Beautiful Summertime!

Hello, Hello everyone! Sam here!

That's right people, it's summertime again! Well, for me anyway. I have FINALLY finished my sophomore year of college and am now free for the next THREE months! Oh how wonderful it is to be able to type that right now. It's been a surprisingly great school year, but I am ready to relax. So for the next three months I'll be writing, reading, hanging by the pool, spending time with family and friends, getting outside, meeting new people, and hopefully earning a little money! I can't wait to see what this summer will bring! One of my favorite summer quotes of all time comes from one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors, Deb Caletti. The book is called Honey, Baby, Sweetheart (A great summer read if you're looking for one) and the quote goes like this..."Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. For those few months you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are, and that cut-grass smell in the air and the chance to dive into the deep end of a pool give you a courage you don’t have the rest of the year. You can be graceful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. Summer just opens the door and lets you out." I've always loved this quote so much, not just because it's absolutely true, but because I think that the lead character of this book, Ruby McQueen, and I are practically the same person. Seriously, it's like Deb Caletti took the words right out of my head. But I also love this quote because it sums up summer for me in just a few beautiful sentences. "Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people." For a self-proclaimed quiet girl like myself summer means hope, hope that things can change and that you can become someone who you never even knew was inside you. Someone braver and stronger and just better than who you are the rest of the year...someone free. I hope that this summer I am able to become all of those things and more and I hope that when summer does come to an end that I'll be able to carry a piece of her with me into the rest of the seasons.

So here's to summer! Here's to picnics in the park, zoo trips, wiffle ball games, and swimming in the lake. Here's to fireworks, homemade ice cream, eating watermelon, and suntan lines. Here's to summer love and catching lightning bugs, bare feet and summer nights listening to the crickets chirp outside the open window. Here's to everything that this summer will bring and everything it teaches us, not just about life, but about ourselves. Here's to our summer selves, may they follow us into all the seasons. Summer 2013...let's do this.

Love and Chaos,
Sam

P.S. Here are a few songs to get you in that lazy summer mood:
Dancing Shoes - Green River Ordinance
Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Sand in Your Shoes (Acoustic) - This Providence
Banana Pancakes/Better Together - Jack Johnson (or basically any Jack Johnson song)
Stay Young, Go Dancing - Death Cab for Cutie
The Sea and the Rhythm - Iron and Wine
Catch the Wind - The Spill Canvas
Strawberry Wine - Deana Carter