Independence Day

"You've just gotta ignite the light and let it shine...just own the night, like the fourth of July!"

~Katy Perry~

This Fourth of July was a little different for me than most years. In some ways, it didn't even feel like the holiday, but it was still a blast. Usually, we have the family over to BBQ and shoot some fireworks, then watch whatever special is on TV. I'm also pretty sad I didn't record the Macy's Firework Spectacular that had Kenny Chesney and Katy Perry on it; hoping I can find it online somewhere. This year, we decided to go to Dodger Stadium for the game and watch their fireworks show that we'd heard is incredible. My friend, Viviyan was able to go with us, which was awesome for me to be able to hang out with her. As soon as she got to our house, we took off. It was nice being able to catch up with her and hear about her moving experience now that she's on her own. It seems like all of my friends are at such exciting times in their lives. We had lunch at Claim Jumper in Valencia. That was quite eventful between listening to the conversation that we could overhear in the booth next to us and looking at pictures of the "world's ugliest dog"...It was hard to catch a breath in between laughing so hard! LOL. After lunch, even though we were pretty full, we decided to get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins. There's always room for dessert, right?

Our festive ice cream! SO tasty!

We had time to kill once we got into the LA area, so we drove around Toluca Lake to see if anything exciting was happening there. Haylie Duff was having a party for the holiday, so we must've just missed Hilary and her husband, but other than that things were pretty quiet in the neighborhood. We went to Griffith Observatory to hang out. I don't think I've ever been up there more than I have this year, LOL. We walked around outside, checking out the view and the gorgeous day. It was smoggy all around the city, as always, but the weather was cool and breezy. We decided to go inside the planetarium for a few minutes and watched the pendulum, which was a little bit more exciting than it sounds. It's one of my favorite places to just hang out. It's usually pretty crowded, because it's a big tourist attraction, but so nice if you can tune it all out.

The game didn't start until 6:10, but we wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time since it would probably be busier and so we could hang around the field level. We explored a bit on the field level and hung out for a few minutes, waiting for some family friends we had run into earlier in the day. My parents talked to them for awhile, while Viviyan and I watched batting practice with the opposing team. Finally, we headed up to our seats just in time for The National Anthem and the other festivities. Billy Ray Cyrus ended up singing it, which was pretty cool! I was hoping Miley would be in attendance, but she wasn't :( They brought out a big American flag and showed a couple videos of soldiers that had messages for their families and honored the veteran's in the stands. One video really got me! A husband sent a video to his wife, who had no idea he would be doing it, and he said that he was thinking about her "always and forever", which made my Naley heart (One Tree Hill) swoon that there ARE in fact real couples like that. It just proves to me that true love is out there and it can work no matter what the circumstances may be.

"Doesn't matter where you are, it's the same old stripes, the same old stars. the same old highways cutting across, the same old moon turning on and off--looking around it's good to see, everybody out there keeping it country."
~Jake Owen~

The game went super quick, which was a nice change from Sunday, which dragged on extremely slow. Charlie Sheen also ended up being at the game, so it was entertaining watching him! At one point he had a bat...I didn't think that was such a great idea, but everyone went unharmed which was good. And the DODGERS WON! It looks like their losing streak could possibly be over again. Hopefully they can keep this up whatever they're doing. When the game finished, they started setting up for the fireworks show. They played patriotic themed music, including Katy Perry's "Firework" to which me and Viviyan rocked out to and recorded each other (video to come), and then it was show time. The lights dimmed, the music turned up and fireworks lit up the night sky. It was SO cool. There's something about the Fourth of July that brings a sense of pride to where you're from, who you are and where you're going. It feels good to be with family and friends, not worried about anything else and just living in that moment. There's just something about fireworks that makes you go back into this kid state of amazement; everything's exciting and new. It makes you feel young at heart, no matter what age you actually are. The fireworks show is seriously top notch. I wish we lived closer, so we could go to the show every Friday night. My friends and I might try to go to them some night.

Where Charlie Sheen was sitting in comparison to us. 

When the game finished, we headed home after stopping at Del Taco. Viviyan spent the night, since it's apparently the deadliest day of the year for car crashes and she wasn't comfortable with driving late at night with all the crazies on the road. We all just went to our own quarters and went to bed, though. I had a hard time falling asleep. I almost got through the entire Jake Owen album before I fell asleep. I guess that's just a typical night for me. Luckily I didn't hear too many fireworks that scared the crap out of me. That's always a good thing. I jump enough at our ice machine. It was a really great Fourth of July! I hope to get a video together of the day sometime soon...so, stay tuned.

P.S I also came to the conclusion that you can hear a lot of interesting "one liners" while you're out and about, especially in LA. So, I've decided to jot some of my favorite ones down when I hear them at a public place and post them for your entertainment. Hopefully you find them as entertaining as I do.

• "We're so cute! How did we end up so cute?
• "Put that down, you're going to hit somebody with that!"
• "Billy Ray Cyrus sucks at singing!"
• "Dude, that was the dorkiest white dude ever!"
• "You can't just have all the fun and then not pay the price."

That's all for now,
Shelby