Suddenly, this summer

I was pretty excited to wake up yesterday morning and take in the first day of summer.

Summer!

It's my favorite season, I just love saying it. True, it has felt like summer for the past few weeks in NYC. And true, as a regular 9-5 working girl I'm hardly able to kick back and take off entirely for the summer. But still, I find this particular season incredibly appealing. Long, lazy dinners at outdoor cafes, weekend BBQs and pool parties with friends, frothy and fruity adult beverages, and so much sunshine every day. Everyone is just a little bit more relaxed...aaah.

There's also something about the start of a new season that feels like a clean slate, full of new opportunities. I want to enjoy every minute, so I thought I'd take a minute to lay out some of my goals for this summer (this is totally original, I'm sure you haven't seen ANY other posts like this).

Great summer vacation

Check! A week in Walt Disney World -- textbook definition of a great vacation (well, in my textbook at least!). True, I was in Italy last year...but this year I got the Italy Pavilion of the World Showcase. Almost the same.

It is kind of nice to have the big vacation come at the start of the summer...gives me time to plan a nice little weekend getaway later in the season.

Running

Yes, I plan to do this...hopefully multiple times! I still haven't quite figured out what my goals are in this area. I'm going to look for a 5K to sign up for and maybe work backwards from there. I feel like my progress has  been a bit slow. I am fine with my tortoise status in life, but I would like to enter a race with some confidence that I won't come in last.

Also, this summer is going to teach me to be a super early bird -- not at all excited about running in the heat.

Shaking things up at work

I think I've alluded to the fact that I have very low job satisfaction right now, and I know I need to do something about that. I spent most of the winter and spring searching for and applying to a variety of jobs, but nothing materialized. I was probably a little extra picky, but I think I deserve to be (and I know this is a terrible economy, I know)...I have really never felt totally fulfilled by a job, and I think it is time. I am happy to work hard -- in fact, I would LOVE to find a job where I could work hard 10+ hours a day doing something that I really enjoy. But so far, I have not found that right opportunity.

So this summer I feel like I need to make SOME sort of move. I have a few ideas, so it is time to test the waters and see what happens. Maybe I can stay at my current job and find a way to make it more bearable; or maybe it is just time to leave. But I'm setting a deadline of Labor Day for myself to decide. I don't want to start another season feeling stuck and unhappy.

Life Listing

I'd love to tackle a few more Lovely Life List items this summer...because that will be fun! There are a few things, like seeing a movie on the lawn at Bryant Park and getting tickets to Shakespeare in the Park, that are obvious targets -- if not now, I'll need to wait another year. But I'm open to a grabbing a few more. Maybe I'll be snapped by Bill Cunningham, or take a ride on that unicorn...

...???

Last but not least, I am hoping for more than a few fun surprises this summer. Because this is the season of going with the flow, so I can't schedule everything. And on the very first day of summer, I got my first surprise!

I was walking down Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights on my way to get something to eat and I heard a rumble in the sky. Brooklynites are pretty well-trained, we know fireworks when we hear them. Everyone on the street stopped, looked at each other...and took off running. To the Promenade!

Bad camera phone photo -- sorry, can't always be prepared for a surprise!

I got to see a fantastic fireworks display in the company of a few of my lovely neighbors -- just the right amount of crowd to make it fun, but small enough that I still had a perfect view.

Such a great start to the summer -- can't wait to see what happens next!