Happy 4th of July!

The very lovely, and very distressed Rachel Mays loves the 4th of July. It is her absolute favorite holiday. But she was very distressed because she discovered mid-day that she had absolutely no plans for it. Oh no!

After some emails flying around, it was determined that we would throw a 4th of July BBQ at her place. She got food, I got sparklers. And we had ourselves a party.

I also wanted to do some decorating, so I got some balloons. I decided to blow them up pre-party, but then I needed a way to get them from Point A, to Point B. I tied them to my backpack and was off! Nothing like biking around a city with 9 balloons flowing behind you. I received many-a-smile. And I'm sure every little kid was thinking, "follow that girl!"

I really need to do that more often.

This is the view from Rachel's terrace. Quite unfortunate, right?

Our American spread. Delicious! If you are at all familiar with the Dorito chips called "Cool Ranch," you'll be happy to know that in Holland they're called "Cool American." I guess "Ranch" is not in their vocabulary.

There was a lot of eating, drinking, and merry-making. We kept going well into the night, and I would say the impromptu party was a success!