Life has been so busy that I haven't made time to write about anything...and yet so much has happened!! Chelsea is home from her first year at Auburn and I am happy to say that all of her stuff fit into the two cars for the trip home...too bad it can't stay in those cars until August!! The first two nights after her return she and Katelyn and Gabby had "sleepovers!" Katelyn just completed five AP exams and is thrilled to be done with those. A huge milestone but possibly not as big as clicking the submit button on her final exam for her online class for AP Biology....that was 8 months of weekend work!! So it almost feels like summer to her (1 week left) but her first two weekends out of school she is taking the ACT and SAT tests...so no rest for the brainy!!
I am so ready for summer which won't start until Katelyn no longer has to get up at 5:45 am weekdays! But it's coming and I don't know about you but summer in my house is as close to paradise as it gets!! I think the simple life that summer evokes is the main reason we all love it so much. We are a houseful of disciplined (okay driven) people...lists, calendars written all over,and yes, sometimes we have to schedule free time...that is our way of life from mid-August through Memorial Day. But summer....
So this past weekend the four of us stayed at the condo for some down time sort of a preview to summer. We saw two movies...Ironman 2 (my favorite "superhero" kind of movie...I am also big fan of Robert Downey Jr.) and Robin Hood (Russell Crowe : ). We spent Saturday at the beach and went to Cafe Thirty-A on Saturday night to celebrate the good things in life. After a year and a half of coming and going to the condo we are finally turning our beach retreat into our home-away-from-home. So the first order of business... get rid of the sand-colored walls...and after many trips to Lowes to pick up yet another shade of aqua...and a quick meeting with the painter...the paint began to roll!
We arrived at the condo last Friday and the back bedrooms and baths had been painted and they were sunny and beautiful and I instantly loved them but held my breath as Rich walked through. As some of you know I love color....and yes, I had chosen a different color for every room!! What a relief when I heard him say "Wow, this looks great!" Okay I am thinking maybe the color I picked for our bedroom...Spaqua...will be fine (yes he did approve the color choices ahead of time...but what can you tell from a 2 inch color swatch?)! Hopefully all of the painting will be done by this weekend and then I can do some finishing touches before summer gets into full swing...more about that later. For now it is finishing up time for Kate at school...junior year almost over! Chelsea is almost finished unpacking and organizing; trying to fit two lives back into one bedroom!! So for a couple more weeks I will simply dream of summer and make a list of the things I love about it (there I go again with the list)...
The Things of Summer...
~Red, white, and blue front porch decor which includes the wreath, the flowers, and the pillows on the wicker chairs and yep I even have the patriotic bunting and miniature flags to line the driveway (but that doesn't come out until Flag Day and stays up past July 4th)
~Ivy leaf geraniums...I don't know why I love them so!!!
~Deviled eggs...big juicy red tomatoes...cantaloupe...homemade chicken salad with green grapes and walnuts...cherry pie, lemon meringue pie, razzle berry pie (Marie Collanders : )...potato salad (my mother-in-law's is the best)...sweet tea with lemon...blueberries in vanilla yogurt for breakfast...s'mores (not made in the microwave) and let's not forget homemade ice cream!
~A beach chair and umbrella and a book...actually a stack of books and this summer my stack includes:
Those Harry Potter books (Kate insists...even if I skip the first three)
Everyday In Tuscany by Frances Mayes
~My camera at all times, ready for that picture I just have to take
~~The latest Yankee Candle scent and right now my favorite is Fruit Salad but soon it will be back to Sun and Sand (nothing says summer quite like the smell of coppertone)!!!
~An early morning boat ride...just Rich and I... with hot coffee, the newspaper (for him), a book and camera (for me).
~A game of tennis...or just hitting the ball back and forth across the net...it's summer; why keep score?
~Fireworks on July 4th
~Fireflies....or lightning bugs as we called them when I was growing up
~And this year...Claire...experiencing her first summer
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