Tribute to The Season of Summer

Can you feel that?
Yea, that's summer. I love it.

Officially the season begins on June 21st but you can feel its right there in front of you so reach out and grab it.



So what are the signs?
May sweeps have come and gone and with it all of your favorite shows. Denny's gone (I'm bawling still), Kyle Mclaughlin is running rampant trying to kill people with his car (I don't think we should let him out anymore), those O.C. kids are graduating but not before one of them dies, the Hanso Foundation is coming to make your world a better place, and we finally know who our American Idol is (Did you catch the McPheever or were you on Soul Patrol?). Now you can look forward to "Making the Band 3" and "The Hills". Good times.

You've noticed how Old Navy has switched from their jazzy swinging commercials for fleece jackets and hats to their jazzy swinging commercials for plaid shorts.

Starbucks has started their annual competition with themselves for most random combo of flavors to go into a coffee drink. This year they've gone bananas for bananas giving us the Banana Caramel Frap, the Banana Mocha Frap, the Banana & Creme Frap, the Banana Coconut Frap and in the baked goods section the Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake (Low-fat) and the Banana Cream Crunch Bar. Damn I wish I was a monkey.

There is this sudden need that surfaces from deep inside of you to watch Now and Then, Camp Nowhere, Caddyshack (when do you not feel a need to watch Caddyshack?), Pointbreak, Dirty Dancing, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Independence day, and/or Grease.

Huey Lewis and The News are releasing their ULTIMATE greatest hits album finally! (Actually that doesn't have much to do with the summer but for some reason it doesn't feel right that their greatest hits would come out in the winter)

When you walk into a store your body does a little spontaneous shiver because the air conditioning has been turned on. If your from Southern California the minute you walk out of a store you feel like a hair dryer is being blown in your face thanks to the Santa Ana winds. Love it.

You find yourself in a pickle having to decided what movie will be your first official blockbuster experience of the summer. Will it be MI:III Mission Impossible, the blockbuster where everyone hopes that this time, the mission really will be impossible? Posidion Adventure, the blockbuster that fails miserably at the box office? The DiVinci Code, the blockbuster with Ian McKellen that is protested by The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation? X-Men, the other blockbuster with Ian McKellen? (You cannot go wrong with that guy). The Break Up, the "romantic blockbuster" aka Jennifer Aniston's answer to Brad Pitt calling her out with Mr. And Mrs. Smith? (Right on Jen, I say always go with the funny ones not ones that name their little girl Shiloh Nouvel aka Messiah...we think a little highly of ourselves don't we)

You are starting to get a tan...but its only on part of your left arm and shoulder from driving.

Your parents WONT STOP cooking ribs every night for dinner out on the new charcoal barbecue that changed their lives...Oh wait, that's just my life (P.S. you will eat 25 pigs in your lifetime).


You watched the Notebook and now you are longing for that summer fling.

Everyday has become a flip-flop day, not just a, "oh I'll pretend its a flip flop day even though its January and there is two inches of water one the ground," day.

You are trying to figure out how to convince Jim and Cindy to let you go on a "surf trip" down to Mexico with Dylan, while your brother Brandon, the responsible one, works at the Peach Pit all summer. They love him so much more, its totally unfair. Oh and Kelly is totally after Dylan too.. Bitch.

YES I LOVE IT ALL.

So here is to summer, the time of the eight-year-old entrepreneur and their lemonade stand/car wash.

(Just ask these kids. They did so well that the local businesses called the cops to shut them down. No joke.)

The time of turning off the TV because everything is repeats or Making The Band 3... quality.

The time of Camping and Barbecues (no ribs for me thanks.)


The time of chalk drawings all over the pavement.


K that's a little intense I was think more along these lines:


The time of putting into action crazy ideas/plans with your friends and siblings and hoping that the neighbors and your parents don't know what you're really up to.

The time of the Sandlot (Do you have your PF Flyers on?)


The time of year when you finally decide to tell your crush that you like them but you actually never do.


The time when you and Zack and the gang all get summer jobs working at Mr. Karosie's beach country club.


The time of sleep overs in tree houses.

The time of trying not to burn your hand off as you light 23 of your illegal big bomb rocket fireworks from Mexico all at once, just to see what will happen.


The time of testing the laws of gravity combined with your aerial jump abilities while hoping you don't drive your skull into the pavement.



The time of hangin' out around a campfire, maybe roasting some mallows and sticking them on a graham with some chocolate.

(Or maybe just keeping that sweet ass warm.)

The time of Smashball, the most frustrating game in the world.


The time when Beer Pong and Ice Cream Socials just go together.


The time of making pacts.

The time when you realize that you want to get the ol' bear paws around the man who invented air conditioning just so you can give him a hug and a high five in appreciation.

The time of building pillow forts.


The time of big stick popsicles, watermelon, and windows rolled down.

The time when you start sweating because you are standing still.

The time when you feel like everyone is friends with each other.



Here is to the most nostalgic, "just livin' the dream" time of year.
Lets make it another good, life-changing one.

*If you are living in San Francisco none of these probably apply. Or they do apply but only for about two weeks out of your entire year, and certainly not during the summer months. Look forward to October.

Mason Jar Tip of the day:
I found this "slick tequila trick" on MrLucky.com. Personally I would say its a Masterful Mason Jar Method. Anyway here is the tip. Put fresh strawberries or peaches into a mason jar and fill to the top with tequila. A spoonful of sugar or so wouldn't hurt. Let stand for a week or so, agitating every now and then. You are then gifted with a delightful after dinner drink. Yum.

"The next time I have to come in here, I'm crackin' skulls."

Paul Gleason 1944-2006
"Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns."