tarapants.com

man.

amazing in every single way…

except for signing with AT&T -who sucks all around.

I would buy one if it wasn’t for that. I’ll just stare and point and drool.

Cutest 4 year old ever…

(thanks to Alex, her great dad, who sent me this photo from his new iPhone..so jealous!)

we had a heat wave this week and my car finally hit triple digits for the first time….whew. Thank god for AC.

Been working hard all summer session at the homeless shelters in Philadelphia. I have a class called public health right now and I was assigned (thankfully) to work in the homeless shelter trying to get them connected with the resources they need. I have tons of experience with homeless because I have been volunteering with the crisis outreach van in Philadelphia for a year now. We go out on the van and drive around the city and try and get the homeless to come in to shelters or medical facilities and get off the street. It is a tireless endless process and my friends that do it on a daily basis are amazing..Owen- Sam- Marget- Shawn- you guys rule. Before I got involved it was easy to walk by or drive by homeless people and think for a split second about how crappy a life that would be and now on a regular basis I always stop and give them my card and give them a hand up and point them in the direction of help. It’s not about giving them money for that next meal or beer or whatever but for me it’s about extending my hand because I can and I am lucky enough to be able to on a regular basis.

Another reason why my life and my job rock!

Stop thinking about it and get out there and do something…you won’t regret it!

Tonight we took my mom, grandmother and a bunch of her friends out to an awesome Italian Restaurant in Lambertville, NJ called DeAnna’s. Super good homemade pasta and amazing bread. The food was incredible and I think she had a great time. She was totally surprised, which is hard to pull off on her…Last year we got her with a huge catered party at the Chart House in Philly, but this year we kept it low key and local. Much easier.

Happy Birthday Mommmma!

Took my mom to the beach for the day for her Birthday…So much fun and the weather couldn’t have been nicer. Kim, Denny and Brighton met us up there. It was Brighton’s first trip to the beach. He loved it. Ate a little sand, hung out with the ladies and just looked freakin’ cute the whole time…such a happy baby. Gonna have tons more beach time in his future - that’s for sure. Here are just a few amazing shots…

Happy fathers day to all my wonderful friends who are also amazing fathers! Yipee.

So I stink at gardening. I love getting dirty and making a mess but never really cared much for plants and digging in the dirt. I love the way the finished product turns out but not the process of getting there. Every year my mom comes over and helps me with my yard/deck. She is the queen of interior design and gardening among many other things. She really did it up this year. I can’t believe how amazing everything looks. I’m not surprised, but it’s so great to pull in the driveway and see an amazingly beautiful display. Here are just a few pictures of her handy work.

It’s good. Go see it.

So they are starting to come along in design over there in the Uk in terms of motorcycles. Not even close to the Italians, but I am beginning to like the way the Speed Triple is looking. Jim - you should buy one so I can come ride it! This one is sick and the aftermarket exhaust makes it even better. A little too much engine for me though…and I just won’t buy anything other then a monster if I ever got the green light.

I’ll only get an Italian Bike. Period. But I will give them some credit for a good lookin’ bike. Bravo. Now if they could just get rid of one of those stupid headlights, I would like it even more. They are a little behind with the lime green color way but I’m diggin the white.

Yeah Alex!

Gettin’ famous down there in Tennessee on MSNBC. Check out the FULL Story here:

IPhone

Somebody thinks this sign will curb the violence that is happening in Philly right now.

yeah If I was going to go and shoot someone and I walked by this sign I would def reconsider. What the F*ck!? Seriously. Bill Cosby was in town the other day trying to “march” around getting people to “lay down their guns”… that same afternoon 2 people got shot in the head/ chest and died. Thanks Bill. Well, at some point its gonna stop because either they will all shoot each other dead or we will eventually lock them up for some other “unrelated” charge. I am guessing the first one is more likely at the rate they are dropping in Philly right now.

I’m a little jaded because I see them come in like through a revolving door. Non-stop all day long. Shot here, shot there, DOA etc. etc. I try and have a more up beat perspective, but man it’s hard doing what I do and seeing what I see. If you spent one day in my shoes, you would reconsider a lot of stuff. Sometimes I wish I could give that perspective to people. Especially the law-makers and politicians that make the rules I have to practice medicine by…Ugh. But that’s for another day..whew.

The FJ temp gauge got some use this weekend. It was actually at 98 at one point, but I couldn’t find my phone then. Bring on the summer. I am personally very ready!

Gonna get some new wheels for the FJ. I saw one the other day and it has inspired me to get moving on getting some sick ones for mine. It’s unbelievable the amount of crap that is out there when it comes to wheels. I was a little overwhelmed so I got some help from some friends..thanks guys! I’m zoomin’ in on the American Racing “Thug” series but kinda like these 2 as well. Tough choice…I’ll post some finished product photos if I actually get them ordered and on the Cruiser before X-mas. HA.

Had a great weekend. Supreme weather and some sea air to top it all off. Went to AC on Saturday for the day/night. Went to the new Caesar shopping pier. Amazing. Actually quite shocking to say the least. They are really giving Atlantic City a face lift for sure. I couldn’t believe the crowds of people there and just how nice everything was.

Here is the actual pier and a shot of the main staircase in the middle of it…

The Pier has restaurants on the top floor. 2 of them are my all time favorites in philly and they created a second location at the beach. Twice the fun…

CONTINENTAL: (this is the one in philly)

BUDDAKAN:

We went to the TOOL show which was amazing. Had to skip the Derby at Fritz’s place though which was major let down. Sorry we missed it this year guys, but we’ll for sure be there for the next one. As soon as I get my hands on some photos I’ll post them.

I’ve got some good stuff to post as soon as I get it out of my phone and camera..stay tuned…

After the craft fair Chuck and I went to South Street to walk around and grab some falafel’s at Maoz..yum.

Then we headed down to the stadium to see Roger Waters. I got a crazy student discount and we sat way up in the oxygen seats. Fine by me because the show was amazing still and it only cost us $45 bucks instead of $85 for the seats. The middle seats were $125 and the floor was $195. Crazy that people would pay so much, but the show was def amazing. Both nights sold out! I saw Pink Floyd in high school and this was 100 times better….Here is a giant flying pig they let loose to fly over the crowd. Fun.

Here is our purchase…It’s a black n white photo of the OG LOVE sculpture in “Love” Park in Center City Philadelphia. It’s 40 inches by 40 inches which - in this photo- doesn’t look big, but it’s hanging above our Cal King bed so anything looks small..

We went down to the Art Star Craft Bizarre yesterday to check out some of the cool artsy stuff that is being made right now. We made a pretty huge purchase…I’ll take a final picture of it once it is hung above our bed. It’s big - 40 X 40. We’ve lived here for 2 1/2 years and haven’t had anything above our bed because we just couldn’t find the perfect thing. Well - turns out last night we found it! So exciting!! Here are some shots of the gallery and the crafty stuff..