Happy Holiday Week!

Fourth of July at Mnemsha, Martha's Vineyard.

Things at home base got busy at the end of last week, causing a bit of a delay in posts. Sorry about that! Hope you had a great weekend and managed to beat the heat. Here's some link love to get your Monday going.

Another simple, lovely hair tutorial, courtesy of Joanna. 

A cotton, geometric panel dress that would be fun to wear for the Fourth.
Dinner, or your Independence Day meal, on the grill.

Cocktails for those of the beer persuasion. (While I am not normally a beer fan, I had a michelada last night at Bandolero. Delish! Lighter than a bloody Mary, but with similar pizazz.)

For summer coolers sans alcohol, here's a slew of creative lemonade recipes.

Metallic cut-out sandals to kick your holiday wear up a few notches.

Affordable nail salons in D.C. I'd add Dupont Circle's Mimosa to the list.

Wild Poppies 2.0: DIY Dried Poppies.

Baby in a play tunnel. Doesn't get much cuter than that.

In case your Fourth of July dessert table calls for lemon meringue pie.

Fourth of July: Drinks and Sweets

Our plans for the Fourth of July are coming together slowly and organically. Naturally, when we began making plans, among the first handful of questions I began to ask myself were two concerning drinks and sweets. Let's call those Questions 3 and 4.

Our front-runners to solve the aforementioned Questions 3 and 4: Pimm's Cup and lemon bars.

The Busty Baker

Most of us know lemon bars from school picnics and parties. When I was little, they were always one of my favorite selections at a party dessert table. If you haven't made lemon bars from scratch, believe me, they are fantastically simple and satisfying. Shortbread crust, plus a lemon-egg concoction and scant oven time equals sheer, lemony bliss. This is a good recipe. Based on my experience with it, I suggest increasing the lemon-egg portion by about one-third, as I found it a bit too cakey the last go-round.

Pimm's Cup Pitchers at Borough Market, London, via Chris Goldberg.

Unlike lemon bars, the Pimm's Cup is a delight that may or may not yet be familiar to you. (Please forgive me in advance if it's sacrilegious to serve a British tipple on Independence Day.) I first tried it a few years ago, when I was living in Cairo and my dear friend's British roommate contributed a huge punch bowl of the stuff to a brunch gathering. It was fresh and fruity and clean, almost like a subdued sangría. Here's a nice recipe that you can tweak as you like. Pimm's liqueur, the (surprise!) main ingredient, is available at most liquor stores. There are several different types of Pimm's liqueur, each of which has a different liquor as the primary ingredient. You'll want Pimm's No. 1, the gin-based variant, for the traditional Pimm's Cup.

I love that both of these options are refreshing and include bright, quintessential summer flavors. Not to mention that they're easy as (apple) pie to make and allow for any number of variations to satisfy your and your guests' whims. What about a stone fruit Pimm's Cup using complementary herbs? Or grapefruit bars?

What are your plans for the Fourth? Have you settled on your answers to Questions 3 and 4?