Party of Two…Praying for More

I have been reading Megan’s blog for a long time now. I don’t know her but I found her blog through a friend of a friend probably two years ago now. However, I feel like I do know her because reading blogs and knowing all about someone else’s life, sure makes you feel like you do!

Anywho, Megan and her husband have been trying unsuccessfully for years to have a baby, and now they’ve turned to adoption.

They are selling these shirts to raise money for the adoption fund. I have wanted one for a long time because not only is it for a great cause, but also because it’s just super darn cute.

So I finally got one last week and it came in. I can’t wait to wear it. I think it’s really cool that if you send in a picture of yourself wearing one, they will add it to the baby book to show their baby one day how many people prayed for him/her. Pretty cool

It came perfectly wrapped.

Front

Back

That’s all, just wanted to share my sweet new shirt!

Fashion Saturday

Saturday night I was looking semi-cute for the Circus (blog post coming on that later).

So I took a few pictures.

I even curled my hair (with my flat iron) and put on eye makeup. It was worth documenting.

I think what I’ve decided is to have Fashion (Day of the Week) a la Kelly Hicks.

I know I’ve mentioned her before, but every Friday she does “Fashion Friday”. She always dresses super cute and takes her pic to share with her readers. Well I don’t always dress super cute, but when I do, I like to share! So if I ever look halfway decent we’ll have a fashion show of sorts. Mmk?

Black Lace Shirt: Old Navy

Black Jeans: Old Navy

Leopard Flats: Target

Love Knot Ring: Premier Jewelry

Earrings: Premier Jewelry

Nail Polish: Essie “Bobbing for Baubles”

Somebody looks sooo happy to be taking a picture with his Mommy!

Office Space

I was at TJ Maxx looking for some shoes this weekend (I couldn’t find the Chevrons Erin!) and although I didn’t find what I was looking for, I did come home with another goody!

A wall organizer thingy! No I didn’t technically need it, but it was just too cute to pass up.

It reminds me of a Pottery Barn office piece and for $25 it had to come home with me.

(Sorry it’s cut off, too lazy to switch lenses)

I had plans to paint the little black label spots with chalkboard paint, but I tried chalk on it first and by golly it worked great! I don’t think it’s meant to be a chalkboard but whatever rough black finish is already on there, allowed me to do the same thing.

I love it. Still need to get around to re-doing my table. Thinking of either doing the whole thing white, or staining the top really dark and keeping the legs white. I’ve had the supplies to do that for a while now…just been slacking.

My next office in a house that I own, I am leaning towards gray or dark navy blue walls, so I’m thinking it’ll look really sharp.

I also took down my pink board because it was just a little too busy.

And because everybody likes a good before and after:

   

Bunko Prepping

I’ll be hosting Bunko next month for the first time in my little place.

I am starting to think of the most important part, what I’ll have for food!

I was perusing my Pinterest boards today for some ideas and came across some goodies.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for damaged keyboards caused by excessive drooling.

I have have have to make buffalo chicken dip. It’s my favorite and a group favorite as well.

Pigs are always a must.

These taco cups look to die for.

Mini pizzas. Need I say more?

Artichoke Spinach-Dip Stuffed Mushrooms. Yum.

And for a little something sweet, Red Velvet Cake Balls. I’ll take 50 please. Tonight. All for myself.

And in case I want to go a little heavier…here’s some yummy meals too. Probably not for Bunko, but for any ‘ol night!

Baked brussel sprouts with parmesan cheese. (!!!)

Buffalo Chicken Calzone. I need this in my life.

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup. Yes please.

Pizza Grilled Cheese. Why not? Looks healthy!

Cheesy Corn Casserole. Mmmmmm.

Chicken Parmesan Bake. Oh my gah.

Mmk I’m done now. And going to eat EVERYTHING in sight but nothing will be as good as what I’m watered up for!

All images and recipes pinned here & here. Original sources can be found by clicking the picture on the board!

One last thing…are you on Pinterest yet? Did you just tell me no? What the HAY are you waiting for?! Shoot me a comment with your email if you want an invite!

Here Fishy Fishy

Last weekend I got two new pets.

Meet ___________ & ____________, betta fish that are now living in my office.

They stayed on the counter at home over the weekend until work on Monday. In which I drove them each in on separate days holding a half full bowl in my right hand with the fish in it safely into work.

That’s right, neither have names yet. This is very strange for me. One of my favorite parts of getting a pet is naming them, and I’m drawing a blank!

This one here is a Crowntail Betta. He’s not the friendliest and he doesn’t move around much. If I get too close to the tank he frays up like a mean kitty cat and he wants to fight. Although his frayed fins are really pretty! He looks red in this picture, but his body is whitish pink, almost transparent, with red and blue fins.

He looks closer to this one I found online in real life.

And here is the Veiltail. This one swims all over and comes up to the glass when I get close just to say hi. Isn’t that nice of him? He’s all red with a strip of tiny blue scales down both sides. He’s sweet. For a fish. Fish can be sweet right?

I couldn’t decide which fish I wanted at Wal Mart, so David offered to buy the other tank so I wouldn’t have to decide.

Sidenote: I have serious animal choosing issues. I know can pretty much assume whichever one I don’t pick, is not going to have as good a life as the one that goes home with me. It’s seriously crippling. You’d think picking a fish would not be that hard, but I FEEL for animals. Don’t even get me started on choosing a mammal. I die. Thanks Mom, for the over sentimental compassion-ness that makes up my entire being.

Have you ever stopped and looked at these poor fish in their pitiful little tupperware-like containers? So sad I bet they just stay in that little space til they die and then they put new ones on the shelf.

But for these two, it was their lucky day!

I think the red one knows he was lucky because he’s appreciative. The other one, not so much.

But they have these really cool orb-like tanks that came with LED lights so they’re all lit up and cool looking in my office.

...You know what? Just in the time it took to write this post, I’ve come up with their names (I think). And I’m definitely too lazy to go back and rewrite this whole post.

The red veiltail shall be Valentino because he’s red and sweet and it’s coming up to Valentine’s day and all. And the other shall be named Oscar. As in, the grouch.

Long Hair Don’t Care

I was feeling tubby this evening and wanted to look at motivational pictures of when I was skinnier so I got on Facebook. Do you ever sit down and look through your old albums? I do about once a year and I’m so thankful to have them. I couldn’t tell you where 75% of those pictures are stored today and I love having them at my fingertips.

Anywho, I start poking through albums seeing how I let myself get where I’m at today and I came across pictures when I had long hair. Some recent, some not.
Why why why do I continue to cut my hair? Right now my hair is short and I hate it this length. It’s “in-between” and it needs to get long asap.

Again, this is the Tamara Show and you’re watching Vain Network.

Sorry.

July 2009. Haha. I’ve been told I should be a shampoo commercial girl. I’m in!

Graduation Day, August 2009.

(Still proud of my B.S. in Biological Science. It. kicked. my. butt. but I did it )

August 2009. Such a fun night celebrating (what I thought would be haha) my last few weeks of singledom with all my favorite girls  

Summer 2009. Rossi & “Aunty” Beyonce

January 2011, hopped on the bang train.

Summer 2011.

And just because I found these too…

My sweet baby boy, November 2009. Just a wee wittle thing!

My sweet (big) baby boy, Summer 2011.

So that’s it for now.

And I miss being 30 lbs. lighter.

And having long hair. I’m just a long hair girl. Next time it’s long and I want to cut it. I hope I remember to read this post.

I am debating publishing this because it is completely random.

Oh well, I have nothing else to share tonight so it looks like it’s going up!

Randoms

Today I made a Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Recipe found here.

Natural PB, 2% Milk, Ice Cubes, 1 Nanner.

Get Went in my belly.

It was good and healthy!

Yesterday however I had a not-so-healthy White Chocolate Mocha Frappucino from Starbucks. Hey, you win some you lose some. And I’m 2.5 weeks soda free still!

The Way I Read Blogs: Google Reader

A few years ago now I came across a post on a blog that talked about Google Reader. I had no idea what it was and didn’t care to learn because I thought it’d be complicated and over my head. Well after I read up on it some more I thought I’d give it a shot. Now probably two years later I use it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. to read all my favorite blogs. I’ve been meaning to write this because it has made everything so convenient for me and I wanted to share!

So what is it?

Basically it is linked up in my case, to my gmail account. I login to my account and on any given day this is what it looks like.

You’ll see on the left, the names of the blogs I read. Those that are bold with a number next to it, are blogs with new posts and the number of posts that are “unread” by me.

After clicking on one with new posts (Enjoying the Small Things) you’ll see the blog entry in the main reading area. From there you just read it right in your main screen like you would if you went directly to the blog URL itself. The only thing you don’t see that you would if you went to the site, is the website’s layout, header, design, etc. But I don’t need to see all those ads, crazy headers, layous, etc…. I just want the goods. As in the post itself and it’s contents.

This helps me because any new blog I want to follow, I can simply Subscribe to by adding the URL to the Subscribe box at the top left. You click subscribe, and paste the URL into the box and hit Add. Then it’s automatically added to your list. I don’t have to remember to go check all my blogs every day in several different locations. They’re all right here and I don’t miss not even one entry.

I couldn’t live without it  

This may be old news to you, but if you don’t know about it yet, I hope it changes your life. Simplifying is what it’s all about!

Oh and in case you already have Reader and you’re not seeing my layout, I just updated it so I must share  

You can sign up for Google Reader here.

I think it’s my most favorite yet!

Oh and for those who were asking, I added a few new features to subscribe to the blog. You can find them on the right hand side.

Update: After changing my layout around, I noticed no matter what HTML fix I made, pictures that had been previously posted were cut off. I had to resize the main wrapper so the right hand side stuff shifted. However, it is now right under the header so you can’t miss it!

Just So Pretty

There’s something about having a camera always at your fingertips that I find super cool.

Never a moment to be missed.

Like these shots…

If I hadn’t had my phone, I wouldn’t have been able to capture these as they were everyday sights I encountered, without my camera.

Gosh I love technology.

And Instagram.

That’s all.