Hi, I'm Tara. I am a wife, a mother, and a business owner. I believe in doing little things in life with great love.

I use the word love a lot. I don't think it detracts from its power.

Things that excite me:

• genuine people
• dogs
• great design
• true stories
• belly laughs
• beauty products
• cooking

I write here because I'm trying to notice the happy.

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.”

—Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut was one of those people that made me feel like everything would be okay.

I find that the times I notice the happy, the happiness is wrapped up in a whole ball of other stuff. Sadness. Exhaustion. Fear.

One of the saddest days of my life was a few years ago, when I suffered a miscarriage. But I remember looking at my husband that day and having this moment where I realized: this is what being partners is about. Taking the lumps, together. I felt joy in that.

Later that year, we got pregnant again and had our son, Hank. I couldn't possibly be more thankful (and humbled) about that.

I think we all carry with us a good deal of struggle and suffering. And the happiness isn't a place we are trying to get to, it's more like the filling inside of everything.

I'm grateful that you're here to read what I'm writing, and I hope you'll leave a comment.