Summer at last! Here, in the bold north, it is a long time coming and a short time here! We don’t want to waste a minute! Let’s do summer things at home!
You may know this already, we are southern summer beach people, sultry nights, ocean wave days, sunshine decks. We currently do not live where are hearts are, on a beach. Now, we go as often as our lives permit, but our lives do not permit it often. So we have ways we bring our dream summer here to the bold north.
You may not know this, but it gets hot here in the summer! As I write this in mid-June, we are on a 10 plus day streak over over 90 degree heat with tropical humidity. Many years ago, we installed a pool- good thing! We spend our tropical Minnesota days there. We call it Sharky’s Resort! (more on that later!)
You can create your own resort to enjoy your summer days where ever you are! Think like this:
*Create outdoor living areas. Have chairs that are comfortable. A table to dine next to the grill has you eating alfresco easily. Have a morning spot for coffee, an afternoon spot for cocktails, and a reading nook for a lazy afternoon. Use the items you have and add what you think feels right. You do not need a fancy patio set, use a card table and folding chairs, a picnic table. Throw some cushions on the ground and sit around a coffee table. Use a blanket for a picnic feeling under a tree.
*Decide on your theme. Sharky’s Resort has a beach dive bar vibe that is so summery fun! We have little signs, flags, windsocks, ocean critters and of course, Sharky!
*Add all the decorations! I bring out items that feel like summer. I use all the seashells i have collected over the years and tuck them all around. Old sofa pillows have a new life out on the deck, faded and old looks great outside or get some inexpensive covers to match your vision. Hang bird houses and hummingbird feeders on the branches where you can see them.
*Bring movement and sound to your outside living. Wind chimes answer when the wind blows. Water fountains bring a soothing music. Wind sox, flags and streamers wave at you. Magic happens!
*Find reasons to be outside. After a long day at work, it may seem like being outside is just too much. It’s hot and your stressed and tired. Get comfy in breezy at home clothes ( I mention this Here!)Make yourself a drink, cocktail or lemonade or perhaps a tall glass of ice tea, and choose your place outside. Walk barefoot and have a seat. Put your feet up. Close your eyes and breathe. This is Summer!
*No outside space? Here are a couple ways around this:
– Find your favorite local park. Have a Park Basket always packed and ready to go. Grab a couple lounge pillows, a chilled beverage and get yourself there.
– Set up a little bistro table by your biggest window. Place a beautiful red geranium in a terra cotta pot. Put a cute little woven or grass rug underneath. Put nature sounds on in the background and gaze out the window. Open the window to hear what is happening outside.
*Let your outside spaces replace your indoor spaces for everyday living. Decks become kitchens and dining rooms. Patios are living rooms. A blanket under a tree becomes your summer reading nook.
*Plan a Summer Menu for each week. Think light and fresh, like this:
-Grilling is summer cooking! Skip the burgers, steak and BBQ. Grill herbed chicken, seasoned, blackened fish, skew shrimp and veggies with a honey glaze.
-Visit the Farmer Market for the ultimate in fresh and local. Plan menus around fresh produce. Don’t skip on the herbs!
-Make grilling and eating a summer event daily.
*Summer conversations must always include gardens and how we tend them. While I have tended vegetable gardens, my gardens now are flowers. Red and white geraniums say summer with their large clusters of flowers and velvety green leaves. Bright pink and violet impatients wink out from bright green foliage. Crowd them together in pots, line your deck with overflowing blooms of petunias! There are never too many flowers!
*End your summer days in the quiet dark of outside. Take a glass of wine and sit around a blazing bonfire. Soft music or listen to the night sounds. Wait until the stars appear and make a wish on the first one. Hold hands.
*Lastly, for now, create a summer motto to live by. Mine? Create Summer Magic Everyday!
Now for Us 