For my Faithful Blog Readers!

So I was recently told that if I didn't post soon they one of my readers was going to file a complaint to the Adventures of Tyke! :-) So here you have it! This is what I've been up to for the last couple weeks!

I'm still in California. Winding down my last few days here. By the time I leave, I will have been out here over 6 weeks! My friends are revolting back home at my absence and have let me know that they will no longer let me go home to California because I always stay longer than I say I'm going to! :-)

It has been awesome to be home! The weather has been great for a majority of the time I've been here. The change of scenery and change of pace was much needed when I left. It's been VERY relaxing! I went from doing something every night of the week almost, to doing absolutely nothing which has been nice but I'm ready to get back to my fast paced life! haha I come here to get recharged after I've run myself down for too long.

I always get these brainiac ideas that seem like a good idea at the time but after I start them sometimes I realize I'm in over my head! I always keep hair products and toilietries here so I don't have to pack them when I come home. Well this time I decided why not have pajamas, workout clothes, socks, underwear, tennis shoes, a full set of make up, etc.? For the first 4 weeks I hadn't bought anything fun besides "necessity" stuff. People would ask me if I've been shopping. "Well as a matter of fact, I have been! I just bought some bronzer beads yesterday! Woo hoo!" So good idea in theory, but not probably the best idea overall. Oh well, now I have two of most everything. I will just have to make myself a list before I leave so I can remember what to still bring with me next time. Kate has also been sending me packages while I've been here. More clothes because I got VERY sick of the 5 shirts that I packed(I thought I was going to do a lot of shopping, didn't happen at the beginning of my trip! :-)), and sending back stuff to keep here rather than in IL.

Denise came out last Saturday. It's been great to have her here. She's game for whatever. Totally easy to please. Give her a little sun, shopping and some place she can eat fish/sushi, she's a happy camper! :-) She leaves tomorrow and I'm a little sad about that but my walled will be glad for a break. We've been doing a lot of shopping! haha

This is Mom and I at Laguna beach. Can you tell were looking straight into the sun?

I just happened to have two pairs of sunglasses in my purse! Ahh, much better!

I thought I would be funny and send a message to all my friends back home that I was at the beach while they were in the snow. Karma.......well you know what they say! As soon as the camera went off, the wave came in and got my pants soaked, erased my message and washed away my mom's shoe!

We had a great time people watching! Ever look at couples and wonder how they got together or why people thought that that outfit seemed like a good choice when they picked it out of their closet that morning? I know I'm terrible, but seriously who wears a gold dress with lime green shoes?!

I hadn't been out of the house in a week. Mom and Dad took pity on me and treated me to dinner out! One of our favorite steakhouses. If you wear a tie in there, they cut it off your neck and staple it to the wall!

Dad found the sign above his head more interesting then the picture!

There we go!

Yeah, Denise is here! We were playing soccer mom for the day. With only two cars and four people, we had to drop my mom off at her meeting and pick her back up! Oh to be 15 again! :-)

We look like were glowing! It's because were so angelic! haha

I told Denise that the lines on her face match the lines on her shirt!

Why are table pictures always so awkward? No one knows where to put their hands, or tilt their heads, and do we only take pictures when we eat?! APPARENTLY! :-)

Our first night we sat on the back patio, lit up the gazebo, turned on some tunes and caught up on some much needed long overdue girl talk!

While she was doing that........

I was.......taking pictures of myself feeling sorry for myself because I had to work! haha I've been here almost 6 weeks and just discovered I could work outside?!?! Are you kidding me? What was I thinking?! :-)

Denise got a little red her first day out! Little being the key word! I don't know how many times I tell people the sun is more intense here, they just don't believe me. It's always, "well I lay out at home with no sunscreen for 5 hours, blah, blah, blah! Well this isn't home, and here you're going to fry! I hate to tell ya I told ya so! haha

I stole Kate's signature "hand on the hip" pose, but I've discovered it makes my arms look WAY skinnier this way, so get ready to see it more often! :-)

Please excuse my horribly manicured nails. I did get them done the next day. I think I could have passed for one of those ladies that wears like 3 inch long fake nails. They were definitely daggers. Oh and someone told me that my watch was too big and that a blind man would be able to tell time off it from across the room. Now that may be a BIT of a stretch, but it is large! :-) Oh and the watched stopped working around 4:45!

Denise had had a rough night. The sun had apparently fried her brain. Here's some examples: In H&M she shows me a dress and says she likes it but she's not sure about the size, but couldn't find anymore of them in the store. I said you mean the dress that's directly in front of us about 20 feet away?

Example 2: Same dress, asks an employee about the sizing and finds out that it's women's and not juniors. She says ok, well then I need a 4 and starts rummaging through the rack. I said, wasn't a 4 what you had in your hand when you first showed it to me? She was like, oh yeah it was!

Example 3: We were trying to figure out a place to eat. I stopped in front of a directory to look at our choices. She says, do you think there's a directory around here? I look at her kind of funny and say, "why yes there is! Behold!" And did the whole Vanna White/Bob Barker girls reveal of the directory to her. She says, "oh is that why you stopped right here?" "Um, yes it is!" :-)

She laid off the sun the next day. The break has brought her back to her senses! haha

Another awkward dinner picture! Seriously, it's a mix between me trying to flex to show off my oh so huge muscles or trying to hoist myself out of the booth! You decide! :-)

The martinis were great. I got a Sweet Tart. Appropriately named. At first it's sweet kind of like cough syrup and then the after taste is tart. The inventor of the name is genius! :-)

Denise with her infamous directory!

"Is there a directory around here somewhere?"

One of my favorite spots! I've always wanted to go on this ferris wheel so I suggested it to Denise. After giving me the pity nod like she thought it might be a good idea, she casually mentioned that it might be more fun to do with a boy! Well if I had a boy to go on it with, do you think I'd be asking you to go on it with me?! haha Maybe another time! :-)

We went to 4 malls, in 4 cities, in ONE DAY! It was nuts but we had a blast! This was our second mall AND our second time at this mall this week. Fashion Island definitely gets it's name honestly. Why do people think they can charge $100 for a t-shirt?!

By dinner, we were exhausted AND I realized I had forgotten my camera that day! Talk about annoyed! Denise had hers but we had no upload cord for hers, so this is how hardcore I am. I couldn't possibly wait to post these pictures to Facebook until we get back. They would be all out of order with our days if we did that, and we have faithful fans following our shopping treks daily! haha So we go to CVS pharmacy after dinner to download her pics to a CD so I could save them to my computer! Now aren't you glad you have these photos to be able to see today and not next Wednesday? :-)

Denise has a theme going on. Stripes and solids! It's either a striped cardigan with a solid tank underneath or a striped tank with a solid cardigan over. I'm trying to break her out of her shell this trip. And to those of you that know her well I have outlawed her from buying any lacy tanks! haha

So the waitress took our picture three times and we liked the first one the best....go figure!

So this is a bit exaggerated. This is from multiple days and about one item per bag, but you get the idea. We've made our rounds and we've enjoyed EVERY minute of it! Heidi if you're reading this, I will probably have some clothes for you when I get home after I clean out my closet from last year with what I'm replacing it with! :-)

All that shopping really takes it out of you! :-) Oh and is it just me or does Denise look like that guy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the white eyebrows?! This picture makes her eyelids look like they're glowing! haha

Ok so maybe the sun brain damage hasn't full worn off. Example 4:

Me: "The Buckle sells Ed Hardy"

D: "What's Ed Hardy?"

Me: "You know, the trucker hats and those really wild, rhinestoned shirts that have like skulls and hearts and stuff on them?"

D: "Oh yeah, I think I have that perfume. It's Ed Hardy by Christina Aguilera"

Me: "Oh really? I didn't know she was a spokesperson for Ed Hardy."

LOOK VERY CLOSELY AT THE PICTURE!!!! Christina Aguilera......Christian Audigier.......ALMOST the same thing! :-)

More Cali

As they say, "all good things must come to an end"! Whit and Kate's California spring break was nearing its end, so we spent their last night in San Diego at our local favorite Coyote Grill. They have the best pork tacos! We also got to watch some interesting old people dancing. Can you say no rhythm? :-)

While they were eating "fro-yo", sun bathing, beaching it up, shopping and going to the zoo, I was sitting in front of a computer all day talking to crazy dealers! Doesn't quite seem fair, but I can't complain. I was staying 6 weeks and they were only here for 1. I think I win! :-)

Whit's diet went out the window a few days into the trip. No one can resist the "fro-yo" that they have on every street corner!


Something about the puff sleeves on this jacket make it look like I have my shoulders up near my ears!



Whit and Isaac went to the San Diego Zoo. We decided that Isaac's hair looks like the cockatoos. Were not sure who copied who!

Hmm......Phil kind of looks like he has matching black eyes in this picture. I thought he and Isaac were getting along all week! :-)

Yes Kate, you got a ton and yes those are sunglass lines on your nose! :-)

No mom, we will not use this picture as our Christmas card photo! You wait, she will suggest it! :-)

Whit has now taken on Kate's trademark "hand on the hip" Hollywood pose. It supposed makes your arm look smaller. Who knew?

Mom somehow thinks we want pictures where no one is looking at the camera. Like how it looks like I pushed my chest out as far as it would go in this picture? :-)

Pictures from Cali

So I've been in California for a week already. Feels like longer. When you work all week, doesn't feel much more like any other week. Just waiting for Friday to arrive. Whit and Kate flew in on Saturday with their boyfriends Phil and Isaac. I was a little late getting to the airport because mom insisted that I wash her car and then when they took over an hour to wash it, she was telling me to let them know I needed to go! That's a little difficult when 8 other cars are blocking yours in! I think I'll wait! They all got in safely and we headed down to the condo that afternoon after a short stint at the house to kill time.

Whit decided to go on a diet before she came out for spring break, which I'm in total support of. However, she has decided to stay on it while she's on spring break! I mean isn't that the point of vacation......to eat a lot of good food and gain back all the weight you lost before you came?! :-) She would say to us before she was eating something she wasn't supposed to, "I'm not supposed to be eating this" as if her our own conscience was getting to her! :-)

We were going to eat at Rubios for dinner, but after 3 circles around the Stater Bros.(grocery store) parking lot not being able to find it, we ended up at El Torito instead. I'm sporting my favorite coat. Whit and Kate think I look like Paddington Bear in it, but I think I look like the Morton salt girl!

It looks like Phil is sitting on Kate's lap, but they just like to sit close when they eat! Kate kept reminding me that she got her hair straightened and how straight it was. She had me check it out when it was dry, when it was wet, when she had just dried it and after she straightened it! I get it Kate, it's STRAIGHT! :-)

We learned that mild guacomole in California means hot to the rest of the world! Our mouths were on fire!

Aunt Cheryl came out to keep mom company all week.

FINALLY in Cali!

So I don't have any fun pictures YET, but I've only been here two days, so cut me some slack! I have to say though that I love it here! Sometimes I ask myself why I don't live here permanently? Well the answer is because of all of you! I love Illinois and that's home but I love coming "home" to California as well.

There's something about this house that takes all your troubles away! :-) We always joke and call it the house of restoration! Something about being at home, stressed out and just needing a break makes coming here all the more fun.

So even though I'm working the whole time I'm home, I love being here because it's WARM(it was 85 yesterday), the food is better AND different, the shopping is AMAZING and most importantly, my parents are here! I love spending time with them and catching up! My dad said this morning "I hate going to work when you're here"! Aww! That's so sweet! I said, well I'm working too so what's the difference? :-)

So anyway, that's my greetings from Cali! I will be here pretty much the entire month of March so if any of you get a wild hair and would like to come visit me, please do so! :-)

Mini House Church Reunion

So Lindsey set up dinner because it had been so long since we had all seen each other. We met at Denny's which was a regular hang out after house church back in the day. I had already eaten at Bob Evans that morning after church so I was frequenting all of the senior citizens establishments yesterday! It was great seeing everyone and I hope we do it more often than once every three years! :-) Josh facebooked me from the table asking me to blog this dinner, so I hope I did it up to your standards Josh! I explained that they only way I post is if I have pictures so if wanted this on my blog, we were going to have to take some photos!

The first thing Luke said to me was, "Tara, I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was in your house church!" I did remember him but he was a lot more talkative at dinner than he was in the two times he came to house church! :-)

In our email trail, we decided to do dinner yesterday because I was leaving for Cali for three weeks, Josh was going to Hawaii for 2, so Amanda and Chris said they were going to Australia for 7 weeks and Jerrod said he was visiting the international space station. Lindsey believed all of us. Only two of us were telling the truth! :-)

I'm always enlightened when I'm around Jerrod. He's a wealth of knowledge. However when I said that last night it came out "I'm always enlightened around Jerrod. He's a wealth of knowledge that you'll never use in a lifetime" or something like that! I didn't mean it the way it came out!

We discovered that Luke is one of those people that falls for all the gimmicks! Gets store credit cards for the 10% discount, buys F&I products at dealerships because the dealer told him he was getting a deal, getting a transmission flush at the oil change place because it was "needed" and buying a bowflex off the tv because it might really give you a six pack! We got a good laugh out of him. Not to mention his most outrageous thing he's ever done.......jumping out at cars when he was 8 with his friends asking if they loved Jesus! He was a real rebel child! :-)

Great seeing all of you! Hope you enjoy all your vacations and space station escapades! :-) Let's do it again soon!

Marissa's 30th Birthday

Marissa's 30th birthday is Tuesday so we celebrated Saturday night at Alexanders in Peoria and then went out for drinks at Martinis. Marissa loves butterflies, dragonflies, flowers and anything colorful, so I tried to make it special by incorporating all those things into the evening. Down the name cards had dragonfly stickers on them. It was a fun evening. We had some great food, yummy cake and great company!

Marissa and Denise checking out the picture placemats. I took pictures from young to present and made collages and then laminated them for each place setting.

Even our waiter kept saying like 4 times that we had brought our A game. That in his 7 years of working there, he'd never seen a table like it. It was funny!

The birthday girl

Andrew and Mallory. They just set the date for their wedding in July. Andy even got recognized at Steak-N-Shake recently. Some kid yelled "aren't you the guy from the Kansas City Chiefs?"

Daniel with cutie Caleb. I kept thinking there was something different about Daniel. Well he's lost 30 pounds and changed his hair. Yep, that's what it was! :-)

Jennessa didn't feel well after dinner so she didn't get to hang out with us.

They were going for the serious pose, however Daniel kind of ruined it by trying to get food out of his teeth instead!

Poor Adair. We harass this kid so bad, but he takes it well. I walked up and asked if he'd just been to Hawaii because of his puca shell bracelet his was wearing. That end of the table errupted in laughter. Apparently, Ben had been giving him a hard time about it all evening!

Mark and Becky, he cooked her steak a little long because he said she ALWAYS makes him put it back on the grill. He said, "I don't really like re-cooking your food after I've started eating mine, so I cooked it extra long so I wouldn't have to get back up"! It was definitely cooked all the way through! :-)

Becky asked for a class of hot water to warm up Caleb's bottle. They brought her a beer glass. We said it looked like one of those car bomb shots. We were calling it a breast milk car bomb!

Andy was having a little trouble lighting the candles and then got burnt. This response was a smidge dramatic though! :-)

All the guys broke out into a Michael Smith(from The Office) rendition version of happy birthday that had everyone around us laughing!

"I hope I got that bicycle Ben was supposed to be getting me for my birthday"!

Everytime I see these earrings in pictures, they look like coasters. They might be a little large!

D went and did the Ultrabronz that day before dinner. It gives you the equivalent of three tans! On a "white" day, Denise is darker than 90% of America. Just what she needs to do is get 3x as dark! :-)

Mallory was great at rounding up bar stools from all over the place. Everytime you saw her she was collecting another one! Don't know where she kept finding them! :-)

Denise thought she needed to squat down in front of Daniel for fear that we might not be able to see his face. When he's a foot taller than you are, I think you're good! :-)

Ben and his harem. Marissa always calls me Ben's girlfriend because he and I get along so well, which helps Marissa when I think Ben is out of line because she "sicks" me on Ben as she puts in, so I can get him to straighten up! :-)

We look like a color wheel, winter, spring, summer and I don't mean our clothes!