Happy Fourth of July!

This will probably be my most unpatriotic Fourth of July celebration that I will ever have. It is also one of the best I have ever had. It beats sitting at CHQ until 11pm listening to the fireworks go off in Mayville, which seems to have been my latest Fourth celebrations! This year I was celebrating by going to the State Rooms of the monarchy that we gained our Independence from! I had a blast!

My alarm went off at 8 and I wasn’t too pleased. I kept telling myself that it was worth it and dragged myself out of bed which was pathetic because 8am isn’t THAT early!! I got dressed and ate my cereal… Wheaties in milk are gross. I end up having to choke them down halfway through my bowl. I don’t even know why I try. I was out the door at 9:10 and ready for my great adventure!! I get to the Palace and walk along the front so I can go around the far side. There was barely anyone that at all. It would have been a perfect day to see the changing of the guards! I found the entrance, stood in line for 5 minutes or so, went through security, got my audio guide and WahLah… stunning!

The State Rooms were awesome. All of them! My favorite was the blue drawing room with blue silk damask wall coverings and gold columns. I literally was cataloging everything. What a great place to do it though because everything was the top of the line!! There was a free audio guide that was really good but I checked out the furniture, ceramics and the other objects. I don’t even know how to explain it to you guys. It was overwhelmingly awesome. I would have paid double the admission price to be able to see it! After the State rooms you exit through the back and onto the gardens. That was a little disappointing! I was expecting something like Kew with flowers, or hedges or something. Nope. It was the typical English garden (without flowers though!) and it was sprinkling as I was walking out so I didn’t linger! I left the grounds and had to get back to Green Park. That was when I did a very stupid thing…. I walked back through the front of the palace. It was noon…. The guard was changing. How stupid am I?! I did manage to fight my way through the crowd and actually for a changing of the guard crowd it was a meager one!! I had a pretty good view of the entire thing as I was walking through the crowd! Where was everyone?

I did have to make a stop on the way home. I have a collecting problem (admitting it is the first step right???!!!) and I had one lego man out of 9. I needed to fix that. (yes needed to. I told you… I have a problem!) I got to Sainsburys and went to the spot where I had got it. There weren’t any left. Gasp! So I turned around to the Olympic display and searched. I found another strip of them (they were hanging from that white plastic strip on the shelving) and they had four. I bought them all. I got home and ripped them open (the only reason I waited that long was because I didn’t want to lose any precious pieces on the tube!)and I didn’t get a duplicate! I was SO lucky! I got the equestrian (who I really wanted!!) the boxing dude, the karate type of thing girl, and the sprinter to add y weightlifter too! SWEET! They came out July 1st and they were already gone on the 4th. I hope Sainsburys gets more in!

After that excitement (and it was excitement!) I straightened up my flat and cleaned a bit while I waited for Alex. He showed up at 6:45 and then I watched him decide if he wanted to go meet a friend for an hour. (everything about my high school/college years made sense to me after that hour) He did decide to go and I read some and watched Shonda Rhimes new show Scandal to see if it was good. SO far it was ok so I may try another episode if I have some down time sometime! Then I went to bed and that was my fourth of July!

P.S The picture.. a crazy lady wanted hers taken so she offered to take mine for me. She wanted to take it in front of the Queen’s Gardens… basically it’s a lawn. A nice lawn, but a lawn nonetheless!