little summer plans

My friend Jessina over at a knock at the door just posted a list of the things she will do in California this summer while she is studying and interning at the Berkeley Art and Anthropology museums (yay Jessina!), and they were such nice things that I thought I would make a little summer list, too, for when she visits me over the long Memorial Day weekend. I get so excited when I think that I have finally lured a friend to come visit me, because where I grew up is so beautiful and rich and amazing that I want to share it!

So here is my little list:

Sunbathing on rocks by mountain lakes
hiking in the forest
sleeping out on the deck under the stars
my mother's blueberry tart and scones
bikini shopping
driving highway 9 with the windows down
undertaking art projects
drinking chai lattes from the White Raven
sleeping on the beach
thrifting at my favorite stores
reading lazily in the hammock
playing cards on the deck in the evenings
hiking to the cross with Axel, our doggest of dogs
walking along West Cliff
eating breakfast in my grandmother's kitchen

In addition to all of this, I fly home tomorrow night (yay!) and my room is all packed up and bare, the beds down on the floor and the walls clean and (sort of) white, and a lone bunch of flowers accrued from around campus in a paper cup sprucing up the dresser top. Plus my parents keep alluding to exciting surprises waiting for me at home (in the past this has meant everything from new socks to bunk beds to a gift certificate for a parakeet). Ah! Ma vie est fantastique maintenant!