Happy Birthday, America!

Photo by David McNally, USAG-Yongsan, June 23, 2008 and courtesy of U.S. Army

I am so grateful that I am an American! I love the 4th of July, and all the celebrations!

I am so grateful that the founding fathers had the foresight to sign the Declaration of Independence in the middle of the summer, so that our celebrations can be all those fun things like road races (congrats to all the local Peachtree Road Race runners), swimming parties, adventures at lakes and beaches, picnics and cookouts, and warm summer nights lying under the stars on a blanket watching the fireworks! I'm sure that's what they were thinking when they signed on July 4, 1776!

And finally, I'm grateful to my friend, Kila, of Go2Girl, for giving the Inventing Weddings blogger my name. I was featured today! Check it out at inventingweddings.blogspot.com.

Summer's Top Five List

It's the Etsy Blogger team's Blog Carnival time again, and it goes so well with my new gratefulness series! This Carnival is exploring either your favorite summer recipe (I'm not a big cook, so you're out of luck on that one), or the five things you love about summer. And I do LOVE summer, and on top of that I'm always so grateful when it arrives, so you guessed it... my 3 things I'm grateful for become the 5 things I love about summer today. Here goes:

1. The Heat! Yes, you read that right. I love living in the south where it starts getting warmer in March, and stays warm through October or so. And in the middle... summer... it's downright hot! OK, sometimes the humidity can be annoying, but that's what air conditioning is for.

2. The carefree days. OK, well, yes, I'm an adult, so my days are not really all that carefree, but it's more of an attitude about summer that lends itself to less frenzy and more relaxing.

3. Grilling and eating outside. I know. You can grill anytime, but there is something about cooking out in the summer that is less about cooking, and more about an event. Plus, it keeps your kitchen nice and cool.

4. Summer thunderstorms. I love the way that the heat builds up all day, and come late afternoon, the giant clouds roll in, thunder and lightning ensue and when it's all over the air feels so fresh and clean.

5. The beach. Really, any vacation, but there is nothing like the hot sand and the cool surf to soothe the soul. So load up your beach bag, and hit the road!

Have a marvelous and safe summer!