Hello everybody! A couple days ago I was nominated to do a blog tag. So thank you to Maya at her blog, River of Words!! Go check out her blog, she has amazing posts about writing, author interviews, and more!

So, let’s check out the rules for the blog tag challenge.

1. Acknowledge who tagged you!
2. Copy-and-paste the questions in your post for the next people!
3. Answer the questions!
4. Tag friends—make sure to comment on their blog so they know they are tagged!
5. And have fun!

The Questions:

1. What’s a book you read with summer vibes?
2. If you could travel anywhere this summer, where would you go?
3. What’s a poem or quote that reminds you of summer?
4. Describe your favorite summer memory.
5. Your ideal summer is filled with _______, _______, and _______.
6. What is your favorite summer food?
7. Favorite summer activities?
8. How do you usually celebrate 4th of July?
9. What’s a song that reminds you of summer?
10. What are you most excited for this summer?

My Answers:

A book with summer vibes: Unfortunately, I haven’t read many amazing books with summer vibes…unless they’re cheesy romances! So for this question, the book Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West was a sweet, funny romance with summer vibes. (I could have sworn that I’ve read more summer vibes books, but at the moment I’m pulling a blank…)

Summer travel: I would love to go to Hawaii. Yes, it would be so hot, but when I went to Hawaii in February of 2024, the water was pretty warm. So I can imagine that the water in Hawaii right now would feel amazing! Also the sun and beach and breeze—I can feel it all. (But I will be going to the beach in North Carolina this summer and it’s pretty much the same kind of beach. So that’s exciting!)

A quote or poem about summer: Ooh, I love this question! (I’m positive that I have a quote or poem in my Pinterest somewhere that reminds me summer…and I actually found this one on Pinterest. Don’t judge my obsession, it’s okay.)

“In the book of life, summer memories are the chapters we never want to end.“
~Unknown

Favorite summer memory: I don’t have a distinct summer memory, but one that sticks out happened when I lived in Boston, Massachusetts, two years ago. My family lived on an Air Force base and they have playgrounds and basketball courts spread around the base for kids. So my family quite literally had this basketball court, gazebo, and playground in our backyard.

My brother and I would go outside and all the kids in the neighborhood would come to the basketball court and we’d play dodgeball, football, basketball, soccer, manhunt, make slip-n-slides, and play possibly the best game ever invented: kickball. Let me tell you—kickball was my favorite summer memory because we would play for hours, sweating and cheering (sometimes arguing) and it was crazy fun. We would use either a soccer ball or a dodgeball and when you kicked it, it would practically soar over the basketball hoop and across the field. And y’all—let’s just say that I dominated. (Kidding, kidding! Just a bit.)

So that’s my favorite summer memory: playing all the games with people for hours outside, especially kickball. 🙃

Ideal summer: my ideal summer is filled with 1. games (like I said above), 2. water (beach, lake, pool, a cup of ice water, whatever!) and 3. fire, like bonfires and s’mores.

Favorite summer food: watermelon. Hands down the best summer food ever. For me it’s associated with big gatherings and parties and sometimes (in Massachusetts) friends would walk into the house (yes, without knocking), come over to the kitchen, and eat some of the watermelon slices that was sitting on the cutting board. Like I said, it’s a really communal snack for me and also it’s just plain delicious! (Messy, but that’s the best way to eat it: with juice dripping down your face, hands, and arms and making fun of each other for it.)

Favorite summer activities: being on the water (paddle-boarding, swimming, kayaking, sitting by the water, all of it!) or gatherings with friends. Barbecues, campfires, just hanging out. Summer is a big communal season for me in case you couldn’t tell.

Celebrating 4th of July? Um…I don’t do anything for the 4th except for watching the fireworks. Sometimes we can see it from our house (it depends on where we live—some states are big on fireworks, others aren’t) and sometimes we drive somewhere or go to a friends house and watch them. But other than that—unless a friend has something going on—we don’t do much. But that’s okay!

A song about summer: y’all should know by now to never ask me a question about one song. I can’t choose just one! So I shall choose five that just give fun summer vibes to me (I warn you, they are all pretty random): 1. 2 Dumb Kids by Levent Geiger, 2. Beautiful Things by Benson Boone, 3. Dancing Queen by ABBA, 4. GOOD DAY by Forrest Frank (honestly all his music gives summer vibes), and finally, 5. this is what falling in love feels like by JVKE.

(Wow…those are all very different songs. Levent Geiger, Benson Boone, ABBA, Forrest Frank, and JVKE. But that’s okay.) Mainly I like these songs because they are bops, (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), have summer-ish lyrics or themes (1, 4, and 5) or are just songs that you need on a summer playlist (2 and 3)!

What am I most excited for this summer? If you read my Recap of May post, then you know that my family is moving across the country to North Carolina. I have a ton of things to look forward to, so here’s a list. 😉

1. The beach! Sun, sand, and sweet treats at Kure Beach!
2. My new house! Decorating, painting, exploring the town of Hickory, NC!
3. My new job at Chick-fil-A! That’s all I have to say.
4. Seeing family and friends at the beach, including my best friend!
5. This is a weird one, but driving. I have my license, I’m allowed to drive alone, but I’m excited to drive in the small town of Hickory without having to worry about extra crazy Washingtonians or getting on the freeway to go everywhere.

Alright, that’s the end of my answers. 🙃

My Tags:

Alright, I don’t have a lot of subscriptions to blogs and honestly a handful of them were already tagged in previous peoples’ posts for this blog tag, so I might be a bit short…but that’s okay! (It sounds like ‘that’s okay’ is the theme for this that’s okay!)

And for those of you who I tagged: there is zero pressure to do this if you don’t want to!

Alright, let’s just take a look at my tags…

1. Gracelynn at Everything Random
2. Eliyah Mai at Eliyah Mai Creates
3. Zeva at My Learning Journey
4. Adalynn LeBrun at The Humorous Bookworm
5. Bella Raine at Bella Raine
6. Noah Dean Gonzales at Writing For A Better Tomorrow
7. Michael T. Hare at Michael T. Hare
8. ShineN at ShineN Reflections
9. Eric at Eric’s Blog
10. …nobody…

Wow, I’m one short. (I couldn’t find any other blogs that haven’t already been tagged…) So we’ll do nine. That’s okay!

Now, for tagging people: you can make a list like I did in this post with their name and website, and then comment on their latest post or contact them saying something along the lines of, “Hey, I tagged you/nominated you/mentioned you in a post on my blog [insert blog name or link here ] for a summer-themed blog tag game! There’s totally no pressure to participate—have a great week!”

Well, thanks for reading everybody! I hope to see fun summer posts! (No pressure, of course if it’s not your vibe or doesn’t go with the theme of your blog!)

Speaking of summer, keep your eyes peeled for a post about a summer writing competition! That should be coming out in the next week or two, so prep that pen and paper, be ready to tell your friends, and make sure to get those summer ideas flowing!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!
~Willow 🧡