Red, White && Boom!

It's August, guys. A u g u s t !! Now that things have settled down a little over here, let me recap what July was like from my point of view. From the holiday to my first Tennessee visit to a broken arm... we pretty much covered a little bit of every aspect of life in those 31 days (we as in me + G&P, because yes, I'm still in Atlanta. You didn't know?!). Instead of one lengthy post, I'll break it down into a couple posts, come back tomorrow for the rest.

I love the 4th! I love any reason to celebrate and have a themed party, but having the entire country celebrate our freedom and honor the people who have made and continue to make that possible is awesome. It's pretty hard to set definitive plans within this family so I swear up until the day before all we knew for sure was that we'd spend the day with family, food & fireworks. It secretly really drives my Type A/OCD personality crazy, but #familyisforever so you just go with the flow :]

I'm usually in charge of decorations (shocker!) and I honestly went shopping the night before with "go big or go home" in mind. I've spent about every holiday in Atlanta at some point in my life, but I think the last time I was here for the Fourth was with my dad around 14 or 15. That was the best 4th of July ever. My entire family was together, people who have since passed (including him) were all in one place at one time and having the most fun. The 4th of July had to be one of my dad's favorite holidays. That specific day was so "him", that I can remember being there in the moment thinking we'd all never forget it. I remember he and my uncles going to get a keg, asking for some beer in my solo cup but not being allowed to have any, haha, hundreds of dollars in illegal fireworks && all of the neighbors coming over to sit in chairs and on blankets on G&P's long driveway for the show. Ironically, even this year just about everyone (including the neighbors!) brought that day up. It made this year a little bittersweet for sure.

Of course, there was a high chance of rain, so our outdoor deck party got changed to an inside feast. I was weary of the dollar store balloons I picked up...but let me tell you, those cheap things were the best and longest lasting balloons I've ever bought in my life. And that's a lot! I actually buy balloons so much that I'm positive when I have kids I'll just invest in my own helium tank to keep in my garage. I learned last year when I was designated the "birthday planner" at work for my coworkers that the country is actually in a "helium drought" and that's why balloons are so expensive, and sometimes unavailable (because of the high demand and being sold out before another delivery). I'm not even kidding! Now don't say I've never taught you a random fact :) After 3 weeks I gave up waiting for them to deflate and left them out with the trash. So for future reference, the dollar store is definitely the way to go! 

If you follow me on instagram (@jennbartley) you saw how cute and coordinated myself and G&P were. I didn't force anyone to wear anything...but I did give each of them the option of red, white or blue and said we all can't pick the same, lmao! Granny loved it. Pops wasn't thrilled - but ya know, he loves me a lot :] We ate so much food, laughed a lot, some went swimming, but we missed out on fireworks. Georgia lifted their law on fireworks being illegal effective July 1st, and the inventory literally flew off the shelves. With every neighboring state selling fireworks legally, Georgia realized that people driving a couple hours to the state border was only benefiting that state in taxes versus their own. It was a bummer to only have a few small ones I'd picked up at Target, but we definitely saw the prettiest displays over the trees all around us and heard the booms late into the night.

This was Pepper's first Fourth of July in 2011. That bow lasted 3.4 seconds, but was so worth the 20 minutes of making!

I realized when I went to bed that I hardly took any pictures to do the full house, overload of food, and fun time any justice. But that's usually how it works out! I also missed having Pepper underneath the covers between my legs, freaking out from every pop and boom. I was extra grateful to my mom that day for keeping him safe and calm on probably a dog's worst night of the year!


Till next year, Independence Day!