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So I took chuck to NYC to go to the John Stewart show for his real birthday. Being a leap year baby - it is very exciting when he actually has a day to celebrate on. We started off the trip in Soho shopping and enjoying some good street art and store art…

This is a barber shop: do you look like this when you are all finished? yikes

This cat sculpture was random

It was a cat themed day

My favorite giraffes

We hung out in time square and drank cider and chai tea for an hour to just warm up.

I took Chuck to Ideya which is the best Cuban restaurant in town. 349 W. Broadway if you are ever in Soho and need a good place to eat.

Before we were popsicles:

Standing in line at the show. It was soooo cold and we had to wait 2 hours to get in. It was worth it though. Brian Williams was on the show and he was hilarious:

Chuck’s mom had everyone over for Pizza/Sushi and some pretty insane desserts. Chuck’s favorite Oreoscope.

Crazy homemade peanut butter cups

Oreoscope

ONE…

TWO…

Thank You - Thank You:

An actual real birthday…. It only happens every 4 years and when it does we go all out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO the best husband in the whole world!!!!

more to come….

Taking Chuck to the John Stewart Show and for some shopping in NYC for his pre-birthday celebration. Psyched. Should be a blast. They don’t show the audience much but maybe just maybe…

Know anybody that wants to sell one of these…? I have a friend looking to buy the set. He needs the smaller sizes more, but is open to any of them…let me know if you do. Thx.

2000 Burton Balance Series.

Today was a fun day in the ER. Busy. but manageable. We have lots of frequent fliers that come in this time of year. Mostly the guys that are chronic alcoholics and can’t seem to get it straight. I do a ton of work with them and today one of my favorites came in. We’ll call him “Bob” for the sake of confidentiality or whatever. He is real nice. Even sung a tune for some of the staff nurses. Never a problem - other then taking up space that could be used for someone else - but we can always manage to squeeze him in. I like him. He’s in his 50’s. Doesn’t have any family left. Guess you could say we would be the closest thing to his family since he spends all the holidays and pretty much every weekend in the ER with us. Today he said something funny on his way out …it went a little something like this:

Me: “Ok Bob, well you take care out there and stay warm.”

Bob: “Tara, it really is always a pleasure doing business with you.”

Me: “Thanks bob you’re not so bad yourself. Try and lay off the beer a little this weekend.”

Bob: “You think someday I’ll meet someone like you.”

Me: “Nah, you could do better then me.”

Bob: “Yeah, you’re right.” with a smile and a wink as he walked out into 20 degree weather.

It was funny. Just an honest answer from a guy who really is a product of our lovely system. Totally fell through the cracks. Gave 15 years of service in the army. Has full benefits and a monthly pension from them, but can’t seem to get ahead of anything. Lives under the overpass of I-95 with a bunch of his buddies. I’ve picked him up in the outreach van a bunch of times and brought him to the shelters on cold days. 30 years ago he was defending this country - making a sacrifice for me and you - and now we can’t seem to defend him.

The frustrating part of my job…He is one of many that I see like that on a daily basis. There are thousands like him all over the country. How come nobody talks about them in their political speeches? I know it’s not popular and pressing but it’s important to me and I can’t be the only one that cares about the homeless. They effect my daily life, which means they effect everyone that comes to Penn’s life, because I have to spend a good bit of my time working with them. I know what my priorities in life are and what I want to see improved in this country. I am not putting any faith in one person in Washington to fix it. Not going to happen. All these months and speeches and stops and meetings and crap and not a single mention of the word homeless. Guess they don’t feel they need to campaign for their votes or something. It feels like it starts and ends with me. I fought last summer for a $50,000 grant for the homeless in Philadelphia and won. $50,000 - not a whole lot of money when you consider that it will be most of the budget for a non-profit for an entire year for thousands of people. I will do it again this year and try to make people like “Bob’s” lives just a little bit better. Maybe just one of these days try and get him ahead. Even if it starts with one hot meal and a nap in the fancy ER at Penn at a time.

I think we sometimes get lost in the hoop-la of politics and forget about what is really important to us. As human beings we can’t forget about those that can not do for themselves. Humanity. We forget about it a lot in this country. It gets over shadowed by “change” and “budget” and “tax cut”.

So tons of my friends are prego… This post is for them:

Dwell made a baby line for Target.

insane. cheap. well designed. cute. adorable. affordable. attainable at somewhere other then DWR. stylish. available online. get some here.

DWELL

This site is hilarious. BRAVO! I wish they had it when I was in college. It’s the high tech version of writing on the bathroom stall wall. Just a crap load of gossip about people in college. Some of the stuff is just amazing. It ranges from the predictable “freshman hotties” topics to ones like “who slept with who”

…crazy.

There are probably 25 schools on the list so far with I am sure a long list of more to come. People are freakin’ out about it and getting really mad. I think that it is funny. Its like a heavy version of face book for mean kids.

If you are bored and have some time to waste check it out…

JUICY

Between being super sick and out of work for a week and studying - I somehow forgot a huge thing..Sorry Ry. I never forget stuff like this, but I guess I’m getting old like you. HA

HAPPY BELATED B-DAY BUDDY!!!!

oh yeah and check out the jade tree I got for my birthday from my mom..HUGE.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chuck even made the pilot fly faster from LA and he got home before I did from the hospital. Awesome.

politics..well..they really suck in this country right now and the only thing I know for sure is there is no way I would ever put my trust in someone like her/him again. No thanks. My vote goes directly against this scary two-some because if you think you are getting her without him again or vice versa you are crazy. She sucks in every way possible and I can’t imagine a good thing that will come out of her.

Sorry, I don’t like to voice my opinion on this matter, but she is just too awful not to at least make a little bit of noise about. I don’t care who it is… just NOOOO Clinton’s.

I am finally feeling a little bit better. I can sit up for more then a few minutes which is a major improvement. Thanks to Chuck that is. He stayed home and took care of me yesterday which made all the difference!! thanks babe! Best husband in the world!!

So Chuck and I spent a long weekend riding at keystone. It was amazing. My first time riding there and I wasn’t disappointed! It was fun. Not super hard at all, but the trails were wide open and super fun to go fast on. The trees were tight and crusty and bumpy but beautiful to look at. Lift tickets are way over priced for what you get - but that’s life now. You get to ride keystone, A-basin and Breckenridge with a single ticket for 83 bucks but the reality is you really never leave one mountain once you get there. A-basin is only like $42 for a single day and we never made it over there. Maybe next time. Looked super cool from a far. The altitude was a little crazy at first. It felt funny when we went up a single flight of stairs and we were totally out of breath. Bending over to strap in was a challenge. It was hilarious for sure. Didn’t really slow us down though. We went cat riding which was really cool. Only $5 per ride! Super fun and super cheap. Can’t beat that. I highly recommend that you do it if you make it to keystone…I had a little hitch on my flight home (14 hours in the airport) but nothing was going to ruin my perfect weekend with my hubby! The funniest thing was that we lucked out and had a hummer for a rental car. A red one. So stylish. It made me miss my FJ though because there were so many dump things about that car…ugh. It got us up through the pass and back safely though and that’s all that matters! You def need 4 wheel drive for that drive. It is a super crazy road!

here are some of the cool shots:

BLUE bird

Fresh turns in the morning

Cat riding

The drop off ridge view. No more sunshine.

I would work here for sure!!

Pretty:

Breckenridge in the background:

anyone wanting to come around me should be wearing one of these. chuck got real sick all weekend and I inherited it late Sunday and now feel like someone is sitting on my head and is squeezing me so tight I can’t get a good breath in. Oh to be sick. Oh yeah and if you didn’t know - nurses are the worst patients on earth. At least I was able to get out of work for today and sit in bed staring at the ceiling. ugh. mommy.

……a big new job.