Happy 4th of July!

Our American neighbours celebrating their country's birthday today. Way back in 1776, they declared their independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Nowadays, this anniversary is usually celebrated by way of picnics, parades, barbeques and fireworks - much the same way as we celebrate July 1st. Although I heard that this year, due to the recession, a lot of fireworks shows are cancelled in order to avoid the expense. Which is sad, really, because I just love a good fireworks display, but completely understandable, because they are pretty darned expensive to put on.

Did you know that two of the founding fathers of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence and both of whom later went on to become President (2nd and 3rd, respectively), both died on July 4, 1862, the 50th anniversary of the formation of their country? James Munroe, who was the 5th President, also died on July 4th but he died 5 years later and he wasn't one of the people who signed the Declaration. Isn't that a weird bunch of coincidences?? (thanks to Wikipedia for this information)

I am on my way to a picnic today, as it happens, so I decided to make myself some 4th of July jewellery, as I'm planning to wear a red, white and blue outfit. Here's a picture of the necklace, bracelet and earrings I made:

Okay, so the bracelet and earrings were actually made last year when I went to France, a country which also happens to have red, white and blue as its colours and I figured, why re-invent the wheel? But I needed a new necklace and I whipped that up last night to go with. :)