I Love Summer Blog Party

It's a party, and you're all invited!

Of course I must start an I Love Summer Party with flip flops. Though they may not be my most favorite thing about the summertime, they're definitely one of my top ten. So cool and comfy. Ahh, if life were only as easy as a flip flop.

Darlene over at Our Creative Life is hosting this party. And it's a great day here in Georgia for a Summer party. And happily, I get to go to a real life summer party at my Auntie Theresa's. We're celebrating sweet 16 for my Aunt Cindy's twins and also my mom's 63rd b'day. My mom doesn't have a vain bone, so I know she wouldn't mind me telling the entire blog world how old she'll be on the 4th. Hey, life is for celebrating! 63 years and 16 years are certainly worth celebrating.

So what we're doing at the I Love Summer Party is sharing what some of our favorite things about summer are. As far as the seasons go, summer and fall are in a two-way tie for my favorite season. Summer might have a slight edge, simply because I know that after summer I have fall to look forward to. After fall comes winter and I don't look forward to that at all.

Last night when I went out to take the dog, I heard the first one of these I've heard in a good, long while. Nothing takes me back to hot, humid, wonderful summer nights of my girlhood than to hear one of these:

The song of a whoop-poor-will. My daddy used to sit on the front porch on summer nights and listen to them. I guess that's when I first heard one. They're kinda rare to hear nowadays. But it sure brings back a sweet memory.

I love the beach vacations that I work so hard all year long to take during the summertime. Some of the best memories of my life, thus far, have been made at the beach. Whether it was Panama City when I was a girl, or when we've taken our boys there or to our beloved Tybee, the sun, the sand and the ocean definitely occupy a spot in a Girl Named Kelly Kelly's heart.

I remember how badly I wanted a pool after we built our house in 1994. I knew it would be a good choice for us. And it has soooooo been. I've never regretted it. I don't think Jeff has either. And now with the salt system we put in two summers ago, we hardly have to do anything to it. Just leave your troubles at the gate, grab a float and join me for some relaxation!
I love the colors of summer. Everywhere I look is color. How can you not just drool over the colors in a $1.99 beach ball?
Fruit. You can buy it year round, but it's never better than it is during the summer. Strawberries are probably my seasonal favorite. Summer is about the only time I like them though because I like them naturally sweet. This year they've been so good. I've bought quite a lot of them already. I've got a couple of recipes to share with you at the end of the post using my seasonal favorite fruit, the full of color, full of flavor strawberry.

I enjoy working in my yard in the summer. I told Jeff a few days ago that it's so amazing how hard a winter is on your house and yard. Everything just gets so rundown and ugly. It takes lots of hard work to get everything looking sparkly and fresh for summer. But hard work I must do. My Mickey Mouse pressure washer and I commend ourselves on a job well done this year!

How does his garden grow? Well, this year, I must say it's growing incredibly well. As the temps are getting hotter, it's gonna get better and better. He's got the net up so that the deer can't get in and we've been getting plenty of rain. It's green and gorgeous! The tomatoes are blooming and the squash are starting to come in.

He picked the first of many to come of these tonight. Super delish. I ate one of them as soon as he washed it. It was still warm from being in the sun.

Riding in the car with the top down is a simple summer pleasure for me. I have been known to do it on a super hot Georgia day and just turn the air conditioner up full blast. Not very practical I know, but hey, what's a girl to do when she wants to ride in a convertible? And I have also been known to put the top down in the middle of wintertime and crank the heat way up. And, oh, yeah, turn on the heated seats, too. I try to do that only when I'm in the midst of major winter blues.

My babies were born in the summer. Of course, I didn't like that so much when I was nine months pregnant and wearing maternity panties, but it's pretty special now.

We make lots of homemade ice cream during the summertime. I guess I'll conclude my summer faves with that.
To me, it just doesn't get much better than life in the summer. Even if it does have to rain sometimes.

So that's my contribution to the I Love Summer Party. Thanks, Darlene. It was a blast. Y'all link up and join the party.

Now, I get to go to my real-life summer party in a few hours. What a great Tuesday this is shaping up to be!

Here are a couple of my favorite summertime recipes using that delectable fruit, the strawberry.
First is my mom's recipe for strawberry ice cream. Known around here as "Mimi's Berry Ice Cream." My mom cooks like most good cooks, that is to say that she really doesn't measure anything and she's not very specific with her directions. This recipe is pretty much verbatim.

MIMI'S BERRY ICE CREAM

1/2 gallon whole milk

1 large can evaporated milk

2 1/2 cups sugar

Berries

Mash the berries with sugar. Pour into a gallon ice cream freezer.

This is a recipe for a salad that I had at Longhorn several days ago. It was so good I've made it at home at least three times since then.

A VERY GOOD SALAD

1 bag of mixed greens (I like the kind with baby greens)

thinly sliced red onion (I don't like too many)

sliced strawberries

Mandarin orange slices

grapes (I haven't used in mine, but Longhorn did and they were good)

roasted pecans (I found some in the produce section already roasted and glazed)

Feta cheese

Raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Lightly toss all of the above. OMGosh. So refreshing and so good.

Till tomorrow. Happy Tuesday!