& I'm Proud to Be an American.

Happy [[Belated]] Independence Day Everyone!

Our camera has been on the fritz.. so I've been waiting for our pictures..

[& as a side note in fact.. from my experience.. once you get married expect everything to be on the fritz.]

I think it must be some kind of married life initiation for us.

But as my grandma says.. 

It's not an adventure without a misadventure.

So we will take all of our malfunctions and enjoy the ride.. 

bear with me though.

:)

I decided if we had to work on the fourth of July.. we were starting out the day right.

& Making sure we still celebrated.

[so we had flag french toast.. and red white and blue fruit]

Then as soon as we were off...

We decided that instead of fighting the crowds of NYC.. 

We would have a BBQ at our apartments and go to a nearby township  

& watch the fireworks over the lake..

& Although my first east coast Fourth of July was the most humid..

[and I was definitely missing my family since it was my FIRST one without them..]

The way the bright fireworks reflected over the lake was beautiful..  

and it made the humidity and the friendly frogs and lake animals that were joining us for the show.. definitely worth it.

 

I think that being around so much American history out here has definitely strengthened my Patriotism.

I constantly can't get over how lucky I am to live in this beautiful country.

No matter how much people complain and say they hate America.. 

I know that they will never find anywhere better.

We are so lucky to be American.

To be able to choose our religion.. our occupation.. our home..

who we marry.. 

We are so lucky that people are fighting for us right now to keep us free and to make it possible to keep our rights.

We are so blessed to be able to celebrate

& speak freely.

We are so blessed to live free of fear..

Or of any shortage.

If you've never been out of the country and don't know this..

The majority of those people living out of this country want the life that you have and to be where you are right now.

They would give anything for the freedoms we take for granted.

So I am so Proud [and so blessed] to be an American.

I just got finished reading the book A Thousand Splendid Suns..

[It's by the same author as the Kite Runner]

& it's a really different book.. and it's so sad and tears at your heart...

But when I got done I was really glad that I had read the book.

It reminds you how lucky you are for this country and the freedoms that you take for granted.

If you haven't read it.. I would say you would be more understanding after you do.

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July.. and Fourth of July Weekend!

& I hope that you weren't too worn out starting your new week..

Happy Monday my friends.

[make sure to have a good one.]