A Summertime Saturday

As I sit here blogging, I glance and see a brand new, crispy paged book, Eat Pray Love, that I can't wait to sink my starry eyes into. The book sits next to a tall glass of ice water with a plump lemon wedge that brushes my lips everytime I take a drink. The book and glass of ice water are coated with a cool breeze that first brushes the curtain panels as it sweeps into the living room. Today is Saturday, but not just any Saturday. Today is the last Saturday of the school year. The last Saturday before I can close the dusty cover of another school year at NU High. I am almost short of breath thinking about it. I've had a great end to the school year, yet I'm more than ready to begin another season of summer. And boy do I have plans...

-Last year, I splurged on a pool pass to The Lost Island Waterpark. A couple days a week, I packed my gray and white striped beach bag with gossip magazines and Shakespeare plays, a tall jug of water, and a granola bar, and wasted the day away on the lazy river. I loved it; however, this year, I want to catch some rays in the privacy of my own backyard where I'm free to let my baby bump stretch to the steamy sun. So...in order to make this work, it's only necessary to create my own Lost Island. No, it won't be elaborate and include a chlorine mist that cools my sun soaked bod every few minutes, but it will get the job done. That's a promise. I've already spotted a pool at Target for $25.99 and the hubs has give me permission.

-I want to overdo late nights on the back deck with Beau. Tea lights and porch lights, glasses of wine and Italian soda (non-alcoholic), Scrabble, Uno, and Cribbage. Since I'll be taking a summer off from ice cold Bud Light Limes and Coronas, I've decided I will overdo all the summertime cuisine instead: big bowls of fruit, corn on the cob, cucumbers, tomatoes, grilled pizzas with fancy cheese, cedar plank salmon, juicy burgers, apple pie, and homemade vanilla ice cream.

-I am excited to transform our current 'all-purpose' room to a little boy's dream world. I can't wait to find the perfect paint color, to wash, fold, and put away all the littles I've purchased already, and to design all four corners of the room with personality and little man flair. I'm going with a surfside beachy getaway. It feeds my love of summertime and will help us get through the long winters. To see a sneak peak of my palette, click here.

Besides the essentials on this year's summer to-do (like finish my Master's paper, defend my Master's paper, begin maternity leave plans, deep clean the house, and figure out what to name this little man), I plan to find time to devour the simple pleasures of the season...This is, after all, our last summer as just Beau-and-Ashley.

Here is what I've come up with thus far...

-partake in many late night fires, with at least one night including a late night stroll through the neighborhood and swinging in the park by our house...blankets, long talks, and most importantly, a cookie sheet of the three essentials: grahm crackers, jumbo marshmallows, and melty chocolate.
-pic-nics in at least three different locations around town.
-rent or purchase a cheap fishing boat. Sun hats, fishing poles, and a bag of Doritos.
-go on a 'babymoon' adventure to a place we've never been
-make a blanket for my little
-go to the Farmer's Market often. Buy random veggies and come up with exotic dishes that include them.
-have Sunday breakfasts on the deck before church.
-have friends over often...play yard games, learn a new dance, and sing songs we once learned in French class :)
-recreate our first date and proposal night with a night on the town. Bourbon Street and ironic enough, the new Shrek!
-go camping
-a shopping trip to Des Moines to buy cute little baby things
-pedicures...once every few weeks