Fridays Five Favorite Things - About Summer

1. Boat trips and boat drinks - There is nothing better in this world than sitting on a boat with a fruity drink in your hand soaking up rays and listening to Bob Marley. What is it about Bob Marley? I hear one note of one of his song's and I'm ready to leave real life behind and move to the Bahamas with Mark. I imagine we'd live in a colorful little hut on the beach and rent sailboats at unreasonable rates to unsuspecting tourists.


2. Sundresses - I love a good sundress. They are light and airy, feminine and flirty. They come in an array of colors which is just the right cure for the gloominess of grey wool turtlenecks. Do you ever notice that the happiest looking girl in a magazine ad is not posed in a velvet blazer and a scarf? No. She's running on a beach in a coral linen sundress with a floppy straw hat. Sundresses = happiness!


3. Long days - My least favorite thing about winter is going to work in the dark and coming home from work in the dark. Your whole night is gone before it even begins. But in the summer, I can leave work in the sunshine and be home with enough light out to feel like I have the whole night ahead of me. Mark and I will stroll through the neighborhood, cooler in hand, and make it to the pool in enough time to enjoy a few drinks and a swim. Those few extra hours of daylight make me feel like you can strike the right balance between work and play.


4. Sno-balls - mmmmmm... There is a long standing argument in New Orleans over who makes a better sno-ball - Plum Street or Hansen's. It's one of those arguments like which holiday is better Christmas or Mardi Gras. It's fruitless because either one is a good thing. Plum Street is where my family went. I would get stawberry shortcake with condensed milk, my sister would get some variation of chocolate, my dad would get a malt, and my mom would get cream ice cream or nectar cream. I always thought that those were the "big-girl" flavors and one day when I grew up that's what I'd order. Funny thing is, when we would go in college, I don't think I ordered anything other than either cream ice cream or nectar cream. A girls gotta grow up sometime.


5. Cabbage ball - The single greatest sport played in this country (well, maybe just in New Orleans). It's a short base, underhand, fast pitch, version of softball, but way way cooler. Every girl growing up in Lakeview started playing this game the first Tuesday of the summer after first grade. And they played every Tuesday and Thursday after that until they were too old to play any more. We loved this so much it's hard to describe. My dad and Mr. Russell Nunez were our coaches for as long as I can remember. Our team name was the Bannerettes, and we were a powerhouse. My sister pitched and the Nunez girls played first and third. Gia (our sponsor's granddaughter) was the catcher, and I played second base. Year after year after year we'd take our places on the diamond and fall into the rhythym of pitch and catch. We left it all on the field every night we played. It was the only way we knew to do it. We've all grown up now, but I guarantee you that on the first Tuesday of every June, each of us wishes that we were walking onto the blacktop at St. Dominic's school yard getting ready to play a game called cabbage ball.