Tara P
Goooood morning Philly :)
Today I woke up at 7:30, which was nice cause I got to sleep in a little bit. I’ve been adjusting back still because I was on a trip and have been going to bed/waking up in the 9pm-6:30am range, so it’s nice to sleep in a little bit. The weather does not look sunny today :( I usually have to babysit in the mornings but today I don’t and I’m happy to have the time off. I wish the sun was out but I still like my view. Sometimes the sunset is visible and it looks like a treat.
8:45am: finally having my morning cup of tea and doing duolingo. Today I reached a 1092 day streak. I’m about to have a longer streak on Duolingo than any relationship I’ve had, not sure how I feel about that. I’ve been doing Greek lessons cause I love Greece and have dreams of moving there someday. I haven’t learned to speak fluently because Duolingo is an interesting format for learning, sometimes it’s silly phrases but I think overall I could order a coffee and some food in a restaurant, and that feels like a success. Ορίστε :)
I like to sit in the mornings and chill with black tea + oat milk, iced coffee in the summer. I think about my day and what I have to do. Here’s the game plan for today: chill morning, get dressed + ready, meet with Lo for coffee, go to post office, come home and eat, run some errands for work, have dinner, dye eyebrows, go to bed. I am a babysitter 50% and personal assistant 50% (for separate people) and today is no babysitting but some PA work to do, primarily dropping some items off around Philly. Anyway, let me introduce myself a little bit more. I’m Tara, I’m 26, I’m a virgo. I like to travel and I like to work my way through a to-do list. I’m working up the courage to get a perm. I have no pets at the moment. I love going to comedy shows, and to go out in general. I’ve never been to the skyhigh lounge. I prefer oat milk but love cheese.
My friend Clair made this mug. It’s one of my favorites. I went to college in Wisconsin, right on the shores of Lake Superior, and it reminds me of my time there. Along with good mugs, Wisco taught me an appreciation for sweaters, and choosing what sweater I want to wear is a large part of my winter fashion look. I’ve recently been inspired to dress in a more -quirky charming british romcom- way, so I’m imitating bridget jones style sense (sometimes, I also love black and gray and usually wear a combo of those, but wearing some stripes and colors in the winter helps w seasonal depression I think). I also love stripes. LOVE stripes. I took some clothes to pass on to the free table recently and it was 3 black long sleeves and 7 blue and white striped shirts. I don’t know what that says about me but I love stripes. Picture of my (unnecessarily) extensive sweater and striped shirt collection.
9:20am: after I get dressed, it’s time for sunscreen. I got into skincare during the pandemic and have enjoyed doing it ever since. I like to give myself a little face massage in the mornings when I apply SPF, I think it helps. This is a picture of the variety of sunscreens I have, plus a picture of my best friend bekah, and some cards with my sunrise alarm clock. I really like to send postcards, definitely one of my favorite hobbies is to sit at a cafe and write postcards to friends I have some I need to send from this recent trip I just took, they’re some cute hand drawn cards from Poland.
Along with postcards, also on my wall is my 2024 bingo sheet. Mom had the fun idea that everyone in the family could make their own for the new year. Mine is a mix of actual goals and thoughtful traits I’d like to curate and develop, I’m feeling pretty good about it so far. I think within Feb i’ll be able to cross off 5-7 more squares. I have another trip coming up to Ireland and the UK with my dad and that’ll take care of a few spaces. I really like to travel and have been solo traveling for a decade. I don’t like to talk about it very much cause I do it just for me, but I do have some funny stories if you’re interested.
10am: here is a fit pic. I love a mirror selfie. Outfit is: coat, thrifted in 2019 but never really wore until this year. Sweater: handmade and bought in a craft store in Copenhagen three weeks ago, it was a splurge but I think it compliments my eyes and it’s in line with my Bridget Jones desired aesthetic. Earmuffs make the best head warmers. Jeans are vintage Lands End, found on the sidewalk in December. They’re so comfy and I wear them a few times a week. I love the culture of free stuff in philly and think it’s so magical to kinda make this attachment to where you live via clothes from other people who also live there. Like an ongoing circulation of items in a space that make a space. Anyway, the jeans are amazing.
10:15am: we are out of the house! Off to meet my friend Lo for coffee. I am listening to fragments of time by daft punk and then the rest of random access memories, listen along if you want :) I think this is one of the best walking albums. Just put it on and get into zoom mode. I also like motomami and to pimp a butterfly for walking music. I feel powerful when I walk around listening to music. It’s fun. I don’t usually listen to music when I walk because I also like to hear the sounds of the city but today I wanted the ear warmth + motivation for walking fast.
10:30am: met up with Lo for coffee! We went to Grindcore, which I rarely go to even though I like it. I got a flat white with oat milk. It’s nice to see friends and catch up. Sometimes it feels so hard to see friends even if you live a block or two away from them. People get so busy and going out in the winter feels hard. It was very nice to have a friend outing!
12:30pm: came home after going to the post office after coffee. Time for lunch. I’m not always good at remembering to eat in the mornings and usually prefer to have tea or coffee (or juice or water or some liquid) until around 12 and then have a good lunch. Today I’m having rice, some veg, and some sausages.
2pm: time to drive! Gotta go to Fishtown, Fairmount, and Ardmore. I like driving but sometimes in Philly it stresses me out. I have lost my aux cord, so currently I’m listening to 88.5. The new song by MGMT is playing, listen along if you want. It’s called mother nature. It’s kinda to crazy to hear MGMT on the radio, what year is it? How old am I? Does it really matter and do these things just keep going around in circles?
5pm: back at home and going to do some computer work to close out my workday. I love being able to work from home and am definitely hoping to turn it into a full time thing. Then I will have some dinner and get ready for bed.
7:30pm: decided to dye my brows before bed. I don’t do a ton of cosmetic maintenance but I love to have really strong eyebrows, so I dye them once a month with mens beard dye. Highly recommend if you’re interested, I think it cost me like $7 for the kit and I’ve been working off of it since 2019. There’s always a fun moment where I look like Eugene Levy and I appreciate that. One of my hobbies is dating (I hope that doesn’t sound bad, I think I’m pretty chill about it), and I do have a third date later this week, so doing extra “beauty” things earlier in the week to save time later always gets a big thumbs up from me. My go to date beauty look is brows, mascara, blush and lipgloss. I think it’s fun to get dressed up, it makes it feel a bit more special and also makes me look more alive–my face gets very pale in the winter. I really like dating, I went through a very sad breakup shortly after I moved here and I felt very isolated, so I hopped on the apps. I think at that time I was dating for distraction but now I think I’m at a point where I enjoy actually getting to know people and seeing what develops. It’s fun to connect with someone who also has a desire to enjoy the city and seek out cool events together. I am very much not looking for a relationship at the moment, and don’t know when I will be again (sorry to all my admirers).
9:45pm: bedtime. Listen in: Sleep by the dandy warhols.
I almost always journal at the end of the day, unless I’m way too tired or intoxicated :) the stickers usually reflect my life and what I’ve been up to within the frame of the journal. It’s bedtime for me, thank you so much for tuning along, feel free to drop a line!
Hello! Tara is literally just a girl living life in West Philly. She loves to travel, see friends, eat food, sleep, relax, go to museums, etc. She considers herself a pretty basic and average person finding joy in the norm. You can connect with Tara on Instagram @tarapadavan, on duolingo @TaraPadova, on spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/user/22kt7ro5fgdctcjrlm4pumqqq (sorry that’s the worst link ever), or by finding her in a coffeeshop somewhere in west.
