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and it's here!

summer, that is :)
it took so long to get itself here, and now it has arrived, in its full glory -- heat, humidity, beautiful skies, freedom, trips, sales, friends, fun....
i hope you're enjoying a spectacular start to the summer!
summer is by no means my favorite season (and i truly love all the seasons in some way), but there's just something about summer.
i celebrated the arrival of summer by having a lot of work done on my car....brakes, tires, wipers, oil, etc...and all the work was desperately needed (my car was shaking when i put on the brakes, and one of my wipers had detached itself from the wiper blade almost completely -- but it was on the passenger side, so it didn't impact my vision in the rain and i never felt the need to replace them).
because summer is here, i have been able to walk my dog crackers a lot. i'm enjoying seeing the neighborhood in a way other than in my car headed out somewhere or back home again. it's also been cool to vary the route we take and see other parts i really never see.
i laid out today on my back porch. it was such perfect weather this morning, too. not exceptionally hot, a nice breeze, and some clouds. add my ipod, sunscreen, and some water and it was almost perfection. the only thing better would have been to actually be on the beach. there's something about laying in the sun, relaxing and listening to music/ nature that is good for the soul (mine, anyway). i feel so calm and peaceful during these times. (now, if only, as my friend kate said, we could do something about the fact that too much sun can cause skin cancer.....oh well).
today, i also undertook the task of reorganizing all my scrapbooking/ creative stuff. it's been sitting in my basement all year and whenever i wanted to use it, it was a hassle to get out. so now my bedroom is way too crowded, but hopefully i'll be able to actually use all the stuff i've paid good money for over the last few years :) plus, it'll help me finish some things i've been working on and have never finished....oops....

while i have little idea about what i'll be doing next in my life, i've decided that there are some things i really want to do this summer. so here is my summer goals list:
1) re-learn to play the piano. i took for a couple of years when i was younger, but stopped when i joined band. looking back, this was a decision that makes me not the brightest crayon in the box, but i've decided to change that.
2) finish my scrapbook from my boston trip -- that happened after my sophomore year of college -- 3 years ago, now.
3) learn to make muffins from scratch. i love many of the mixes that i use, and they are quite convenient when one is in a hurry, but i think it'd be cool to know how to make them fresh, with real fruit :)
4) break my addiction to shopping.....ok, maybe it's not really an addiction so much as it is a coping mechanism (feel bad or stressed about something -- go shopping!), but it's a really bad habit.....especially since new things never talk to you when you need someone to talk to....
5) make a first-year of teaching scrapbook. hopefully this one won't take me years to finish :)
6) organize all my undeveloped, stored on my computer, pictures into albums. what's the point of having pictures if you never use them?
7) visit my friends!
8) read!!!

ok, so that seems like a lot now that i've typed it out, but those are things i'd like to do this summer. will i accomplish it all? i hope so!

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