Originally, Blake had talked about going into DC to see the fireworks for the 4th, but instead a coworker of his, Andrew, invited the guys he works with to a 4th of July barbecue at his house. We've both seen the DC fireworks, so we decided to go see what this party was all about. When we got there, Andrew and his wife said they were expecting anywhere from 30 to 300 people to show up! Apparently he's been putting together a 4th of July party at his house every year for the past 20+ years!! It was a big mix of people that we mostly had never met before, but everyone of all ages had a great time watching the live band, lighting firecrackers, or hanging out inside.

We started out watching the music outside, but after a while we moved inside to find Blake's roommates, Matt and Josh, who also came. They had found the one other guy they work with, so we all hung out for a while watching the Return of the Jedi with the occasional trivia and opinions about each movie. It's been a while since I'd seen any of them, so it was fun enjoying an "American classic" on our nation's birthday. At one point Blake left to talk to someone outside he knew, and a lady came in joking about the geeks outside talking about things she didn't understand. Hahaha! How cute.

Around 9 or so, the Fairfax City fireworks started up, and we had a great view of them while sitting on the lawn at Andrew's house. It was just a really fun, relaxing day overall, and I had so much fun again hanging out with Blake and joking around with Matt and Josh.

Besides Virginia's personal attack on me with it's allergens, I had a pretty nice day off today. It's almost crazy to think about how much I did today.

I got a very slow start today as my allergies were keeping me down most of the morning. They hadn't bothered me at all this summer yet, so I thought I was in the clear. Wrong. Yesterday I started sneezing a lot, and by this morning I was in allergy city. Of course I was too lazy to go get some allergy medicine, so I mostly just decided that as long as I had the day off anyway and not much that I had to accomplish, I'd just sleep it off. I also hoped that this would help my sleep schedule get back to normal, and I think it just might have worked!

Around lunch time I gave Blake a call to work out plans for the 4th. He had mentioned going into DC, but then a coworker invited everyone he works with to a big 4th of July party at his house in Fairfax. So now that's the plan. :) Neither of us was doing much so he invited me to come over if I felt up to it. I figured it was about time I did something about my allergies, so I went to the drug store for some medicine and went to hang out for a little while.

Meanwhile, Lindsay called to invite me to go to dinner in DC with her, a friend from Future Leaders, and some other friends of her friend from Liberty University. After going to Blake's I went to Lindsay's new place, and we picked up Morgan to head to the metro. We all immediately got along great telling lots of stories and taking pictures to record Morgan's adventures in buying her own metro ticket. We promised to take lots of pictures throughout the night, and we did a great job of keeping up with that. We met up with the rest of the group - Aaron, Tim, Rob, and Kendra - and went to Union Station for dinner at Uno's. As we stopped to pray before eating I realized that no matter where you are, you can always find amazing, Christian people to hang out and have fun with. After dinner we walked to the mall, planning to just walk along it from the Capital to the Washington Monument. When we got to the Capital, there was a huge crowd with a concert going on - a rehearsal for the 4th celebrations. So we hung around for a little bit to listen to Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow before walking farther where we saw the cannons firing. We walked down past the Washington Monument to the World War 2 Memorial, and it was just beautiful to see all of those places lit up at night. Then we walked and walked and walked some more to find a metro and finally found Faragut West. I say this just to remember how far we walked. :)

All in all, today was a very long but rewarding day. Tomorrow should be fun too since I'll be spending the evening with Blake and his work friends and watching fireworks at night. I think this weekend will turn out to be one of the best out of the entire summer.

I just thought it was worth noting that it is 6:45a right now, and I have already ridden my bike and taken a shower for the day.

Anyone that knows me won't believe that statement. I almost don't.

Yesterday, 5 or 6 of us at work started a Biggest Loser competition for the month of July. So far... well, I wasn't even planning on getting up that early today, but my sleep schedule this entire week has been so weird. I was so tired yesterday at work that I came home and just crashed for a few hours. Then I got up and had dinner, finished my homework assignment for the day, and I went back to bed. I figured I'd wake up early so I planned last night that if I did that I'd ride my bike. Well, that's what happened. I guess I'll just make my lunch and get ready for my day now. This having-so-much-extra-time-in-the-morning thing is weirding me out.