Friday, July 2, 2010

4th of July

I love holidays.  You've heard me get all worked up about Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Easter.  Wait, wait.  I need to amend this.  I don't love all holidays and I don't love them like Martha Stewart loves them.  I couldn't care less about decorating my house with Easter eggs, American flags or skeletons.  I think it's more about the passing of the seasons for me.  Halloween just isn't my thing and St. Patty's Days are usually less than exciting.  But the Fourth of July really gets me going. 

I suppose the reason I love the holidays I do are because they bring back good memories.  There's absolutely nothing like spending a warm Michigan weekend boating, drinking, napping, and laughing on the lake with family and friends and then watching all the neighbors' illegal fireworks go off as the temperature drops and the sunburn kicks in.  Now I haven't done this since the summer after I graduated from college, but I've had a few great Fouths in LA too.  One year we saw Kenny Loggins at the Hollywood Bowl and more recently I've gotten into the habit of spending the day at the beach with friends and then barbecuing and watching the fireworks off the pier.

Unlike most years, or most weekends for that matter, I don't have any set plans this time around.  Fortunately, the majority of my friends live near the beach so I'm pretty sure I'll end up sunbathing and catching the fireworks from someones roof.  Fireworks have a special place in my heart.  Whether it's on the lake, at a baseball game, at the country club or off the pier, I find them to be completely mesmerizing, astounding and romantic. 

The difficult thing about this weekend, though it has nothing to do with the Fourth of July, is that my friends fall into two categories: crazy, single and chasing 21 year-old boys and coupled-off and boring.  Where exactly does that leave me? In general, I'm pretty low-key.  I tend not to drink in excess (anymore) but I like to have a good time (I am single and in my late-twenties, after all).  I love outdoor activities and being social, but I have no intention - at least premeditated - of getting too wild or even staying in. It's definitely my goal for the holiday weekend to have a wonderful and memorable time, but to be productive and mellow as well. 

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