My Summer Vacation

Every summer has its own personality. Its own soundtrack. Its own feel.

Tomorrow is the last day of my summer. We go back to school on Tuesday.

I got a nice Birkenstock tan line on my feet.
I read a lot of books.
I went swimming and down water slides and in a giant wave pool.
I received natural Vitamin D from the sunshine.
I felt fresh warm air come in the windows.
I spent time with my friend from Texas.
Got eaten up by mosquitoes.
Watched the 4th of July parade in the pouring rain under an umbrella.
Stayed up late and slept in.
Watched some movies.
Watched the first four seasons of Supernatural with Todd.
Read Supernatural fanfiction (seriously).
Learned every word to the Phineas and Ferb theme song.
Laughed my ass off watching Phineas and Ferb.
Slept in my camper.
Made a lot of great food.
Learned to get along without my grandma.
Thought about her almost every day.
Took the kids to a zoo with my mom.
Enjoyed spending time with my kids.
Longed to get away from the kids.
Got up early twice a week to walk with my friend.
Read a lot of books to Grace.
Taught Grace to write all the letters of the alphabet, as well as numbers.
Fought with Grace.
Cuddled with Grace.
Cried with Grace.
Grew my own herbs, then forgot about them and let them die.
Picked up after the kids more times than I could count.
Played fetch with Marley.
Wrote a lot of articles for the paper.
Received a lot of compliments about my food column.
Wasted time on the computer.
Played kickball with Todd and the kids.
Watched Todd and my brother play softball.
Listened to a lot of music I didn't want to listen to.
Listened to a lot of music I did want to listen to.
Poured my heart into my book.



The soundtrack of my summer includes a lot of Top 40 songs that the kids unfortunately love. I now know the words to some Lady Gaga and Katy Perry songs, and even (cringe) Justin Beiber and Miranda Cosgrove.

But the main music of these last couple of months has been Cloud Cult, mainly their latest CD, Light Chasers. I could go on and on about how magical and amazing it is, but I won't bore you. This is my favorite one - "You'll Be Bright". I can't even put into words how this makes me feel. All I can say is that when I listen to it, I close my eyes and imagine seeing them perform live, and I get chills all through me as I am transported to another place...





Happy Autumn, everyone. Seize the day.