Reality TV

Lately I have realized just how obsessed I am with reality television.  I Freaking love it.  I can't really tell you why, but I find myself watching all sorts of shows with practically no plot, or story line, or characters that I can really relate to.  But every week, there are shows that I have to watch.  And now I am going to make you all suffer through an explanation of the reality shows I must watch :)

So first off we have Survivor.  I have watched EVERY season of that show. I watched the first few seasons while they were airing on tv.  Then I took like a 3 year hiatus from watching the show, then enter being super bored one night while staying at my grandparents house for the weekend.  I came across Survivor season like 452 on ondemand and starting watching it. And now I am hooked again.  I got so into it that one summer, I watched all 533 seasons on youtube once I got off work.  BTW watching tv shows on youtube is a GREAT way to get your homework accomplished. . . NOT!!!!

i'll give you mad props if you can name everyone in this pic :)

After Survivor, my next favorite reality show has to be the Bachelor/Bachelorette, or Bachelor Pad.  Yeah I know, how unrealistic can you get. None of the couples stay together, but every season, I find myself rooting for the couple to make it.  And as I'm watching the season unfold, I find myself wishing I was able to afford even one of the lavish dates they get to go on.  I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic at heart and would love to think that it can work out for someone.

Emily- what a classy lady. . . with a way awesome fiance!

Now for Big Brother. I am not as obsessed with this show as I am with others. But I have decided that if I were ever to go on a reality game show, this would probably be the one for me. I would be able to sit in a house, eating real food, and sleeping in a real bed. That's my kind of game show. No starving and suffering through extreme weather for me!

Oh how I loved this season: Brenchel and all. . . 

Every Friday night, Zane plays Pathfinder with a bunch of friends from work. I come along with him, but not to play. While the game is going on in the front room, me and one of the other guy's wife watch. . . you guessed it: reality shows!  Over the summer, we have watched Take Me Out- a show where George Lopez hooks a bunch of desperate ladies up with desperate men.  I had to watch that after the first episode to find out if Cat Lady, Cougar, and Smiles ever got a date.  Cat Lady did, I don't think Cougar and Smiles were successful though.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, just watch the show and you'll figure it out.  We also watched the Glass House. Which is a LOT like Big Brother, except the fans control who goes home. Which is cool.  Oh and we also watched the Choice, which is just a dating version of the Voice. I mean they even have the chairs that spin around and celebrity 'judges'.  

YUP. . . that is Joe Jonas 

Other shows I watch when I find them include Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, What Not to Wear, and Say Yes to the Dress. I've actually learned some stuff from these shows, as opposed to the ones listed prior to this paragraph, in which I am pretty sure I lose brain cells by the second.  I actually was able to use something I learned from Ace of Cakes in my job interview with my current job. Thanks for making a squig cake for Gen Con Charm City cakes! 

I don't know why I love reality tv so much.  I think it's the fact that I can escape into a completely unrealistic situation for an hour or 2 by watching these shows.  In no way will my life every mimic one of these shows, so it's fun to watch and get caught up in the drama. 

So Much Can Change in a Year

Yesterday while I was at one of my cleaning jobs, I was contemplating on how much has changed in my life over the past year.  And I realized that a LOT has changed, and thankfully, most of it has been for the better.  So I'm gonna enlighten all of my lovely readers on those changes.  Starting. . . NOW.

A year ago, I was dating the guy that I knew without a shadow of a doubt was the one for me.  We had made it through a summer of dating long distance and, in my mind, we were over the hard part and ready to sail into married life.  Well, that guy is not Zane, so obviously that has changed. When Brendan broke up with me, I was heartbroken.  For 6 months, I wasn't sure how to be myself. I had prepared myself to be Brendan's wife so well that I feel like I had lost my identity. I'm not trying to say anything bad about Brendan. Even though Brendan and I don't talk anymore, I have nothing bad to say about him or our relationship. To be honest, Brendan taught me a lot about myself and who I am, some of that while I was dating him, but most of it while I was trying to recover from the heartbreak of our breakup.  Now I can say, a year later, that I am 100% myself. I live my life the way I want to. I have really been able to focus on the things that I want and have found myself much happier. After taking the time to really find myself again, I was able to find a great guy that loves me for me.  I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not, or hide different aspects of my personality with Zane. He loves all of me, all the nerdy, weird, quirky, not so positive things about me included. And for that, I am truly grateful. I love him and I'm glad that I went through the pain and heartbreak that I did because it helped me be ready to give myself to someone in a way that I've never done before: 100%.

Zane and me. I love this guy :)

A year ago, I was still in school at BYU.  Now I loved my time at BYU. I loved the atmosphere, the sports, the job I had, and the friends I made. But I'm definitely glad to be done with school.  I've contemplated maybe taking some classes here and there, but I don't think I can handle being a full-time student ever again. I love the freedom of coming home from work and being able to do whatever I want (even if that is just watching some hulu and then going to sleep).  Again, I feel like I am able to be more myself outside of BYU than I was at BYU.  I don't want to sound ungrateful or unappreciative in any way, but I feel like at BYU, there are lots and lots of the exact same person.  No variety to spice things up.  Even though I'm living not too far away from there now, I find that I can be more myself away from the campus that I called "home" for 6 years.

A year ago, I had drifted apart from one of my nearest and dearest friends.  Ky and I were roommates for 2 years, but I decided to move in with my grandparents after those 2 years were finished in an attempt to save money.  That, along with my new relationship (with Brendan) caused us to drift apart.  It wasn't until Brendan and I had broken up that I realized how important that friendship is to me.  Ky is one of the rare people you find in life that you know you will be friends with forever.  While at BYU, she was one of the only people I found that I could be myself around.  I don't know why I let that friendship slip away, but I'm glad that we recovered it.  Ky is now getting ready to embark on a journey that I'm sure she will love: an internship in DC.  I will miss her SOOOO much.  Just don't forget about your friends in Utah while you're gone Ky!  I love you bunches!

Ky and I at her going away party :(

And last but not least, a year ago, I wasn't preparing for a trip to Houston!!!!  Seriously, any of my Houston friends that want to hang out while I'm back, let me know ASAP!  I'll be there probably Sept 7-10, so reserve your time now!!!  I can't wait to get back to Houston and see all of my peeps there! So yeah, hit me up if you want to hang out!

Blue Hair

Hello again everyone!

Work has been super busy the past few weeks.  The bright side, I get more hours which means more money.  The down side, I've been bringing work home with me along with lots of stress.  Lets just say it makes for a kind of unhappy Tara.  And a kind of unhappy Tara leads to a not so happy Zane. So yeah. But we are powering through my stress and grouchiness like the awesome team we are.  I love my awesome boyfriend :)

Now on to the title of my post today. . . I dyed my hair blue.  Now before everyone freaks out, it's not my entire head. Nor is it even a large portion of my head.  It is simply the tips of the under layer of my hair. So you can't even really tell unless my hair is in a pony tail or it moves just right.  I love it bunches!  I've been wanting to add some color to my hair for a while now, but was kind of scared to do it.  One of my coworkers has a bright blue mohawk and I loved the color of it. So his wife offered to help me color my hair.  It turned out really well :)  I will post a pic as soon as I take one and let you guys be the judge I guess. Zane likes it and I love it so I'm happy with it.

Also, for all of my Tomball peeps that might be reading this.  I am planning a trip to Houston in September.  I won't be there for super long, so reserve your time with me now!  I want to do a big get together with everyone at the drive in or something, so message me on facebook if you are interested. I'll probably make some sort of event though so keep an eye out.  I'll be there Sept 7-10 or so. Sorry its not longer but work keeps me from taking long vacays and I will be driving instead of flying so yeah.

Well I plan on posting soon about some of my ramblings and life philosophies so stay tuned.

Lots of love!

Tara

Shopping, Mini Golf, and the Super bowl Shuffle

Well hello again friends!

This weekend has been pretty eventful for me as far as weekends go.  I got to hang out with one of my best friends ever!  Ky and I haven't really hung out for a couple of months, so we needed some girl time.  We decided to go window shopping at the mall.  And when I say window shopping, I mean I was literally too broke to buy anything so I got to fantasize about all of these things I really wanted to buy but couldn't.  Anyways, hanging out with Ky is always a blast.  I love my boyfriend and all, but talking to him and talking to my best friends are just not the same.  I mean, does Zane really want to hear me talk about the wedding colors I want and listen to me justify buying an oh so cute pair of shoes?  Probably not.  And yes I did buy an oh so cute pair of shoes. . . Thankfully one of my pay checks came in the mail AND the shoes were on clearance, so I made 1 single solitary purchase at the mall.  And trust me, for spending a couple hours there, only making 1 purchase has to be a record for me.

After hanging out with Ky and going to work, I convinced Zane to go mini golfing with me.  Normally Zane and I are too exhausted to really do anything besides hang out with our co workers or watch tv.  I have been wanting to go mini golfing with him for a while so we did.  When we got to Traflaga, I used my Pass of all Passes (which I didn't know if I would use a lot when I bought it, but it's come in handy) and asked the lady if I could use anything on my starving student card (again a purchase I wasn't sure about) to pay for Zane.  It turns out I could, so Zane and I got to mini golf for FREE!  Whoot!  I love free things. I had never done the outdoor course at Traflaga, so even though it was like 930 at night, outside we went.  When we got to the first hole, none other than Steven Rogers of the BYU men's Basketball team was there.  Zane didn't understand my momentary freak out, but then again, Zane has never seen me watching BYU sports.  So yeah, I was loving watching Steven and his group play some golf.  But I had to focus on my game.  18 holes later, I had gotten 2 holes in one.  Anyone that has ever gone mini golfing with me knows that that is far from normal for me.  I guess my man is a good coach.  At the end of the game, Zane beat me though, with a score of 59 to my 60.  But I scored 2 holes in 1 and I don't think he scored any. . . so I take pride in that :)

After explaining to Zane who the guy in front of us  while golfing was, Zane and I started talking sports.  Zane then started to sing some song I had never in my life heard. . . The Superbowl Shuffle.  It seemed like it could be entertaining, so today, Zane pulled up the video.  In case you don't know what this is, here's the low down.  The 1985 Chicago Bears won the Superbowl. At some point, either before or after winning, they performed this song known as The Superbowl Shuffle.  Yeah it's surprisingly catchy so I've been singing it all day.  If you need some entertainment, find the video and watch a bunch of football stars from the 80's rap.  It's pretty good. And by good I mean awful, and by awful I mean entertaining.

So yeah, as far as weekends go, this was by far more eventful than most.  Pretty pathetic huh? Oh well.  I've had a blast :)

Until next time!

~Tara

Here's to giving it a go

Why hello everyone.

So I've attempted to start a blog before, but with school and work and life, I promptly gave it up just a few short posts in.  Now that I'm no longer in school and with work leaving me completely exhausted every day, I've decided to give this a go again.  I have no energy once I'm done with work to really do anything except read, watch hulu, facebook, or now blog.  So why not!  I started another blog with my sister about the books we read (check it out. It should prove to be somewhat entertaining).

As for my life, I don't have a ton really going on right now.  I work 2 jobs.  I am a front office assistant for a miniatures painting studio. So yes I basically am in contact with some nerdy people 35 hours a week.  My other job is a cleaning job.  I clean a sleep clinic and a bank.  I think I will end up dropping one of the buildings I clean though so that I can maybe have a little bit more time to relax.

I am dating a pretty swell guy right now too.  He actually is a painter at my job.  So yeah, after trying to date at BYU, and then attempting the whole online thing (and yes I did that. And no you don't always just run into a bunch of  creepers.  Some, yes, but not a bunch), I finally found a great guy through work.  I love him to pieces, even if he can be a bit nerdy at times.  Thankfully I can be just as nerdy, just not necessarily in the same way. Man I feel sorry for our future kids. . .

In other news, I just got over an infected bug bite.  Yeah that was fun. I got to take 5 pills a day for 10 days.  And then I got the bite lanced open.  WHOOT.  Actually it was more like OUCH!!!!!  Yeah I don't recommend it.

I'm also trying to plan a trip to Houston, more specifically Tomball. YAY for Texas!!!  I haven't been home in over 2 years. I'm missing all my friends like crazy, especially since 2 of my great friends have gone and gotten themselves engaged in the past few months!  I need a dose of Texas.  I miss all of my high school buds so much and just need to get away from the stress of work and being broke.  haha. 

Yeah so pretty much that is what I have going on in my life right now.  One of these days I'll catch everyone up on the trials and tales of my last year at BYU.  That will make for some great story telling.  I might not live a super exciting life, but it tends to be entertaining and full of great stories none the less.

Until next time!

~Tara