Summer is my favorite time of the year. It’s a time when you buy amazing produce to cook with, are invited to friends’ for cookouts, get the occasional afternoon off at work and how can I forget the occasional poolside cocktail! It’s not hard for me to find five things to get excited about this season, but here are five things I can almost guarantee you can be excited about too!
1. Jellies. Just one look was all it took. Just one look at our First Lady, Michelle Obama, sporting some old school jelly sandals! Thankfully my friend called my attention to online private designer shopping site Gilt.com’s Diane von Furstenburg shoe sale, where I scored these gladiator-style jelly sandals for a ridiculous discount. These shoes make me so happy! They are comfortable, versatile and oh so stylish. They give me a little of that carefree, little girl attitude that I think everyone needs to experience now and again.
2. Melons. Melons are in season and so delicious right now! I found an amazing recipe for melon salad, which was a big hit with guests at a cookout that I was invited to last week. It is just mildly sweet, the dressing doesn’t overtake the fruit and it is so colorful that it will impress guests just by looking at it! I imagine it would also be great to make ahead and eat during the week as a side for lunch. What a fun and fresh way to jazz up your daily fruit and veg intake!
3. Summer TV. I went through a mourning period at the end of the last television season. I thought, I hate this time of year, there is nothing on television! Two weeks later I was back in the swing of things, loading up my TiVo with my favorite programs that debuted this summer, including anything on Bravo (Real Housewives, Bethenny Getting Married, Top Chef and Work of Art), True Blood, Entourage, Royal Pains, Next Food Network Star, Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami and more. Summer is also a great time to catch up on great series I missed in the fall and spring, like The Good Wife. And there is even more to come! My favorite program, Mad Men, has an August debut date.
4. Alice + Olivia Tour. This summer, designer to the stars, Stacey Bendet is taking her fabulous fashion line, Alice + Olivia, on the road and for some great causes. Fabulous stylists Cleo, Diggy and Molly are traveling to cities throughout the south in an airstream this summer to give away makeovers and host fashion shows that benefit local charities. The tour recently stopped in Wilmington, NC and I was one of the lucky beneficiaries of a makeover (see photos here)! Follow the Alice + Olivia blog, Facebook page and Twitter page to find out if the ladies will be coming to a town near you this summer.
5. Summer music. Music is beating the movies this summer. While I am hardly tempted to go to the theaters, I am downloading some excellent music around the clock. This summer, while I’m in eager anticipation of albums by Scissor Sisters and Mark Ronson, I’m passing the time listening to The Roots, M.I.A., Cheryl Cole, Katy Perry, B.oB., Usher, Drake, Robyn, David Guetta, Florence + the Machine, Alphabeat and more.
I’m sure there are several other things I could have added to this list – World Cup (but not so much since the USA loss), Wimbledon, my aspirational summer reading list. Tell me what I else I missed – what else are are you happy about this summer?
Photo by: NotoriousJen
