Red, White, and Blue

Outfit Details:

USA sweatshirt, White Denim, Similar Striped Flats, Tortoise Sunglasses, Rebecca Minkoff Bag

I’m totally a birthday and Christmas kind of girl, but when we moved to California a few years ago, we moved to a beach town that is absolutely obsessed with the Fourth of July. I’ve never really cared much about this holiday, but after living there for four years, I fell in love with it.

Our tradition every year was to go to the parade early on the morning of the Fourth. The day before the parade, everyone would use sidewalk chalk to mark their viewing spot, and the streets were just filled with sectioned off areas, and then you’d (well, me) get up early (like 4am) the morning of and put folding chairs in your designated spots. There wouldn’t be any parking for at least a square mile on any street in any neighborhood, people would ride through the streets on their bikes with red, white, and blue streamers attached, and the entire city would smell like barbecues while everyone ate dinner in their backyard. The patriotism and excitement was intoxicating!

But my favorite part of the day was in the evening when we’d load all the kids in the strollers and walk a mile down to the beach and watch the firework show off the Huntington Beach pier. We’d bring a blanket and sit in the sand, and snuggle our babies while fireworks exploded above us and everyone would cheer and applaud. It was magical.

This is our first Fourth of July since we moved away, and I’m feeling super homesick for our festive town. My sister is in town with her family (they’ve celebrated the Fourth with us every year for the past four years!), so I know we’ll have fun no matter what, but it’s just not quite the same. So I’m being as festive as I can by wearing lots of red, white and blue, and researching some fun and festive things in our new neighborhood! And trying to talk myself out of just driving back to HB to spend the day 😉

Have a wonderful and safe 4th tomorrow!

xx