Summer Loving … {what I’m into}

Maybe you hadn’t noticed, but I have a serious thing for June, July and August.  Every year, we meet up like that certain teenaged couple whose families own neighboring beach houses on the Outer Banks, and we fall in love all over again…

As if no time has passed.

As if we are eternal.

And somehow — for the briefest blink — we are.

I love everything about Summer.  The fireflies.  The breezy fashion.  The farm-fresh food.  The field-grown flowers.

Lately, I’m loving the dinners on the back patio.  We’ve hoisted outdoor string lights over ours and dubbed it “Bistro Fellers” … which is, now that I see it in writing, just adorably obnoxious.  And I’m okay with that.

There are so many things I love about summer, but here, in this brief little moment of loveliness, I thought I’d share a few things I’m into …

*  Reading:

Summer is a good season for guilty pleasures in the book department.  My coworkers have been trying to coerce me into reading Fifty Shades of Gray, and while that’s not going to happen — ever — I *have* been indulging in my own soap-operatic silliness —  Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies.

(And to think this story is actually true).

{This is my Don’t-Judge-Me-While-I’m-Enjoying-My-Histrionic-Historical-Almost-Fiction Face}

It’s making me so happy, it’s just embarrassing.

* Drinking:

My love for cold-brewed coffee at home hasn’t waned — not even a little bit.  If you like iced coffee and you haven’t tried this brewing method yourself … please, please, do yourself a favor and read this post.

You can thank me later. 😉

And for the non coffee drinkers out there, can we talk about the sparkling cucumber water made by DRY?  Can’t.  Get.  Enough.  

If you’re throwing a summer bash and you’d like to provide something non-alcoholic that’s a touch more sophisticated than soda, you should check out this goodness in a can.  It’s crisp and clean and refreshing — I’d happily drink it over a glass of sangria.

You can buy it in the natural foods section of your local grocery store, or, if you’re one of *those* people, you can just Amazon Prime it right to your door.  Here’s your link, Prime junkies. (*wink*)

*  Wearing:

Seersucker.  Slubby raw silk.  Linen.  White cotton voile.  And of course, my straw fedora.

Life is good.

*  Making Me Happy:

Okay, so I admit it.  I might be smart and sensitive and a touch serious, but I’m still a silly girly-girl at heart.  Which is why, whenever I’m having a not-so-great day, I go out and buy a pair of fabulous shoes… Like these:

(Yes, they look like weapons.  Yes, there’s a little bit of leopard-print in the mix.  Yes, they make me six inches taller than I am.  But I’m 5’2″, self-deprecating and shy, so … I need all the help I can get.)

You could think of me as shallow here, or you could just listen to Paolo Nutini’s new-shoes song and smile.  T plays it for me sometimes if I’m having a rough day, and I always wind up with a grin on my face:

* Photographing:

The summer sky:

Enough said.

Happy summer, friends! ❤