Red, White, and Blue for Me & You!

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! The weather was amazing, and I was excited to spend time with friends and enjoy the fireworks on Lake Union in the evening.

I wanted to spend time with my friends Meena and Steve before heading over to a party at my bestie Kacie and her hubby Mark's later in the afternoon. With my challenge still going on, I met Meena and Steve at their place for a home cooked breakfast. I promise I'll be posting more meals and recipes for you guys, but I'm not going to lie, I love hanging with Meena and Steve and eating and laughing with them! We always have fun and as a bonus when I go over to their home I get to hang with their kitty, the adorbs Benzo. 

There was an awesome spread of Belgian waffles, eggs, hand made chicken sausages, and turkey bacon along with super strong coffee (Yay!) that I heart. I wish I would have snapped a pic, but Benzo is a total daddy's boy and jumped up in Steve's lap for scratches and snuggles after our meal. He didn't seem to interested in our leftovers but he was in heaven getting attention from Steve. 

After breakfast we spread out before heading over to Kacie and Mark's. Meena went to go get ready, Steve played this creepy game called Limbo that I was fascinated with. For those of you that didn't know, I am a bit of a video/computer gamer geek girl when the mood hits me. I have this weird quirk that if it's a scary game I would rather watch it being played by someone else. The puzzles fascinated me, and I jumped every time the character died or was killed. In between peeking at Steve's game-play I put myself to work baking the cookies I mentioned in my last post. I was curious to see how cookies made from cake mix, whipped cream, and an egg would turn out. I mixed up the batter and rolled each ball in powdered sugar. I was happy with the look of the cookies after they came out of the oven, crinkly and crackly with chocolate and powdered sugar. They turned out light, fluffy, and chewy, a triple win according to my taste buds. They were so easy to make I'm excited to try different flavor combinations. What does everyone think of carrot cake mix with french vanilla whipped cream? Yummy!

I was excited for the way my cookies turned out, and I also had the blue and red jello shots I'd made the night before with canned whip cream to top off the red, white, and blue theme. I'm going to give the dessert of the day to Meena though, she rocked the house with her cake pops! They were Funfetti flavored with a lemony frosting, and their presentation was gorgeous.

With our goodies in tow, we headed off for Seattle. Traffic was alright but parking was horrible as expected. We ended up parking farther away from the party than we would have liked, but Kacie came and picked us up to head down to the party. Kacie and hubs Mark just bought a house which is awesome, but this will be the last year of our amazing fireworks view off their balcony. I planned on soaking it in and enjoying it for sure. 

As you can see, the barge with the fireworks display was literally right in front of our line of sight. I kept rubbing my hands together in anticipation like a mad scientist. I am completely a little kid when it comes to the absolute glee I get from seeing those fireworks light up the night sky. 

It may be a bit hard to tell, but across the water is Gas Works Park, and there was a sea of people hanging out and waiting to watch the show in the evening. 

Our group was the first to arrive, and I was ready to get down and party! As some of my friends know, in the past I was notorious for hiding away somewhere and falling asleep if I got a bit too crazy too fast, so I definitely wanted to pace myself so I wouldn't gas out before the fireworks. 

I had bought red, white, and blue leis from the Dollar Store, so we were reppin' for the holiday, and I love love LOVED Meena's great patriotic stunna shades!

More people started to slowly trickle in, and eventually most of the group had arrived and we all commenced enjoying the adult bevvies and great spread of party food. I don't indulge like this too often, so without guilt I enjoyed hot dogs and treats while catching up with friends. I enjoy eating clean and healthy when I can and especially during the work week so I can enjoy food I wouldn't normally have large quantities of during special occasions or on a weekend day. While I want to enjoy a healthier lifestyle and diet, I don't ever want to come off as preachy or judgmental of others. I'm not perfect in any way, I'm just a short and sassy girl trying to make her way in the world ^__^

The anticipation was building for the fireworks, and everyone started gathering onto the deck the closer it got to pretty bang bang time. A little after ten in the evening, the magic started!

Ooooooooo!

Ahhhhhhhhh!

I'm not going to fill this post up with fireworks pics, which I could do, but the show was even more amazing in person and there wasn't anywhere else on Earth I would've wanted to be than to be surrounded by my family of friends. Well, maybe besides seeing the fireworks in Hawaii like my brother David was. I was a bit jealous of that. I was surrounded by love and lights, and it doesn't get much better than that.