Happy Fourth!

I love the 4th of July. It's my favorite holiday. I used to have a wardrobe full of red-white-and-blue clothes, hats, jewelry, you name it. I think when I moved to Texas I purged a lot of my stuff -- when I went looking for a flag shirt to wear to work yesterday, I couldn't find one! What's that about?

But still, I love the Fourth. :)

I slept late this morning, then went out and did my usual 5k walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous morning, blue sky and not too hot (yet). I forgot that there's a parade in my neighborhood every year for the Fourth! So as I turned on to Far West Blvd, I was met with a steady stream of people walking back home, all decked out in their flags - dogs wearing bandannas, kids in wagons and buggies, men, women children - everybody showing their colors. And the people who live on Far West come out to show their support - they set up chairs on their lawns and in their driveways... I saw cars, trucks and even a tractor covered in bunting and flags. It was so cool! The whole neighborhood was out! (This turned out to be a good thing, because there was nobody in line at Starbucks when I got there.) ;)

After all that excitement, I came home to watch Wimbledon. I've been very lax in my tennis watching this time around - I'm usually glued to the tv coverage and checking the scores online all day! I watched the Williams sisters make it to the finals in doubles -- before they play each other in the women's final tomorrow -- and then watched Nadal and Federer wipe out Schuttler and Safin (respectively) to meet each other in the men's final on Sunday. Some things never change. ;)

This afternoon I went shopping and hung out with P's friends Diana and Coral. We had SO much fun. We ran over to Nordstrom so Di could buy pants... which were somehow not among the things in her shopping bag when we walked out of the store! oops! And we closed the place down! (they were closing early for the Fourth) Coral is a very bad influence in the shopping arena. She made me try on all sorts of things that I never would have done otherwise... But I did learn that I almost fit into the next smaller size, even below the size I thought I was! WOW! Then we went back to the house, and Joel had planned out an unbelievable dinner: watermelon/cucumber/jicama salad, herbed potatoes, and jerk chicken. And in the meantime, Geoffie had shown up with some bbq ribs, so we had something to snack on while we were waiting for the chicken to cook. ;) OMG, I haven't eaten that much in AGES. We lit sparklers, drank wine, and generally laughed ourselves silly. The only thing we didn't have was fireworks.

But, I planned ahead. :) I set the DVR to get "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS. I didn't need to see the Macy's NYC celebration, but I did want to see what they were going to be doing in DC. Turns out Huey Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell sang, and Scott Hamilton led a tribute to the Olympics (complete with John Williams' Summon the Heroes, yay!). Jerry Lee Lewis is looking old. But really, I just wanted to see the fireworks over the Washington Monument.

So, I hope y'all have had a day as full of food, fun and friends as I have!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USA!