A Long Weekend Well Spent

Well - it's not Monday but here I am. I took Monday off because...you know...Labor Day and all that jazz. I feel like you aren't supposed to "labor" on Labor Day and as this blog is a labor of love...I took a break, ha-ha!

Friday night was really the only time I wasn't "doing something" - I came in, got my exercise taken care of, took a bath and ate dinner...and of course, Watson begged for my food. When does Watson not beg for my food? I honestly did a whole lot of nothing on Friday night; I spent a lot of the evening after dinner reading and it was really nice to just relax!

I was out and about on Saturday - my Mom and I took a family friend's daughter out for a little girl's day - we got pedicures, had lunch and took her shopping (she's eleven). It was good fun and it took up a pretty good chunk of the day. I managed to take not a single photo of any of it though. Once we were home for the afternoon, I exercised...and ate soup...and watched multiple episodes of Outlander. So okay - maybe I didn't do that much on Saturday. I made up for it on Sunday and Monday...prepare for the photo dump.

 

Also - that picture has nothing to do with Friday or Saturday - but I got my hair redone this week and I felt like I needed to include that, right? One of my sweet, wonderful friends Melissa was a double blessing - she does an amazing job on my hair and has become one of my most precious friends - and even though she's about to pop with wee baby number one, she worked her magic on my hair! Love it! Moving on from that...

 

Sunday morning...after much drinking of coffee...we made the 45 minute drive over to Great Meadows/The Plains for the 44th Annual Virginia Scottish Games. Now; if you've read my blog you know I'm a big fan of Outlander (both the book series and the TV series) but what you might not know if that my Dad has researched our ancestry and I have Scottish ancestry on both sides of my family. I was so thrilled to be able to take in a festival that included Scottish food, a clan parade, Scottish music and dancing, re-enactors from different periods in Scottish history...everything about it was so exciting to me!

 

  

The event was held at Great Meadows and something about the rolling hills, the stones breaking through the grass and the mountains in the distance brought to mind the Scottish Highlands (not that I've been...but the program mentioned that, ha-ha). The sky was bright blue, there was a gentle breeze and so we perused the set-up for each of the different periods of Scottish history - of course; the Outlander fan in me was most intrigued by the set-up from the Jacobite Rebellion. The "costuming" and weapons were also fascinating and I took every bit of it in...

   

We perused some booths, grabbed some shepherds pie for lunch and found a seat along the parade field to watch the Highland Games and wait for the Clan Parade to start. As we munched on our lunch, the Clans represented at the Games came together, the bagpipes began to play and the different Clans paraded across the field. Once the parade was over and our lunch was done...complete with Scottish shortbread to finish it off!

  

I think the most interesting part of the day for me was discovering some more information about our ancestors. We found a map that outlined the land that was thought to be held by Clan Somerville, we found the Clan crest and motto...and most fascinating to me - we found the Clan Somerville tartan! Each clan in Scotland has a distinct tartan pattern and so I was absolutely thrilled to find the pattern that was used by our ancestors. I think I'll definitely want to get something made with the Somerville tartan pattern in the future! Perhaps in time for our *tentative* trip to Scotland next Summer? *screams internally*

I absolutely enjoyed every aspect of the Virginia Scottish Games - the food, the people, the incredible music, taking in the history, traditions and customs of a place that...somewhere down the line, I hail from. I would go to the VA Scottish Games again in a heartbeat - it was so much fun! Perhaps if I go next year, it will be fresh off a trip to Scotland?

We took the scenic ride home and stopped in at an antique store on the way. We enjoyed the gorgeous weather all evening - it was cooler and so we had pizza on the deck for dinner and talked to my little sister for a bit while the sun set. Sunday was a gorgeous day and I'm so glad I spent such a large chunk of it outside, taking in everything that Northern Virginia has to offer!

 

I slept in on Monday - what a glorious feeling that is! Can I get an amen on that? After getting my two cups of coffee in; one of which I drank sitting on the deck in the morning sunshine, I got in my elliptical time and got ready for the day. My Mom and I decided to head over to Marker Miller Orchard to pick some apples and Monday was another glorious day; perfect for roaming between the rows of apple trees and choosing the perfect apples for a pie.

  

 

Marker Miller Orchard had a BBQ stand on site and there were people everywhere - and of course; the sky was blue, there was gentle breeze and it was a perfect early Autumn day. We grabbed some BBQ for lunch and ate it at one of the multitude of picnic tables before getting a bag and making our way into the orchards to pick apples. We chose to pick Ginger Gold and Empire apples and every time I pick apples, I'm surprised by how many will fit into the bag - it holds so many more than I ever expect.

 

Have I mentioned that the weather was perfect for most of the weekend - because it was. Once we returned home with our apples, we made a Lowe's run (hello kitchen mock-up) and of course, popped into Wal-Mart for a hot second before spending the rest of the evening grilling burgers on the deck and enjoying the spectacular weather.

I'd have spent more time outdoors but I got a headache around 5:00 and it just never seemed to let up. I did some reading on the porch and watched some more Outlander before finally tapping out around 9:00 in an effort to try and get my headache to go away! Not the perfect end to the weekend...but the weekend on a whole was pretty perfect!

As a shameless self-promotion; I'm currently having my Launch Party over on my Perfectly Posh website! If you'd like to check out what Perfectly Posh is all about, feel free to hit up my website at: http://NatalieSummerlin.po.sh/  and see if there is something you might like. You simply select "My Launch Party" at check-out and if you place an order during my party - you'll be entered to win a free chunk from me!

Anywho guys - that was my wonderful and well spent weekend - and now it's absolutely pouring buckets outside and thunder just rattled the windows of the office; a cold front is moving in and the weather...not so pretty anymore. But I can't wait for those cooler temps and perhaps more perfect Autumn weather!