Monday Minute: HaPpY fOuRtH of JuLy!!

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend - spending time with friends and family, enjoying a much-needed vacation or just relaxing at home. My weekend mostly consisted of listening to the Party Pod, wishing it was warmer to go swimming and getting the apartment ready for Baby Lane's arrival and carpet cleaning tomorrow. Plus, due to some schedule changes I got to spend Sunday night and all day Monday with Dennis. That was a nice surprise. 

I must say this is quite possibly the safest Fourth of July I've had in a long time since I wasn't blowing things up while doing fireworks and damaging my liver with way too many jello shots and vodka gummy bears.

Here are three quick items about my holiday weekend for today's Monday Minute.

1. We've had a lot of questions about Baby Lane's nursery. It's still a work in progress but here's a little preview of one of the wall decorations using these great alphabet cards I bought on Etsy.

2. Popsicles are one of the only foods I like eating right now. It's not really just a pregnancy thing since I live on them pretty much every summer. I thought I needed something a little healthier than freezer pops or fudge pops, so I made some homemade ones today using this recipe from Pinterest. I didn't have frozen mango, so I substituted it for raspberry, which I actually like better.

3. I've been reading The Vacationers by Emma Straub this weekend. What a great summer book! I'm a few pages from the end, so I'll have a review up later this week. Check it out!

And that is my Monday Minute, a little longer today but it was a holiday weekend! Happy Fourth and I hope the fireworks where you live aren't rained out like ours!

Fireworks!

"And the rockets red glare.

The bombs bursting in air."

- The Star Spangled Banner

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays next to Christmas and Thanksgiving. I've spent many fabulous Fourths at Lakeside, Kiwanis and in Baltimore. Yesterday, I started a new tradition.

I helped set fireworks up for Zambelli! Dennis is a pyrotech, so he asked if I could help also. I spent hours in the hot sun unloading tubes from a truck and then carefully placing the bombs in each tube.

Due to my limited firework skills, my duties ended there. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the picnic pavilion waiting out the rain. 

I have no desire to shoot because I'm scared of getting hurt.  And another selfish reason...I don't want to give up actually watching the fireworks.

I will admit there is something special about watching a fireworks display knowing that you touched each of those bombs and that now they were being fired by your fiancé and future brother-in-law.

I enjoyed every colorful expulsion despite the rain, smoke, ash and falling debris. It was like my own private fireworks display.

At the end of the show, after everything cooled down, we had to break down the tube, load up the truck and pick up the trash. It was all worth it thinking about the awesome display and cheers at the end.

Today, I'm exhausted, a little burned (I ran out of sunscreen that 's how much I had on and I still burned) and incredibly sore from all the lifting but it was worth every moment!

It was another wonderful holiday! Happy Fourth of July! God Bless America!