Summer Edition: 3 Things

Last week my air conditioning died and Tanya does not do well in heat. At all. She gets migraines. Breaks out in hives. Get sweaty and ornery. Lack of sleep turns her into a wonderful combination of dopey and bitchy. It’s like Russian Roulette, which Tanya will you get? Cranky AF? Or dopey as hell? She also apparently starts to refer to herself in the third person, like royalty. Because that’s what she is. Sweltering. Hot. Royalty.

LOL! Seriously, though, I was not a happy camper. It’s totally a first world problem and compared to what so many people are dealing with incredibly petty and minor. And yet … and yet I pretty much whined constantly and accomplished nothing. Nada. Zero. Zippo. Too hot to even write a blog post.

3 Things Summertime Edition

All the heat got me thinking that a summer edition of three things might be fun. Provided, of course, that cool air once again flows through all 600 feet of Tanyaland and the Queen is serene and no longer a bug-eyed, sweaty witch.

Favorite Summer Activities

This is tough for me because to this Minnesotan, it feels like summer year-round in California and I do all these things in the winter too.

1. Farmer’s Market
2. Beach
3. Swmming

Favorite Summer Movies

Not Jaws, that’s for sure. Nope.

1. Stand by Me.
2. Weekend at Bernie’s.
3. Dirty Dancing. I wasn’t a huge fan when I first saw this movie. Too young to truly appreciate it, I think. Now I love it and Swayze makes me swoon because “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Favorite Summer Foods

Strawberries (and fruit in general). In California, we can get good strawberries February through August but I still think of them as a summer fruit. And nothing beats a sweet, juicy strawberry. My strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting is my current, favorite strawberry dessert. Get the recipe, here.

Ice Cream Dessert. I like ice cream overall but my absolute favorite is the ice cream dessert my Mom made when I was a kid. It was the “fancy” summer dessert she made for company. So, so very good. Get the recipe, here.

Summer Garden Pasta. Everyone knows that I love carbs so this should surprise no one. But with tons of fresh garden tomatoes and garlic, this is a bowl of heaven to me. Heaven!! Get the recipe, here.

Favorite Summer Beverages

Diet Coke. It’s been my favorite pop/soda since I was 10 years old.

Iced Coffee. I never used to like iced coffee because cold coffee is gross — right? Wrong. It’s awesome when it’s a little bit sweet and creamy. Tip: freeze coffee for ice cubes so when it melts, it doesn’t dilute your iced coffee. Also try sweetened condensed milk in place of cream and sugar, so good!

Strawberry Lemonade Punch. Remember my love of strawberries? It carries to drinks too. This is so tasty and refreshing and strawberrylicious. Get the recipe, here.

Favorite Summer Jams

All-time (well, what I can remember) because I’ve been feeling rather nostalgic lately, wanting to go back to sane, happy times. Also, I can’t 100% claim that these were technically released in the summer but they make me feeling like cruising with the top down, if I had a convertible.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi. I am always going to list this song because A) Puerto Rico. B) En Espanol C) Drives certain people with baby fists crazy. And I do actually like the song too. It makes me want to shake my booty.

That’s The Way Loves Goes by Janet Jackson. Another sexy, sultry jam by the Queen of Sexy and Sultry. And that just screams summer to me.

Hangin’ Tough by New Kids on the Block. Okay, I have no idea whether this song was released in the summer but I remember listening to it constantly during a summer family vacation, sitting in the backseat listening to my CASSETTE tape of NKOTB on my walkman.

Summer Dislikes

Because summer isn’t always rainbows and butterflies, people. Sometimes it sucks too.

1. Heat. I give thanks to the Air Conditioning Goddess. Praise be, indeed.
2. Crowded Beaches. Or crowds in general. Go away. Me no likey people. Except you. I maybe like you.
3. No Summer Vacation. Like when we were kids — three months off. Again, they really oversold this whole adult thing.

Those were the good ‘ol days.

Favorite Summer Memories

Memory … All alone in the moonlight … okay, I’m gonna stop now. But you know, Cats.

Walking Beans/Picking Rocks So I am not outdoorsy but I grew up on a farm so we had to do some outdoorsy things, like pulling weeds in the bean fields and picking rocks. And I did not like it but I have tons of memories of my grandparents (both paternal and maternal), hanging out with cousins and talking as loudly as I could so all the barn cats would come out and hang with me. So maybe, just maybe, I played more with the cats than looked for weeds to pull or rocks to pick. Errr … sorry, Dad.

Lazy Days at the Pool My Mom did not learn how to swim until she was an adult so she made sure my brother and I took swimming lessons as children, which was great. And the lessons were fine but it was more fun hanging out at the pool with my cousins playing Marco Polo and getting into mischief. Also it was the 80s so we were all super tan and happy about it. Females also wore shoulder pads to be more authoritative so we were kind of stupid back then too.

County Fair I don’t like fairs because I don’t like amusement park rides but going to the county fair with my grandparents was an annual tradition. One I looked forward to every year, mostly to hang out with my cousins and go to Hardees afterwards. One year I cried hard enough on the merry-go-round (hey, I was like four) that my Grandpa jumped on the ride to comfort me. He got yelled at but what a good Grandpa, right?!?!

Your turn! Tell me about some of your summer memories or loves.

Tanya

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