Happy 4th!

David and I had a busy 3rd and 4th. After work on the 3rd, we caught the fireworks at Stanford and then went to a party hosted by one of his co-workers. Since both of us had off on the 4th, we made plans to shop for some household items.

We first went to a Goodwill in Palo Alto which had more expensive items than any Goodwill I've ever seen. Granted, they were mostly designer clothes and I still saw a 100% cashmere sweater for $6. They were also having a 4th of July sale where everything except select merchandise was 50% off. I ended up getting a red sweater and this gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous brown sleeveless dress with swirls of pink dots as well as black and maroon. The hem is about mid-calf and is uneven (intentionally). The front looks like a halter but the back is more like a racer-back, so I could even wear a bra with it. But I don't have to. Because it's awesome. There's also about a 2-inch band under the bust and then the skirt just falls away (it's kind of empire-waisted in that way, I guess). It is the most flattering wonderful dress I have ever owned and it's even hand washable! Both of them were I.N.C., which, based on my extensive and somewhat embarrassing knowledge of Project Runway, is a good brand at Macy's. So that pretty much made my day. And my week. Possibly my month. It's a really great dress. I said "wow" I put it on.

Then we headed to Coldwater Creek so I could shop and use my discount. I got a pair of jeans and some gifts for my next year roomies. The jeans are great - they were on sale for $16.99 and then I got 40% off with my employee discount! Yay!

After Coldwater Creek, we went to a barbecue hosted by another of David's friends, one of the Davids from the original David David David and Fred (David's freshman roommates). He and his girlfriend Jillian and some of his friends from Stanford's Shakespeare troupe (that may not be the appropriate word) are renting a house in Menlo Park (about 5 blocks away from ours) until they attend the Fringe Festival in Scotland (Appleton West sent a delegation my senior year). We actually didn't think they lived as close as they do so we may be having them over for dinner or swimming or vice versa.

We left the barbecue to go to Ikea which is a great and wonderful place full of modern design (but not super-modern) that appeals to me so much. It was fun to walk around with David and plan my future home in my head. We also picked up a real set of dishes, a couple of glasses, a dish-drying rack and a silverware caddy. Ikea is my new favorite store. Unfortunately, there is no Ikea in Wisconsin....but they do have online ordering.

Since it was only about 7 when we left Ikea, we decided to dress up (I wore my new dress and even heels!) and see a movie. We drove to Redwood City to see Ocean's 13; it was a short drive and now we have a new place to do dinner. David had already seen it when he visited his family but he was sweet enough to see it again. My review: MUCH better than Ocean's 12. I love con movies, especially those that create a good/evil binary and make you feel good about this kind of crime. Al Pacino was wonderful, as was the ensemble. I laughed a lot. Go see it. It's totally worth the actual ticket price and is a lot of good clean fun. Plus very nice-looking men.

So that was our 3rd and 4th. I have off today as well, so I'm doing laundry and rearranging the kitchen to accommodate our new dishes.