The Fourth of July was a Blast!

This is a Fourth of July post on the seventh  of July! I wasn’t really planning on making one, but we ended up finding some time to snap some photos. That, and I am pretty sure this dress is going to have to be retired due to my getting blown up yesterday. So this is a recap of my Fourth of July shenanigans, and a tribute to my little striped dress. May it rest in peace.

I’d like to start off by saying that I am a weird person, and I tend to find traumatic events like this (when they happen to me), hilarious. As long as no one died, got horribly maimed, or suffered any sort of negative lasting effects, I feel like you should be able to look back and laugh about this sort of thing. I realize that I am in the minority with that, and people are usually put off by my reactions. Example: last year I got trapped in an elevator with about twenty five other people, and I responded by giggling, and talking about the horror movie called Devil. It’s about a bunch of people who get trapped on an elevator, and turn on each other. Apparently no one else thinks things like that are funny, and they don’t appreciate when you say things like “you know, they made a horror movie about this!”

The Fourth of July has always been a holiday that I look forward to, but this year was a little bit cynical for me, I don’t like to include politics in my posts, but I will say that I am not thrilled with how our leadership has panned out, and as a result of that I am a little disenchanted with my country at the moment. I do however, realize how lucky I am to live in a first world country, live  in the area that I’m in, and that I am able to take advantage of all the wonderful things that living in the US has to offer. We have amazing national parks, great beer (in the PNW at least), and at least for the time being, the freedom to think, say, and do what we want (within reason). That, and I love fireworks and BBQ’s.

Our (we being my husband and I) day started with a walk around town, trying to avoid the parade that goes right in front of our apartment. It’s just a small town parade, its entirely non-offensive. However, I used to work at a coffee shop that is on the parade route, so when I think of the parade I think of how insanely busy we were, and how grumpy everyone was that came in because of how insanely busy we were. I prefer to not relive those memories, so I prefer not to be around the parade. I fully acknowledge that I am a bit of a poop about it. Anyways, Nick and I found a spot (our favorite spot!) to grab a beer in the sun while we waited out the chaos. If you live in the Seattle area, and are looking for a great spot outside of the city, I highly recommend checking out the Hop and Hound. The owners are super friendly, they have an incredible beer selection, and they allow dogs!

After confirming that it was safe to emerge, we nailed down some plans for the evening. We decided that we would walk over to a block party across town, apparently one of my friend’s neighbors had a $350 arsenal of fireworks and was planning to set them off in the street where everyone could watch. Amurica. Nick and I headed over in the evening, growlers to share with everyone in hand, and hung out on my friends porch while we waited for the festivities to start. We ended up having a little beer tasting session to pass the time. If you didn’t know by now, my friends and I are huge craft beer fans. Every now and then we like to each bring a 22oz bottle of a really nice beer, set up some tasting glasses, and share the wealth. This year did not disappoint.

After our mini beer festival we headed over to where the action was. My friend’s neighbor had a truly impressive setup, it looked like a pipe organ made out of mortar tubes. He had a keg from a local brewery, and was putting on quite a show! We of course stood around, ooing, ahhing, heckling the other neighbors fireworks displays, and generally enjoying the good times. As the night started winding down (or at least as we were getting down to the end of the supply of fireworks), we started getting ready for the “finale”. Finale meaning that our friend was loading up a bunch of mortar tubes and setting them all off at the same time. It was awesome, until it wasn’t!

We had all retreated a little bit under a tree, the debris from the fireworks kept raining down on us, and no one wanted it in their beer. Our friend set up his last round, and we all stood around to watch. All of a sudden there was a huge commotion, a big flash of light, and super loud bang at my feet! I felt something punch me in the chest, then explode right next to my ankle. It turns out one of the mortar tubes had tipped over, and had shot right at my chest! It bounced off my chest, his my husband, ricocheted off my friend, and exploded right at my ankle. It took a minute to realize what had just happened, by then I couldn’t tell if my ears were ringing because of the explosion that had happened right in front of me, or because I was going to pass out. I ended up just sitting down for a minute, and ended up passing out (with my mouth wide open, of course). This is where the “I’m weird and find these things hilarious” thing comes in. After learning that I still had a foot, and that my friends were all just fine, we all immediately started joking about it. I mean, I’m sure the looks on our faces were hilarious, and in the end it makes for a great story.

I guess you could say that we had a blast this Fourth of July!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

In this look;

Dress: Casual Convo Dress from Modcloth, sold out | Similar

Bandana: My bandana is from Urban Outfitters, and sold out | Similar

Sandals: Gold Saltwater Sandals from Modcloth

Hat: My hat is from Forever 21. and sold out | Similar

Purse: Siena camera bag by Jo Totes

Photo credit goes to my husband, Nick.

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