Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Summer: Still To Do

It is August now and the Calendar of Carissa (this is totally a real, official thing) indicates summer is over at the end of Labor Day weekend, which means we only have four more precious weeks of summer. I think if we're going by the actual calendar that the rest of the world abides by, we have until like, the end of September? My thing is though, if the month ends in any variation of "ber"(September, October, etc.) it just doesn't sound like Summer anymore and thus, cannot be counted as such.

Anyway, I am rambling but my point here is, I made you a To Do list for finishing out your summer strong and savoring these last four weeks (or however many you're counting) of the season!


☐ Go to Sonic for a fountain drink during Happy Hour
☐ Put fancy things in your water (e.g. mint, lemons, cucumbers, berries, or any combination thereof) ☐ Take a picture of a sunset
☐ Buy a new bathing suit if you haven't already
☐ Try all the flavors of Diet Coke (i.e. Fiesty Cherry, Ginger Lime, Blood Orange, etc.)
☐ Get a new pair of sunglasses – the cheap, obnoxious kind that are usually in the shape of something. Often times found at gas stations.
☐ Drink iced coffee in the afternoon
☐ Go to a baseball game
☐ Read a book with a body of water on the cover (e.g. beach, lake, etc.)
☐ Learn how to make a good Frosè
☐ Visit some place in Arizona you’ve never been before
☐ Eat Watermelon
☐ Walk barefoot in soft grass
☐ Make a root beer float (Is there an alcohol that goes well with these? Asking for a friend)
☐ Plant a succulent
☐ Dip your toes (or also your whole body) in a lake
☐ Take a nap in a hammock
☐ Make S’mores (no camping trip required – although they do taste better that way)
☐ Buy a bouquet of sunflowers and put them on your desk, or your kitchen table, or anywhere they will brighten your day
☐ Watch a sunrise
☐ Go swimming at night. In the middle of the week.
☐ Wear a fanny pack somewhere (preferably any shade of neon)
☐ Buy a candle that smells like summer and burn it in your house (burn the candle, not your house)
☐ Buy a lotion/perfume/cologne that has a tropical island in its name
☐ Make a fruit salad
☐ Go for a bike ride at night
☐ Learn all the words to Bicycle Race by Queen and sing them when you go for a bike ride at night ☐ Play life size versions of games in your backyard (e.g. Jenga, Connect Four, Yahtzee, Checkers, etc.)
☐ Brunch so hard
☐ Order something off of the secret menu at In N Out
☐ Write down three things you’re thankful for at the end of every day

Now, go out amongst the heat and sun and live your best summer life before it's gone.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose! (-Coach Taylor Carissa Townsend, in this blog post)

 photo Carissa_zps53ecb502.png

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Summer: So Far

Someday my blog posts will be more frequent than once every two months. ...but that day is not today so let's skip the "oops it's been forever since I blogged" pleasantries and get right into it cause IT'S SUMMER TIME AND SUMMER IS THE BEST TIME. That may be a controversial statement for you but summer > fall and I'll fight anyone who wants to argue differently. Verbally of course. I don't know how to have a physical fight with someone. "Have a fight" is that even the right turn of phrase? Anyway...


Memorial Day weekend fishing

The camping trip where everything went wrong but technically we still camped so does that make it a success?
✓ Dog puke all over the inside of Nate's truck
✓ Spend two hours in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Payson cleaning it up
✓ Leaf spring breaks on the trailer hauling the side by side
✓ Stranded/camp on the side of the road until help arrives the next day
✓ Still take the side-by-side out for a spin BECAUSE WE WILL HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND DAMMIT

The other camping trip where a significantly less amount of things went wrong albeit, a substantially increased amount of rainfall occurred, but was still fun AF.

20th Anniversary House Edition of Prisoner of Azkaban...AKA the best book in the series and I'll fight anyone who wants to disagree with that. Verbally of course, as previously discussed.

An entire week in KEY WEST, FL
More on this in its own post but it was as marvelous as it sounds. Except for the humidity. Humidity is not marvelous.

Summer time road trips.
This particular weekend was 60 to Globe ➡ to 77 (pit stop to see the Salt River Canyons) ➡ to 260 up through Show Low ➡ down 260 to Heber (pit stop for Mexican food for lunch) ➡ to 87 (pit stop at the fish hatchery and the Catch-a-Trout) ➡ to home.

4th of July THE HOLIDAY OF ALL HOLIDAYS BECAUSE AMERICA

Summer sunsets


Not pictured:
⬥ Father's Day backyard Jenga
⬥ Copious amounts of watermelon and popcorn poolside
⬥ My Summer! playlist on Spotify
⬥ Copious amounts of grilled Kirkland hotdogs (Costco hotdogs > any other hotdog)
⬥ Nate and me beating everyone in backyard corn hole (hi mom and dad!)

Up next: Summer still to do!


 photo Carissa_zps53ecb502.png