Summertime! And the livin's easy.

In honor of today being the first official day of summer I thought I'd post a list of my absolute favorite things about our current season. This BLAZING California heat will NOT be included.

1. Swimming in my nana's pool. Sigh. Especially when I can hear the doves...singing? Cooing? Whatever it is they do? Every summer growing up I spent a good portion of my time parked in or around that pool. Swimming, tanning, reading, napping... I grew up listening to the doves in the late afternoon as the shade claimed the water. I grew up listening to my precious Nana urge me and urge me and URGE ME to get out of the sun! My most favorite part about all of this? Is that I'm still doing it! That at the age of twenty seven not only am I still spending summers by her pool, but I'm sharing it with my kids. And that maybe, just maybe, this will be one of their favorite memories as well some day. And even though I completely ignored her at fifteen when she tells me now to get myself and my boys out of the sun, I smile and I immediately put those boys in the shade. Why? Because after eighty-something years on this Earth, she deserves the respect. And two, she is sure as Hell RIGHT!

2. Tomatoes. Mmmmm, tomatoes. Tomatoes, warm, right off the vine from my parents garden. Tomatoes paired with cucumbers slathered in Italian dressing. Tomatoes splattered all over the road...Wait, what? Yep. Here in the good old state of California you know it's summer when you see those puppies smeared all over the road like- well, you KNOW like what.

3. Sun-burned cheeks.

4. Two words. Lake Tahoe.

5. Ice cream in the evenings and iced tea alllll day long.

6. Warm nights spent on the porch. Or riding bikes around the neighborhood. Or snuggling on a blanket watching the stars. For simplicities sake let's just say warm nights. Or rather, warm nights spent OUTSIDE. Because let's be real here, warm nights while trying to sleep indoors just sucks.

7. Summer evenings spent on my parents back porch with a glass of wine. It's always nice to sit under the twinkle lights my mother as so artfully set up and just... catch up. To just sit...and be.

Here's my secret. Summer is my least favorite season, so my list is short. But what I do love? I love like crazy.