One Week Ends, Another Begins

Hello! Hello! I hope everyone had a restful weekend!?

I took my last exam on Friday morning  (well half actually!!) YES, Officially I am a SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR!! The only thing holding me back was my math grade….I needed to get a 40 to pass the semester and therefor graduate, haha I got a 50%— OK not a grade to be proud of but Im graduating so Im pretty excited! I did what I needed to do, and I must thank my dear friend Gabriella for tutoring me and helping me raise my math grade exactly 20 points before the exam I COULD NOT HAVE PASSED WITHOUT ALL OF HER HELP. So thanks girl!

Friday night was spent doing my field work hours for senior project (technically I have all of my hours because we only need 15 and I have 19 BEAST!!) Then I got to babysit the most adorable 1 year old ever and we listened to Jack Johnson the whole night, he loves him!! As a consequence however this was stuck in my head all Saturday:

Banana Pancakes!

Any Jack Johnson fans!?!?

Saturday was relaxing I met a friend for coffee at Coffee Depot then we went to a hot yoga class! It felt amazing, if you do yoga and have a hot yoga studio near you I highly recommend it! Then I babysat my next door neighbors.

Today I have church, a long walk,  a coffee date with my Dad, and preparing for a new semester of classes begining tomorrow.

Before I go the beautiful Ashlei tagged with an amazing reader award, thanks girl!

The rules are that I must list 8 things that improve my day, so here goes!

1. Blogging, reading writing, recieving all of your lovely comments!
2. Coffee/tea
3. Reading
4. Scented Candles
5. My friends (ok they aren’t *things* but I cant imagine where I would be without them)
6. Exersize…and Yoga
7. Muisic
8. my dog, Norman who by the way has a snuggie!!

OK not sure this is aloud but I have to agree with Tatianna! I tag you all! I really love reading all of your comments so thank you all, now YOU post about what improves your day!!

Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday everyone!! I plan to finish Persepolis tonight YAY!!I cant wait to Start push,the book the movie Precious was based on, which has been recomened to me by many people including this lovely lady, Laura!! (Have I mentioned I <3 illiteration!?!)

Why Hello There <3

Hey ladies, its been a long time, for many reasons and posting, and reading for that matter =/just has not been something I could do/handle. However that is besides the point I’m posting now, things aren’t perfect but a lot has been accomplished and many steps have been taken, so lets start again;

HELLO! I’m Tara and I took a short blogging sabbatical if you will, I love you bloggies yet I have not been reading them for the past couple weeks sooo if you start getting comments on posts from yesteryear, don’t be alarmed its just me

My theme song as of late!?

OK lately I have been a busy lady, when times get rough I always try to stay busy, it keeps me out of my head, and focused on reality.

Senior Project is going well I have a meeting every friday with my mentor (who is amazing btw) and I attend youth meetings as well, this week I’m interview people who work inside DCYF.

Coffee and Tea has been a big part of my life, naturally <3

I had a Cafe Americano at Starbucks the other day I hadn’t had one in a very long time, DELICIOUS!

SO I got my PART IN THE PLAY I auditioned for a while ago!!! We are doing the Grims Fairy Tales annndd I am in Beauty and the Beast and I am playing Lilly one of Beauty’s sisters. MUAHAH a few of my verry best friends are in this play as well so I’m pretty pumped!

I have been reading again and I’m thrilled, I have started to every day get up an hour early and go down stairs shower, get my COFFEE, and then head back to my room, curl up my blankets and read for the next 45-60 min <3 LOVE <3 I Finished reading

After Dark

Started and Finished the Screwtape letters

this book I highly recommend, it really made me think, and I found it well convicting to say the least, definitely a good book, take the time to think about everything the writer is saying. It’s a book of letters the Senior Devil (Screwtape) writes to a devil in training (wormwood) and they are trying to turn a newly converted Christian away from “the Enemy” (God), I’ll let you read it and see how it ends

Started Persepolis:

And after that I am going to read Push, the book the movie Precious was based on (HAVE YOU GUYS SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK?? THOUGHTS?)

I have seen many movies as well! Teenage revolt, Up in the air, Invictus, Avatar, The Hangover(dvd), and the Lovely bones, I still must see the road (uhh yeah I got AAA movie passes for Christmas hehe)

I have been out to coffee mannny times, but I have only tried one new one… I HAV FOUND A NEW FAVORITE COFFEE SHOP! (sorry Coffee Depot I still love you ) The Bee Hive in Bristol RI I will be reviewing it in my Cafes! section later on

I have been babysitting more as well ( last time I bsat I taught the children line dancing, you know the norm), which is good b/c I have a thing for shopping, and that requires $$ haha

Here is a necklace that I am absolutely in love with it’s so chunky and delightful?! my brother got it for me for Christmas and I fell in love at first glance, perfect thing to pair with a plain top!

I also got gift cards to Borders, and went on a shopping spree there, and at my local book store, even though I didn’t get a card there, Yes I am a DORK and PROUD OF IT! <3

Overall I have been spending much quality time with my friends,  my buddies, and my family hehe!  Its wonderful having so many solid peer, and adult support systems in my life, something that I am so incredibly thankful for.

Finally I have been writing, just for me, just for fun, and its has been wonderful, before bed I sip some tea, light a few scented candles, turn on some YANN TIERSEN and just write for about 30 min, and then lights out I got to bed =]

Dream and Hope candle holders, 2 books one on the history of coffee and one on the history of tea! My Tea daily calendar, it tells me a tea fact a day!! <3

I have a week off (well more or less) from school, its exam week I have a math exam from 9-11 tomorrow (EEK) to pass I have to get a 40% though so I think im fine and Then Friday form 9-11 I have to take half of my World Lit. exam, I’m exempt from the second half!! Then starting Monday SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR YEAR BEAST IT OUT!! Im soo happy, and soo ready, also I, with the exception of my world lit class will have all new classes (5 to be exact) and I love each and every one of the teachers and genuinly think the classes sound fun!! YAY (well im a little iffy on the personal finance one but hey I get a math credit for it and it may actually be usefull!! haha)

Now tell me my blogging friends, what movies have you seen as of late? What books have you read? How do you relax after a long day, how do you put your mind at ease? What is YOUR theme song? When the going gets rough do you find it better to take a break and step back, or immerse yourself in your LIFE?

<3 <3 <3 Have a wonderful day ladies, its good to be back, cant wait to get all caught up on your lives!! <3 <3 <3

Vacation Comes to a Close

It snowed a lot this week and it’s snowing still today! But it’s not deep so it actually makes everyting look really pretty!!

I took this on my walk, literally as my camera battery was dying *tear* so my apologies for the less than ideal quality. But this is the bike path that is about 13 miles stretching from providence to Bristol RI it’s really wonderful especially in the summer! I feel so blessed to live right next to one of the entrance points!! In the winter people cross country ski, cool idea I think!

First and foremost the lovely Amanda tagged me for the beautiful blogger award, thanks girl!

1. My dog has same hair color as me, he is a pomeranian name Norman and I LOVE him!!
2. I’m taking a gap year between HS and college plan to travel to Swaziland for 3 months next year from Jan-april on a missions trip, and I’m also going to apply for an internship at To Write Love on Her Arms, so we shall see!
3. My carreer goal in life is to get my phd in psychology and become a  a Christian counselor
4. I love coffee and tea( in case you couldn’t tell) trying out cafes is one of my favorite past times! The two guarantees in my days are Coffee and Gum!
5. I love learning and trying new things— im not the most creative person but i love art of all kinds fashion paintings MUISIC enjoy doing creative things to express myself(does that make any sense!?!? =D)
6. I used to be an avid reader and i still love it i just have not given myself the freedom to take that chill out time, and sometimes struggle to stay focused, Im working on finding ways to relax before reading and getting back into the habit that i miss so much!
7. I was born in Las Vegas!We live in little Rhody now Yes, thats right Ima vegas baby! my parents ran a group home through Boystown (one of their locations is in nevada) and so I was born in Vegas (not on the strip though no worries ) We live in little Rhody now though…..

I honestly think everyone deserves this, but I can only tag 7 </3 Ill do my best to not tag anyone who has already been tagged

Danielle at Coffee Run

Laura at Coffee and Hope

Candice at Tea Jewel

Kim at a Walk in the Park

Lexi at Starlight Diner

Ashlei at the Vegster

Allie at Live laugh eat

Have fun girls! (and again I am sorry if you are already tagged, I tried to check your previous few posts to make sure….)

Ok so I had a hugh jass list of things to do over break HA no worries im not going through discussing each one! Some I did not complete, like knitting and coffee shops, due scheduling and the gal who I was going to knit with and try out a couple shops was away for all but a day and half sooo there simply was no time! I did make something vegan! Home made almond butter!! Hehe it was pretty good! I  was definitely pleasantly surprised! I did read (granted it was health mags like body and soul and yoga journal) And among MANY other things I spent a LOT of time with friends!! So I relaxed enjoyed myself and accomplished the better part of my list! But really I had a good fun vacation so even if nothing got checked off it was still a success in my book!!

Yesterday I attended a wedding for a friend of my parents ( i really like the guy too though, he was my dad’s last roommate before he [dad] got married. The guys is about 15 years older than Dad, and is now in his 60′s (??Possibly late 50s) and got married yesterday! OK so I thought wow this is gonna be really awkward, old college reunions and what not for my rents, but in the end it really wasn’t a lot of the now adults my parents saw that they hadn’t seen in over 20 years where really nice. Just goes to show, things can always turn out better than you expect! Plus the guy was so happy! This is his first marriage, which I think is really sweet, he held out for true love. <3

Well, school starts for me tomorrow, so to all you students still on break enjoy the rest of your vacation and to everyone returning back to school, good luck! I’ll be thinking of you while I daydream about what I could be doing am focusing and being super productive in school At least I start my day with yoga in gym class!!

Hello 2010!

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a lovely New Years, enjoyed yourselves and Partied hard…well not too hard

Unfortunately mine was kind of a bust =/Lets Start with a song though shall we? I love this song “A Crack in Time” ENJOY!

It started out like this; I went to the mal around 4 with one of my friends and I did not have any money soo we stopped by the bank on the way there. Ok good, until we get to the bank and its closed! FAIL #1 GAHA AT THE MALL WITH about 10 bucks. FUN All right so we laughed it off, I had a borders gift card, things could be worse.

Then We walked around the mall browse some stores, the friend I was with had money, well all the stores started closing around 5:30 6ish and we had to waste time while we waited for 6:50 to roll around b/c that was the time we where going o see Invictus!! FAIL #2 so after dinner we decided no harm in going to the Theater early, so we pay and walk to the cinema AND the movie is still playing from the earlier showing FAIL #3. I did run into This Lovely Lady at the mall! hehe I see her there a  lot it seems, but I aint complaining! Then we went BACK to borders, I bought a new book, Eat, Pray, Love!

[Source]

ANYONE READ IT, THOUGHTS!?! I also got a 5 dollar discount at the counter, I had borders bucks that I was unaware of!! (its the little things in life ) SUCCESS #1 And I bought a Tazo Green tea at Seattle Coffee, ahh yes somehow tea, iced or not always makes things just a little better and we waited. Around 6:30 we did finally leave for the theaters claimed our seats (we had a lot of freedom given we where the only ones there, it wasn’t until later when maybe 7 other people came hehe) Seeing Invictus was our SUCCESS #2! I really loved the movie, and definitely recommend it!

All right so fast forward to 9:30 I come home and had planned on going to another friends house to welcome in 2010…..well my parents had other plans, or lack there of apparently and decided it was far to icy for me to be on the roads, uhh yeah 9:30 on new years and I was a lone. Great! I was not pleased at all and with nothing better to do I walked up stairs (I could feel myself about to scream at them haha so I decided it’d be best to get out of their presence pronto as to not be punished even more!) and did pilates, then at 11 went to bed FAIL #4.

Yes worse things could happen and Yes I did not spend the ENTIRE night without friends, but man usually New Years is a lot of fun for me, filled with anticipation of whats to come, and how things WILL be better…last night only left me PRAYING that this year would not be so bleak, I suppose thats mostly up to me, I have to decide to accept the plans God already has in store for me, and try my best to make the best out of every situation. Embrace life and all of its ups and downs, anybody with me!?

This leads me to WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2010:

1. GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL!!
2. Trying out new coffee/Tea shops!
3. Reading many new books
4. Going to FL to visit friends in Feb. and Going to PA to visit other friends at the end of FEB!
5. Finalizing plans for Next school year (I’m taking a year off! More details on that in a diff post!)
6. Taking Drawing lessons!! (after I complete the course through school im signing up for more lessons!)
7. Turning 18 Hello legal adulthood!
8. Possibly moving out for a few moths, not sure on this one though, I’m applying for an internship at To Write Love On Her Arms, we shall see if I get it! If I do Ill live in Cocoa FL for 3 moths!
9. MANY other unforeseen things, thats the beautiful yet terrifying part of life, NOTHING IS GUARANTEED, we just have to take life as it comes!
10. Starting my new “page a day calender” it’s a tea theme this year!! Dream and Hope Candle holders, Blue “Happiness” Loose leaf tea pot, and 2010 tea calender with tea quotes and facts everyday!

My Goals!?

1. Read more just for the heck of, I love reading and really have neglected to do so this past year
2. Write more, simply put I think it would be good just to write more for fun (BLOGGING!)
3. Learn more about Vegetarian cuisine
4. Graduate High School, really meaning buckle down focus on my school work, complete my senior project and dont let my World Lit teacher get the best of me, shes been successful at doing so thus far in the year.
5. Take more pictures of anything picture serve as good memories and help make for interesting blog posts!
6. Properly train my dog i.e. house break and I really must brush him more regularly, his fur looks good but its deceiving he sheds LOADS!
7. Let whatever happens happen, enjoy it best I can, I make a lot of mistakes, big little w/e they are all learning experiences and I should take them for just that, not beat myself up for not being good enough, in any area of life. I am not an academic perfectionist (thats for sure) but I have many perfectionistic sides to me and those sides really need to chill out
8. YOGA MORE YOGA! I have done pilates a lot this year, not so much over the summer </3 but I have started weekly hot yoga classes and I am GOING TO START doing yoga DVD in the comfort of my home ANY SUGGESTIONS for good YOGA DVDS!?

All right I’m off to take care of Albert, my friends dwarf bunny!

hehe I went to here house yesterday to get instructions, and it ended up being a 3 hour visit waiting for her dad to get ready to leave! (they are heading to Vermont!) a lot of tea was consumed and a couple episodes of  “Flight of the Conchords” were watched =D

Well ladies have a wonderful first day of the NEW YEAR! I look forward to reading how you all spent your evenings and spend your days today!!

I Leave you with my new hello Kittly gumball machine! ( i need to fill it still x] ) haha and my brand spankin new trash can (ok im really starting to understand how strang it is, but i think it fun!) kind of reminds me of a small pink version of something you would find in a park! haha