{ I Raced For A Cure }

On Saturday I, along with almost 30,000 other people gathered in downtown Detroit to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It was a truly amazing experience to be surrounded by that many people gathered together with motivation to fight for the same cause. I had never run a 5K before and to be honest I'm not a runner, back in February I started to do the c25k program but I only made it to the fourth week so I was nervous about how I'd do on this race. My sister Tina, niece Megan and myself decided to join the runners at the front of the line and try our best to run it, and we did do good, we jogged and fast-walked to finish in 38.03. I'm proud of myself for taking part in this cause and finishing my first 5K race.

Tina, Megan & Me

Cousin Kelly & MeTina, Aimee, Me & SURVIVOR Doreen

Pink Ribbon Panera Bagel

{ Waving the White Flag }

I'm officially waving the white flag on the T365 project. It sounded like a great idea in the beginning and I did enjoy it for the 40 days that I did do it, but I just have to be honest and say that I can't keep it up! I'm still going to update this blog on a regular basis and it will continue to be my photo blog, so please keep following me, I'm really enjoying being a part of the blogger world. In other words, T365 1 and Me 0!

{ Cupcake Pebbles - T365 #40 }

Are you kidding me, CUPCAKE PEBBLES! I went grocery shopping after work today and somewhere about aisle #7 something happened, it was as if my prayers had been answered as I laid my eyes upon a cereal box, this cereal box! I actually ran into one of my good friends mere seconds after jumping for joy over this treasure I found and I believe what I said to her was "OMG, you have to see this, OMG have you seen anything this cute in your entire life". I know, it's ridiculous but I love cupcakes and I love cereal even more so cereal that taste like cupcakes is a dream come true! Of course reality soon hit, reality that I told Jim I was making a surprise dinner for him, and believe me the thought of serving a big bowl of these for dinner did cross my mind, after all it would have been a big surprise! After dinner I decided I'd do a little taste test for dessert and I couldn't believe my nose as I opened the box, for a minute I actually thought I was in a bakery, the aroma was delicious. The taste does not let down either, it's like a million tiny cupcakes with the perfect blend of yellow cake and vanilla frosting exploding into your tastebuds, oh how perfect. I cannot wait to make Cupcake Pebble Treats (like Rice Krispy Treats, but I'm sure better), in fact I'm pretty bummed we don't have marshmallows on hand here at home because you better believe I'd be making them now!

I'm just as excited as Pebbles and BamBam!

{ Pizza Tuesday - T365 #39 }

On Tuesdays I tend to look forward to dinner all day because it's "Pizza Tuesday"! I could eat pizza daily and not ever get sick of it but Jim couldn't, so our compromise is once a week and it happens to be a tradition for it to be on Tuesday. I know some would think I'm crazy but I prefer plain cheese pizza so I pick off my pepperoni and give them to Jim since he likes extra. The next best thing are the leftovers that I get to take for lunch tomorrow!

{ Lilac Tree - T365 #38 }

I spent some time at my in-laws house this evening so my picture of the day is of a lilac tree in their yard. It's such a beautiful tree in full bloom and the smell is just delightful and intense. We are going to do some landscaping in our yard and a lilac tree is on the list, although I know it's late spring already I can enjoy it for many years to come, the thought of reading on the patio with that sweet smell in the background sounds wonderful!

{ Aperture - T365 #37 }

I will be the first to admit that there is so much about my camera (Canon Rebel T1i) that I don't understand, it's just so intimidating. I've decided to participate in an online photo course called "12 Weeks to Better Photography" by Two Peas in a Bucket, thanks to a few friends that also were up for the challenge and have helped motivate me. I completed the first weeks assignment today which was all about exploring aperture by taking three photos of the same subject with various apertures, showing the different depth of fields as the aperture changed. As you can see in the photos the lower the number the less in focus the photo will be and as the number gets higher more of the background will come into focus. I'm really hoping my friends who are also doing this challenge are proud of me when they see these photos as they all took great photos early in the week and I waited until Sunday evening, not to mention the few overachievers that already did the second week (yeah, I'm talking to you, you know who you are).

Week #1 ~ http://is7.twopeasinabucket.com/photocourse/weekone.pdf

{ Metro Girl - T365 #36 }

Gasp! I didn't do a T365 post yesterday! We didn't have any specific plans for the day which is very unusual for us, we are usually rushing from here to there on the weekends, so while Jim did some house maintenance I spent the majority of the day reading on the back patio in the sunshine, it was lovely. (NOTE: I wasn't entirely lazy, I did do some laundry and light cleaning, went out to dinner and spent the evening over one of my best friends house chatting and eating way too many chocolate chip cookies, thanks Tina).

I recently went through my books to do some cleaning out and organizing and found that I have 42 unread books, because I tend to buy them when I see them on sale for prices I can't pass up. I've made a commitment to myself that I will read all these books before purchasing anymore, as I've had some of them for YEARS and still haven't read them!

I started this book in the morning yesterday and didn't know what to expect because I've never read any books by her, but I must have really liked it because not only did I start it yesterday but I also finished it (okay, it was 12:03 am when I finished it, but still). I loved that it was action-packed but also filled with humor, I did laugh out loud a few times, so that was a good sign. I will definitely be picking up other books by her, that is as soon as I read the other 41 books in the pile!

I also have recently started using GoodReads on a regular basis to track all my reading, so if you're a member please add me and let me know you're coming from my blog. I really enjoy seeing what other people are reading and recommending, I generally read mystery and chick-lit but I'm open to read just about anything and would like to get some more heavy reads in. The link to my profile is www.goodreads.com/tamarajean.

{ Smoothie - T365 #35 }

I made myself a strawberry-banana smoothie to enjoy this evening, its healthy AND delicious! I generally try to drink a smoothie per day and it's always the same flavor, in my Bella Cucina Rocket Blender I add strawberries, a banana, some crushed ice and milk and mix it all together to create this delicious treat.

{ Thoughts & Prayers - T365 #34 }

My thoughts and prayers are with one of my best friends and her husband, as it has been one year since they had to say hello and goodbye to their baby boy.

{ Jigsaw Puzzle - T365 #33 }

I love putting together jigsaw puzzles and have since I was a little girl, I will forever cherish the countless hours I spent in the basement doing a puzzle with my dad and siblings or the days we spent over my late grandmothers doing puzzles (she was always working on a puzzle). This past Sunday we had our families over to celebrate Mother's Day and instead of playing games like we normally do when we are all together I suggested making a puzzle. Unlike the days growing up where we couldn't go to bed until the puzzle was complete our guests had to leave it incomplete as everyone had to get home for work or school the following morning. Although I didn't get to finish this puzzle with my dad, I finished it with Jim and he let me put the last piece in. If anyone else is a fan of puzzles AND football this is a great one to put together that features fun NFL and Superbowl items.

Springbok "Fantasy Football" 1000 pieces

http://www.springbok-puzzles.com/store/store.php/products/football-fantasy

{ Painting - T365 #32 }

In conversation with Jim last night I mentioned I wanted him to paint the upstairs hallway so I could print and frame some of my tulip pictures (see previous blog post). Well, he listened and started painting as soon as he got home from work today in hopes to have it done before I got home a little while later. I was glad to "catch" him in the act because I got this photo just as he was finishing up. I'm looking at the finished product now and it looks wonderful, we painted the main floor and foyer this color a couple months ago and knew we wanted to extend it to the upstairs hallway.

Sand Trap by Sherwin Williams

{ Tulip Time in Holland, MI }

Last week I spent a wonderful day in Holland, Michigan for their annual Tulip Time Festival with my mom, mother-in-law and grandma. We visited Windmill Island, home to the 248-year Dutch Windmill "De Zwaan" (meaning graceful bird) that was shipped from the Netherlands in 1964. We got the opportunity to take a tour of the windmill and learned that it is the only authentic working windmill in the United States. During the tour we got to see it actually working, and got to meet the miller, the first Dutch-certified miller in America and the only female master miller in the world. We spent the rest of the day walking around the town and shopping at the cute little stores, admiring all the beautiful flowers and we had dinner before heading back home. Here are a few of the photo highlights I thought I'd share, I'm absolutely in love with the dark purple Tulip "Queen of the Night", they were just amazing in person.

Click Photo Collages To Enlarge!

{ Spectacles - T365 #31 }

I am not blessed with good vision, in fact my eyesight is pretty terrible. Generally I wear contacts 100% of the time, I wear the Night & Day disposable style that allows for up to 30 days of continuous wear and I love them. I hate everything about having to wear glasses and haven't taken mine out of the case in well over a year, until yesterday. I have an eye infection and had to resort to wearing my glasses, I wore them all day yesterday and today and will probably continue for a few days. It's funny because when I do wear my glasses I get comments from people that have known me for years saying they didn't know I wore glasses. I've debated many times about having laser surgery done but the bottom line is that I'm a big chicken, I'm scared to death at the thought of having unnecessary surgery. It wasn't easy trying to take a picture of something that I couldn't see, that's for sure!

Eyeglasses: Clearing things up since the first century...

{ Chocolate Chip Brownies - T365 #30 }

We had our families (well, some of them) over to celebrate Mother's Day today, it was a nice day. I did some preparing this morning and of course had to make one of our favorites - Chocolate Chip Brownies, yum! I got this recipe off of a blog over a year ago and have made it for every celebration we've had since, it's a fan favorite for sure. Of course I took the picture of it in my favorite state, uncooked and raw! To make this all you need are three things - your favorite brownie recipe, your favorite chocolate chip recipe and your favorite chocolate/fudge frosting. You follow the directions and basically as you can see in the picture pour the brownie mix into an appropriate pan and scoop the chocolate chip cookie dough into it with no rhyme or reason, it does not have to be perfect, then bake as directed and frost. Believe me, you will NOT be disappointed! (Psss, you can make these with Betty Crocker boxed brownie and cookie mix and they will be just as good).

{ Blue-Gray Sky - T365 #29 }

Today is our nephew Jacob's 10th birthday and his party was cancelled due to the flu, so instead I spent the entire day cleaning and organizing things here at home. I wanted to take my photo for the day outside with the natural light but as I stepped outside I realized a better picture for today would be of the sky because it was so different depending if I was looking right or left. The photo on the right is if I looked to the right, blue skies and just traces of clouds and the photo on the left is if I looked left, just a bunch of clouds shielding the little light left of the day, both photos are sooc (straight out of the camera).

{ Cupcakes - T365 #28 }

I met up with my girlfriends Amy, Rena & Shelly this evening at the mall for dinner and retail therapy. I stocked up on my Lush Bath Bombs, got a pretty necklace and some make-up at Mac. Before we left the mall we stopped at a cupcake bakery "Just Baked" and I picked up these two cupcakes to bring home, the two flavors are Samoa (hello, a cupcake that taste like my favorite girl scout cookies, yum) and S'more (hello, graham crackers, marshmallows AND chocolate, yum). I'm just really hoping they will taste as good as they look, but I won't know that until tomorrow since it's way too late for dessert!

Yeah, I'm at the gym at 6am for a reason!

{ Lush Bath Bomb - T365 #27 }

After work yesterday I wasn't feeling very well, I had a terrible migraine and generally am not able to sleep them off because I can't fall asleep if it's light outside. So, I decided I needed a nice long hot bath in the jacuzzi tub, and my baths are not complete without a book and a Lush Bath Bomb. I discovered the Lush products years ago in Chicago (before we had them available in stores in Michigan) and have loved them since. I love the way they make the bath water a pretty color and the scent they give off. My husband got home from work and right away knew I took a bath because the fragrance lingers through the entire house, in fact sitting here in our great room this morning typing this I can still smell it, yum! (BTW, I didn't post this last night because the migraine never went away and I just didn't have the energy to do anything).

{ Cinco de Mayo - T365 #26 }

I got this sombrero last year while in Cozumel, Mexico and thought that it would be the perfect item to photograph for my picture of the day in honor of Cinco de Mayo!

{ I went to Holland - T365 #25 }

Today I spent the day in Holland .... Holland, Michigan that is! I took the day off work and went with my mom, mother-in-law and grandma to the annual Tulip Time Festival. Although it was an almost three hour drive each way I think it was a great day to spend the day. I will do another blog post with some pictures of all the gorgeous Tulips we got to see but for right now I need to get ready for bed so I leave you with these wooden shoes.

{ Spring Storms - T365 #24 }

We've had our share of rain these past few days and the storms have been wicked. Although the sun was out all day today, we still managed to get hit with a rain storm this evening. Here is a picture I took of the tree in our front yard as the storm was at it's worst, the winds were howling and the rain was coming down hard.

{ Placemat Obsession - T365 #23 }

It's Sunday evening and another weekend is coming to an end, we spent the entire day doing projects around the house. As I was cleaning up from dinner I decided a picture of my placemat would be a good photo of the day. I have an obsession with buying pretty placemats and NOT using them, seriously, I keep them all tucked away in the drawer for fear that they will get ruined. I was organizing the drawer with all of them the other day and decided it was time to start using these since I purchased them well over a year ago and they had yet to be displayed on the table. I figured it would be best to get some use out of them while I still thought they were pretty.

They are reversible with stripes on the other side.

{ Onion Volcano - T365 #22 }

Phew, I'm glad to be home in my pajamas writing this entry after the busy and long day I had today. It started with working this morning, then we spent the afternoon at our friends house celebrating their daughters first birthday, and finally we met up with another couple for dinner. We went to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse, which is probably Jim's favorite place to have dinner, except I don't love it so generally we don't go unless we go with a group of friends. We had a really nice time, there really is nothing like spending time with good friends and having good conversation. I forgot my good camera at home today (bummer), but here is a quick picture I snapped with my P&S while at Osaka.

Flaming Onion Volcano