It's been a whirlwind of a month. April has practically come and gone and I barely have one entry to show for it. It's all right, though...admittedly, sometimes living life is more important than writing about it.

Here are some new developments in the life of Tara:

• I've been running a few miles after work 3-4 times a week with Diana
• We invited additional members to join my book club (our next choice is a memoir entitled Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg; I am intrigued)
• Responding to numerous RFPs during busy season at work
• Buying a new (pre-owned) 2006 silver Nissan Altima--yay!!!--which forced me to clean out my old car that I had for 7+ years (I never realized how careless/messy I was until digging out three small bagfuls of loose change from the seats, side compartments, etc.)
• Consolidating our boxes of memories/cards/photo albums that had taken over the spare room downstairs. We might actually be able to create a guest room now!
• Watering our lawn and pretty tulips daily because the crab grass had taken over

So nothing too wild and crazy, but so far it's been a decent spring. Right now I'm sitting on my couch wearing a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, and jeans and I'm chilly...and all I can say is that I wouldn't mind if it were a little warmer out.

I tried on my wedding dress yesterday afternoon. It had been hanging in a downstairs closet at my parents' house since the day after our wedding, and I finally sprang it free when I went home on Friday. My parents didn't necessarily want to store it for me, but we had no room for it at our New London apartment, and so there it sat for a year and a half next to my entourage of prom dresses. Now it will live in our cedar closet downstairs.

I have to admit, it still looked pretty. (If also pretty wrinkled.) Due to the fact that I didn't want to spend money on officially "preserving" the dress, the material certainly scrunched up quite a bit, and the bottom layer is covered in dance floor dust. As I glanced in the mirror at the delicate cap sleeves and the fitted bodice, I could immediately replay the events of the day. Breakfast at Friendly's with the girls. Hair and make-up. Walking down the aisle with Dad. Holding Jeff's hand at the altar. Tears came to my eyes and I couldn't tell if it was because I was happy from reliving the memory or sad with the realization that those events will never play out in real time again.

I went out on the deck barefoot in the dress and called for Jeff who was doing yardwork. I actually scared him half to death because he was literally right below me and I didn't see him...so at first he sounded a bit annoyed and was just like "What?!" but then he looked up, stopped what he was doing and came up the deck stairs. I became teary again and twirled around for him like a 6-year-old would before her dance recital. We hugged, and then I came back inside, peeled it off and gently placed it back in the garment bag. I'll admit that I kind of embraced the garment bag before bringing it downstairs to its new home.

We'll be married for exactly a year and a half tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown since that day. It seems like we were just testing out cake slices and meeting with our photographer, and now here we are and those are no longer concerns of ours. Three of my close friends have children that they didn't have on my wedding day, my brother is graduating with his MBA next month which he had just started that fall, I have a new career, and everything and everyone is moving forward.

There's really no point to my saying this other than the fact that I have truly been trying to make every day count. Because before you know it, 548 days have gone by, you've brushed your teeth 1,096 times since your wedding night, and if you're not careful to appreciate every day, some of the little things might pass you by. I know this sounds melodramatic, but there's so much that I want to do with my time here, and so many people that I love and want to see, that I just hope I reach all of my goals.