4th of July – Page 3 – Life as Lauren

So out with June and in with July! This month is a celebratory one, what with a wedding, 4th of July, birthdays galore (including mine!) and just that peak summer spirit going on. I’m all for it! We had no plans for Friday and I’m not going to lie, I was VERY into the idea of cooking dinner at home, vegging out on the couch and probably falling asleep early. We did all of that and I loved every second!

Orzo Salad from The Kitchen made thee biggest bowl of food and we will have leftovers forever!

Saturday started with a trip to the Farmers’ Market but I’m happy to report we finally invested in bike helmets so our brains were nice and safe on the way there. Shh, don’t think about how many times I told you we biked someplace now that you know we weren’t wearing helmets till now. We grabbed breakfast tacos at a stand in the market and I was NOT impressed. But I went home with peaches and shishitos and feel only happiness about that!!!

The rest of the day was spent preparing for and enjoying (or if you’re my mom and sister, SUFFERING THROUGH) the Shakespeare Festival. Friday was in the 90s, Sunday was in the 90s and Saturday was seriously in the 60s. WHY?! I think my sister referred to my insistence that we still picnic before the play as inflexibility, but I’m calling it perseverance, okay? We had a spread of sausage, cheese, crackers, dates, figs, cherries, shrimp, potstickers, marcona almonds and olives that was only slightly excessive for three people. And we maybe ate our macarons in the car because we needed a quick warm up before sitting outside for 2+ hours.

I seriously loved the production of Love’s Labour’s Lost but my sister’s review was “just a bunch of old men spitting” (and okay, all the male actors did seem to be emitting a bit too much spray while delivering their lines) and my mom thought it was dull. To each their own!

And now, a representation of Sunday via every meal I ate. Ha! We made our very favorite egg-free French toast with miso-date butter, using some challah we bought at the Farmers’ Market and it was amazing! Between that and my lunch salad, I got my hair cut and returned a bunch of things at the mall, then my parents came over to pick up Andi. They’re watching him for a couple of days while we stay in Lyons for Bobby and Becca’s wedding and Joey and I very dramatically fake cried about letting go of him. Also, I took my dad to American Cultures to fill up growlers of kombucha and I was very happy to hear how much he liked the place!

Got a mani/pedi later on and then, since my hair was nice and curled, my nails were pretty and pink and it felt like holiday weekend time, we went out to dinner at Bamboo Sushi. They have a lovely shaded patio out back and is there anything better than fresh sushi on a hot summer evening? I say no. The Green Machine is a veggie roll but it is seriously my favorite ever. Between Cart-Driver last Sunday and Bamboo Sushi this Sunday, I could get used to this chill Sunday dinner out thing ♥ Last but not least, major shout out to Joey, who whipped the backyard into shape this weekend so it feels like our little oasis again. I am so very thankful for his hard work!

Sometimes you skip your workout because you got your hair done the day before and don’t want to wash out those professionally-styled waves.

Sometimes you brew beer for the first time in a long time and forget to add the damn malt. Aka a KEY ingredient.

Sometimes you go to marinate your chicken wings and they smell RANK and you get to make an emergency trip to Whole Foods for more.

Sometimes your 4th of July maybe doesn’t go to plan, but it’s still perfect because you got a few extra hours of sleep, made waffles, tried a new kombucha flavoring method, read in the hammock, used your BRAND NEW GRILL (!!!!!!) to make some bomb wings, went for a evening stroll, ate cobbler and felt all around happiness.