Celebrating Freedom

Happy Independence Day.  I just got home.  I went to the AZ Celebration of Freedom in downtown Mesa with my friends.  It started out a little strange.  We had to wait in line for what seemed like forever to have our bags checked for security, and that’s not usually the case for practically anything in Mesa.  But it was still super fun.

Here’s a few highlights.

The Revolutionary War Reenactment.

We caught it in the middle.  Sadly with so many tall people in front of me and it being dark, it was difficult to get a good photo.

Chalk art!

The wall nearby the amphitheater was covered in it.  This was one of my favorite pieces…

…and this was other favorite.  Isn’t it cute?

Music!

We caught a bit of the Western Fusion Band.  They were pretty good.  I had the same issue with this photo as with the reenactment one.

Classic cars!

You can’t celebrate America without them.  This was my favorite one.

I also couldn’t resist this little guy.  He isn’t real, he was just there for fun.  The inside of this car also had several tiger plushies.  Sadly I couldn’t get a good picture of them because my camera completely died on me.  Right before the fireworks too.  But fireworks are best viewed in person anyway.  But I did get a picture of another fine tradition.

The Port O’ Potties. 

No outdoor festival would be complete without them.  I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist.  Enjoy your holiday. :)

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Catching Up, Again

So I’m a little behind on things again, what a surprise.  Sort of behind on blogging too.  I had truly intended to post something yesterday, but I was too tired from Monday.  Happy Independence Day by the way.  Enjoy yours?  I enjoyed mine.  Got completely soaked without actually going into a pool.  Also got a candle knocked over on me, no burns but got candle wax all over my clothing.  At least I got a couple of bucks for it.  And I also found out I have strong beginner’s luck when it comes to card games.  It was a good holiday.

Moving on to more important things, here’s the top I made for sewing class.  Another “basic'” project so it’s a simple tank top.  No fuss, no knit.  The only problem is I made it too big for me and it bagged out around the neckline.  To fix that I added some elastic to the center of the front and back.  That cinches it just enough to fit perfectly while making the top just a little cuter.  Not too bad and you can never have too many sleeveless tops this time of year.

Here’s the updated list:

• Needle case
• Mug cozy
• Pants
• Hair accessories
• Brooches
• Necklace
• Other jewelry
• Food
• Top
• Skirt

Nine down, just one more to go.  Last one should be finished by Monday, kind of late but it does involve zippers. 

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Getting Down with Your Stars and Stripes Part 2

I am typing this in the middle of that Arizona Celebration of Freedom festival I mentioned before (see Get Down with Your Stars and Stripes). 

It’s been great, except for all the crowds.  Some guy stepped on my foot and he didn’t say anything, and I know he noticed.  And I had a coughing fit because some guy was smoking in the middle of the carnival game area, surrounded by children too. 

Other than that, it has been fun.  Plenty of great music, with a surprise performance by Belle of Beauty and the Beast.  A children’s party place had girls dressed like Disney princesses perform the songs from the movies.  Too bad my niece wasn’t there, she would have loved it. 

They had a bunch of these huge inflatable statues of monuments and the Congress building and such.  One of them you could walk inside and get a bit of a history lesson.  Benjamin Franklin was standing outside of it.  I wanted to get a picture, but there were too many people blocking him.  Super popular guy. 

They were tons of classic and not too classic cars, some of them were for sale.  Others seemed to be there to advertise other things though. 

There was this one car that shot flames and stuff, sadly I wasn’t able to get a picture of it in the act.  Again, too many crowds, but the owner was super pleased.

There were of course plenty of craft booths and vendors, including a guy who was doing spray paint demonstrations the whole night.  The fumes from the paint got to me though.  And the most unusual thing I saw were these hats.  They appear to be made from boxes for beer cans.  Ummm.

There was also a rock climbing thing which was great and horrible at the same time.  Great because I love these things, and horrible because I had decided to wear a skirt instead of something more sensible like jeans.  Bye-bye rock wall, at least I looked really cute.

One of the best discoveries I made was this really cute new thrift store.  It’s called the Good Store and it’s here in Downtown Mesa on Main St between Country Club and Robson.  They have a ton of cute clothes and they price it by the pound.  I got a bunch of cute tops, I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

And a great way to finish the night is fireworks.  They started going off while I was still browsing in the thrift store, they shook some of the walls a little.  They were wonderful, and what was really fun was watching all the people standing outside their stores and homes or in there cars in traffic as they stopped to watch.  It really makes you feel united with your neighbors knowing you are all doing the same thing at the same time.  Overall a good festival and a great holiday so far, enjoy it tomorrow.

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Get Down with Your Stars and Stripes

Usually when some kind of festival or event happens over the weekend, I blogged about how great it was afterwards.  I’ve been thinking that maybe I should mention something beforehand because some of you who may be in the area at the time might actually want to go.  So this Friday and Saturday there will be a two day event in downtown Mesa, Arizona.  They’re calling it Arizona Celebration of Freedom, I think they are planning to make it a yearly event.  Why else would set up a website for it?  Anyway, they will have motorcycles and classic cars, craft vendors, giant inflatables, a watermelon eating contest, tons of live music and a whole lot more.  I can’t wait to check it out, sounds like a lot of fun.

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