Independence Day

Happy birthday to my motherland and the greatest country on Earth, the United States of America! And Happy Fourth of July to all of you beautiful people back in Georgia, across the nation, and around the globe. I'm such a proud American; I love my country, and I love celebrating its history. Perhaps James Baldwin--a renowned African American novelist and playwright--said it best when he exclaimed: American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it. The United States of America is certainly not perfect; we've had to overcome a lot of darkness in our young history (slavery, Jim Crow, Civil War, Great Depression, etc.). But what I love about our country is our powerful commitment to freedom, justice, and equality.

 Got that red, white, and blue on. Happy Birthday, America!

So, what could possibly make my first Fourth of July in D.C. even better? Oh, just my best friend from high school, Jen, coming to visit me! Since Jen goes to school at the University of Virginia, she decided to make that two hour trip up to D.C. to visit yours truly! Seeing that I haven't seen her in a while and I don't get to catch up with her too often, I was super excited that she was able to make that trip. Once she got here, we made a quick trip up to Whole Foods and loaded up for our little picnic. Our destination: The Capitol Fourth Concert and Firework Show on the lawn!

Our Fourth of July picnic consisted of: Sandwiches, strawberries, grapes, chips, and an apple pie! #YumYumYum

We decided to make the approximately 3.7 mile walk up to the Capitol, in part because the Metros are typically crazy packed on the Fourth of July (or so I heard). The streets were crazy and all decked out in red, white, and blue. I even ran into some familiar faces along the way! Finally, we reached the west lawn of the Capitol. We found a nice (and shaded) area to sit and dig in our feast. The great part about Jen is that no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, we always have so much to talk about. And let me tell y'all, this girl keeps me cracking up! To prove my point, y'all should have seen this girl's reaction to the canons going off. Typical Jen. She's easily one of the funniest people I've ever known.

 The Executive Office Building wishes y'all a Happy Fourth!

Aw, ain't she cute? Nah, she just thinks she is. Haaaa, just kidding!

 The Capital Lawn before the concert!

From GAC to D.C. Been holding it down since seventh grade!

The concert started around 8 P.M. Tom Bergeron, the host of Dancing With The Stars and America's Funniest Home Videos, kicked off the show followed by several great performances. Legends Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond entertained the crowd and paid their respect to the troops; American Idol winners, Scotty McCreey and Candice Glover, also put on a great performance for the 100,000+ crowd. Best of all, the concert was entirely free! At promptly 9:10 P.M., we watched the fantastic firework show light up the sky. Overall, it was a pretty magical night.

 My beautiful home at night.

 ....but she not cute though. Why she all up in my picture?

Fourth of July fireworks! It was such a magical evening.

Our evening didn't stop then. Afterwards, we decided to take the long walk over to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial since Jen hadn't seen it yet. We ended up staying out there for a while, shooting the breeze and eating our delicious apple pie. Finally, we ended our evening by visiting Good Ole' Abe at the Lincoln Memorial. In total, Jen and I had to have walked over 8 miles! To say my feet are aching would be an understatement; but today, it was so worth it!

MLK Jr. Memorial at night!

Lincoln Memorial. Again, this girl stealing my spotlight.

Peace and blessings, y'all. And God bless America!