Golden Birthday

Today is Olivia's Golden Birthday!

She is 14 on the 14th.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful,

creative and talented daughter.

My world became better when she was born.

 

In addition to Olivia being 14 on the 14th,

I have to tell you that I was in labor for 14 hours

before the doctor told me I needed a c-section

and she was approximately

14 days late making her arrival!

 

Yep, needless to say, 14 is a dominating

number for her this year!!

 

 

Here she was 14 years ago

Here she is today (pre-braces)

 



Bridesmaid Dresses

Hey, guess what? I've got something to blog about. Yay me!!

I wanted to blog about bridesmaid dress shopping for my step-daughter's wedding. Emily is having 7 bridesmaids and 5 of them were able to meet yesterday at the bridal shop for trying on and picking out dresses. Emily had one in mind and that was the first one the girls tried on. It was nice, but then each of the girls picked out a different style to try on. That was lots of fun to see what they picked. Turns out, Emily's first choice was not her first choice after all. Ha! Below are the two styles chosen. Olivia, being the maid of honor, will be wearing the one shoulder style. The other bridesmaids will be wearing the strapless style. I love them both! All girls are wearing her color choice of malibu.

Olivia's Maid of Honor Style

Bridesmaid Style

Color of the wedding 

(photos are courtesy of the David's Bridal website)

Today Emily is heading to the tux shop to pick out tuxes for the guys. I can't wait to hear how that went.

May 25th will be here before we know it.

Want to win something?

Did the title get you interested?
Do you have a story to tell?

Megan at In this Wonderful Life has an awesome giveaway going on.

Head on over to see how you can enter to win a Origami Owl Living Lockets. 

It's easy, go ahead and give it a try. I sure did.

Ugh - No Interest

Unfortunately, the title says it all.
I have no interest in blogging right now.

Obviously, I'm not a heavy blogger to begin with, but I can honestly say that I have no idea when I'll post something worth while again. It could be tomorrow, or it could be next month. Who knows.

I'll continue to read blogs, but simply don't have the desire to write anything on my own.

Hope all is well for you in blogland.
Keep up the good work!

January

Well, I haven't been the blogging type lately. It just seems that I don't have much to blog about. Well, if I do have something, I'm just not real sure anyone would be interested.

Here are some things I've been thinking about and figured I would put it into a post.

• I had brunch with my dear friend Susan from Just Me & My Thoughts yesterday. We went to my favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. It had been awhile and was so much fun playing catch up.
• The appt is made for Emily's bridesmaids to go look at dresses. We'll be going on Sunday, February 17th. There are 7 bridesmaids and all but 2 of them will be able to make the appt. My Olivia is her maid of honor. Pretty special for a 13 year old. The down side is that Olivia hates dresses...she keeps asking me if she can wear pants (haha)
• Between January 15th and March 14th my family has 6 birthdays to celebrate. That's a lot of presents to buy!
• One of the birthdays mentioned above is my mom's. She turns 70. Funny thing is that she doesn't want anything big. She says she doesn't feel 70 and thinks 70 is the new 50. We are going to abide by her wishes and just plan a small family dinner for her.
• I started making a list of what expenses (over and above regular bills) we have and it got so overwhelming I had to stop. There's everything from wedding stuff, to birthday stuff, to Olivia's trip to DC, to small medical bills, to just stuff. Ugh, it's depressing.
• Olivia is doing great with her braces. All the horror stories she heard from friends have just simply been one sided for now. I'm sure there will be some appts that Olivia has that she experiences discomfort, but so far, so good. She did have one bracket that broke. We had to get that fixed; but that was only a 10min appt. Easy peasy.
• I'm still watching Leighton, but it's not every Friday like before. Kayla is not working and therefore, the need to keep Leighton as often isn't necessary. I hope to get back on a schedule. I'm thinking every other Friday. I really do miss my "Tara time".
• Tom's band is still in full swing. So far they have 30 dates booked for 2013. That's quite a bit but there's still room for more. He loves to play his keyboards and people love to listen to him.
• I'm finding it hard to believe the school year is 1/2 over. Before we know it, it will be Spring Break and then the end of the school year. Olivia has already picked her classes and toured the high school for next year. (well, actually this year). It's so hard to believe. Really, it is.
• Speaking of time flying, I can't believe the first month of the new year is basically half over.

Ok, that's plenty of randomness. Have a great weekend!

Go Irish!

Where I live, it's Notre Dame country thru and thru. Today is huge for all ND fans everywhere. 
Notre Dame is playing Alabama in the BCS Championship game. Notre Dame hasn't won a bowl game since 1988. We are ready to change that.
To say our city/area is pumped is an understatement.
Go Irish - We are ND!!

Hello 2013

Bring on 2013!!

Ok, so we're only 2 days into the new year and I already know it's going to be a busy one. Lots going on now and in the coming months.

Here's a look at what I've got coming up within the next 6 months (and this is just all that I'm aware of and remembering at the time of writing this).

• In March or early April we will be having a bridal shower for my step-daughter Emily who got engaged on Christmas Eve
• In April we will be having a baby shower for my sister-in-law who's due in June
• In mid May my step-daughter Emily graduates from college
• The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (in May) is the wedding
• On Memorial Day my Olivia leaves for a week long trip to Washington DC with her classmates
• Early June is my niece's 21st birthday
• Early to mid June is when my newest niece or nephew is due to be born

I'm exhausted just writing all this out. Hopefully with the chain of events listed above it means I'll have plenty to blog about.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2013!