Post-Hiatus

Wow, it has been SO long since I've updated....sorry, everyone!! I have something going on next week that I've been preparing for, so I've been pretty pre-occupied with that. I can't say yet what it is, but for those of you are my friends on Facebook, you'll know on Monday, and for those who just know me via Blogger, you'll find out in about a week!

In other news, awhile back I was nominated by Erin for the Liebster award! I'm so honored that I was one of the 5 bloggers she nominated! Unfortunately, according to the rules, once you are nominated, you then nominate 5 other fellow bloggers for the award, and most of my bloggers are no longer doing it actively! I have only two people I would nominate, and one of them nominated me haha! So I can't participate fully, but I will go ahead and answer the questions for the fun of it!!

The Liebster award is given out to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  They are nominated by other bloggers, which makes it more fun.  This is just a fun way to recognize each other, build your blogging community, and discover new blogs/friends!

Here are the rules:

1.  Each person must post 5 things about themselves. 

2.  Answer the questions that the tagger set for you, plus create 5 questions for the people you choose to nominate.

3.  Choose 5 bloggers to nominate and link them in your post.

4.  Go to their page and tell them about the nomination.

5. Follow and social media connect with everyone tagged.

As I said, I don't have enough fellow bloggers (who actually keep up with their blogs other than two people) to continue this on, but I'll answer my questions from Erin! And again, so flattered to have been chosen!!

What is your dream job? My dream job is to be a criminal profiler for the FBI. I LOVE all things related to serial killers and kidnappers and criminals, and I always wonder why they do what they do. What in the world goes on in their minds? Does it all come down to the nature vs. nurture aspect of life? I would love to research that kind of thing and actually make a paycheck from it. For those of you who haven't been to the National Crime and Punishment Museum in DC, I highly recommend it if you also enjoy that type of thing! If I can't do that one day, I'd like to be a therapist or a counselor.

In what ways are you self-confident? Hmmm this is a tough one because I am definitely NOT confident in a lot of ways. But I am pretty confident personality-wise; I get along with almost everyone (until you tick me off!), I think I have a pretty big heart, and I try to make other people happy whenever I'm able to. So I'm pretty confident in the personality-aspect. It's the physical/body image part that I'm still working on!

How and when did you meet your spouse/significant other? We met on a blind date back in 2002, outside of George Mason University. We went to a movie for our first date, but it took awhile to get there because I had been up all night and accidentally fell asleep when I was supposed to be getting ready for our date. Then we planned to meet in Parking Lot B but there were two entrances to that lot, and I was waiting at one entrance while he was sitting in his car at the other entrance!

What is one lesson you would like to teach your child(ren) about life? I want my children to be happy with who they are, and never make excuses for being themselves. Especially if I have girls. In the world we live in these days, there are so many things in the media that make us feel like we're never good enough. We're not pretty enough, thin enough, smart enough, rich enough, well-dressed enough. Just be yourself and if someone isn't happy with you are, they aren't worth your time.

What is the nerdiest thing about you? I love to watch shows from my childhood. As I'm typing this, I'm watching one of the Full House DVDs I bough recently. Full House was my favorite show growing up, and I like to be nostalgic and feel like I'm reliving my childhood, back when it was easier to be carefree and forget about all the money stress and responsibilities of being an adult! 7th Heaven, Full House, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World...I love them all, and I intend to eventually own all the DVDs!

Weekend Review

Well unfortunately, another weekend has come to an end, and a new week has begun! But that's okay because I had a great weekend, and it just means another one is on the way. Saturday was the Ashland Strawberry Faire...I haven't been in about 13 years, since my sophomore year in high school, if I remember correctly. Every year I want to go, but it never works out. So this year I was determined to go; it was one of the things on my summer list, my bucket list if you will, so I'm excited it ended up working out.

Josh and I got up early and headed down towards Ashland. We had planned to get there around noon, and meet my parents at a Mexican restaurant in Ashland for lunch before heading over to the Faire. We ended up dropping a friend off in Woodbridge on the way, and he needed to be out there at 7:45am, so we got to Ashland about 3 hours early, at 9am. We decided to get breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and as we were eating, the skies basically opened up. It had looked dreary as we drove down I-95, but I was hoping it would lighten up since it was only 8:00 in the morning. I had been religiously checking The Weather Channel all week, and the likelihood of rain went from 20% to 30% to 40%, and continued. And sure enough, as we were eating breakfast, it started pouring. I had thought we could walk around the Faire while waiting to meet my parents, but so much for that idea. So we drove out to Beaverdam and spent a few hours with my parents there instead. We were full from breakfast and their house is on the way back up to Leesburg, it just seemed like it made more sense. So we chatted for a while, and gave my mom a belated Mother's Day present, and my dad an early Father's Day present. It was really great to spend some time with them! And what do you know, within a couple hours, the clouds cleared and the sun came out! I was so excited. We decided to go back into town and walk around the Faire, since that was part of the reason we had come into town. It ended up being a really great day! I got to show Josh what the Strawberry Faire is all about, got the strawberry shortcake I'd been craving all week, and got to cross something off my bucket list!

Summer Bucket List:

Leesburg Car Show

Strawberry Faire

Hiking

Kayaking

Beach

Ride bikes

Go to the DC Zoo

Go to the Baltimore Aquarium

Wine tasting at Vineyards

Eat at Medieval Times

Go camping

Go to the Inner Harbor

DC Museums

Go to a baseball game

Sunday Social

How did you come up with your blog name? Luke Bryan is one of my favorite country singers, and Tailgates and Tanlines is the name of one of his albums, so voila! The name of my blog was born!

What is your favorite thing about blogging? I love that I can talk and vent and share things with people, and I don't have to worry about censoring myself. I try to be respectful of other people's opinions and feelings, but if you don't like who I am or what I share, I won't be offended if you decide not to read! I enjoy people taking time out of their day to stop by and read about what I'm up to, but Facebook seems like a more political thing with people taking every post personally and defriending others and whatnot, whereas my blog is a place I can post anything I want and not stress about who might take it the wrong way.

What is one thing you have discovered because of blogging and now can't live without? Hmm... nothing off the top of my head. Although Liz has shared some delicious recipes I'd like to try, and I love getting crafty ideas from Erin!

Facebook or Twitter? I created a Twitter account once, years ago, and never used it because I couldn't figure it out. I don't even know if it still exists. So yeah, Facebook it is!

If one celebrity read your blog, who would you want it to be? Hmmmm...one of my favorite celebrities is Demi Lovato, I have a lot of respect for her and some of the things she has been through, and I would love for her to read my blog. I can also relate to Danielle Jonas in a lot of ways (you know, aside from being the wife of a rich boybander), so I'd love for her to read it as well.

What is something you want people to know about your blog? I love being able to share pictures and stories and maybe occasionally inspire others so I hope you all enjoy reading it! Thanks for stopping by and checking it out each time I post!

8th Grade Graduation

Today, Morgan officially graduated 8th grade. Chances are, you are probably thinking the same thing I was... why would they have an actual graduation ceremony with caps and gowns for 8th grade? You still have at least 4 more years of school at that point, and 8 years for those going to college....12+ more years if you are going into medicine or law! But this is the last year of Morgan's private school. It used to run Pre-K through 12th grade, but the last senior class consisted of only 4 graduates. Josh's dad was the commencement speaker at that ceremony, and it was a very short ceremony lol! The valedictorian and salutatorian made up 50% of the class! So after that year, which was probably 4 or 5 years ago, they cut out high school and had the 8th grade as the last class. So for these kids, it IS a pretty big deal to be leaving. A lot of them came to this school 5 or 6 years ago, but Morgan has been there for 12 years, since Pre-K, and with each grade consisting of only one class of 11 kids on average, they all know each other REALLY well. So they always do a graduation ceremony for the eighth-graders leaving the school.

The ceremony was held today at 11am, and it was pretty nice. They put together a slideshow of all the kids, and each student talked on the show about what they will miss most, what their favorite bible verse is, and what their goals are for the future. Then they had the valedictorian and salutatorian speak, and the athletic director made a speech. After he spoke, Morgan sang onstage, SOLO, which she was terrified to do but did really great! Then they received awards and their diplomas, and finished up with an Olive Garden luncheon for all the kids and parents. Josh and I ate elsewhere afterwards, but it was nice to sit with everyone and catch up. Morgan's mom, grandmother, brother, Josh's parents, Josh, and I all attended...we've made MANY trips to that school over the years, whether we were dropping her off, picking her up, attending Spring/Winter musicals, or watching her cheer or play soccer. Next year she will be attending high school, and her first public school ever. I know she's nervous but I hope she really embraces the next 4 years of her life, and enjoys this next chapter!

Morgan's slideshow:

Getting her academic achievement awards:

Singing:

Receiving her diploma:

Whoops, losing her cap!

Turning her tassel....literally moving as this was taken so it's blurry!

Hello, June!

Whew this was a busy weekend....June is finally here!! And it came in with a bang, weather-wise, that's for sure. It was definitely Summer weather on Saturday, even though it's technically still Spring.  We sure took advantage of being outdoors to enjoy it!! I got up Saturday morning and walked up to the gym, did my usual workout but tried to really push myself because Saturday is my one (generally) consistent gym day. I decided to get a pedometer the other day because Josh and I do a lot of walking together, and I do a lot on my own as well, so I wanted to keep track of how many steps I actually take each day. I know 10,000 is the goal you are supposed go for, so I was curious if I actually came near that, on average. After the gym, Josh and I got ready, and headed to Ashburn for lunch and to get Josh's car washed. We went to Finnegan's, an Irish pub; I'd never been before but it was pretty good, and of course Josh can't go to an Irish pub without getting Guinness, so we sat out on the patio while he finished his beer. We came back home and dropped off his car, then walked into downtown Leesburg for the annual auto show. They judge classic cars that are from 1987 and older, and we have a good time walking around and looking at all the different cars. The owners are out there polishing them up, and displaying awards and trophies from various car shows they've entered. We always have a good time, and Josh likes to point out all the cars he would by if he had an unlimited amount of money. He tried to persuade me for one that was about $32,000, but I told him he better hope that car was a comfortable place to sleep lol! We met up with our friends James and Traci and their kids, and had a good time walking around...they have music playing and stores open late and ice cream being sold, it's just a really fun atmosphere. We took some pictures of our favorites and then walked back home.

We got home around 8:30pm, so it was definitely way past dinner time. Josh and I decided to walk into town (Leesburg is kind of divided, in one direction from our house is downtown Leesburg, which is an older part of town where lots of houses have been converted into businesses, that kind of thing, and then there is the newer part of Leesburg in the other direction, with the grocery store and fast food restaurants, etc. It's about a mile from our house to either part of the town). and get some dinner; we went up to the Mexican restaurant so we could sit outside and enjoy the weather. It was about 95 degrees during the day, but cooled off a bit at night so it was perfect for sitting outside. By the time we walked back home, I checked the pedometer, and I was at 29.5 miles of exercise and 18,000+ steps for the day! I couldn't believe it. I didn't wear the pedometer at the gym, but I did check my distance on the bike and treadmill so 21 of those miles were from the gym, but the other 8.5 miles and all the steps were from walking throughout the day. You really do walk more than you realize.

Sunday we got up to go to church but ended up missing it, so instead we decided to walk back into downtown Leesburg to have lunch at a Jamaican restaurant we spotted on Saturday. Unfortunately it ended up being closed on Sundays so we were bummed about that, but just decided to walk into the newer part of town and ate lunch there. We'll definitely go back and try the Jamaican place in the future though. It had started to drizzle at that point, so as soon as we were done with lunch, we hurried to make it home before it started raining! We got there just in time, luckily, but of course within an hour it was bright and shining outside, so we decided to take advantage of it while we could, and walked BACK to downtown Leesburg to visit a wine shop we had also seen on Saturday. We tasted 7 wines total, and had a pretty good time but wow I'm a lightweight, one glass of wine total from those tastings and I could barely stand! Definitely not a big drinker! So once I was able to stand up straight haha, we headed back home because shortly after that we started hearing huge booms of thunder. Sure enough, within minutes of walking in the door, it POURED outside. Bummer for us but we need the rain, and it's time to give Oklahoma a break! We ordered in Chinese and just relaxed for awhile. Around 8:30pm, it had stopped raining so we decided to walk BACK into town and end the night with some yummy Sweet Frog frozen yogurt! All in all, a good day, and a GREAT weekend! And I managed to get in 8 miles of walking and 14,000 steps on Sunday, I just could not believe we walked that much! I was definitely feeling it this morning, that's for sure! I hope you all had a great  first weekend of the summer months, and I'm hoping the weather stays like this for a while!

Sunday Social

1. What is your favorite Social Media outlet? Facebook is really the only thing I do social media-wise. I have a Pinterest account but I've never been on it, I have Twitter and Instagram but I couldn't figure either of them out LOL. How sad is that? I work in IT, and I used to be so computer-savvy; I'd spend hours in college changing the font and design of my online journal, and when MySpace was popular I spent so much time working on the background and the music and all sorts of things, and now I can't even figure out Twitter or Instagram LOL. I guess I just don't have the time or energy to devote to it like I used to, which I know is no excuse because lots of you out there have jobs and husbands and kids and pets and all sorts of responsibilities, and you are able to do it! But for now, Facebook is my main source of social media.

2. Do you subscribe to any daily news reads? I don't, although I do go on cnn.com and msn.com often to see the latest news stories. I have the news channels on at work all day though so if there is any breaking news happening out there, I usually find out via the TV.

3. Favorite magazine to have by the pool? I'm a sucker for celebrity gossip, so every week I buy Us Weekly, In Touch Weekly, Life and Style Weekly, and OK! Magazine, so I read those at the gym and the pool and before bed. Occasionally People magazine as well if I'm going for something slightly more "intellectual" lol! And I used to read Cosmo pretty religiously as well, so I'll sometimes pick that up for the pool as well, along with Redbook or Shape.

4. Favorite summertime song? Usually a country song..."Summertime" by Kenny Chesney or "Days Go By" by Keith Urban. For some reason, the other two songs that always remind me of summer as well are "Promiscuous Girl" by Nelly Furtado and "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake, just because I remember when those came out during one of the summers I worked at Kings Dominion because it was always playing on my drive to the park.

5. Best summer concert you've been to? Hmmmm.....I don't think I have one that I would classify as the BEST summer concert....I remember going to several one summer, we went to WMZQFest in May which had Alan Jackson headlining, and Joe Nichols and Keith Urban performing; that summer we also went to Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney which were both really fun. All of those combined were pretty great...and of course who can forget the first concert I ever went to, which was with my best friend Reg one summer in elementary school I believe, the Beach Boys performing at Kings Dominion!