barefoot blue jean night

Since my days now consist of sitting around the house doing endless piles of laundry, feeding Jameson, changing Jameson, getting got up on my General Hospital (let's be honest it took about 2 days to get caught up on all the plot lines), attempting to clean the house, feeding Jameson, changing Jameson, reading mommyhood books on my Nook, texting the hubs, making the occasional (read 2-3 times a week) trip to Target and facebook stalking it appears the rest of the world is preparing for summer. For a lot of friends from my college years (I can't believe it's been 3 years already since I graduated) they've taken their finals, turned in their final projects, packed up their dorm rooms, and for some walked across a big stage and shook important people's hands. It makes me miss those days. Summer just doesn't have the same ring when you've graduated into the "real world" where you have a job with a salary and benefits (even if they don't cover much or cost and outrageous amount), a mortgage, car payments, student loan payments and a child. Yes, my chosen path in life includes Teacher as my job title---if you're sitting there thinking or saying out loud "You still get summer vacations", you can stop right there. While yes, you are correct, I do get summer vacation however it's not spent lazing around. It's spent reading, researching and creating and planning for the upcoming school year.

One might throw out the tried and true "Oh to be young again" and have summer staring you in the face where, when you were in high school or college, your biggest concern was should I set my alarm for noon or 2pm, and who am I going to lay out with or where should we road trip it to. No, I would never want to go back to that age...except for maybe my 21st year...that was a good year but I would like to go back to carefree summer days and summer night. Oh the summer nights are the best.

But really nothing beats an Arizona summer (except for maybe a New York summer spent in the lush green grass of the towns and country). When the heat of the day (if you live in Southern AZ) mixes with the smell of the impending monsoon (again if you live in AZ). When you can actually feel the heat of the day dissipate. Where you throw on your tried and true jeans. The jeans that are like your best friend and fit you in all the right places. And if your an AZ girl like this one...your favorite pair of flip-flops or sandals and a tank and head out with your girls looking for harmless fun or your favorite boy.

If you are embarking on your summer...I hope you enjoy every minute of it. If you unfortunately, only get to experience summer in snippets, I hope you relish in those moments. I get to spend this summer with my new favorite boy in my tried and true jeans with my flip-flops and a tank and that's something I wouldn't trade for all of the summer nights spent with my girls or a boy in my college years.

Really...who wouldn't want to spend their summer with this guy?