Greece
Lil Darlin’!
And no one could be more excited than yours truly.
I swear…I must have really hated school-I get so ridonkulously jazzed on the first day of Summer even now. And I live in Southern California for God’s sake.
Still, it just makes me so HAPPY. I should have saved the song for this week!
So to celebrate…some Summertime goodies;
Mostly new and a sprinkling from Summers past.
Make the effort to have fresh flowers in your space every week.
Even a single bloom does the heart good.
“Flowers, because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
SWIM!!
Seriously hate to get your hair wet?
Me too. Don’t even get me started with the pool/hair thing. How about wearing a cap? I can’t help worrying I look like Ethel Mertz in one, but if you’re game, check out the vintage inspired caps on this cute blog; KellyGoLightly
Kelly’s no Ethel and her husband ‘FredBaby’ (Hey-how about that his name is Fred!) takes her photographs.
The Coral Casino, Four Seasons Biltmore, Montecito, California (Instagram pic)
Rhode Island
Bury you face in a lobster roll. YES with fries, dammit, we’re celebrating Summer!
Get out your Big Brimmed hats, scatter them everywhere like I’ve done here, including the car (but promise me you’ll still wear sunscreen. More on that fun subject later.)
Time to get your Summer Bar prepped again.
Gin ready to launch into my martini in The Maldives
A little glimpse of the bar in my conservatory (and yes, of course I bought the “Toucan” bottle just for effect. 🙂 )
Revisit your youth and buy something crocheted. And it has to be in white. It’s the law.
Crocheted skirt by Melissa Odabash
Santa Barbara
Get sand between your toes
Get 3 scoops
Buy a silly phone case and pretend your Anna Dello Russo.
Moschino iPhone case is calorie free
The Maldives
Register some quality time in a hammock. Tackle a huge tome this summer. I’m reading “Middlemarch” (I think for the first time?) I’m also reading “My Struggle: Book 1” by Karl Ove Knausgaard on my Kindle. So far it’s the most depressing start, like, ever. Going to hang in there though. Should make for an interesting summer going back & forth (between the two, 1330 pages) I’ll keep you posted.
OK, so the above might be a little far fetched for most of us, but you could go to your nearest Drive-Inn movie theatre sometime this summer. Do you have one? We do here in Santa Barbara. 
Perhaps it’s time to invest in some new outdoor furniture. Or maybe just cushions.
It sure is at our house.
2 images via Pinterest
Blue & White is a winning combo on any continent.
Eat outdoors whenever possible
Go tropo and buy wildly exotic fruit at the grocery store. Have you tried Mangosteens yet? Just recently allowed importation into the U.S., they’re probably my favourite fruit. Ask the grocer to open one up for you-to make sure they’re ripe as the tough outer skin sometimes makes it difficult to tell.
The Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru
Practice yoga.
Stay limber.
I mentioned about prepping the Summer bar, right??
I’m learning about vermouth as my new aperitif is a Negroni
Fresh King Coconut water, The Maldives
Incorporate a little coconut into every summer day; drink it, cook with it, moisturise your skin, treat your hair, and don’t forget coconut ‘pulling’. This stuff is the bomb.
Practice Visualocity (I say it’s a word)
Enjoy the details
Create, record, experiment
Take pictures.
Tumblr
Join Instagram.
Morocco
Journal.
Meditate
Galle, Sri Lanka
Milk every last violet ray from every summer sunset.
Soak it up, soak it in, have fun
HAPPY SUMMER!!
xoxSP
~
One Year Ago: “Happy Summer Solstice!”
First Day of Summer 2011; “Must Be Jelly Cause Jam Don’t Shake Like That”
This post makes me super happy…all the great reasons to celebrate such a wonderful season! And yes to a bevy of lobster rolls…can never eat too many:) Enjoy!
Another beautiful post! What’s hovering in the sky in Galle?
So inspiring – thanks for sharing!
Ruth
Now I can’t stop thinking about going to Woodman’s in Essex, Mass. for a lobster roll!
just crows…and bats
All those colors made me happy!!! Visualosity…my new mantra!! franki
Happy summer! I hope you do enjoy every last second of it! Try topping your Negroni with a splash of Prosecco for a really great summer drink, I beleive that Prosecco improves everything!
Cheers!
Slim, when you are happy, we are happy. It is just that simple. And I am grateful for that. 🙂
Thanks for reminding us that there are so many reasons to celebrate summer:)
THANK YOU. I definitely needed this to get me inspired for summer (and/or today). Beautiful way to start my day.
New cushions might just be a jumping off point. xoxo Mary
Reblogged this on Crash Course.
This entire post just makes me happy! Such beautiful ways to celebrate summer!
Thanks for the wake-up-call! Such wonderful photos, I wanted to jump into every one of them. Happy Summering!
Such visual excitement! Glorious Summertime. A must: put down that longggggg book and read Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn. Read it outside, alone, where no one will ask you what you are laughing about.
My son just read “Lost for Words” and really liked it too. I read ‘The Patrick Melrose Novels’ last year by Edward St. Aubyn (also at my son’s suggestion) Have you read them?
stunning summertime.xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Your posts are exercises in visualosity! Yes to summer, lobster rolls, Middlemarch (not sure about the dour Norwegian), and Negronis! And I have the swimming hair conundrum every summer. I love to swim but hate to deal with uncooperative hair in public. Or private, really. Swimming caps? I don’t think so – I’d feel like my mother!
Such a wonderful Sweet Summertime post!! xoxo SP!!
Normally summer posts make me envious but London is finally getting it’s act together and it is sunny and warm! Forget that the pollen count makes half the population experience glue symphony’s bc it’s better to be inside with the fun out I tell you! 🙂 hope you have a fabulous summer and you might share your adventures x
OH HAPPY DAYS…..THANK YOU FOR SHARING.
No Pimms on that Summer drinks tray?
Thanks for all of the loveliness, as usual. We certainly need it these days.
You and the Mr. are my Yin and Yang to staying sane.
Lovely pictures Slim, especially of the gelato. I never heard of a Mangosteen, I must try one one of these days! 🙂
Slim,
I’m not a fan of summer, it’s a heat thing for me. But I will say, you make summer sound like something I should work harder at. It’s always fun to read your take on the season and the great suggestions you offer.
Happy Summer,
Karen
I am inspired….swim…..not too good on the limber part….YES YES to flowers….brings joy to the heart….beautiful post…Thank you from the South.
You could sell ice to the Eskimos! I usually dread the suffocating heat and humidity that is Austin, Tx, BUT you’ve got me thinking summer is pretty cool {oh I wish!} Seriously, another absolutely gorgeous post. The photos are so lovely.
one vase filled of summer FLOWERS, even from the horse pasture are beautiful summer flowers. Wear your cowboy hats, for sure – y’all I am enrolling for swim aerobics now.
That is the perfect summer bar! We are currently planning a summer bar story and we may just have to include that photo and SlimPaley.com in the story!
Thank you for the beautiful photos that transport us into summer around the world.
As for swim caps…
Although I do not color my hair, my hair stylist insists on caps!
And like you, she suggested retro ones for fun and fashion.
(I am a lap swimmer and use a silicone speedo cap)
Caps protect the hair from salt, chlorine and other things.
I learned this when my hair went from silver to a lovely yellow/green because of a saline pool!
: 0
Here is the trick: wet hair before putting cap on. Then, add oils or other nourishment. Work into hair.
Put cap on.
Enjoy your swim!
My stylist says she cannot tell that my hair has been in the pool and is in fab condition.
It’s a bit of work, but our skin and hair are worth it, yes?
And, I am going to try coconut pulling…
Anyone out there have coconut pulling testimonials, tips, etc.?
I was ‘pulling’ for a while but fell of the wagon due to one thing and another. I enjoyed the regimen though and decided recently to start again (a friend who read my original post about pulling kept it up and we were discussing the benefits) If you’re interested here’s the link to that post; http://slimpaley.com/2012/06/22/coconut-fever/
Thank you, Slim. Day 1 of CP. I Invited my daughter in law to join me. (it’s good to have support)
On another note, this is my husband’s last day of work as a school admin for 5 weeks.
He was doing cartwheels out the door this morning!
Adore this post! Happy Summer to you too Slim!
xxoj.
Its snowing just west of Sydney..my house is very cold..
Swimmimg…check, as much as possible, always with a cap in salt or chlorinated water (and what a beautiful pool you have pictured). (I use the same trick Susan and Still Dancing describes above…and swim in open fresh water every chance I get.) A hammock…check (although we still have not learned to recline in the garden…so much to do). Fresh flowers (cut or not) all around…check (your roses are glorious). Middlemarch…yup, it’s been waiting by my bedside, and I’m finally digging in. Mangosteens in the winter, and freshly-picked raspberries and blueberries at all times during their long seasons here. Eating outside…always. Drive-in movies…yes, if our local drive-in theater offers something other than action movies. Thank you for the exhilarating post!
You are definitely summer ready, love all of the great vivid images infused with sunlight! Please come and see what I have been up to….
xoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
“I swear…I must have really hated school-I get so ridonkulously jazzed on the first day of Summer even now.”
I know me too. We’re working through a teachers strike right now in B.C, and they keep talking about how sad it is for the students to be out the last few weeks of school. WTF (is that allowed here?) Can you imagine anything better than an extended summer break? times have changed since the 80’s.
That outdoor theater…no words
I’m struggling through a weird book that gets such great reviews, but I still love my paperwhite!
What’s the book you’re struggling through?!
http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403735779&sr=1-1&keywords=divergent
Not one I’d typically choose but I was told the series was fantastic…
What a happy , colourful post. every shot a total treat . That lobster treat ? can almost taste it. Thanks for sharing ox
Fun summertime post! I just had two frozen lemonade slushies made with vodka on the veranda at Starved Rock Lodge in Ottawa, IL overlooking the languid Illinois River on a Friday evening while listening to Bossa Nova on my iPhone. That captures my summer in a snapshot.
Currently doing Aqua Fitness, which I love!!!
One of my top favorite CD’s. It always brings a little, languid Summer to my life—year ’round.
http://www.amazon.com/Getz-Gilberto-Stan/dp/B0000047CX
LOVE this!!! So much fun. Your summer posts are the best and so many still stick in my mind. Lovely inspiration and ideas here to get excited!! I just adore the new look and layout. It’s much easier to find your archive and your travel posts. The daily thing is pretty cool too. Looking forward to it. Thank you for including me in friends. You are so kind.
Enjoy your summer! xo Kim