’m loving Dia Frampton!

If she doesn’t win The Voice, I’m going to be angry!

And, I’m loving this awesome Dia video I found on YouTube! My favorite Zac Brown Band song!

What are you loving this week? Link up your loves with Jamie!

It’s Target Tuesday with Tara!

Today, I’m featuring shoes I’m loving.

Women’s Side Knot Peep-toe Stilettos

Women’s Floral Print Low Wedge Sandals

Haile Women’s Glitter Ballet Flats

Women’s Polka Dot Rain Boots – White/Black

What are you loving from Target this week? Link up your Target loves with Tara!

Hey y’all! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

For the most part, my weekend was pretty chill. I had a kinda rough week at work, so to say I was in need of a calm weekend is an understatement. All I had on my agenda for the weekend was sleep.

Lots and lots of sleep.

When I went to bed Friday night, I put my phone on silent so no one could call me early. When I finally checked my phone around 1 pm, I had a missed call and two missed texts from Joyce, wondering if I was alive. When I finally called her, she said they were going to take their boat out on the lake and I needed to go with them.

Sitting outside in 100+ degree weather was not on my agenda for the weekend. After begging and guilt-tripping from Joyce, I finally agreed to go.

I drug myself out of bed and dug out my swimsuit. If you follow me on the Twit, you’ve heard me talk about this, but oh my goodness, y’all, do you know the best way to kill your self-esteem? Put on a swimsuit. Seriously, whoever invented them was a complete moron.

I really can’t think of any article of clothing that causes more panic and anxiety than a swimsuit. We work so hard in the spring to get ourselves “swimsuit ready” for summer. I know I’m not the only one who stresses about this!

I’ve been losing weight, but I definitely don’t feel like I’ve lost enough to be wearing a swimsuit in public. I texted Joyce about how bad I felt in the swimsuit, hoping that would get out of going to the lake with them. It didn’t work. She basically told me to suck it up! I threw on a cover-up and headed out to the lake.

I covered myself in sunscreen before I left. I’m super careful because I am at a higher risk for skin cancer. After we’d been out for just a little while, I put a shirt on over my swimsuit and reapplied sunscreen to try to protect myself. When I got home, I found this…

Lovely, isn’t it?
How I managed to burn in that weird pattern is beyond me!

I also burned on my forehead, nose, both shoulders, the top of my head, and a weird spot in the middle of my back. Fortunately, when I got up this morning, all of it was better, so I’m crossing my fingers it doesn’t peel!

Next weekend, I’m going home, so I hope it is a much better weekend than this one!

Jack, on the other hand, had a pretty fantastic weekend…how about you?

Hey y’all!

It’s finally Friday! Time for some TV talk!

Today I’m talking about Grey’s Anatomy.

I’ve been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy lately. Since most of my shows are on hiatus right now, I don’t watch a lot of tv. When I’m at home, I always have to have some kind of noise going, so lately I’ve been turning on old seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. I really miss how the show used to be. It used to be fun and a little silly, and the last several seasons have been kinda boring and depressing. So today, I’m taking a little walk down memory lane and remember the good ole days of Grey’s Anatomy!

Seriously?

I absolutely love this scene!

Probably the best elevator scene ever!

Don’t you  just hate when your shows go from great to just ok?

What shows are you watching? Link up your tv talk with Neely and Meagan!

Hey y’all!

I was going to post this later in the week, but I just can’t wait any longer! Here is the rest of my Chicago recap!

On Friday, we met for brunch, then headed over to Millennium Park.

The bean was very cool!

After the park, we went on the Chicago Movie Tour!

There are so many movies that have been filmed in Chicago!

The tour started at McDonald’s so I got my first fountain Dr. Pepper of the trip! I was a happy girl!

Our goofy tour guide

Be sure to check Neely’s blog for more tour pictures!

Friday night we had dinner with Meghan’s husband, brother, his fiance, and her friends Sally, Julie, and Christy. Loved getting to hang out with all of them!

After dinner was the New Kids on the Block & Backstreet Boys concert!

13 year old Ashley, Neely, Meghan, Sally, Christy, and Julie were all VERY happy!

Jordin Sparks opened for them! I loved her on American Idol, so I was very excited to get to see her!

Soooo excited!

NKOTBSB!

The New Kids went out into the audience. I zoomed in when Jonathan was walking to Meghan, Sally, Christy, & Julie! So cool!

My favorite New Kid & Backstreet Boy
Joey & Brian!

Saturday morning, we had cupcakes for breakfast!

I had one called Cookie Monster

It had chocolate chip cookie dough in the center! Yummers!

We had lunch at Billy Goat Tavern & Grill

The cheeseburger was WONDERFUL!

After food, we went to Wrigleyville. The Bears were playing the Yankees.

Saturday night, we met Sally, Julie, and Danielle for dinner, along with Neely’s childhood friend Kelly and our Twitter friend Sara!

We ate at Enoteca, and it was really good!

After dinner we went to The Shambles. A chill evening turned into a huge dance party, featuring music by Toto, Bieber, Miley, Kelly Clarkson, BSB, and others. I think I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I just heart her!

The girl saw my camera out, grabbed Neely and these guys, and yelled “TAKE OUR PICTURE!” We have no idea who she was.

Pretty sure that Justin Bieber was playing when I took this picture!

I love these pictures of Meghan and Neely!

Oh the bird…

Sunday, we slept in, grabbed lunch, then hung out at Meghan’s apartment until it was time to go to the airport.

Aside from the sickness I developed on the flight, we made it back to Dallas without any complications.

I miss these girls already! We had such a wonderful time, and it was super hard to leave not knowing when any of us will see each other again.

Meghan, thanks so much again for everything! I am so glad that I finally got to meet you in person! You are super sweet and I wish you lived closer to us!

Neely, I heart you so much, and I loved getting to spend more time with you. We are going to need to get together again very soon!

Hey y’all! I am so excited to finally get Chicago pictures up on the blog! I have about six thousand pictures, and I have had such a hard time choosing which ones to post, so there will probably be more than one recap. Can’t help it because it was a wonderful trip!

Ok, y’all know I was pretty nervous about the flight. It wasn’t as bad as I had built it up in my mind to be, but it definitely didn’t go according to plan. After an unplanned stop in Indy, we made it to Chicago three hours late. Not fun, but all of the craziness was worth it when we finally got to meet Meghan!

Seriously, y’all, Meghan is the sweetest person ever! She was a wonderful tour guide and had so many fun things planned for us to do. I am so glad to be able to call her a friend!

Wednesday night, Meghan took us to one of her favorite restaurants. The food was sooo good! It was a lot of fun to just get to sit and chat for awhile.

Thursday morning, those cray cray girls got up at a ridiculous hour and went to a bar method class. Not gonna lie, I stayed in bed, and it was wonderful!

We went to brunch at Bongo Room.

The food was amazing!

After brunch, we headed over to Harpo Studios!

The street in front of the studio was recently named after Oprah!

I was so excited! It was at the top of my list of things to do in Chicago, and it was awesome!

We also went across the street to the Oprah store!

Lindsey came too!

We did a little bit of shopping…

Target has an elevator…

…and an escalator! My first thought when I saw them was ‘oh my goodness, Tara would just die!’

After shopping, then went over to the Willis Tower skydeck. It was exciting and scary all at the same time!

The view from the top

I was super scared, but Meghan and Neely held my hands and I put my big girl panties on and stepped out onto the plexiglass ledge!

Crazy girls

We had some pizza!

Seriously, would a trip to Chicago be complete without some pizza?

After we ate, we went over to Meghan’s apartment.

Her apartment is just adorable!

We found out that there were a lot of celebs in town, so we did some stalking .

Trump Hotel & Tower
We didn’t find anyone :(

Ok, to keep this post from being ridiculously long, I’m going to stop here. Part 2 will be up tomorrow!