Welcome summer!

As usual I am late.  Usually when I say this out loud in a group of women they get all wide-eyed, gasp and whisper "you're late?!! You mean you're pregnant?!"  So sorry to disappoint, AGAIN, but I'm not that kind of late (as if you even really needed to know that...) and really, you should all know better by now.

I'm just late welcoming summer.

So, here goes:

Welcome.  Summer!

In case you didn't study your calendar this year the first day of summer was supposed to be the 21st of June.

I misunderstood and thought it was supposed to be today because today it feels like summer.

I feel it, so it must be true.  'Nuf said.

Anyway, due to the fact that it is now "officially" summer, I want to do everything and nothing at once

(everything because it's beautiful outside and nothing because it's too hot outside)

Because I can, I choose to tell you some of the everything/nothings I plan on dipping my toes into this summer:

I want to work out in my yard and make it beautiful, or at least tolerable,  instead of weedy and trashy.  I would like our little yard to be an escape and somewhat of an outdoor room during the summer month(s).

Maybe a little like this:

from Sunset magazine

Since I enjoy reading so much, I'm always looking for the next book to read even if I'm in the middle of another.  I plan on doing a lot of reading this summer. 
On that note, I went to a favorite book store today and  picked up several new books in honor of summer since summer and all that it embodies is fresh on my mind (ie. gardens, beaches, sun).  One is "the Secret Garden"- a true classic about a garden....that is a secret.  Hopefully I didn't ruin it for you.  I plan on reading that book right after I finish another book: Under the Tuscan Sun.  Yes, it is an older book (1997) and a movie was made based on the book and I didn't love it.  However, a friend recommended it to me and I decided to pick it up.  So far,  I've thoroughly enjoyed it.  In fact, to me it feels like the ultimate summer read because every time I pick it up to read it is like taking a drink of a tall glass of ice-cold water after being outside in the intense heat all day. 
It's.......refreshing.

Speaking of drinking, I plan on drinking a lot of sweet iced tea...(you have to say that with a southern accent) and any other icy drinks that find their way into my "hot little hands," as a creepy, older man who works at Burlington Coat factory told me one day.  True story.

I hope to (try to) sew a few summery tops

a hybrid apron (I'll explain that in a later post),

and cut up and "re-fashion" some older clothes of mine.

I plan on cleaning my house by a) weeding out all of the unnecessary items or things I haven't used in over a year from every room in the house and b) possibly having a garage sale to get them out of the house.

I will buy and then consume an unhealthy amount of watermelon.

We are planning on taking a few weekend trips here and there over the summer to enjoy some other states' summers.

I'm sure I had some other plans or will have new ones over the summer but I just felt the need to share.

Hopefully some of our summer will be spent with some of you guys too!!