July 4th

I call Independence Day the red-headed step-child of my favorite holidays because it's in the summertime and I love winter. But it's still a fun one for me because I LOVE fireworks. They're so magical! It was a HOT one this year. I wanted to go down to the National Mall.... so we did. But not before we sort of dressed up: Jason wore a blue shirt and I wore a red and white one and also painted my nails black with multicolored sparkles like fireworks (which a hippy-looking dude - a guy you would least expect to comment on a woman's nails - complimented while we were out walking around)!

We took so many other photos throughout the day but this is literally the only one worth sharing. Once we got to DC I was feeling miserable with the heat, the mall was a constructional mess (I knew this ahead of time but ignored the facts), and we weren't near any music or anything festive - just craploads of people. After stopping in at Fogo de Chao to get a couple caipirinhas, I said, "Alright, I've been in DC on July 4th. Let's go back to VA now." HA. So that's what we did. After sharing a cup of Pinkberry for dinner, we watched the fireworks from across the river with a sweet little neighborhood with a view where we all had a little "Firework" singalong (Katy, of course) and got distracted by a cute chihuahua during the firework show (we're totally going to wind up with one sometime soon)... It wasn't much, but we enjoyed it. Happy Burfday, 'Murica!

Power, Where Ya At?

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! We have plans to go down to the mall, but Jason is so not excited about the prospect of being outside in the heat (and doesn't love fireworks like I do) so we'll see what really happens... he's tried to keep me from wanting to go by telling me that Katy Perry will be on TV but it's not working... I figure I'll hear "Firework" all day anyway and we got a good Katy fix the other night (more on that later when I have internet to work with again) so I'm rearing to hang out in our nation's capital!

[photos from July 4, 2010]

As for our (lack of) power situation... Allow me to quote a neighbor friend's Facebook status from yesterday:

In my email today: "We still have no estimate for restoration of your power, because we just strung caution tape around the tree resting on your power lines and called it a day. Our billing department has power, though, so here is your bill reminder. Up yours, xoxo, Dominion."

Still no power 'round these parts! Today is day 5 (6 if you count Friday night) without power. Apparently there were 1.5 million people without power following the storm and as of yesterday there were about 300K. We're hoping by the weekend we'll have power again... but who knows?

I am so thankful for my generous in-laws that don't mind us hanging out in their house. Recently they were complaining about how rarely they've seen us lately due to my wonky work schedule... they may never do that again because we've been invading their space since Saturday morning!

Hopefully it'll come back on soon because our apartment is seriously cookin'. That, and I have a lot of things to blog about and very limited internet! So stay tuned...!!!

Own the Night like the Fourth of July

My parents and brother were never huge into fireworks and then I married a man who felt just as underwhelmed. But I'm still spoiled. When my dad lived in DC, we sat on his roof deck to watch the fireworks. When we moved to VA, we walked down to the Iwo Jima memorial and picnicked. Once, when my family didn't want to do our normal walk down there, I huffed and puffed about the fact the fact that they were going to sit and watch the fireworks on TV when we have some of the best fireworks in the country and could go out and see them in person. My dad kindly drove a little ways and stopped in the middle of the road to see them (all traffic that can actually see the show comes to a stand-still and people get out of their cars). Another time when I couldn't convince them to go with me, I walked about five minutes from the house until I got a good view and stood there with some neighbors who had the same idea.

This year was similar. I convinced Jason at the last second to drive until we could see them. Slowly more and more people showed up at our spot - they had the same idea. Just keep driving until you get a good view! It only took us five minutes to find this view. I'm thankful to be so close to the city so that I can convince my less-than-excited family to go with me at the very last second. We were at the lake last year so great to see them in DC this year too. These were COOL fireworks - it's always a great show on the mall, but I was pretty impressed this year!

Someday I WILL go down to the mall.
Neither of us are huge crowd people and most say once is enough, but...

it's ridiculous that both of us have grown up here and have never done it.

Maybe next year?

*Yes, I continued with the Katy Perry themed titling. I have no shame.

Baby, You're a Firework

Well, our adorable little niece is definitely the star of the show.

She's a little firework in our lives and we love having her and her mom & papa around.
There was a big crowd down at the lake this weekend and we all had so much fun
floating in the lake, playing games, eating lots of food, watching fireworks...

Happy 4th of July!

*Title courtesy of my new obsession with Katy Perry seeing her in concert. I swear I haven't been listening to her music non-stop since then or trying to convince Jason to get pit tickets to see her live again while we're on vacation so we can be THIS CLOSE to her... That certainly doesn't sound like something I'd do...  No way...
You just gotta igniiiite the liiiight and leeeet it shiiiine, just ooown the niiiight like the fourth of July!

July 4th Weekend in Picture Form