Lisa and Alyssa... This one's for you!

So here are two of my best most fantastic friends that I have meet at my time here at SU.

Lisa, (middle) also my roommate from Fort Collins, CO in the Great Rocky Mountains puts up with more than I can describe living with me but I love her to death and can't imagine what my life would be like if she wasn't in it! Much more boring that's for sure. She's my P.I.C (partner in crime), roadtrip buddy, alarm clock, and the one person I can count on to come with me when I want to do something adventurous or crazy! Opposites attract, and then become the same person is all I have to say with this one!


Alyssa, (right) is from Nashville/Jolten, Tennessee which is super exciting because she knows how to speak southern! And she can even do it while speaking Spanish! (after hours of Lisa and I bugging her to do it) She was my 1st friend at SU, and will be a part of my life until the day I die, because she has no choice :) We basically have the same brain and were probably twins separated at birth that don't look anything alike and have different birthday's... if that makes sense.

This is our song summing up our relationship. The three best friends that anyone could have, and we'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever leave each other!



I love you both, and know that only you two could fully appreciate this!!!

In addition to these two I have made some other absolutely wonderful friends at SU that need recognition... Ally (my inspiration), Courtney (my Portland sidekick), Maddy (chihuahua on back), and Angela (just plain awesome!)

"Hey Buddy How's it Going?"

As you may have read in one of my previous posts, I talk and act like my car is a real living thing, he's got a name and everything... and I feel that since he is part of my family you should probably meet him!

Buddy is a 1995 white Ford Explorer who has been in my family since he was born. Previously and originally he belonged to my aunt, while I was sporting my first car which was a bright teal Geo Storm (gotta love those baby's.. yeah not really) However, one fateful day about a week before I was moving out and going to school my freshman year at Concordia University the good old storm died on me. Now I knew this was coming for a while but didn't think it would chose such inconvenient timing. But alas, I was car-less. Luckily around that same time my aunt was getting a new car and she so lovingly gave me Buddy so I would have transportation! And that is how we were brought together!

We have been through quite a lot together in the past 3 years I have owned him. He has taken me and my friends on some sweet adventures, and has all around been a great and reliable car! I really haven't had much trouble with him other than 2 major times when he broke down in some very inconvenient places. First off there is "The Keizer Incident" which I won't go into now, but I'm sure my dear friends Sam (also used to have a Ford Explorer but now makes his appearances in a sweet Z4 BMW!), Rose, and Alfonso remember quite vividly. And then the "Halloween in Seattle Incident" when Me, Lisa, Alyssa, and Maddy were planning on going to some haunted houses but broke down about 5 minutes into the drive... he was just scared to go that's all.

Other than that he really has been so good to me and even if there is going to be trouble, he always makes sure I'm in a safe spot first. I love him dearly and hope that he will be around for a long time with many more adventures to come!

Introducing Your Portland Trail Blazers!!!

For those of you who don't know (and I would be incredibly depressed to find this out so just pretend like you do) the Portland Trail Blazers are Portland, OR NBA Basketball team. And anyone that knows me knows that I am a die hard Blazer fan! I figured that since this blog is about me they should be acknowledged.

Currently they are number 8 in the league getting ready to go to the 2010 NBA playoffs to claim the National Basketball Championship title. (We could hope!) I am just going to give a shout out to some of my favorite players on the team:

My number one favorite player of all time is #10 Joel Przybilla. He's my main man! Unfortunately he is out for the season of 09-10 due to a knee injury.

Second favorite player, hot guy from Spain is #5 Rudy Fernandez! He's currently the teams amazing 3-point shooter.

Now not that I don't love and appreciated this next player, but I feel that I am obligated to have a picture of him because he is the All-Star of our team... introducing, #7 Brandon Roy!

These are just some of my favorite players but here is a slightly more detailed and less bias roster:

NUM PLAYER POS HT WT
#12 LaMarcus Aldridge, pos: F, 6'11" 240lbs.
#88 Nicolas Batum, F, 6'8" 200lbs.
#4 Jerryd Bayless, G, 6'3" 200lbs.
#21 Marcus Camby, F, 6'11" 235lbs.
#33 Dante Cunningham, F, 6'8" 230lbs.
#27 Travis Diener, G, 6'1" 175lbs.
#5 Rudy Fernandez, G, 6'6" 185lbs.
#6 Juwan Howard, C-F, 6'9" 253lbs.
#24 Andre Miller, G, 6'2" 200lbs.
#8 Patrick Mills, G, 6'0" 185lbs.
#52 Greg Oden, C, 7'0" 285lbs.
#31 Jeff Pendergraph, F-C, 6'9" 240lbs.

#10 Joel Przybilla, C, 7'1" 245lbs.
#7 Brandon Roy, G-F, 6'6" 211lbs.
#23 Martell Webster, F, 6'7" 235lbs.

Pet Peeves, Oddities, & Random Talents

Here's a little more insight to what goes on in my brain, makes me tick, or just makes me.. me.

Pet Peeves: not many but those that are there make me crazy!
- when people take food out of the microwave early, but don't clear it after.
- when people don't use their blinkers while driving.
- people who walk slow.

Oddities:
- I have to hold the case when I watch a movie.
- When I eat Tums, I only eat the yellow ones.
- I'm obsessed with drinking Powerade
- I love the show Lost Tapes and thoroughly believe in them.
- I totally believe in the Loch Ness Monster... Nessy!
- I sometimes I talk to inanimate objects.
- I love Twilight. (yes it's considered an oddity to most of my friends and the Seattle area)
- I love commercials! And when it's really funny, I can't stop laughing (Like when it's 11 at night and my roommate is trying to sleep... sorry Lisa!)
- I have a very weak stomach and any type of medical-like words or sights will gross me out! Sometimes to the point of passing out if it's bad enough...
- I refuse to ever use a port-a-potty
- I have a very sensitive nose, and sometimes randomly smell odd things (like Eggo waffles, steak on a BBQ, blue raspberry lollipops... you get the picture)

Random Talents:
- I can pretty much tell every song coming up in my iPod by the first note.
- I know all the words to "Ice, Ice Baby"...
- And the Harry Potter movies 1-4 at least, word for word.
- I play a mean nose whistle.
- I have a gift for memorizing birthdays.

This is all I can think of right now, however I'm sure there is more so I will add them when they come to mind... keep checking back!

Everyone loves cake!

So here is something that you should probably know about me aside from school and such... I am a professional cake decorator. Not like I have a business or anything but my friend Rose and I took a class last year on cake decorating. Upon finishing the class and passing our final project we were certified in the art of cake decorating and can now work in professional bakeries! So here's a couple pictures of some of the cakes I have done.

This one above is the very first cake I ever made! I think it looked pretty good for never having done anything like this before :)

This one is the first cake I made using fondant. It's almost like edible clay that you sculpt, mold, roll with a rolling pin to flatten out to cover your cake, and cut out shapes to spice it up! You can also dye it different colors! It's pretty tough to do actually, and never try to use it when they weather is hot! Just trust me on this one...

This is one where we learned to do flowers. Daisies are my favorite to make. Leaves and vines are fun with the tiny little flowers because you get to use a special frosting tip, and roses are just plain hard!

I didn't make this one in class but we did something like it. Someone actually asked me to make this one for her daughters birthday, and this was the finished product. This is where the fondant sculpting technique can in handy!

This is probably my favorite cake I ever made... it's a sand castle! For our final in class we had to come up with an idea that showcased our mad skills. Let me tell you it took the entire 3 hours we had to create it (we had to do all of it in class) but alas here is my finished product earning me an A+ and a certifying certificate in the art of cake decorating.

Time to make some "MAJOR" decisions

So I'm going to let you know a little bit more about my education and talk about my major today... As you already know I am a junior at Seattle University. I am majoring in criminal justice with a specialization in forensic psychology. Now a lot of people are not really sure what a career in that field entails so let me tell you. Forensic psychology consists of applying psychology to the criminal justice system. Many get it confused with forensic science however which is more dealing with lab work, chemistry and crime scene investigation. A forensic psychologist is someone who will examine the defendant and decide if they were insane while committing the crime. As well they analyze a criminal's mind and determine whether or not they will reoffend through administering a series of tests and interviews. Forensic psychologists will often testify as an expert witness in court and provide there opinion on the sanity of the defendant. I have always been interested in psychology and realized after taking a forensics class in high school that it would be something I would really enjoy and be good at.

But I'm going to let you in on a little secret... Up until the time I decided to go to SU I was an art major studying interior design. Art is something that has always been something that I love and really makes me happy. I actually finished high school with a visual arts degree and graduated from Mt. Hood Community College last year with an Associate of Arts degree. I'm not entirely sure what drove me to change pathways and go in the forensic psych direction but recently I have been questioning whether or not it was a good idea. I am really starting to miss all of my art and design classes and just being able to be creative, which isn't something I really can do as a forensic psychologist. So at this point in time, I'm not sure what I want to do. (which is kinda scary since I am supposed to graduate next spring!) Should I change my major or stay with this one...? Any ideas? Ahhh, I don't know!! Decisions, decisions...

Let's Play Catch Up

So I have decided that the next few blogs are going to be consisting of me filling you in on things that have consumed my life in the last few years... things like my college experiences (serious ones, you'll hear the funny stories later) and a little more of what I am all about. My major, interests... blah, blah bare with me, I want you to know who it is that you are reading about. So first off here is what I have learned about being in college post graduating high school (Reynolds High School class of '07 shout out!)

I graduated high school on June 8th, 2007, wow that seems like so long ago, feeling extremely happy with my life. Perfect grades, graduating with honors, amazing friends, perfect boyfriend, awesome family support, going to a perfect little private college. And I was quite confident that it was going to continue to go on like this as I started the next chapter in my life. Well that was not necessarily true...

After an amazing summer I moved out of my house for the first time on August 24, 2007 to live in the dorms at Concordia University in Portland, OR where I would study Art/Design and Psychology. I was super excited because it seemed like it was going to be so great for me. Plus one of my best friends to this day (shout out to Amber Drape!) was going to the same school and I wasn't to far from home so I could easily make a trip back if I needed to. Things were going great... until I got there and realized they weren't. I started to get home sick, my roommate and I didn't have anything in common, boyfriend problems which eventually ended our relationship after 2 and a half years, and a very unwelcoming feeling from my school. I was not happy there, miserable in fact, and decided that it was doing no good for me or anyone around me to stay there. So I left Concordia at the end of the term and moved back home.

I wanted to stay in school so I enrolled at Mt. Hood Community College a few minutes away from my house and went there for the next two years. There I planned to study art and major in interior design. I was pretty unsure about it but instantly felt more at home when I went in to the performing arts dept. to see about the theatre and music programs (another reason I hated Concordia, they had no theatre programs!) and on the spot the director of the upcoming musical offered me a part in his show Drood! So excited to be back in a musical I accepted and began to start rehearsals. This was probably the best thing that could have happened to me at that time, keeping my mind off of other things... During that time I met some amazing people who are still my great friends to this day (Megan Petrie, Allie Timm, Sara Currie, Michael Mitchell, Jordon Schultz!) It was a great year and I couldn't wait to go back for the next. The year 2008-2009 was equally fantastic meeting so many people from doing theater and music that will be my friends until the day I die and then after (Sam Solano, Rose Reynolds, Taryn Zickefoose!) Love you guys! This year I graduated from MHCC with my Associate of Arts Degree on June 12, 2009. I was about to move on to the next stage of my life...

Seattle University!!! My current place of education. I moved to Seattle on September 19, 2009 transferring in as a Junior. I'm here now currently majoring in Forensic Psychology. Loving every minute of it! This was truly one of the best moves I have made. I am finally content with where I am and loving it! I'm not going to say a lot about living here now because there will be stories galore coming! Just know that I love Seattle, I'm having the time of my life and I have the best roommate in the world... Lisa S. Ackerman!

All in all I have been through many transfers, 5 schools total (some online) Concordia University, MHCC, Chemeketa Community College, Clackamas Community College, and Seattle University. It's quite difficult when it comes to having to turn in transcripts to your school haha. But if I have learned anything in all of this it is "do-overs" are ok, and you need to take care of yourself and go to the places that work best for you.

My Two Favorite Things

Anyone who knows me knows that my dogs are my life and I love them more than anything in the world. So naturally they should be the first things that I write about...

NIKEAH

This right here is the best dog in the world in my book. This is Nikeah, born on May 1st, 2001. She is an 8 year old Black Lab, and the center of my universe. I got her the summer before I started 7th grade from Long Beach, WA on July 6, 2001. We were staying in Long Beach for 4th of July weekend like we do every year. One day while walking through town I saw a sign pointing to the Long Beach Pound (where she was born) saying "Lab Puppies!" Instantly I knew I had to at least go check it out and see these adorable dogs, so I easily convinced my mom to come with me. Little did I know, that day I would find my most loyal friend. There were pups running everywhere except for Nikeah. She was the one who ran straight up to me while the others we busy playing with eachother, and she hasn't left my side since. I persuaded my mom to let us get her (keep in mind my dad doesn't know about this yet) and so we put our name on her and said we would be back to pick her up on our way home. Still not telling my dad, once we started heading back to Oregon I said, "Oh wait dad we have to stop at the pound and get our new puppy!" A slam on the brakes and "What! Are you serious?" was his reaction, but knowing my dad I knew her wouldn't be able to say no once he saw those pretty puppy eyes. We went and picked her up and she rode on the back of the seat by my dad's head all the way home. She was so little! Of course she went through her puppy stage but as the years went by we realized that there was no way we could get a better dog. She would do anything for me and I for her. I love her more than anything and I cry everytime I have to leave her and go back to school..

LIBBY

This is far from the best dog in the world, but she's sure one of the cutest! This is Libby, born on July 27th, 2008. She is a 1, almost 2 year old Basset Hound. Just a baby :) We had been in the market for a new puppy for a little while because Nikeah seemed to be lonely and needed a friend. Originally we were looking for a Welsh Corgi because those are my dad's favorites and in his terms of agreement... and they are so darn cute! During our search however I came across an ad in the Oregonian online. Cutest puppy, reasonable price, good looking family lines. I had my parents take a look and they liked her, so we made a call to the family from Newberg, OR. On September 28, 2008 Libby came into our lives. And boy did she change things! As most of you know Bassets a extremely stubborn and very hard to train, and if you didn't well I am here to tell you... they are! She has been a handful to take care of, chewing everything in sight (maybe one day I will make a list for you of everything she has eaten). But naughty as she is, she really has brought a great joy to us and has been a great addition to our family. There is never a dull moment around her. She's full of personality, humor, and teeth that just don't seem to stop chewing!

Guess what...? You're reading my very first blog!

So this is my very first blog ever! I'm super excited about it. Basically I've never really been into the whole blog thing but have recently been introduce to it by a dear friend, who's blog inspired me to start one! Thanks Ally, you're awesome :)

So, a question that may have plagued mankind for centuries; Something that my friends ask themselves on a regular basis I am sure... What the heck is Tara rambling on about now? That is probably what this blog is going to be composed of... a day in the life of Tara. Things you may or may not want to know about me and my life. But don't worry, you can ask anyone and they'd say I have quite an exciting and interestingly bizarre life so hopefully you will never be bored. I know I'm not! Just wait I've got all sorts of ideas and stories ready and waiting to be told.