21 is fun.

There aren't enough sparkly words to describe this weekend--but there's enough glitter and gold in my room to prove just how sparkly it was. 

From sparklers in my breakfast Friday morning to a cake lit with a blow-torch Saturday night, and enough pebble ice, Dr. Pepper, giraffes, and glitter to last a life-time, I had a pretty wonderful birthday. 

I got pretty lucky to be surrounded by dozens of wonderful people who make my world go round, and they gave me another couple dozen reasons to be in love with my life and consider myself among the luckiest girls in the world. 

So here's to another year full of friends, glitter, and not nearly enough sleep--and cheers to the year that taught me to fall in love with my life. 

21 is going to be fun. 

A thousand remember-when's.

It's 2 o'clock in the morning, and due to an over-zealous Sunday nap, sleep is nowhere to be found.

After I tried Netflix and my journal and Pinterest...I resorted to my photo album and all the wonders it possesses. 

A year ago, I was on the coast with the people I love more than words, and so much has changed since we said goodbye to Beach Street it makes my heart hurt. 

The canyon wind banging my front door around is significantly less soothing than the ocean outside those windows, and there isn't a lot I wouldn't give for a fresh crab dinner and front-room dancing right now. 

Nostalgia is a funny thing, isn't it? 

The way it makes you ache for things you thought you'd forgotten about: people who are part of your past but somehow make it to your future, places you've been but haven't seen for a time, and things you haven't remembered until a song or a place or a person triggers them...it's really just not fair sometimes how easily you get swept back into a mess of used-to-be's and remember-when's. 

But all those used-to-be's and remember-when's are important, because they've built the going-to-be's and here-and-now's and sometimes it's okay to live in those memories for a minute—the present seems all the more spectacular if you do. 

Red, white, blue is in the skies.

I'm all about traditions and holidays and the Fourth of July is my favorite of them all. 

I mean, you can't really go wrong with a holiday that involves a lot of sunshine, BBQ, and fireworks, can you? 

We're so lucky to live in the country that we do...and I'm not ashamed at how giddy this weekend has made me. 

#blessed that this kid has stuck around for not one, not two, but three Huntsville adventures. I don't think I even know how to do the Fourth without him. We've been through just about everything these last two years, and somehow we haven't driven each other completely crazy yet. I keep him from being a stubborn knucklehead, and he keeps me from talking everybody else's ears off. We balance each other out quite well, even if 98% of the population thinks we're a bad idea. 

[Sing "because we're the three best friends that anybody could ever have" while you look at this picture. Somehow, I scored a spot with these two weirdos, and even though sometimes Ash takes Brian's side over mine and none of us are good at keeping secrets from each other, I'd be totally and completely lost without them]

Only the best kind of people get to spend the Fourth in Huntsville. It sounds silly to go to a little Utah town, but I doubt anywhere else would be as much fun for hours of lawn games and naps and barbecue. Huntsville will always be my happy place because of this friend/family reunion [and besides, there's nowhere else I'd rather sing along to Toby Keith and Bruce Springsteen with my closest friends and the good people of Huntsville].

After the Women's World Cup win today, I'm feeling pretty freaking patriotic. I love this country--and I love the freedoms it gives me. 

I am most definitely proud to be an American.