LIFE LATELY PART TWO: FOURTH OF JULY

Without a doubt, one of my favorite holidays is the Fourth of July. I love grilling out, summertime, and fireworks, so it's an obvious match. It's always been a holiday that I spend with my family and friends, and I have so many fond memories of watching the parade, greased watermelon and coin dives at the pool, and scrambling to make it to the big pine tree in front of Memorial Stadium to watch the fireworks. I also love the Fourth due to growing up going to our country club's 3rd of July party which is always a guaranteed good time of fireworks, live music, and non stop dancing. Being in Hilton Head and Atlanta for the past 4 summers, I've missed out on these good times at home (although I always made up for it - not to worry) but this year, my five best friends and I finally managed to get to Champaign for the holiday. It. Was. The. Best. Since the Fourth falls on a Friday next year, I think we are going to have to make a repeat performance.


 We all got into Champaign by Wednesday so we didn't miss the 3rd party. So much fun being with our families and family friends!

A highlight of the night might have been when the band finished playing (last song was questionable) and we broke out in Camp Tecumseh flag pole songs. Completely normal. And no night in Champaign is complete without a stop to Steak N Shake, which we totally did. Double steakburger, please!


For the Fourth, we drove down to Southern Illinois to spend a couple days at the Sullivan's lake house on Lake of Egypt. It was so relaxing and just what I needed for a mid-summer vacation!

 

Years ago, Kaitlyn and I stayed up till 3:00 AM to finish a clock puzzle. We didn't see it anywhere in the house (completed puzzles typically get framed) until we played some beer pong and Kaitlyn started screaming. It was such a joyous moment!

We were also lucky that more family friends from Champaign were at the lake at the same time, so we had a great time having happy hours with them and playing on the water trampoline with the kids. Eight year olds at heart, I'm telling you!

It was such a great extended weekend and holiday - but I'm definitely ready for another vacay soon. Luckily I'm heading to Hilton Head with my family in 2 short weeks. Cannot wait!

On more happy news, it's Friday!! I have a few fun plans for the weekend and I hope you all do too! 

Hooray weekend!

Hello Again

Please excuse my brief hiatus. What with the 4th of July holiday and Patrick in town for an interview, I kind of took a break from posting.

And I kind of have a confession to make. 

Sometimes I just don't feel like blogging or give up on a post because it seems too hard. Which is embarrassing, but true. I'm not the biggest expert in graphic design or web design and sometimes I just can't figure out where to find a shot of a J.Crew shirt or Tibi dress that I love without the model in it. So then I don't really feel like putting together a collage of "what I want to be wearing on the 4th of July"! So forgive me. I'm trying.

Speaking of the 4th of July, I hope everyone had a great holiday. It was weird, right? Being on a Wednesday and all? Not particularly ideal for traveling... but for those of us who stayed in town, it was kind of nice having a kind of weekend in the middle of the week! My 4th was spent laying all day by the pool with Courtney. I think both of us were a teensy bit homesick -- pool games at the CCC, the annual 3rd of July party, family and friends... so it was perfect that we spent it together. We grilled out because I felt un-American if I didn't eat a cheeseburger and while at Krogs I found SPARKLERS! Which were put to use when we realized our apartment complex was not tall enough to see the fireworks over Lenox Mall. Oopsies. 

The weekend was a pretty typical one - lots of pool time, lounging, and reading. The extra bonus was that Patrick was in ATL so I got super duper lucky getting to see him again after only a few days apart!!! I made it a priority that we didn't eat at the same places that we always do, so after seeing Whitney post about the Atlanta Food Truck Park, I KNEW I had to go! And oh it made me so very happy. Even though I had sweat trickling down my back from the 100 temps and I was eating barbecue, I was completely entranced by this little park of food trucks. It was wonderful, and I need to go back very soon :) 

Happy Hump Day everyone!