A Day In the Life of a Coffee Addict: A Super Fabulous 4th of July

I'm not sure it would have been possible to have a better 4th of July celebration then the one we had! Sure it rained and our outdoor barbecue turned into an indoor fiesta but that was the only, and might I say very small, drawback to the entire day. We got together with some of the most awesome people, I mean seriously we are very lucky to call this group not only our neighbors but our friends!

Of course we had so much food that would could have fed most of Central Florida but what can you do when you get so many people together who like to both cook and eat haha! Mike made probably the best ribs I have ever tasted in my life - I can't share the recipe because very simply there wasn't one he just made it up as he went and wow he did an excellent job, he also made barbecue chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. I added potato salad to the mix, I had never made potato salad before but I think I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I used several potato salad recipes as guidelines but adding my own touches here and there and nothing was really measured. I used red potatoes, sour cream, mayo, chives, bacon and cheddar cheese - I was going for that baked potato vibe! I also made coleslaw for the first time - I made Tyler Florence's Savoy, Lime and Cilantro Coleslaw though I didn't use savoy cabbage I did everything else the same, you can find the recipe here. Wow it came so yummy, even Mike liked it and he's not real big on coleslaw! I was so proud of these dishes but probably my favorite thing I made for the 4th of July feast were these delicious lemon cookies I found in a Rachael Ray magazine - you can find the recipe here. Oh my gosh they were super easy to make and so so so so good! They will be added to my regular cookie rotation I assure you. So that sounds like quite a lot of food already doesn't it? Then we had spicy beans brought by Mara, chicken and fantastic pasta salad brought by Cynthia and Marie, cupcakes from Kathy and Nikko and cookies from Sheryl! And I know I'm leaving out some dishes!! We were eating leftovers for DAYS! And that is so not a complaint!!

It was just so nice having our neighbors here, it was laid back, we laughed a lot and chatted and really got to know one another. Hooper loved having so many people to play with especially Lacey who he absolutely adores - but then again who doesn't I should only be so lucky to have a daughter like her someday! It was fun playing cards with Cynthia and Marie and then to top off the evening we went outside and Mike shot off fireworks! Of course it was raining but we still managed to have fun and what a way to end the night snacking with gals! The next day we took some leftovers over to Claire who I am so happy to be spending more time with these days. I can't say enough how lucky we are to have the neighbors we do, to have these awesome holiday parties with, to hang out by the pool with and just to know we have great people around that we can turn to - it is very comforting. So needless to say our 4th of July was a blast and I see many more fabulous gatherings in our future!