Happy Monday! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend! We sure did! We went to a friend’s housewarming/4th of July party on Saturday and Mr. Tan Lines parents arrived Saturday night to spend a few days with us! We are traveling north next weekend for a wedding so they decided to stop by on the way. We love having them around and we are so happy they are here! They are also taking care of our baby Lily so it’s nice to know she’s getting some lovin’ while we aren’t there. They’ve never been to Chipotle, they don’t have any in Alabama so we are taking them for their first time tonight! I can’t wait for them to experience it! Here are a few recent pics of Miss Lily!

Here is a great crafty article I found featuring 32 Unexpected Things To Do With Balloons! I was browsing through one of my favorite sites, Buzzfeed, and stumbled upon this article. It had too many cute ideas in it not to share, enjoy :)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/unexpected-things-to-do-with-balloons

Dancin' Shoes!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! I don’t think I’ve mentioned that the 4th of July is my absolute favorite holiday! I just love fireworks so much and I love how patriotic it always feels! We didn’t get to see live fireworks this year, poor Miss Lily is so scared of them! But we did play with some sparklers on our deck :) I also put a picture below of Miss. Lily rockin’ her red!

This past week we finished yet another DIY wedding craft! The location of our wedding reception is outdoors and the floor is made of brick, not very barefoot friendly! So I wanted to give out flip flops to the ladies in case they wanted to take their shoes off! Luck was definitely in our favor as last week Old Navy had all of their flip flops on sale for $1 !! We couldn’t believe it! We headed there early in the morning and picked up 30 pairs of flip flops! We were told we weren’t the only wedding party there that day, all of the white flip flops were already gone! However it worked out better as we got all of ours in a pretty light blue color that matches everything else!

Yesterday I went to Home Goods and found this amazingly perfect box to hold all of our flip flops! I was planning on buying a box then adding some paint, pictures of seashells etc. but this one turned out much better than expected! It matches our colors perfectly and has the beach theme with "Anchors Away" written on it...love!

When I left Home Goods I walked by Michael’s and noticed that they had ribbon on sale for $1, I know right?! Another great deal! I grabbed 12 rolls of all different blue ribbons, used my 15% off coupon and ended up only paying $10!

When I got home I removed the Old Navy tags from all of the flip flops and wrote the size of each flip flop on the bottom, making it easy for people to find their size! I then proceeded to tie a piece of ribbon on each pair, securing them together and adding a really cute touch! They look so cute in the box, and I really love the different ribbons! This DIY turned out great and I can’t wait for everyone to see it :)

Crabfest 2013!

I can’t believe how fast this weekend flew by! We had a pretty great and busy one. Saturday we hosted our second annual Crabfest soiree! It was a huge success and everyone had a great time! We headed down into DC around 11am and arrived at The Wharf a little before noon. We had the routine down from last year so we headed straight for the crab legs! We ordered 20 pounds of the large crab legs, 5 pounds of shrimp and 4 dozen medium female blue crabs. The prices are great there too, we paid $170 for the crabs, $50 for the shrimp and $1 a crab for the whole ones! Last year we made a real morning of it and looked around for a bit, then got a steaming hot bowl of the freshest clam chowder and sat by the water and relaxed! We were just so anxious to get back to Lily this year that we wanted to be in and out! Not to mention it was almost 90 degrees out! They steam and flavor all of your seafood for you right there, so about an hour and a half later we were on the road heading back home! You can also take it home frozen and cook it yourself, but it’s much easier to have them do it! Here is a picture of Mr. Tan Lines at the front of The Wharf!

We also cooked a classic shrimp boil for everyone, something that is very common in the south, but most of our friends hadn’t experienced! We cooked shrimp, 10 ears of corn and about 10 pounds of small red potatoes in a huge pot seasoned with cajun packs. This turned out great, everyone enjoyed the shrimp and potatoes! We are actually serving this same dish at our rehearsal dinner! The restaurant where we are hosting it will do all of the cooking, but we can’t wait, it’s going to be delicious!

All in all it was yet another successful hangout with all of our friends, can’t wait until next year! :)

We also introduced Miss Lily to all of our friends which was also a success! She just loves people and everyone thought she was so great! :) She was so worn out by the end of the day; she even slept in with us on Sunday!

The College Years - James Madison University

Happy Thursday! Today I wanted to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart. It’s not really a thing, but it’s a place. The best place on earth actually, James Madison University. This is where I spent the best four years of my life. I graduated from JMU in 2009 and have nothing but amazing memories to look back on now. Not only is it one of the top schools in the state of Virginia, but it’s also one of the funnest and friendliest places around. I know I’m completely biased, but who isn’t when it comes to their alma mater? JMU has it all. It's nestled right in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley in the small town of Harrisonburg and it’s just two hours from Washington DC. Let’s see, how much do I love JMU? Let me count the ways :)

The people. If you ever meet anyone who went/goes/has visited JMU they will most likely say “Oh I love it there!” or “Oh you’re going to love it there!” It’s one of those places that always makes you feel positive. Although it has a pretty big student body, 18,000 and growing, it has the ability to feel intimate. Because Harrisonburg is a small town the majority of it’s population is JMU students, which makes it really feel like a community.

The parties. I feel like that’s all I have to say, but I’ll go on :) JMU has an unwritten rule that everyone abides by, we don’t charge fellow party goers for alcohol. For example, at some colleges when you show up at a party you have to pay $5 for a cup that you can then fill with alcohol. Yuck right?! Well not at JMU, if you’re hosting then you’re buying. But you know that when you go to someone else’s house the next night you aren’t paying there. I think this adds to the community feeling, you feel like you’re going to a friend’s house to hang out, not a random strangers!

The professors. Amazing, what can I say?! I never had a professor that I considered lazy, rude or incompetent. They are the best of the best and they made learning a fun experience. They were also friendly and relatable, I couldn’t tell you a favorite because there were so many!

The campus. Stunning. I consider it the prettiest campus I have ever seen. The infamous quad makes it look like a college, meaning it’s what you always picture in your head when you think of college. The quad houses all of the first built buildings on campus, including Wilson Hall, the first ever. And on a nice day you’ll find it packed with students sunbathing, playing frisbee, playing guitar, taking a nap, catching up with friends, studying, eating lunch…really anything and everything. It’s a walking friendly campus, where you can walk to any building from anywhere if you wanted to.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures I posted, I know most of them are from football games, but that’s just because we had so much fun tailgating at them! And pictures below show one of our favorite traditions, at football games after we score a touch down we throw purple and gold streamers all through the stadium :) I also put a professional picture below that, just to give you a better look!

Here is really neat picture, in 2008 JMU celebrated its centennial. The originial university opened its doors in 1908. The university celebrated by having seniors stand on the quad and hold purple and gold card stock while a small airplane flew over and took this picture, pretty cool huh?! If you look closely :) my friends and I were holding gold signs at the top of the number "1"

Skydiving!

Happy Hump Day! I hope you’re having a great week! We sure are! Miss Lily has been so incredible and we grow to love her more and more everyday!

Today I wanted to talk about something that I did a few years back that honestly changed my life! I decided to go sky diving for the very first time! It was a really last minute decision, one Saturday I decided to do it and the following week it was done! I know it’s cliché when people say “it changes your life.” But it really does, and it’s also so hard to convey. There’s just this sort of balance that you feel, like you’re perfectly balanced in the world. You feel at peace and so damn blessed to be back on the earth. It was one of the best experiences I have ever been through. Like Tim McGraw says “someday  I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying.” Here are two pictures from my awesome adventure. I did a tandem jump at 14,000 feet at West Point Skydiving in southern Virginia. They are a great big sky diving family and made the experience so much more enjoyable! :)

Lily Love & Books To Read!

Happy Tuesday!

Well it’s day three of having baby Lily around and we are so happy and blessed! She is such a joy and at the current moment I just can’t think or talk about anything else!  Here is a picture I took of us last night while we were watching The Bachelorette!

I did do something exciting today however, I purchased three new books to read! I love to read, I love getting lost in stories and relating to the characters. I was on Buzzfeed, an amazing site with hilarious stories and different list compilations, t’s a great cheerer upper kind of website! Anyway, they had a list of the top 14 books you need to read before they hit the big screen. I perused the article and decided on the three below. I love reading books before seeing them on the big screen, especially when they’re already getting great reviews! They each sound incredible and I think I will enjoy getting through each one :) Here are the books I bought today on Amazon, because I got two of them used I only spent $25..shipping was free because I spent that $25! I included the descriptions posted on Buzzfeed as well. I didn’t Wikipedia them because I was afraid it’d give away the ending, but here are the snippets I got!

1.  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Here’s why: "A terminally ill girl unexpectedly falls in love despite her inevitable fate." Classic tear jerker read.  It’s not the first of its kind, but it had great reviews and I’m looking forward to reading it!

2. Serena by Ron Rash

Here’s why: "A thrilling tale that follows newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton on their journey to create a timer empire and ruthlessly kill all who fall out of favor. Serena finds out some unfortunate information and then crap hits the fan." I have to admit, because Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are starring in it is the real reason here…but the movie is already getting lots of great buzz so I can’t wait to dive in!

3. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Here’s why: "A 17-year old girl slips into a coma after a bad accident. She has an out-of-body experience, she watches as friends and family visit and then needs to choose to live a difficult life or die peacefully." The minute I read this tiny short description I got chills, this one sounds amazing and I think I’m going to tackle it first. Can you imagine?! Ahhhh, I can’t wait!

I’ll definitely give some reviews as I finish each one, but if you want to read along with me that’d be fun too! :)

Oh and if you want to waste some time, here is the link to the full article!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/books-to-read-before-they-hit-the-big-screen

The Puppy Life!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had as great of a weekend as I did!! I have BIG news to share with you today…Mr. Tan Lines and I adopted a puppy on Saturday! The Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation hosted an adoption fair at a nearby PetSmart and we just happened to be attending. There were so many different litters of puppies and kittens, it was quite overwhelming. As we made our way to the back we saw the three different litters of puppies. Mr. Tan Lines was immediately drawn to a beautiful 8 week old black baby lab mix. He picked her up and we held her for the next 15 minutes talking to her foster dad and getting her story. Her mom who they believed to be pure Labrador lived in West Virginia and not in the very best conditions. She had 5 puppies and a neighbor contacted the local humane society when they noticed the puppies were kept outside 24/7 with very little food and water (a HUGE hug to this person :) Lost Dog rescued all of the puppies, including the mom, which is one of the reasons they are one of my favorite rescue societies!! They weren’t sure about her dad, but they guessed that she could be a hound/pitt mix. Funnily enough we’ve had her name picked our since our very early dating days, Mr. Tan Lines always expressed wanting a black lab and that we’d name her Lily one day, well that day came and we couldn’t be any happier! Here is Mr. Tan Lines right after we'd adopted her and then me with her right after we got home!

Mr. Tan Lines and I then decided to fill out an application form and go ahead and speak with an interview representative about adopting our sweet girl. We felt like anxious parents waiting for our names to be called, but after almost two hours it was finally our turn! We met with the Lost Dog rep and she went through various tips and facts that we needed to know. We discussed training methods, our finances, reasons why we wanted to be pet parents, living conditions, etc., very thorough which we loved. She also took us through our girls medical records, indicating all of the shots and things she’d had done. Lost Dog does not adopt out dogs that are not spayed/neutered, so our sweet girl was ready to go! We filled out the final paperwork and then she was ours! We then spent the next hour getting everything we needed for her homecoming, which was pretty much everything! We got her a big comfy bed, food, toys, treats, a crate, training pads, all sorts of house sprays, leashes, puppy shampoo, food bowls ahh the list goes on and on!  Here she is on her new, super comfy bed!

FINALLY it was time for Miss Lily to go home! We loaded up the car and rode off into our new adventure. We discovered right away that she is not a fan of car rides, but being that she is so young, it’s probably just a phase, we hope! Her first exploration of the house went great, she was excited and very curious and she took to our home much better than expected. And now, 48 hours later we are so in love with everything she does! She is playful and a huge lap dog, she is always jumping up to get you to pick her up and then when I sit down to play with her she just wants to jump on my lap! I am a huge softie when it comes to training, so I’m pretty sure she already knows she’s the boss of me! Here she is sunbathing in the backyard for the first time and then below that is Mr. Tan Lines taking her on her first walk! 

The past two nights have been long ones, she immediately cries when we put her in her crate, we have to place her in her bed, lay with her and then move her into the crate once she’s asleep. I told ya she was the boss! :) She wakes up 3-4 times crying and we take her outside to use the bathroom, then repeat the process again and again. Compared to some of the stories told by her foster dad and other members of the Lost Dog foundation, I think we have been very lucky so far!

Although it has and will be quite a bit of work and money, there is just nothing that beats the happiness a dog can bring into your life. It’s only been two days and she is the biggest part of our lives now, we feel like the proudest parents in the world. We cannot wait to take this journey with her, and watch her grow and get to have so many fun experiences with her :)

I also wanted to mention that Lost Dog & Cat Rescue has a restaurant you can dine at and donate to! They are the founding members of the foundation; I put a link below to both the restaurant and foundation page if you wanted to take a look! We have eaten at the restaurant and it was delicious! Definitely check it out if you can get there!!

http://www.lostdogrescue.org/

http://lostdogcafe.com/about-us/