4th of July Love and Fun!

I have spent the majority of my 4th of July's in Lake Tahoe. I have spent a fair amount in San Diego, but nothing is like Tahoe on the 4th. It's so American. I have some great friends up there, Annie and Reuben. Reuben and I have been friends since we were 6 or 7. We met when I lived at Tahoe and actually were in a ballet together... I was Cinderella and he was Prince Charming! Our families were / are very close and I am so happy we have remained so close. Reuben and Annie were married a few years ago and they have become some of Aaron and my best friends. We LOVE hanging out with them, we always have such a great time. They are some of the kindest most laid back RAD people I know. I wish we all lived closer because I am sure we would hang out all the time. Reuben lives and breathes the Lake, so when they agreed to come to SD for the 4th this year, we were thrilled! They came in on Thursday night and stayed through Monday and we packed in SO much stuff. It was a blast.

My sister was also in town.

We did so much, let me see if I can remember everything:

On Thursday night, we met my sister at Wine Steals in Pt Loma, which is my favorite wine bar in SD. We hung out with her for a while and then picked up Reuben and Annie from the airport. We went into Del Mar and had some dinner and drinks at Bully's.

Friday morning Annie and I went to a crazy yoga class and then I took R and A down to Mission Beach to rent surf boards. They both did really well and I even went out and did ok. We then went to Lahaina's for some beer and shrimp tacos which were unreal. We headed back home and hung out at our pool with Lindsey and Aaron after they both got off work. Then we went to Scripps at UCSD because Annie is a scientist and doing some work with them. They had this awesome happy hour overlooking the ocean with kegs, etc. It was pretty neat. That night we cooked dinner at home. Lindsey joined us too. We made burgers, veggie burgers, old fashion potato salad...etc.

Saturday morning, we headed to the wild animal park and met up with Erica. We walked around and enjoyed. We then went to lunch at Stone Brewery and Gardens which is LOVELY! Go there immediately if you have not been. I do not like Stone beer, but they have lots of other beers and all their food is organic. Lots of veggie friendly options. (and meat too, for the meat eaters)

Then we went to the beach and swam. Then we went to an outdoor bar for happy hour and THEN we cooked dinner at home (Chinese food with an asian veggie stir fry, homemade egg rolls and pot stickers). Phew! That was a long day!

On Sunday we went to the Hillcrest farmers market and also met up with an old friend of mine I hadn't seen since high school. We then went to a place called El Camino for a couple of drinks. Then we went home and got all pretty to do the most fun thing we did all weekend...we went on a boat for the fireworks! My good friend Jessica invited us to come on her friend Marty's boat...and boat we did. We had a gourmet spread and it was just such a rad time.

Look at cute Jessica with her little pineapple cocktails! There were tasty! And so was all the food. 

Don't I look patriotic?

This was one of the many barges for the fireworks:

Lots of seals and pelicans:

Here is a blurry picture of a cool ship....

By the time Monday rolled around, it was all we could do to get them to the airport on time. We were all so tired!! It's no wonder, after doing all that stuff.

In other news...how cute are my boyfriend and dog?

Love pies....it is time for the weekend!