Fourth of July Weekend

I'm all caught up on Style Me Pretty (I was 250 weddings behind! But look at this one), so I figured it's time to write another post. Maya and I are sitting in our apartment watching Racine's Parade on TV. It is not as awesome as I was led to believe, and someone explain to me please why there is a "Miss Black Wisconsin". Are you being serious?

Other than this mess of a parade, this weekend has been amazing. Friday evening was First Fridays in Racine, and there were tons of people around town. All of the shops and restaurants were open, there was music in the square, and there were people drinking in the street (it's legal at First Fridays). It was nice to see Racine acting like a real town.

Racine's gotta get down on Friday.

Maya and I strolled around for a while observing the people and the music (Radio Disney was there, so I was excited). We decided to try Henry & Wanda's on Sixth Street, which was delicious. If you are looking for a classy place in town, this is one of your best choices. Maya and I both had salads and split some pommes frites (you know it's classy if it's written in French), and our total was $12 each including tax and tip. I love this place more and more each time we eat out. 

Henry & Wanda's

I love salads with fruit and nuts! Delicious!

Pommes frites? French fries? Either way, I loved them.

After dinner on Friday, we headed to Summerfest in Milwaukee with Yashpal to see Third Eye Blind. I completely underestimated Summerfest. Everyone says it is really cool, but I couldn't really imagine it. There are little concert areas for each act, so there are about a dozen concerts playing at a time, and you can just stroll back and forth between them. It's almost like a carnival with tons of food stands and tons of people. It's $15 to get in for the normal concerts, $10 for the parking garage nearby, and $3.25 for some delicious lemonade. I definitely want to go again next weekend. Britney, anyone?

This is my only decent picture from Summerfest. Apparently, I'm bad at picture taking too.

Saturday was a lazy day for me. I slept in late, watched TV, and lounged by the pool. After all that hard work, Maya and I went out to dinner at Olde Madrid on Sixth Street for tapas. We split three tapas between us and paid $12 each including tax and tip again. I just don't understand how I can spend so little money on such good food. Also, let it be known that the people of Wisconsin know how to fry. I do not know why it is so popular, but they are all really good at it. Waves has great tempura, Chancery gets down with those chicken fingers, and Olde Madrid had surprisingly good calamari.

Side note: I'm still watching the parade on TV as I write this. They just had a PSA for Racine's SafeRide program for the drunkards saying "If You've Had To Much to Drive...". Who edits these things? Also, Corvettes for Christ just drove by in the parade. I feel like I should live tweet this thing.

Baked goat cheese and tomato sauce. Tapas Barcelona's is better, but this will do.

Strangest frying job I've seen, but it was delicious. 

Fried zucchini - probably not our healthiest choice. We were tricked by the vegetable. 

Yesterday, I drove down to Lake Forest to visit Megan, one of my best friends from school. It turns out I didn't have to make any new friends in order to go sailing. B&B seem to adopt me fairly often, and I really appreciate it. They always invite me to tag along over Parent's Weekend and Homecoming, and the Fourth is no different. Megan and I went to lunch in downtown Lake Forest (cutest town I've ever seen) and then met her parents at the marina.

Parade: There's a Star Wars-themed float, and I swear it is the biggest one so far. "Let the Fourth be with you." Next up, a mariachi band. Because nothing says America like mariachi.

I told you the view would be even lovelier from a boat.

Birds like lounging in the sun too.

All of the sailors were out and aboat. See what I did there? 

Sailing is a lot of work, and I was absolutely useless. I'm used to motorboats at the O'Hearn-Brink family reunions at Lake Norris because my cousins are all about water sports, so I've only really been sailing once before. There wasn't a lot of wind yesterday, so it was very relaxing, but I can imagine that it would be really fun with more wind. It was really nice to sit in the sun and catch up with my favorite family in Illinois.

Parade: The September 11th memorial float is purposely on fire and playing Mariah Carey. This is so wrong.

After sailing, we went out to dinner at The Vine in Grayslake, and it was delicious. Megan's mom and I split a salad with walnuts, grapes, apples, blue cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. Megan and her dad shared a Caprese salad that reminded me of my obsession with balsamic. Dinner was excellent, and I had so much fun. Megan even brought me a belated birthday present, and it made my day!

Asparagus the size of a small tree. 

These fries were the bomb.com.

Megan's dad led me out of Grayslake to the highway after dinner, but I still didn't get what was happening. They literally had to put their hands out the windows and point in the direction of my exit before I realized I needed to turn. Navigation is clearly not my strongest suit. Every time I write a new post though, I realize something else is not my strong suit. I'm starting to think that I'm less competent than I always thought. I can't putt, sail, make potatoes, or turn the right direction on the highway. I have issues.

Parade: Why is the Racine Unified band playing La Bamba? What holiday do they think it is? And now we have a Vietnam float with people posing like this. I kid you not, all of these people are painted bronze as if they are statues.

Maya and I decided to make red velvet cupcakes in honor of the holiday when I got home, so we went out to the Pick'n Save to gather supplies, and we started our project. Our apartment still smells delicious this afternoon, and the cupcakes are adorable. I didn't get enough food coloring, so they are a little more pink than anticipated, but we like them.

I like themed food.

Tonight, we'll grill (by which I mean Joe will grill) and watch fireworks on the Lakefront. Happy Fourth everyone!