Tag Archives: 4th of July

4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)

Posted on July 12, 2023 | Comments Off

I think many people felt like having a holiday in the middle of the week was a bit odd. I have to agree. I only had the 4th off, so I worked Monday and Wednesday. Some people had an extra day off, but I was just happy to have an extra day off in the middle of the week. But that made things a bit harder to plan to celebrate the 4th, but fortunately, I could still have some fun.

The party that I go to most years for the 4th was the weekend before the holiday. But that was perfect for me since I didn’t want to stress about how early I might have to be up the next day. And that gave me some time to prepare something to bring with me. I don’t always have the time to make something, but I was grateful I did this year because I was able to bring drunk fruit again with me. This is something that I like to make since it’s easy, and it’s also something that people seem to love. And I had time the day before the party to get everything together.

I usually make it more than a day in advance, so this time they weren’t quite as potent as they have been in the past. Maybe since I was making them later, I should have added a little extra tequila, but normally the pre-made one is perfect for this. I still think everyone enjoyed them and I liked the combination of strawberries and watermelon.

The party was pretty low-key as they have been lately. It was a nice time to hang out with friends and have some good food. It wasn’t too hot, so we were all mostly outside during the party. And of course, my friends and I had to get our traditional photo done. We were missing one member of our group this year, but we still took a photo to add to the collection.

We’ve been doing this for almost 10 years now and only missed 2 years (one year due to the pandemic and one year due to my friends having a new puppy and not having a party). It’s so silly and ridiculous, but we also love it! And I think our other friends who are not in the photo but at the party get a laugh out of us acting a little crazy to get the photos done. But it’s such a fun thing to have to remember my friend group over the years. Also, considering how long we’ve been doing this, I don’t think any of us look like we’ve aged about 10 years!

I was at that party a bit later than I planned, but that was ok since I was able to sleep in the next day. And then I started my normal work week with work on Monday.

On the 4th, I slept in a bit and then went to a workout. I was debating about trying to make some plans to go watch fireworks or something else, but I ended up just hanging out at home and enjoying a day without work. I think a lot of my friends did the same since nobody really went out and did much. Maybe that’s a sign of us getting older or maybe that’s because it wasn’t a weekend and a few of my friends had a regular work day the next day like I did. But just having time to relax and not worry about doing much was nice and a luxury. On my days off, I’m usually trying to get errands done or other things I can’t do during the week. As much as I try to do all of those things on Saturdays so I can relax on Sundays, it doesn’t always work out that way for me. So I took advantage of this free time and didn’t stress about doing anything. It might not have been the most social holiday, but it was perfect for me.

I’m glad that I had the party the weekend before, so I had some nice social time and got to feel like I celebrated a holiday a bit. And I was able to take the day off work to make sure I was ready for the rest of the work week and feel a bit more refreshed when I have been a bit exhausted lately.

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Tagged 4th of July, celebration, friends, party

A Pretty Traditional Holiday Celebration (or Still Pretending To Run Through Sprinklers)

Posted on July 5, 2022 | Comments Off

Normally on the 4th of July, I go to the same party each year. The party isn’t always on the 4th, depending on what day of the week it is, but it’s always around that day. This year, it was a few days before so the party was on the weekend. And since the pandemic, things have been a little different, but they have been getting closer to normal.

Last year and this year, there was still a party, but it was a much smaller group than it used to be because of the risk of getting sick. Obviously, any gathering can be a risk, but keeping the numbers lower and making sure everyone is vaccinated and not sick helps. And I think knowing everyone at the party I go to helps because I can feel like everyone is taking all the precautions that they can. Some people still wore masks, but not everyone did. And nobody made a big deal out of anyone who did wear a mask, which was nice to see that it was normalized. I can see wearing a mask in the future if I’m about to see people who are immunocompromised or if I felt like the risk was higher. And I’m glad that I’m friends with people who don’t mind that or think someone is overreacting.

And it was a pretty standard summer party. A few of us discussed how weird it felt celebrating when so much is happening in this country. But I think all of us also were just glad to be hanging out together and didn’t think too much about it being the 4th of July. It is always nice to be together and able to catch up. And of course, enjoying a bunch of food. I have made drunk watermelon in the past, but this year I didn’t get the ingredients in time and I couldn’t make it the day of. But I hope that there will be another summer party so I can make it for that one.

And as it seems to be at parties, I didn’t take a ton of photos. I was more focused on being present with my friends. But there was one photo that I knew we would need to take. In 2014, it was really hot and a few of us ran through the sprinklers. We took a really funny photo and it’s become a tradition to take the same photo again each year. We’ve never had the sprinklers on except for that first year and the photos always come out awesome. And this year’s photo didn’t disappoint.

And I love how all the photos look together.

When I was putting together the collage, we were looking at all the past photos. We knew why we didn’t have a photo for 2020, but we were all confused about why we were missing one for 2019. We couldn’t figure it out and I thought maybe I missed the party that year. But I then realized I should look at my past posts and that’s when we realized they didn’t have a party that year since they had just gotten their dog. But considering we’ve done this since 2014, only missing 2 years isn’t that bad! I did think this year about how I should have asked everyone in 2020 to take a photo alone pretending to run so I could combine them. Too bad I didn’t think about that back then, but missing the photo will always remind us of going through the pandemic.

Even though the party was a few days before the 4th, there were still people setting off fireworks in the area. Some of them were right on the other side of the fence and the sparks were coming toward us. I had one get my arm, which stung, but it wasn’t too bad and didn’t even leave much of a red mark. And it was nice to see some fireworks since I wasn’t sure if we would.

I always try to stay at these parties as late as I can, but I’m also always mindful of my drive back home and how other people driving might not be the safest. So I usually leave before it’s too late. This time, I left around 10, which was later than I was planning but I was just having a good time with my friends and lost track of time.

I felt like this was the perfect way to celebrate the 4th. I didn’t really feel like celebrating, and doing something a few days earlier felt better. On the 4th, I didn’t really do much, which was fine with me. I had some errands to run and I took advantage of having a day off and being able to do them. And even though I didn’t do much on the 4th, I still got all my traditional 4th of July things in a bit earlier and I didn’t miss out.

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Tagged 4th of July, friends, party, tradition

Finally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July)

Posted on July 7, 2021 | Comments Off

My 4th of July in 2020 was so unusual for me. I normally am with my friends, and last year we couldn’t do it. I think we had all hoped that life would be normal by then (I miss how innocent we all were when we thought the pandemic could be over by then), but there was no safe way for us to be together. And as much as I missed everyone, I’m glad we were able to be safe and make sure nobody got sick. I think I’m pretty lucky with my friend group. So many of us were at higher risk and very few people got sick. But I know that’s because we were taking so many precautions.

And even though things are better this year, I think we all agreed that having a big hangout wasn’t the right choice. As much as I would have loved going to a big party, I’m glad I didn’t have to turn it down because it would have been hard to not see my friends and celebrate with everyone. I know most of us are vaccinated, but not everyone has been (such as the kids of my friends), so we are just going to have to be safer for a bit longer. But that just means when we are all finally together again for a big party, we will be celebrating even more. I’m trying to be hopeful for Halloween this year.

Since I wasn’t going to go to my usual big party again this year on the 4th, I had to figure out what to do. And this year, I didn’t really do anything on the 4th. I had a few things I had to do around my house, but I took advantage of having a day off and just relaxing. I needed that little break and I didn’t even go out to watch fireworks. I had gotten comfortable at home and didn’t feel like leaving to deal with crowds (especially when I can’t trust everyone will be either vaccinated or wearing a mask). So the actual 4th was a bit of a bust compared to the past, but that was ok because I had my little celebration on the 3rd instead.

I was able to join some friends for a small gathering at their house. We were outside almost the entire time, everyone attending has been vaccinated for at least a month, and we were all people who do take other precautions when we are out in public. While staying home alone is probably the safest option, this was one of the safest ways I could see some of my friends.

This was actually the largest group of friends I had been able to see since the pandemic started. And I was afraid I’d be crying in happiness to see everyone, especially since I hadn’t seen any of them since the beginning of 2020. But I managed to hold it together and I was able to enjoy a night that felt so normal to me.

I don’t really have photos from that night because we were all focused on spending time together. Seeing friends on a screen is so different from seeing each other in person. And taking photos would have taken away from the in-person time we had together. So while I wish I had some photos of celebrating seeing my friends again, I’m just so happy that I got to see them and spend time reconnecting with people who I have missed for so long!

I know that I am lucky that I was able to see some of my friends and feel safe. Not everyone has friends who have been vaccinated or able to feel this safe around others. And it has taken a long time for things to get to this point with me and my friends. But I am hoping that this is just the beginning of my in-person hangouts with more and more people as things are a bit safer for those of us who have had the vaccine. I wish things would just be normal again and we didn’t have to worry about this, but I know that we are getting there and soon it won’t be a worry. We’ve made it this long, we can keep being careful for a little bit longer.

And yes, I know we had a 3 day weekend for the 4th of July. I’ll be sharing the unexpected thing I got to do on Monday in tomorrow’s post!

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Tagged 4th of July, celebration, friends, pandemic, party

Another Virtual Friend Hangout (or Trying Not To Miss A Summer Tradition Too Much)

Posted on July 8, 2020 | Comments Off

I remember before this year started, people were so excited when they saw that the 4th of July would be on a Saturday. I was excited too because I knew that meant I wouldn’t have an early morning the next morning. I love the 4th of July BBQs that I go to that Chris and Marie host.

When the pandemic started, I don’t think any of us expected it to last this long. When Memorial Day happened and we had a virtual hangout, I think we all assumed we would be together again soon. Even some of the reports were saying that LA might be able to reopen by the 4th of July. I knew that just because things could reopen didn’t mean that having a party would be safe. But I was using the date as a goal for the future and hoping that things would be starting to get back to how they were before by then.

But that didn’t happen. Cases are growing. We are lucky the death rate isn’t rising at the same speed, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t dangerous. We have no clue what the long-term health effects will be on someone who had COVID. I know people are tired of being home and want to go out and be social, but we just can’t do that now if we want this to be over soon. If more people stayed home and wore masks when they went out, we would be in a better position right now. But because of the actions of others, we cannot have things open and we need to stay home and away from others.

So as much as my friend group wanted to see each other for the 4th of July, it wasn’t possible. None of us wanted to risk the health of others by having a party. Plus, gatherings weren’t really allowed. But since we had already done one virtual holiday hangout, we were prepared to do another one. And that’s exactly what we did.

I wasn’t able to stay on our Zoom hangout as long as I would have liked to, but I was able to be on there for a while and see a lot of my friends. Everyone was so happy to see each other and we were all saying how much we missed being together in person. Some people had some really fun and creative Zoom backgrounds (even background videos) and that made us all laugh. Most of the conversation was just catching up with each other and making sure we are all doing ok. It wasn’t that different from how we spend parties catching up in person, but it felt extra nice to have people checking in on me and making sure everything was going ok.

Many of us live alone, so having some social interaction was really needed. I know I needed it. I still have some days where isolation is a huge struggle for me. I feel like I’m on my own little planet and there is nobody else out there that understands what I’m feeling. I know that isn’t true, but it’s hard to not feel that way. But I have noticed being more open about my struggle has helped as other friends have said they feel the same. Even though we all feel like we are on our own planets, at least we are starting to feel like we aren’t the only one out there feeling like that.

Because of something else I had scheduled on the 4th, I was only able to stay on Zoom for about an hour. But honestly, that hour meant so much to me. I needed that time with my friends. I needed that sense of almost normalcy. I needed to have more than just text messages or social media. I know that I could use some face to face time with friends more, but that’s not an option yet. I have to take what I can, and I need to take advantage of the moments I can get with friends. I felt so much better after just that hour and felt like I could handle things for a bit longer.

The next party that we would all be having together would be Labor Day, but I don’t think any of us are expecting to be able to be together then. It would be amazing if we could, but I think we are all hoping to be together again for Halloween. And we all know the costumes will probably be some of the best yet because it would be our big reunion as a group. I am trying to stay hopeful that by October we can safely be together. But if we can’t I guess we can do a Zoom Halloween party and share our costumes over video.

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Tagged 4th of July, friends, hangout, isolation, party, summer

Not My Typically 4th Of July (or Taking Advantage Of A Day Off)

Posted on July 9, 2019 | 1 comment

For the past several years, I’ve gone to the same 4th of July party that my friends throw. I usually make drunk fruit, have a lot of fun with my friends, spend the day just hanging out, and watching some fireworks. I love having a casual 4th of July celebration and don’t feel like I need to have some crazy adventure that day, especially when it’s in the middle of the week so I have to work early the next day.

This year, my friends didn’t have a party. They have a puppy that is still young and timid and they didn’t know how she would react to the fireworks. I completely understand this and I think everyone wanted them to be able to stay home and keep a close watch on their dog since so many dogs freak out and run off because of the noise. While I did miss having the party that I love going to each year, I’m glad they were able to keep their puppy safe. I think everyone felt the same way.

But since I didn’t have my usual party to go to, I had to figure out what else I wanted to do that day. I wasn’t feeling too motivated to make plans and a lot of my friends felt the same way. We talked about maybe trying to figure out a way to watch fireworks somewhere, but nothing was really planned and we all said we’d check in the day of to see what we felt like doing.

The morning of the 4th I tried to take advantage of having a day off and sleep in. But because I am so used to my sleep schedule I wasn’t able to sleep in too much. I think I maybe slept 20 minutes later than normal, but I did stay in bed much longer and had a lazy morning reading and relaxing. Then I decided to take advantage of having nothing to do all day and work on a big cleaning of my house.

I was in the middle of cleaning my bathroom when suddenly the room felt like it was spinning. I have a history of vertigo and just thought I was having an episode. I thought maybe the smells from the cleaning supplies triggered it or I was dealing with low blood sugar. Then I noticed the things hanging on hooks in my bathroom were swaying back and forth and realized we were having an earthquake! I sat down on the edge of my bathtub to wait for it to stop since I didn’t want to run through my house to get under a table while things might be falling. It was a very large earthquake, but far from my house so it wasn’t too strong where I live. But it was still a scary moment since we never know when an earthquake will start easy and then get bigger. We actually had a larger earthquake on the 5th which made me worry too.

After the earthquake, I had to do a little unexpected cleaning because a few things did fall over. My DVD collection tipped over so I had to reorganize that (and it made me start to think about getting rid of the DVDs) but that was the only issue after the earthquake. So once I cleaned that up I went back to my regular cleaning like vacuuming and mopping. I know, I’m so interesting and fun spending my day off and a holiday cleaning.

Once the cleaning was done, I decided to see if any of my friends ended up making a plan to do anything that night. We were all in the same mindset with not feeling motivated to go out and do something. I don’t know if it was because of the earthquake, the weird weather we’ve been having, or we all were just tired. But nobody (including myself) really felt like trying to make a plan just to see fireworks. I’m glad we were all in agreement so nobody felt like they had to do something and we all just spent the evening on our own.

I did some more reading and watched a bunch of random tv. I tried to get to bed at a reasonable time since I had an early morning the next day but I still ended up going to sleep a bit later than I would have wanted to. Plus, there were illegal fireworks going off in my neighborhood throughout the night keeping me awake. There were so many illegal fireworks that I doubt the police could really enforce the law. It was annoying, especially when they were still shooting them off after midnight. I think it ended around 1:30 am when I finally got to sleep.

I’m sure that I could have gone out and had a fun 4th of July, but I had a perfectly fine day off at home doing boring things. I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything even though I do love getting to see my friends at parties. I am in a place in my life where I can be happy being a bit of a hermit and doing what is the responsible thing to do over the fun thing to do. Plus, I did get a lot of stuff done around my house that I needed to do and I didn’t have to worry about it over the weekend, so that was a win for me. But maybe next year, the party I usually go to will happen and then I’ll have easy plans that don’t require me to do much organizing and planning to take advantage of them.

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged 4th of July, day off, holidays

A Friend-Filled Fourth (or Just Enjoying Being Around Awesome People)

Posted on July 6, 2018 | 1 comment

As you might have been able to tell from my post on the 4th of July, I was having some mixed feelings about celebrating. A lot of people I knew felt the same way and I think many people had the same conflicting feeling about what they should do and what would feel almost disrespectful. Even though I had that feeling, my friends were hosting their 4th of July BBQ on the 4th (instead of doing it the weekend before) and I knew I’d be going there for sure.

I arrived right after the party started and there were a few people there. We were all sitting in the shade since it was hot and we all were having the same feelings. In a way, it helped to be around people who were feeling the same since I didn’t have to feel like a total downer for not being in a celebratory mood. While we did try to not talk politics too much, it did come up and we were trying to keep the conversation more toward actions steps we can take and not just complaining about the situation.

Once more people showed up, the party started to be more social and more like all the other parties they throw. There was a ton of food (I made Drunk Fruit again) and the BBQ was going with hot dogs, veggie dogs, and corn on the cob. It was a good classic summer BBQ and that’s exactly what I needed to have in my life, even if I was hesitant about being in a celebratory mood.

And of course, I had to get my friends together for our traditional photo. 4 years ago we took a photo while running through the sprinklers. Even though the sprinklers haven’t been on since that party, we have recreated that photo every year. We did 2 runs through the lawn just being silly and ridiculous, and we got some really great photos like this one.

But I went with a different photo that fit a bit better into the collage I was making to celebrate 5 years of taking this photo.

It’s a silly thing that we do, but I think all 4 of us agree that this photo is something that makes us happy. After I make the collage I show the others and I can tell that seeing all the photos together over the years makes them smile as much as I do. We’ve all agreed that this tradition can’t end anytime soon and we want to make it at least to 10 years of photos. We are halfway there already!

I spent most of the party trying to move around and talk to as many of my friends there as possible. Since I don’t see many of them outside of these parties, I want to take advantage of the time I do have with them. And I think that’s how everyone else feels too. The time at the parties always feels special and a bit precious because it’s a time we are all together and can just relax around each other. For me, celebrating the holidays I celebrate at these parties is all about the people I get to be around. It’s the most important thing to me and I’m glad I have so many amazing people to be with on these days.

The entire day people had been setting off fireworks, but you can’t see anything until it gets dark (I don’t understand why people are setting them off at 11am). Once the sun went down, we started noticing the various fireworks shows that were happening all around us. You could look almost any direction and see fireworks in the sky. Several people went up on the roof, but I stuck with being on the ground this year.

One day I’ll learn how to take better pictures of fireworks, but until then I am grateful to friends who can take awesome photos and are willing to let me use them on here.

I ended up staying at the party later than I was planning on doing. When I was trying to say goodbye to people, I just kept getting into more intense conversations and it took me about 45 minutes from the time I said I was going to leave until I was walking out to my car. But that’s ok. I was still out of there at a decent time before too many people were leaving parties and being on the road. And I was home a bit later than I would have liked, but I still got enough sleep before having to get up for work the next morning.

The next party with my friends should be toward the end of the summer and I know that there is a chance I won’t get to see many of these friends until then. As much as we all want to see each other more often, between living far apart (by LA standards since in rush hour some of these friends live 2.5 hours from me) and all having busy lives, we know that it’s not necessarily going to happen. But that’s what makes these parties so important and special to me. This is a time that we set aside in our crazy schedules to come together and have fun. This isn’t something that everyone gets to experience and I’m so lucky that I have a group like these friends who appreciate it as much as I do.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged 4th of July, BBQ, fireworks, friends, party, summer

Have A Low-Key 4th (or Friends, Fries, and Fireworks)

Posted on July 7, 2017 | Comments Off

Since the 4th of July party I usually go to was on the 1st, I had the 4th of July free. I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted to do that day, but I knew I was going to enjoy having an extra day off. So many holidays are on Mondays (or have fallen on a Sunday) so I don’t get an extra day off that often. It’s a real treat when there is an extra day that I can relax and have fun.

I figured I’d try to go and see fireworks somewhere, but I really didn’t have a plan. For the last several years, I’ve pretty much gone to Chris and Marie’s party. But I used to go to other events before. About 4 years ago I went to the fireworks show in Studio City. And for a few years before that I went to the show in Culver City. But with my friends living all over LA, I wasn’t quite sure where I would end up this year.

I texted some friends to see who was interested in going to a show and most people either had plans or didn’t feel like driving in holiday traffic. I don’t blame them because I didn’t want to drive that far and usually I have plans. But fortunately my friend Grace (she works for the podcast with me and also goes to OTF) had no plans and was up for coming to my side of town! So after she had some acting work to do, she headed over and we went to the Culver City fireworks show.

The Culver City show used to be at Culver City High School, where I used to be a substitute teacher. I was pretty familiar with the school and we watched the fireworks from the football field which was pretty fun. But since the last time I went to the show, they moved from doing the show at the high school to West LA College (a community college in Culver City). It’s still pretty close to my house, so it didn’t take us too long to get there.

The seating is on the grass of some of the sports fields there (I think it was the soccer and softball fields) and most people bring blankets and chairs to sit on. I had a big beach blanket that stays in my car, so I grabbed that for us to sit on. The gates opened at 4pm and we got there around 7 so a lot of the field was already claimed by other people. But we didn’t need too much room for 2 of us and found a spot that seemed pretty good. Since fireworks go up high, I wasn’t too worried about being very close. And I wasn’t expecting to see the show that was on the stage before the fireworks (I think it was just different musical acts).

It was pretty awesome getting to hang out with Grace. We’ve gotten to hang out a bunch lately and she is so awesome! She’s pretty new to LA still so I’m always sharing random LA advice with her. But she’s been kicking butt considering she’s still new to town! I wasn’t doing that much for my career when I moved here, but then again I was focused on college then. But it’s awesome to be friends with someone who is super motivated because that motivates me to do more.

There were a bunch of food trucks there to buy food and Grace went on a food run while I held down our blanket. It took her a while because of the crowds, but I didn’t mind because there was some really great people watching. It’s such an interesting crowd that goes to this fireworks show. It’s not the typically LA event and it really has a small-town feel to it for being in the middle of a major city. I loved seeing all the families having fun and the kids acting like kids and not being jaded by the world.

Grace ended up getting us some french fries and they were so good! They were so good that I forgot to get a photo of them before we ate them! It was the perfect treat to have while we waited for it to get dark for the fireworks to start. I had looked at what time sunset would be, but the show had to start much later (closer to 9pm).

In the past, I’ve always been impressed by this fireworks show. For being a smaller show, it’s one of the longer shows. And this year was no different. It was about 20 minutes of fireworks to lots of different songs. We couldn’t really hear the songs because all the speakers were placed close to the stage, but it didn’t matter. Seeing the fireworks is still awesome and exactly what I wanted to do for the 4th of July.

After the show was done, Grace headed out to get an Uber home while I headed back to my car. Taking an Uber would probably have been the better option because the parking garage was a total mess trying to leave. I didn’t even move my car from the parking spot for about an hour. It took me almost so long to get out of there, but once I was out of the garage it was only a few minutes to get back home.

It was a low-key 4th of July, but it had all the elements of what I wanted to do that day. I’m glad that I got to do exactly what I wanted to do that day and it was a nice way to have a day off before getting back to all the craziness of my life.

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Tagged 4th of July, Culver City, fireworks, friends

4th Of July On The 1st (or Another Awesome Party With Friends)

Posted on July 6, 2017 | 1 comment

With 4th of July being on a Tuesday this year, I was pretty sure that the party I usually go to for the 4th wasn’t going to be on Tuesday. I wasn’t sure what day it would be, but when I found out it was on Saturday I wasn’t surprised. So Marie and Chris decided to make their party Celebrate the 4th on the 1st and it was perfect!

The party started in the last afternoon which worked out really well for me. I had the goal setting workshop until about 2pm and went to the party pretty soon after everyone left the workshop. I had every intention of making Drunk Fruit like I have in the past, but that didn’t end up happening this year. I don’t know what happened, but before I knew it it was Friday night and I hadn’t gotten any of the stuff I would need to make it. I felt bad that I didn’t bring it, but I did bring some sparkling lemonade so I wasn’t totally empty handed when I arrived (although not bringing anything is ok too).

It was the usual crowd at the party and that was exactly what I was hoping for. I had missed the Memorial Day party so I hadn’t seen a lot of people since the Oscars party. Even though I had told many people about my tumors shrinking, most of them hadn’t seen me since I got the news. So a lot of people wanted to hear the entire story and know more about what the plan is now. I wish I had more to say about the plan besides we are waiting for another MRI in the fall, but I think everyone was just happy that I didn’t have to have surgery back in April and that things are looking positive for me.

Most of the time I was at the party, I was just socializing and hanging out with everyone. I did get some food since it was a BBQ and there is always amazing food there. I tried not to think too much about how much I was eating because I didn’t want to stress out about it. But I know I did overeat a bit (I felt it the next day) but since it was a rare occasion I tried to be ok with that.

A lot of the socializing was about online dating since I’m not the only person having random adventures because of it. Everyone seems to think I have the craziest stories, but I think everyone else has some epic ones too. And we were showing off the random people we’ve been matching with on various apps and doing some swiping together as a group on each other’s profiles. It’s nice to know that my friends are having the same experiences as me on online dating since sometimes it makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong. But clearly it’s not just me.

But the one thing I had to make sure to do while I was at the party was the traditional photo that I take with some of my friends. It all started a few years ago when we ran through the sprinklers and we’ve recreated the photo each year since. We haven’t had the sprinklers on for the other years, but I think having to pretend is what makes the photo so funny. This year, one member of our group was out-of-town so we couldn’t have the exact same photo. But we left a space for her and I think our photo looks pretty amazing!

And I think that the photo looks pretty great in the series that we’ve got going so far.

I love that we’ve been able to keep this tradition up and I know we are all looking forward to adding more and more photos each year.

Since it was a few days before the 4th, we didn’t really expect too much as far as fireworks go. There were some random fireworks from time to time, but nothing like we’ve seen in the past. Some people did go up on the roof to watch, but I was wearing shoes that would not have been safe to go up a ladder in. So I stuck with staying on the ground and I didn’t really see any of the few fireworks that went off. But that was ok since I was planning on going to see fireworks another time.

I stayed at the party pretty late (at least pretty late for me) and was starting to feel tired so I knew I needed to head home. It’s not a horrible drive home, but it’s not the closest place and I know that sometimes there are sobriety checkpoints on the way home. So I wanted to leave at a decent hour. But I was at the party for long enough to get to see all my friends and have a great time. There’s nothing more that I could ask for at a party.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged 4th of July, BBQ, friends, party

4th Of July Weekend (or An Early Holiday)

Posted on July 6, 2016 | Comments Off

With the 4th of July falling on a Monday this year, things were a bit different from normal for me. Since I have Mondays off in a normal work week, I didn’t get any extra time off for the holiday (that’s going to happen again at Christmas and New Years too). And since most of my friends had Monday off for the holiday, the big party ended up being on Sunday night so everyone could take their day off to recover.

So I headed over to Chris and Marie‘s house on Sunday night for their annual BBQ party. I made Drunk Fruit again since it was such a big hit last time and I bought extra fruit so we could have some regular cut up fruit too (this was before I realized that 4 of us would be bringing watermelon to the party).

Drunk Fruit

As with all of the parties that Chris and Marie throw, this was a fun but low-key party. It was actually one of the biggest parties I can remember them having, so it was a lot of people in the backyard eating a lot of good food and just being silly. And even though it wasn’t the 4th, there were a couple of people around the neighborhood shooting off (illegal) fireworks so we didn’t miss those. I didn’t go up on the roof this year to watch the fireworks, but I could see them pretty decently from the ground in the backyard.

And since we started a tradition a few years ago with a couple of us running through the sprinklers, we had to do that again this year. Technically, only the first time we took the photo (2 years ago) we were running through the sprinklers. Now we pretend that the sprinklers are on but the photos are now a tradition that we have to keep up. And the photo looked pretty amazing this year!

Sprinklers Photo

I just love how the first year we were just running through the sprinklers, last year we were almost making fun of ourselves, and this year we were making fun of making fun of ourselves.

3 Years

I can’t imagine how crazy the next year’s photo will be! And because everyone had to watch us take the photo, a few others wanted to join in on the fun so we got a slightly larger group to be in another pretend sprinkler photo.

Big Group

I stayed at the party until about 10:30pm and then headed back home. I’m sure everyone else was staying up late and continuing the party, but since I knew I had stuff to do the next morning I didn’t want to be out too late.

On the 4th, I actually had a pretty low-key day. I went to my workout and then I spent a bit of time with my friend Dea. She’s been getting a lot of donations to replace what she lost in the fire and I went over to help sort things and get them organized. It was amazing to see how many things people have given to her and I know that as soon as she finds a new home to rent she will be set up really quickly.

After helping out, I drove home and thought about going out to see the fireworks somewhere. I texted a bunch of friends, but people either already had plans or weren’t going to go out. After a while, I decided that I didn’t feel like going out and spending money to see fireworks somewhere. So I ended up spending the night home watching silly movies on Netflix and listening to some crazy neighbors set off fireworks down the block (they sounded so close that I could feel my house shake sometimes).

Overall, I think this was a pretty awesome 4th of July weekend. I got to hang out with my friends and be at a BBQ and I got to be lazy and relax around my house. I don’t know what more I could have wanted out of my weekend because this really was the perfect combination of everything I wanted to do.

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged 4th of July, BBQ, fireworks, friends, party, summer

Fabulous 4th Of July (or Fireworks!)

Posted on July 8, 2015 | Comments Off

My 4th of July was spent at Chris and Marie’s house (my favorite party house!). The party didn’t start later in the day (some people had earlier parties to attend), so I spent some time relaxing during the day so I could try to stay at the party as late as possible.

I also made something to bring with me to the party. I made Drunk Fruit Salad.

Super easy recipe. Cut up fruit and soak in liquor (I used tequila). I soaked it for about 2 days, but right before the party I realized that I forgot to add margarita mix, so it was a bit stronger than I planned. I also made “sober” fruit salad for people who didn’t want to have alcohol.

I also tried to work on some sort of patriotic outfit. I was drawing a blank and then I remembered that I had gotten a headband to wear at Disneyland that would be perfect!

The party had a lot of the usual crowd. It’s so much fun to catch up and hang out with everyone. It also helps to keep a relaxed atmosphere at the party.

As always, there was lots of good food. Since parties like this aren’t all the time, I didn’t stress about what I ate and enjoyed myself. But I really don’t think I did that badly. I may have overdone it a bit with the desserts because there were so many yummy things, but again this was a special occasion.

Last year at 4th of July, it was so hot that a couple of us ran through the sprinklers to cool down. This year wasn’t as hot, but we decided to recreate the photo (minus the sprinklers).

We’ve already decided that this photo will be an annual tradition!

Once it got dark, a couple of us headed up to the roof to watch the fireworks. There were shows all around us and we kept turning around to catch them.

As we were on the roof, we saw a truck race into the alley behind the house. They stopped and then sped off. They had left a box and before we knew it fireworks were shooting out of the box! It was so close to the house and that made the fireworks look huge! But with them being so close to the house, the sparks were coming down right by us. One of the sparks got me on the ankle, but it only stung for a second.

We got down from the roof after that and the alley fireworks drop off happened 2 more times (it wasn’t as scary when we were on the patio versus on the roof).

As much as I wanted to stay late at the party, I always have to time out when I leave based on traffic and potential drunk drivers. Since bars close at 2am, I didn’t want to leave close to then. So at about midnight, I headed home (and only had to stop at 1 DUI checkpoint).

This was such a perfect low-key 4th of July. While I know that there will be plenty of parties before next 4th of July, I’m already looking forward to next year!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged 4th of July, fireworks, friends, party

Tag Archives: 4th of July

4th of July Fun (or Continuing The Traditions)

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A Pretty Traditional Holiday Celebration (or Still Pretending To Run Through Sprinklers)

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Finally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July)

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Another Virtual Friend Hangout (or Trying Not To Miss A Summer Tradition Too Much)

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Not My Typically 4th Of July (or Taking Advantage Of A Day Off)

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A Friend-Filled Fourth (or Just Enjoying Being Around Awesome People)

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Have A Low-Key 4th (or Friends, Fries, and Fireworks)

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4th Of July On The 1st (or Another Awesome Party With Friends)

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4th Of July Weekend (or An Early Holiday)

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Fabulous 4th Of July (or Fireworks!)

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