Funny what living abroad can do to a girl: I totally forgot that tomorrow is Independence Day. Thanks to everyone in the states who has facebook feeds, twitters, and away messages about baseball games, fireworks, a long weekend and the like--otherwise I might have completely missed it.

Normally I celebrate with a beer and some grilled food--you know a hot dog or a hamburger with yellow American cheese on it.  Tomorrow, I think I'll have Shopska salad, kufte and a Zagorka (or three).  It'll be a Bulgarian-American 4th of July minus the baseball game and standing around in someone's semi-green boiling-hot backyard trying to find a little shade to stand in while drinking beer and dreaming of air conditioning.

This said, Happy Birthday America!