That Fox-y bride, Anna... :)

So, Anna and Brandon got married on Saturday. And it was AMAZING. Anna did some of the most unique, special, and COOL things that I have ever seen. From the fact that she wore a gown worn by her mother and aunt to the hand-crafted bouquets (made by Rhonda) to the custom signs and stamping on EVERYTHING and the most fun reception I have ever been to!!

I was so excited about taking the picture above. I sang in the wedding, so I had a completely different perspective of the ceremony!! They both just kept looking at me and smiling and glowing - I couldn't help but tearing up almost every time they did it!!!

I helped her with a few things -

I decorated the ribbon and grapevine balls that the flower girls carried...

and made Anna a few custom gifts for special friends...

and had the sweet privilege of making Anna's garters - one to wear and one to share. :)

This is Christopher and I before I got sweaty at the reception. :)

Bottlecap and resin magnets that had pictures of cute cartoon foxes, as well as pictures of the couple and sweet phrases.

Fans for swatting the bugs. :)

A framed collage of Anna, her mother Kim, and her aunt each wearing the dress.

Presents! And one of Anna's amazing bridal photographs.

COTTON CANDY!! Along with candy apples, swirled suckers, rock candy, and bubble gum. Anna also had these cool moustaches on sticks that you could take your picture with. :)

She also had BBQ, cole slaw, potato salad and rolls. And cupcakes, funnel cakes, corn dogs, home fries, and sno cones. It made me sad that I have to wait until the State Fair in October to get that food again!! :)

The bluegrass band.

The garden was FULL of beautiful sunflower that Anna's dad planted when she got engaged. How sweet is that??!!

The beautiful couple arriving at the reception in a vintage convertible, trailed by a string of cans and shotgun shells. :)

Look at how Brandon is looking at her. :)

Let me tell you...If you weren't there, YOU MISSED IT!!!

Anna, thanks for letting me be a part of your super-special day. :) I had so much fun!! And I can't wait to see all of the pictures - the handful of images that I have don't even do the day justice.

Tara Jane :)

Citrus Herb Vinaigrette Salad Dressing... :)

I LOVE a good salad. Today for lunch, I made a salad with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, dried cranberries, and slivered almonds...yummmm. :) I found a recipe that is a seriously close replica for the salad dressing at Bonefish Grill.

• 2/3 cup EVOO (I actually use canola oil)


• 1/4 cup sugar


• 3 Tbsp water


• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (I used champagne wine vinegar - yummy!)


• 4 tsp minced garlic


• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard


• 2 tsp lime juice


• 2 tsp lemon juice


• 2 tsp fresh parsley, minced


• 1/2 tsp dried basil


• 1/4 tsp salt


• 1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1) Whisk all ingredients in a bowl.

2) Microwave on high for one minute or until the mixture bubbles rapidly.

3) Whisk for one more minute, until mixture forms an emulsion.

4) Cover and chill for one hour before serving.

I promise, you won't be disappointed. :)

Recipe courtesy of http://www.grouprecipes.com/32759/bonefish-grill-citrus-herb-vinaigrette.html

Well, I'm off to BodyFit. Then Christopher and I are going to Florence for the weekend. Anna's wedding is tomorrow!! I can't wait!

What??

So what has Tara Jane been DOING since she's "retired" now? :) Well, a lot actually! First, we've been baby-sitting this sweet pup for a week!! That's right, THREE greyhounds in our small little house. :) This is Bernie - and he is unbelievably sweet. I wish I could keep him!!

And I've finally been able to do some of my crafty stuff!!! Our dining room table has turned into my "work space" - I have like 57 projects in the works. This week, though I've renamed my workshop to "Anna's Sweatshop", managed by Chad Lynch. :) Anna's wedding is this Saturday and I, along with several other friends, are helping her get everything done that needs to be done!! Her reception theme is fair - candy apples, cotton candy, funnel cake, sno cones and all!

I'm so excited!!

And I can finally cook and bake, like I love to do!! I made the yumminess seen below for Christopher's fellow anesthesia employees at Baptist.

Mint Chocolate Chip...tasty. :)

Just Shameful... :)

"Where has Tara Jane been", you ask? :) Not updating my blog, that's for sure!! There has been so much going on for us in the past year and a half!

First of all, Christopher graduated with his master's in nurse anesthesia at the beginning of May! Woo hoo, finally!! :) He passed his boards with flying colors and started as a CRNA at Palmetto Health Baptist on June 14th. I "retired" as the school nurse at Brennen at the end of the school year and have been working hard at home. :) I recently started designing my own line of accessories and hope to be able to do much more of that now that I actually have some free time.

The decision to stay in Columbia was certainly bittersweet. We have really missed our friends and family in Florence and were certain that we would end up back there. Just before Christmas of last year, we came to a quick realization that the house that we'd bought in our cookie-cutter neighborhood was impossible to sell. There were/are 12 others (that are exactly like ours) for sale, most of which have been on the market for almost a year. We started praying about what to do and literally the next day, a good friend let Christopher know about a position at Baptist. We continued to pray and talk to family and finally made the decision that we needed to stick around Columbia. It's been the most awesome thing to discover almost daily, the reasons that God wanted us to be here. Just since New Year's, we've had the opportunity to get much more involved in church at Shandon and have made TONS of new friends, which has been so exciting!!

Well, I'm off to lunch with my friend Tina - her husband graduates from anesthesia school next May and I KNOW how she feels!! :) Except, they have a two-year-old in the mix - holy cow!!

I promise I'll be much more diligent about keeping up with my blog. :) I've missed keeping in touch with everyone!

Tara Jane :)

One of those days...

I don't know about y'all, but lately I've been feeling a LOT like this...

I was at home cleaning up one day and I found Mali doing this. And he really and truly was sitting JUST LIKE THIS!! This was not a transition from one pose to another. He was just all slumped over in my armchair like "Whew! I've had a rough day! Can somebody get me some Coca-Cola and some crunchies??"

I've had a tough few weeks with my school starting back and with Christopher getting back into the swing of clinical and school. I am SO frustrated with my job right now and I don't want to be!!! We've been back in school for 3 weeks and I just can't seem to get my work done when I'm at school, so I end up having to bring stuff home, which always stinks. I try unbelievably hard to please everyone and you just can't seem to make some of these parents happy about ANYTHING. Maybe it's because I don't have any kids yet, but I don't think it's unrealistic for a parent to realize that I am ONE NURSE and I have 800 students and 100 employees at my school. Can I really be expected to treat every single person like they are my #1 priority on a daily basis? Is that even humanly possible?

And why don't kids pay attention to what they're doing? How can you miss seeing a mobile unit or a fence outside and literally RUN SMACK INTO IT when you're playing soccer at recess?? Also, why don't they understand that when you eat spaghetti at lunch and drink milk, then go outside at recess and run around like a maniac in 95 degree weather that it will PROBABLY make your stomach hurt. And when it does, I think I know what will make it feel better...go POOP!!!! :) And when you come see me and I give that suggestion, I'm not asking you if you want to...I'm TELLING you that this is what you need to do.

And why is it that everyday when I'm walking out of my office with my lunchbox and my drink to FINALLY get a break (which is a scheduled time that the teachers are aware of, I might add), a teacher brings a student to me and says, "Oh, are you about to go to lunch? Well, would you mind looking at this one thing?" To which I would like to respond, did you look at your watch before you came? And if you noticed this when the child got to school this morning, why are you waiting until now to say something?? This one thing typically involves calling a parent that has at least 2 disconnected phone numbers and having to leave a message that is never returned. By that time, 15 minutes of my lunch is gone and kids are seeing that the light in my office is on and they keep on coming. Thanks a lot teacher. I hope you get to eat your lunch. :) Here, have mine! I'm not gonna need it!!!

Then, when the bell at the end of the day finally rings, it never fails. A child vomits in the hallway outside of my door. And instead of completing the mountain of documentation for the 30 visits, 10+ medications, and 2 tube feedings that I've done that day, I have to track down his/her mother and let them know that the child missed the bus and wait for 45 minutes until she can make it over to school.

That's okay, though. Because the daily documentation is the least of the school nurse's paperwork worries. DHEC makes sure that there is not one moment that you are bored when you're at school. I thought care plans were done when I graduated from nursing school, but I was incorrect. And don't worry about sending your kids to school if their immunizations are not correct...there's a school nurse there with whom the great pleasure lies of reviewing 800 individual immunization records to make sure that they are complete and good to be attending school. But don't worry, she'll send you a letter if you're not up-to-date. :) And then next month, be sure to look out for a referral for medical/dental/vision/hearing attention just in case your child is one of the 800 children that she screens this fall that needs glasses or dental work. And what? You don't have insurance or Medicaid and can't pay for these things? Well, don't you worry about that either!! Your school nurse can help you fill out some paperwork (in Spanish, too!) and get you connected with some organizations that will pick your child up from school, take them to the eye doctor, then deliver your glasses 2 weeks later. Don't worry though, you don't need to thank her for working so hard to help you and going to all that trouble. I'm sure she knows you're thankful, even when you don't ever say it.

But I'm not bitter. :) Poor Christopher had to listen to how horrible my day was over the cell phone my whole drive home from school on Friday. And of course, he reminded me that I didn't have to put up with it if I didn't want to. That's the good thing about nursing...there's ALWAYS another job out there. And most of them would probably be making more money than I do at my current one!!

But I know that deep down, I don't want to leave or quit doing this. I'm just so overwhelmed and frustrated right now. I was thinking about that this morning and I remembered taking this picture...

One of the neatest things about this summer was that we had a LOT of hummingbirds! Christopher's mom gave us a feeder and we put it up before summer vacation and like 2 days after we put it up, I counted 15 visits in one afternoon! Christopher and I would just sit there and watch the birds play with each other and buzz down and get some juice. I read on the internet that sometimes, it takes 2 or 3 seasons for the hummingbirds to find your feeder. And even then, they won't always feed...if there are too many flowers around, they'll stick to the flowers. And if there aren't enough flowers, they'll find somewhere else to go. I found out, too, that the juice/nectar is just to get energy so that they can fly and find insects to eat. I always thought they just lived off of nectar!! And they usually stop coming in August, because as the days get shorter, something changes in them hormonally to let them know that it's time to migrate. We've noticed that there aren't quite as many at our feeder anymore, but we still have a few stop by everyday.

God is SUCH a genius. I mean, those birds don't know what day it is or what month! But God takes care of them in such a neat way and lets them know when it's time to find warmer weather. They're not worried about not getting their work done!! And I know He takes care of me...it's foolish for me not to realize that and for it not to be the first thing that pops in my head when I wake up in the morning...I am God's and today, He's going to take care of me, just like He did yesterday!!! So there's no reason to be anxious about today...so what if I don't get my paperwork done at 3:30 today (or 4:00 or 4:30 for that matter). If it can wait until tomorrow, it'll still be sitting there when I get to work.

Philippians 4:6 (The Message)
"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. "

Our Atlanta trip...

I know this trip was like 2 weeks ago, but I've been slack with posts for some reason. My mother-in-law told me the other day that she keeps checking for updates, so I finally felt guilty enough and decided to get it together! :)

Anyway, Christopher and I went to Atlanta for July 4-9th. It was a super-early anniversary trip (our anniversary isn't until August 12th). Christopher will be back in school by then and I'll be back at work on August 4th, so we knew we needed to do whatever we were going to do early. We stayed downtown at The Ellis, which was a really cool boutique-style hotel. Our room was really pretty...the only thing was that our view from our window was literally of the building next door, which was 5 feet away. :) Wish I had known about that!!

On the 4th of July, we went to the Braves game, which was SO MUCH FUN! I haven't been to the new stadium yet, so that was really cool. The weather was super-nice, too, so that helps!

They had some extra-special stuff since it was the 4th of July, which was really cool. I wish that you could have seen how big this flag really was! It was HUGE!!!

There's definitely a story behind the picture below. :) Christopher and I were given a gift certificate to a restaurant called The Palm when we went on our honeymoon to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Needless to say, it was AWESOME! (Thanks Jameson!) When we were there, all these people around us were eating these HUGE lobsters. Neither of us had ever had lobster before and decided against ordering it, but we've been talking about it ever since. So when I realized that there was a Palm Restaurant in Atlanta, I checked it out and they were doing their summer lobster special again. So we had to take advantage of the opportunity. I got to wear a lobster bib. :)

One really cool part was the Georgia Aquarium. It was SO COOL! I know that all of you who have kids would really, really like it. You even get to pet sting rays and sharks!

I don't have any pictures of this, but the whole reason we went to Atlanta was to go to see Dave Matthews, which was AWESOME. His saxophone player had just been in an ATV accident a couple of days before that, but they had a substitute who was the saxophonist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. It rained a little bit, but we definitely didn't care. :)

That God...he's so tricky. :)

So, I have a couple of pictures to post, but I don't have the time or energy to do it tonight. :)However, I thought I'd let y'all in on a little something that happened while Christopher and I were in Atlanta over the weekend.

The whole reason we went was to celebrate our second wedding anniversary a little early. We got there on Friday and just came back today (Tuesday). We had some fun things planned, one of which was to go to Buckhead Church on Sunday morning. I am really, really inspired by some good old praise and worship music and my memory had been jogged by a friend about this church and how great it was. So we decided to get up and go on Sunday morning.

I had printed off directions from Mapquest, plus Christopher and I had borrowed a GPS for the trip. We were running a few minutes behind what I would have preferred and we started following the directions, which appeared to be the same. I was a little snappy and anxious about trying not to be late. And I don't like to drive when Christopher and I are together...I just like to give directions. :) Well, Christopher didn't take a turn that I was instructing him, ever so gently and with such a great amount of kindness (NOT!) to take and we ended up a little turned around. Thanks to the GPS, we got our bearings back, and were going down a road that we had been travelling and were somewhat familiar with. He was silent. I said, "What's your problem", we shared a married people argument about how you should have done this and I couldn't because you told me too late. I'm sure you can all imagine. :)

ANYWAY. We were going down the road in the Buckhead area and we couldn't find the building, which I had seen a picture of on the directions I had printed out. We finally got to where the GPS stated "Arriving at your destination on the left" and shows you the little checkered flag. Yay! We're finally here!

We parked in a small parking lot, which seemed a little off to me because the church website mentioned 3 different parking garages. Hmmmm.

We walked into the front doors of the church and were greeted by a very small group of people. Hmmm. Now, I know this is an extremely large church.

We seated ourselves in the "sanctuary", which consisted of about 100 folding chairs and a stage with several rock-type musical instruments, a sound board at the back, and a screen at the front left, with a PowerPoint slide of a really cool photo and the sermon series advertisement. Hmmm.

People trickled in and were seated. I said, "Christopher, I'm kinda confused. Nothing seems to be matching up with what my perception of this church was going to be." He agreed. I went outside for a couple of minutes and checked the address on the building.

No way.

We were at the completely wrong place. What do you do??? Church was about to start and the preacher, who seemed super-cool, had already come up to us and introduced himself. The music started and it was really cool music from the Passion series. So of couse, we just stayed put!

And boy, am I glad we did.

When the preacher got up to do the sermon, he announced that they had been going through the book of James. When he announced the scripture, I quickly skimmed it, smiled, and showed it to Christopher with some serious conviction. Let me quote it for you...

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?

You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet,

but you cannot have what you want.

You quarrel and fight." James 4:1-2 (NIV)

How fully aware am I of the fact that I am selfish and prideful. My husband is so special and kind. And I realize that I sometimes take his passive nature as a signal for me to just run over him. How dare me to be that way! I am so thankful for Christopher and how much meaning that he has added to my life. And I am also so, so thankful that I serve a God who keeps me in check, even in the most "accidental" kind of way.