a mi me gusta el verano.

top ten reasons i love summer:

1. i really love all things water-related. i love outdoor pools filled with chlorine. i love sitting indian style on the floor of the pool and pretending to have tea parties. i love sitting outside in the sun, slathered in sunscreen and sweat, and then jumping into the pool to cool off. and i love vacations to the ocean in the summer. i love wave-jumping, and sand castles, and all that the shore brings.

2. i love humidity. when the weather is so thick it sticks to your arms and legs and back, and you can only laugh at how dirty you get the second you walk outside into it. i remember once when the humidity made the heat index unbearable in college, and erin and i slept on the floor as close to each other as possible but still separated in order to share the only two fans we had in our apartment. i remember making a run to the freezer and bringing back bags of frozen peas for us to put between our legs and behind our necks. it's so gross, but it's one of my favorite memories.

3. i love how long the days are, when the sun gets me up before 7 naturally and won't go down for at least 12 more hours. everything seems to move a little slower in the summer.

4. i love driving with the windows down and the music up.

5. i love when you're driving out in farm land and you can see all the steam/mist rising up from the fields at night. it's gorgeous!! it reminds me of a very romantic anne of green gables moment.

6. i love getting tan.

7. i love that i'm excited about the next season. there's no other time i feel that strongly. i love summer and i love that fall comes next, so it's a very happy time for me. when fall gets here, i love fall, but i don't super look forward to winter. and winter is so long that it really seems pointless to be hoping for spring. and then spring never really comes; it's suddenly up 40 degrees from the day before and voila - summer. but now, now is when you can be grateful that it's not cold and dreary anymore, you can be thankful that summer brings all this daylight and you can look forward to the changing of the season come fall. it's a glorious time!

8. my birthday is in the summer. and it's an excuse for me to get my friends together and celebrate life.

9. summer just reminds me of playing. of freedom. of later bedtimes that don't make you groggy in the morning. yay!! i love summer!!

10. summer in the midwest is simply miraculous. maybe because we have such long winters, we appreciate summers in a way other people might not. whatever the reason, summer is the best, the best, the best. YAY, SUMMER!!