I usually don't blog ticked...

in fact, I honestly usually don't get ticked. Not really my thing. But today is SUCH an exception. Brian came in from work to tell me that my car has been hit AGAIN. And AGAIN no note. Apparently, that's the norm here. Hit someone's car, and hey...that's a-ok. Sometimes I have a problem with humans.

That means that in the 3 years we've been here, we've had 7 different incidents where we've had to have my car repaired...and guess how many were our fault. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch. That's 4 people hitting my backside. 2 freak episodes with acorns. And one nasty run in with vandalism.

Morale of the story: Don't move here. And if you do, bring a clunker.

Whew. Sorry. I suppose everyone needs to vent once in awhile. And I'm going to try to not even feel bad about it. We'll leave that to the people that hit my car. Ooops...wait. Nope. They don't either. :)

Every Weekend Should Be A Loooong Weekend.

Seriously. It would make for a much happier Amber and Bri Bri. :)

Brian was off Friday and Monday for the 4th, and I must admit that we partied. Flat out, no holding back, spoiled rotten PARTIED.

It started Friday with a trip to King's Dominion. Absolute BLAST, although, I will say that an amusement park at 29 is...exhausting. Not quite what I remember from my teenage days. Yes, by the end of the day we were motion sick, headachy, leg achy, hungry and trying to keep our eyes open... but it was so worth it. I think the best part of the experience was breaking out of our shells and riding some pretty intense coasters--those of you who know me well, know that I don't normally do coasters... let alone scary coasters. I just never have. So imagine my sense of triumph when I lived through The Volcano. Seriously...check out the link. So what if mid-ride I was yelling at Brian, "I swear, if this ride doesn't kill you, I'm going to!!!" We survived, and I'm happy to report no bodily harm has come to him. In fact, I think he got thanked for taking me out of my comfort zone. Brian has a video on his phone...I'll have to try to load it later.

We also rode the Anaconda (where we almost had our necks ripped right off), Flight of Fear (where I got so motion sick that for an hour after I paused at every trash can, but luckily never used one), and many others. Our streak on the coasters ended in the evening with a big wood coaster called Grizzly. We thought it would be mellow compared to what we'd done, but instead we got our brains scrambled. Poor Bri was messed up to the point of being done. :) ANYway...between the coasters and the killer water park (seriously...the Tornado...so fun)... what a great day.

Monday, we started the day at the pool. Had a little BBQ, and then headed to join hundreds of thousands on the National Mall for a Capitol Fourth.

We were on the west lawn of the Capitol Building, and the concert, featuring Josh Groban, Little Richard, Steve Martin and others was a ton of fun. The fireworks were pretty (although partially blocked by a big smoke cloud because of all the humidity), and I found myself telling Brian, "Ya know...one day in the not-so-distant future and we'll be watching this on TV saying, 'Can you believe we used to live THERE and go to THAT?'" Fun fun fun.

Now Brian is back to work, I'm back to designing books... and life is still good. Just not AS good. :)

Hope you all had a very Happy Fourth of July! Go America!!!