WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!

Okay, so I did get that phone call last night... You know, the very nice one from the director of schools telling you that you don't have to go to school the next day?  Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about...

Anyway, I woke up about 5:30 this morning and looked outside and there was NOTHING!  I was kind of disappointed because there was no snow, but also kind of glad that there was no ice... I went back to sleep.

I woke up again about 10am, and looked outside and there were about 4 inches of snow and huge snowflakes were coming down. :) I immediately started trying to find people to go play in the snow with.  Some people were losers and didn't want to go play, but Casey and Kristina were all about going to play, so I drove over to their house... My very first experience with driving in the snow!  It really wasn't too bad.

So we went out and made snow angels, threw snowballs, went sledding, and all of the fun things associated with a snow day.  We came back in and while Casey was making hot chocolate, Kristina and I made snow cream! :)  Then Kristina's sister Jennifer had the brilliant idea to mix hot chocolate powder in with the snow cream... AMAZING!!! :)  We enjoyed our snacks while watching Man in the Iron Mask, and then Casey suggested that we order pizza.  I wanted to get home before the roads got slick tonight, so I decided that I'd leave to come home when they left to get their pizza.

Should've left earlier!  We waited until about 10 minutes before their pizza would be done to try to leave, and after about THIRTY FIVE MINUTES of trying to get me unstuck so that they could get out, we gave up.  I texted one of my friends whining about being stuck, but I never thought that he would volunteer to come get me so I could go get the pizza!  That in and of itself was kind of an adventure! lol  On the way there and back he was saying that he thought I'd make it home just fine if he could get my car out of the driveway... so when we got back, he tried to get my car out.  It took him maybe 3 minutes!  I was actually kind of disgusted with myself! :-/  (He is a yankee that grew up driving in this stuff though...)

Anyway, then he followed me home, and he talked me through almost the entire 30 minute drive (it usually takes about 10 minutes)...  I would just like to take this opportunity to point out that I HAVE AMAZING FRIENDS!!!

Okay, so I made it all the way to my driveway and got stuck when I pulled in! lol  So I broke out the shovel that Poppa got me forever ago that I had never used, and proceeded to shovel my driveway so that I could make it into my garage.

So yeah... I'm not leaving my house tomorrow unless someone comes to get me!  I think I'm about to make soup or something warm, clean my house, take a shower, and go to bed!  :-D

WHAT A DAY!!!

Hoping for that call...

So considering that we're under a Winter Storm Warning and Gary Pickens is predicting between 3-8 inches of snow, as well as a quarter of an inch of ice before the snow...

Yeah, I'm hoping for that phone call from the superintendent telling us that we're out!

Just some more randomness...

I have some of the best friends that I could ask for.


I LOVE to travel! (Both internationally and nationally... And road trips are pretty great too!)


When I travel, I love being a nerd... Like finding out that this is where the Navy Seals tried to come in to help in the overthrow of Noriega, but they forgot about low-tide, this is where alot of the British coronations have occurred, the legend of how the Gueyme Indians got their name, this is where Princess Di married Prince Charles, stuff like that.

I've seen the Panama Canal so many times I've lost count... And it's really not as cool as you'd think it would be.

One of the highlights of my year is walking down the road to the Children's Home in Panama and hearing the kids start yelling that I'm coming. :)

At several points, I've had my life all planned out, but things would happen to mess that plan up, so I've pretty much given up on planning it out and I'm taking stuff as it comes.

I LOVE playing in the snow. One of my favorite memories from college is when the Phi Kappa boys took their trucks up and down University Street and packed the snow down til it was as slick as glass... Then my friend Stephanie and I went down it in my laundry basket. It was great til we ran into a car! lol Sledding down the hill next to Porter Terry was pretty great too... That's one big hill!

I think the women with the skunk hairdo are ridiculous! (The ones with that pale blonde layer on top of dark brown/black hair) Seriously, I just want to walk up to them and point out how bad it looks.

I will never do something stupid like that for "fashion."

I refuse to be uncomfortable because it's fashionable... Honestly, how fashionable are you going to look in 20 years when you have to wear those granny shoes with really thick soles because you wore stiletto heels everyday for years? I'll take my comfortable ugly shoes and just wear dressy ones on occasion, thank you!





Man, I'm on a roll tonight!!! lol

Bucket List

Here's my Bucket List:  (aka The things I really want to do before I die...)


1) To figure out what's next in God's plan for me... (He really can be frustrating!)
2) To go on a cruise
3) To take my mom to London
4) To take my mom to NYC
5) Learn to water-ski
6) Go to Italy
7) Niagara Falls
8) Get better at playing therapist
9) Teach English in China for a year
10) Live in Scotland for awhile
11) Go to Abbey Road 
12) Go back to Australia so I can go see my cousins and Sydney
13) Go to Las Vegas
14) Go to an NFL game
15) Go back to Mexico
16) Learn to salsa dance
17) Go storm chasing and see a tornado
18) Go star watching in Hollywood
19) Go to Mardi Gras
20) Go scuba diving
21) Go to Germany for longer than 2 hours
22) New Years’ Eve in NYC
23) Go to Paris, France and see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre
24) Go see Monet’s Gardens
25) Go to Cedar Point
26) Go to Scotland and be a tourist
27) Learn to snow ski
28) Go to Canada
29) Skydive
30) Go back to Chicago
31) Take my dad deep sea fishing
32) Go to London for longer than 2 days
33) Go back to Washington, DC and wander the Smithsonian to my heart’s content
34) Meet Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Matthew Fox, Christopher Meloni, Sandra Bullock, Marishka Hargitay, and several others...
35) Go to Hawaii
36) Go to Seattle (Home of Starbucks and Grey's Anatomy... What more could you want?!)
37) To become a school counselor
38) To pay off college before I'm 50 (HA!  Like that'll happen!)
39) To find and marry a man that meets all of the qualifications on the list I have in my Bible...
40) Raise my children (don't have any yet...) to be good, Christian, respectful people

Hmm...

I've started several blogs, but then I never really manage to keep up with them... I just created this one, and I'm going to try to keep up with it, but no promises! :)

I don't ever know what to say in the first entries whenever I start a new one, because, to me, it just feels awkward to jump right in with the blogging.

Anyway, here's a little bit of background info on me...
My name's Tara.
I'm 26 years old.
I'm originally from Arkansas, but live in Tennessee now.
I teach Spanish at a high school in a little town.
I am a member of the church of Christ, and that's a big part of my life.
I love mission trips.
I work in a children's home in Panama (the country, not the city in Florida) in the summers.
I love to travel- I've been to Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Scotland, England, and most recently, Australia.  If you count layovers, I've also been to Germany and Amsterdam.
I love my family and friends and would quite possibly do anything for them.
I love animals, especially dogs, but I'm not one of the PETA weirdos...

Okay, that's enough about me for now...