Celebrating (a lot of) Independence

The past week and a half or so had me on a summer freedom high that culminated over the 4th of July weekend and made me grateful for our awesome country's independence as well as my personal "independence" from many things (like a work schedule) at the moment...
I spent the last weekend of June on a great trip to a cabin in South Lake Tahoe--hot sunshine, fresh air, hiking (13 miles!), snow-melting spring scenery, new friends, and refreshing lakes made it feel like a genuine summer get-away! Aaah, wilderness...
Then, on Monday back in SF, instead of dragging my exhausted and sunburned self to work, I was able to sleep in, clean up all my gear, catch up on projects (like photos, job apps, bills, mail, and a crazy Enrichment schedule I'm now in charge of!) and squeeze in my June bike ride across the Golden Gate--awesome!
Did I mention I had time to play rec-ball with friends in the evening, too? Being job-less actually eliminated the often present post-trip stress!
Tuesday was even better with a morning birthday breakfast at Mama's in North Beach (I had the Monte Christo, pictured above--worth the wait!) for my friend Stacey who took the day off followed by a day-trip hike with her and a couple more friends to Pt Reyes park on the Palomarin trail sprinkled with bright wildflowers and berries on the way to Alamere Falls.
But wait, there was more to follow in the evening--Taco Tuesday's at Nick's ($2 tacos=young and hot happy hour!) so, post-hike, I jumped over to that and enjoyed the mingling and Mexican food before being able to be a model daughter and pick up my mom from the airport!

Since there was no real need to rush back to the foggy city, so I stayed in the East Bay on Tuesday night and got sucked in for a couple days at home with the fam for warm weather and sun while looking for jobs and taking some downtime in the pool, cabana, and bird-filled backyard not to mention hanging out with Archie, my pup! Finishing my East Bay escape with a bday party in Danville, I returned to the city refreshed Thursday night and ready for holiday weekend fun.
Having picked up some plants and garden supplies for my house while out in the 'burbs, I started a leisurely Friday at home envisioning a patio garden design, then met up with my neighbor and ol' co-worker for a bargain matinée chick flick (The Proposal--a lot more funny and likable than you'd think!). Later, after having time to cook up a new recipe for tasty turkey burgers, I was able to catch up with some friends for a bit at my house, before heading over to Oakland for a free patriotic music concert on Temple Hill (great tribute to American Freedom to celebrate and pay respect to our national holiday!) then Fenton's (who doesn't love the cookie sundae?) then visiting Ireland's 32 pub back in San Francisco, where we not only watched a live "Irish Rock" band and some hobbit-esqe boys dancing in their bare feet, but we toe-tapped out a few jovial jigs as well! So entertaining and fun!
By the time I got to the actual 4th of July Saturday, I was feeling like quite the social butterfly. Especially once we piled into a car and headed down to Santa Cruz for the evening (with what turned into a 3-hour drive thanks to the parking lot that was Highway 17--argh!) Once we got to Santa Cruz, we hit up the beach at the Boardwalk which was sunny and crowded, but the smell of hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy was about as American as you can get.
Not wanting to brave another stint in the car, a few friends came down to meet me and Emmy and then proceeded to peer-pressure us into riding the freaky "Fire Ball" ride and classic wooden roller coaster, "The Giant Dipper"--both turned out to be pretty fun and I must admit, it was kinda crazy to watch fireworks being set off in the night sky as I flew upside down on the rides! Plenty of illegal fireworks were set off while we watched from the beach and then drove back to the city after a great night of freedom day fun!
Here's to celebrating America's independence (and right to party) since 1776!