Summertime

School was out on May 24th, but then I had to help write new curriculum (mentally draining) every day until June 22nd.  So now my summer has officially begun.  I kicked it off with a visit from my parents and my nephew for my birthday weekend.  I am now a perfect square (36 for you non-mathy people).  It was a pretty good time.  We grilled out a lot.  I got the game Mad Gab from my sister and her husband, some money from my parents, and a citrus juicer from my husband. 

So far I have made fresh-squeezed lemonade twice.  It is so good I don't think I can ever use a mix to make lemonade again.  I've made mojitos twice as well.  I have made those a lot over the past few years, and I have to admit that mine are the best I've ever tasted.  Every time I get one at a restaurant or bar, I think "mind are better."  The trick that I learned from a Cuban lady is to steep the mint.  The juicer just makes the job of making mojitos so much faster, and I need fewer limes to get the same amount of juice.  Next up, I want to try the recipe that came with the juicer for citrus mint iced tea. 

Tomorrow night I get to see one of my favorite bands, the Get Up Kids.  In a couple weeks, I get to see another awesome band, HelloGoodbye.  Later this month, D and I will be going to Cedar Point and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  We will drive there in one day, go to the park two days, and drive to the hall of fame the third day, and then drive home in one day.  Then I have a meeting the next day for work, and then one more week of freedom before going back for good. 

I love summer.

Also, I'm thinking about another tattoo.  Last summer, after our failed IVF and beginning the new path of childfree living, I spent a bit of time tending to our garden and various plants.  I noticed this wicked stem growing out of our day lilies, but it looked different.  D and I joked that it was a triffid (from Day of the Triffids), but I let it go to see what it became.  It turned out to be an asiatic lily, starts out orange, and then goes pink.  Orange represents happiness, optimism, imagination, and hope.  Pink represents long-lasting love, healing, and romance.  The lily can represent fertility and death.  That seems appropriate.  ;)  I don't know how the plant got into our flower bed, especially since asiatic lilies grow from bulbs.  But I love it.  So anyway, I want the asiatic lily to be my next tattoo.  Maybe, since the flower has "freckles", I will have the artist put our little embryos as two of the freckles.  It depends how big it is though, I guess.  I'm thinking upper quadrant of my back, but I'm still in the "thinking about it" phase.