No Shoes Nation 2013

Happy Thursday everyone! Sorry I have been MIA lately, I have been busy and just taking some “me” time :) I hope you all have been well, I have been doing great! I wanted to talk about all of the fun things we have done lately!

Last Friday Mr. Tan Lines surprised me for my birthday and we went to The Melting Pot for dinner. It was a first time experience for the both of us and boy did we enjoy it! If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a shared fondue pot meal where you eat fondue and then cook your own meats in the pot for the entree. We ordered a nice bottle of Pinot Noir and opted for the all-inclusive 4 course option. We received artichoke and cheese fondue dip, which we were given bread, veggies and apples to eat with. Surprisingly the apples were both of our favorites! The meats were delicious I had the French Quarter so it was all flavored with that great southern Cajun seasoning! For dessert we ordered the original chocolate fondue which we were given rice crispies, pound cake, brownies, graham cracker coated marshmallows, strawberries, oreo dusted marshmallows and cheesecake to dip in. I know, right?! It was amazing, definitely would recommend if you have never been! Here is a picture of me from Friday night!

Saturday, with yet another surprise Mr. Tan Lines got us tickets to the Kenny Chesney concert. All I can say is that man sure knows how to put on a good show. Here are some pictures from inside the concert, it was held at Fed Ex field which is where the Washington Redskins play! We had amazing seats! I also put up some pictures from our fun tailgate!

I had never seen Kenny before and I had forgotten just how many great songs he has! We were up on our feet the entire time singing and dancing. It was a blast! Kenny sang all of his top songs and some good oldies as well. 

 

Eric Church opened for Kenny and he really got the party started, he ended it with the song "Springsteen" that is one of my favorites! He even threw in a little “Born to Run” while he was singing it, it was a really great touch. We had the best time, and I cannot wait to go to more concerts!

 

Earlier this week my co-worker and I visited a new restaurant for lunch, Rhodeside Grill in Clarendon, VA. It was quite a hike for us but we had our little hearts set on it! The food was delicious, I had the carne asada tacos and they were very good! However, I wanted to mention this because we both ordered deep fried oreo’s and oh my goodness was it delicious! It was 10x better than I expected and definitely worth the 4 extra miles I’ll have to run tonight! :)

It's My Birthday & Fishing Trip Fun

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you‘ve had a great week so far! Sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days, it’s been a crazy week.

I wanted to start off today by wishing myself a happy birthday! I turn 27 today and it feels great :) Mr. Tan Lines has a great weekend planned for us full of yummy dinners and fun activities, I cannot wait to get this weekend started, just a few more work hours and I’m free! Here are the flowers Mr. Tan Lines got me last night as a pre-birthday celebration!

 

So this past weekend we did something super fun that I wanted to share with you! We went on our annual Chesapeake Bay fishing trip with help from our friends at Kyran Lynn Charters. Our friend Jonesie puts this together every year, where usually a group of 15 of us get out on the boat and catch some fish! This was my second time going and it sure lived up to the stories! The dock is located in Breezy Point, MD and you rent the boat for half of the day. Marty, the Captain, and Josh, the first mate, take you out and set up lines for the fish to bite. Then, when it’s your turn you run to the pole and reel in your fish! The average length of this fish this year came in around 22 inches, when in some years I think we average out at about 28 inches. The first picture is of Clark and his winning-size fish that came in at 30 inches! The second picture is of Brandy reeling hers' in and the last one is of me and my little catch!

The weather was chilly, cloudy and delivered some rain. Although we didn’t let any of that stop us from having a great time!  Here is a picture of our haul for the day!

On our way back to the dock Josh filets all of the fish right there on the boat and everyone gets to take home the delicious Rockfish filets to enjoy later.

Here are the two drinks I made for this years’ fantastic event! The first one I used some Simply Lemonade Raspberry juice.  I found the list for some of the ingredients on Pinterest, but since I couldn’t find the recipe I had to improvise and boy was it delicious! Here is the first drink I made:

8 cups Simply Lemonade Raspberry juice

2 cups Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka

1.5 cups Triple Sec

1 cup Malibu Rum

1 cup Dole Pineapple Orange Juice

I guess the second drink I made could have been called a Twisted Screwdriver..or something, but this is what I used!

5 cups Dole Pineapple Orange Juice

1.5 cups Smirnoff Vodka

1 cup Triple Sec

How to throw a Fabulous Bachelorette Party!

Happy Thursday!! And I’m even happier because today is my Friday, 3 day weekends are always the best! I wanted to start off by wishing my beautiful sister Luti a happy 34th birthday! We are going out for our traditional family dinner tonight and I am so excited! I’ll definitely follow up with another “Yummy Eats” blog telling you all about where we ate!

So today I’m going to tell you all about the fabulous bachelorette party I planned for my best friend! She got married last September and I was blessed to be her MOH. We have been friends for almost 15 years so we’d been looking forward to this day for a long time! There were 3 other bridesmaids so it wasn’t going to be large group which made it easy. I sent an email to the girls listing out various options with the estimated prices of each trip. Some of the places I listed out were Miami, NYC, Atlantic City, Dewey Beach, Las Vegas; a day spent doing wine tasting and a fun dinner, a night out in DC and a night out in Arlington. After comparing the prices the girls decided that Dewey Beach would be the perfect place! Dewey Beach is in Delaware and located about 3 hours north of us. If you live in this area you’ve most likely heard of it, it’s the biggest party beach around. My friends and I have been going there for years and we made a tradition to always stay in the same hotel. So this destination also had a special meaning to us since we’d spent so many weekends here partying it up and having a blast. It’s the mecca for fun loving people in their mid to upper 20’s that just want to have a good time! There is a cluster of fun outside bars that are our usual stomping grounds that are all within walking distance of our hotel. The bars always have the best live bands, drinks and crowds. Every time we’ve gone we’ve always made new friends, I’m a huge fan if you can’t tell!

Anyway, some of the things I planned for the weekend went like this..

We arrived on Friday afternoon and I had everyone buy matching tank tops from Target. They were only $9 and they made for great pictures! I also made “party bags” for each girl that had lei’s, lots of candy, snacks, beads and a few other things that I purchased from the dollar spot at Target and the dollar section at Michael’s.  I also had the girls buy fun fedora hats and got the bride a hot pink boa.  I also printed these cute little signs that said “Bride” “Bachelorette” “Maid of Honor” and “Bridesmaid”. As you can see, the girls loved the fun accessories!

I also made this over-size ring out of poster board for her to wear around her neck that had a list of fun things to do and check off over the course of the weekend! She's wearing it below, bottom right! They said things like "take a shot of something blue" "take a picture with another bachelorette party" "get someone to give you $5" "get on stage and request a song" it turned out to be a lot of fun! :)

On Saturday Dewey Beach hosted one of its largest annual events, The Running of the Bulls. Everyone dresses up in red & white and then at 2pm a “bull” runs a route through the city and everyone runs after him. This was our first time experiencing it; and it was definitely one of the funnest times we have had there! It was hosted at The Starboard, which if you ever go you have to order a Bullshark, they are my absolute favorite drink, I’m not sure what’s in it except for champagne but it’s amazing!

I had also planned that on Saturday night all of the girls wear LBD’s and the bride wear white. It was really fun having her stand out! I also got her a fun kids veil from Michael’s, a cute pink garter and a bride sash! I planned for us to have dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in Dewey, Nalu. It was great food and there ended up being a live band there that kept us there all night!

It was such a fun weekend and I don’t think we could have asked for more. Although Dewey Beach is obviously a beach, I don’t think we’ve ever actually hung out on it, except to take cute pictures of course! Here is a cute collage I made with a picture of each girl!

Baby Just Say YES!

I think I’ve said “I’ll get to that a little later” about the story of how we got engaged for long enough and I’ve finally decided that later is now!

As I mentioned yesterday we got engaged two days before we left for our trip to the Dominican Republic. It was a Friday and on Friday‘s we always go to our favorite sushi restaurant. We made it our weekly ritual soon after we started dating. So like every other Friday we got dressed up and headed out to sushi, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, our dinner conversation was the same as usual. Once we finished we headed home and Mr. Tan Lines rushed inside, I don’t think I knew what to think so I gathered my bag and our leftovers and headed inside and then there it all was..rose petals all over the stairs and him at the top of the landing down on one knee with a ring in his hands.

We both laugh because exactly what was said in that moment we both can’t really remember from the nerves and being swept up with about 100 different emotions! However it took about 3 seconds for me to realize he had said “will you marry me?” and I just kind of screamed “Yes!!” then ran up the stairs to hug him and then I lost it. I cried, well no, more like sobbed for about 15 minutes, but I just kept saying “I’m so happy!” through the tears, so they were happy tears :) We of course immediately took some pictures, I loved the one below in the top left, with the "Oh my gosh we're getting married!" faces! By the way these are pictures from my Bridal Book that I purchased at South Moon Under!

After about an hour we called our families and our friends to let them know the great news! I didn’t even look at my ring until after a few minutes and I just remember saying “Oh my gosh it’s so big, thank you!!” I was BLOWN away by my ring. We had gone to a few jewelers to look at some and I tried on a few and ultimately settled on a style I loved, but we didn’t actually pick out “the one.” And then he had gone above and beyond anything we had looked at! It’s a European-cut diamond with a raised setting and halo band. I love love love love love my ring! Did I mention that I love it?!

Afterwards we talked about the whole plan, how long had he been thinking about it and when to do it. Well, he had had the ring for over a month which blew me away! I couldn’t believe he had kept it so well hidden from me! I mean, I am quite the snooper! I ruined the surprise of our Valentine’s Day just a few months earlier by finding my hidden gifts :) I also figured out that’s why he had taken me to get my nails done the night before! Here's one of my favorite pictures from Punta Cana with the ring :)

The Dominican Republic! May 2012

Well it’s Monday again! I’m sad that the weekend flew by, but I am looking forward to this coming weekend because we have some fun things to do!! So today I’m going to talk about our vacation to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, actually we left for vacation exactly one year ago today! That also means that Saturday was our 1 year anniversary of being engaged :) Mr. Tan Lines proposed 2 days before we left for the Dominican, which meant we got to spend an entire blissful week celebrating! It was the best week of my life, we had the perfect time.  Everything was perfect and beautiful!

I had been itching for us to go on a vacation for some time, so in January I finally convinced him and we decided on the Dominican Republic. Luti and her husband went back in 2006 and ever since then I had always had the urge to go! We both wanted to stay somewhere all-inclusive and somewhere large. Spending an entire week there we knew we would want various food and activity options. After about a month of researching we finally settled on the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe, and opted to upgrade with the “VIP” pass called Club Premium. This is the only way to go! The BBPD had over 10 restaurants over 5 bars, a casino, a club, an ENORMOUS pool, an awesome swim up bar, a separate “Adults-Only” pool and bar area and the most spectacular beach views! I just can’t say enough good things about this place, it was the perfect week! The fact that I speak fluent Spanish was a tremendous help, very few people there spoke English. The first picture is of our view from our room, the second is me soaking up the rays and the third is of the pool early in the morning before anyone was in it!

Our room had some of the best views on the resort, as you can see. With the Club Premium upgrade we were guaranteed to have the best views, free room service, free use of the spa, premium liquor at bars and 3 extra restaurants that other guests had to pay extra for. The room service was key the last few days, one day we were just too tired to get ready for dinner and the next day Mr. Tan Lines was feeling a little under the weather so we ordered it again, I mean it was free so why not!? Here is a picture of us in the infinity pool located in the spa area!

We spent the entire week sunbathing, eating and enjoying every second together. We did one excursion, the adventure go-kart tour. We got to drive the karts through some pretty cool scenery and then they took us to a private untouched beach. Afterwards they took us to a natural swimming hole with crystal clear water that we actually got to swim in! Here we are on La Copcana Beach, it was breathtaking! The second picture is us at the French restaurant, Le Comedie and the last one is me in the beautiful fountain located in the center of the resort!

There were so many different options for dinner, in one week we didn’t even get to try them all! There was always a buffet open for all 3 meals and dinner was the only one that offered sit down meals. We had all sorts of yummy things; steak one night, Italian, Japanese, French and American (which was just more yummy steak!)

Whenever anyone mentions that they are looking for ideas of where to vacation I immediately begin to talk about the BBPD and how amazing and beautiful it was! It’s one of those places that the pictures you see online are really what you see in person. It’s just breathtaking :)

You are the best thing, that's ever been Mine

Hello, hello everyone!! In celebration of Taylor Swift coming to town this weekend I just wanted to write a little piece about why I’m such a huge fan! Well, I guess I’m a huge fan of her old stuff, I just don’t think I’m into her whole new sound! I did buy the RED cd, however I hardly listen to it. Now her past three albums I have all of the songs committed to my memory! The first time I ever heard of Taylor Swift I was 19 and “Tim McGraw” came on the radio and I was hooked! I downloaded her album and from there I listened to her non-stop.  Then 2 years later in 2007 I went to the Aqua-Palooza boat show on the Chesapeake Bay and low and behold the main performer that day was a little-known blond girl named Taylor Swift! I was ecstatic when I found out! We walked to the main stage and caught her set; it was amazing to see her performing the songs I’d been listening to for years! Then her very last song was called Fearless. If you’re a Taylor fan then you know what an amazing song it is, I immediately fell in love with it! Here are some pretty pictures I found on Google of the lovely T Swift!

I think I listened to Fearless on Youtube over and over again for that entire summer! Then I saw her in concert in the spring of 2008 at a nearby college and oh my goodness what a great show it was! Because she wasn’t too well known it was a really intimate setting and she stayed after the show and gave every single person there an autograph and a picture. My friend and I still say we soo completely regret not staying for this! We were so tired and I guess we thought we’d have another chance! Little did we know that in just a few months she would be turning into one of the biggest stars in the world! We had to wait a few more months before Fearless was released as the title track on her new album in the fall of 2008. It was a long time coming and I loved every song on it! I unfortunately didn’t catch the Fearless tour, but I did buy the great dvd that followed the “Journey to Fearless” and went into all of the detail put into the show!

Then another two years later my favorite song by Taylor was released, Mine. It encompasses everything that you can feel about a person when you are just completely and madly in love with them. It’s a beautiful song and I probably listen to it once a day! I’d always loved the song, but after I met Mr. Tan Lines it was like the song took on a whole new meaning and it made me love it that much more!

Luckily I was able to see her in concert for the Speak Now tour; I actually went to Cleveland to see her! It was a great tour and I had such a great time! We had pretty good seats too, especially when she came in through the back and performed a few songs.

I just love this last picture, she looks so genuine and in love with all of her fans!

Honeymoonin'

Happy hump day! :) I finally got a much needed good night sleep last night, I had been up tossing and turning the past two nights and it just made the days much harder to get through! Today I’m going to talk about the beautiful Antigua; and I’m going to talk about it because this is where we are going on our honeymoon!! Mr. Tan Lines and I are beyond excited to honeymoon on an island consistently listed on the best places to honeymoon list or most romantic locations to visit list. Antigua is a beautiful little island located in the West Indies that’s just 108 sq miles of beautiful! It’s a popular stop on western Caribbean cruises and easily accessible from any major airport.

I was originally set on honeymoonin’ in Aruba, but after some talks with our travel agent she really believed we wouldn't receive the honeymoon experience we were looking for. So she gave us a list of about seven different islands in the Caribbean that she thought would do the trick. After about an hour of research I fell in love with Antigua. It still had that “One Happy Island” feel and the pictures were breathtaking. I loved that you could rent a car and explore the entire island in just half a day; and that it was safe and common to do this.

There are several locations throughout the island that are must see attractions. One such location is Shirley Height’s, which is an array of military buildings but also offers the best views of English Harbor and the Naval Station, Nelson’s Dockyard. It’s also the place to be on Sunday nights as the best sunset views are seen from here and the best party is thrown!

It really wasn’t a difficult decision to make; we both just love laying out on the beach all day and relaxing by the pool. We're "the sun & the sand, a drink in my hand with no bottom" kind of people  :) We didn’t need a lot of extra activities to do, however most resorts like the one we are staying at offer all types of water sports and excursions. And when you see the pictures it’s not hard to see why we were sold on it! We spent a week in the Dominican Republic last May, which I’ll talk about next week and we wanted something that was very similar to that experience because we had the perfect week. We were looking for a resort with both beach and pool options, we wanted something all-inclusive and we wanted something that had both nightly activities and the option to get lost in corner booth somewhere :) the resort we found has all of those things and we are so excited! Only 173 till we’re soaking up the Antiguan sun!

Wish Lantern Release :)

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend, ours was fantastic! We had our usually Friday night sushi date at our favorite restaurant, Sakura. Saturday we took a couple of naps and made yummy steak dinners on our newly purchased grill. We wanted a grill that offered the option to use both propane and charcoal and we found the perfect one at Lowe’s! We also drank our bottle of Cabernet Franc from the Lake Anna Winery that we purchased a few weeks ago at the Great Grapes Wine and Food Festival! It was deliciously paired if I do say so myself!

This weekend we also did something that we’ve been waiting to do for months; we lit our wish lantern and set it free! We thought this would be a great wedding favor for our guests to do with us, so we wanted to do a test run with one to see what it was like. The lantern worked just as specified, I purchased it from a seller on Amazon. It was one of the larger ones, as you can see in the picture. I wrote two different wishes on it and then, as soon as we lit the lighter paper it filled up with air and off it went. What I wasn’t expecting was how much it meant to send our wishes into the air; it really felt like we were sending them up to the heavens to come true. We watched it for a few minutes until it disappeared and it was such a rewarding evening!

I think we are set on having them serve as our wedding favors in October. We both agreed that it would be something that guests would love to participate in and never forget.