Summer Dreams

Nope, not my photo. Originally from here

I often get asked if I have summers off, since I work in education. The answer is no. Wop, wop. When you work at a university, summer is spent catching up/planning ahead. Plus usually assisting with new student orientation in some way. But it is typically a bit slower after finals/graduation, as the students are mostly gone. So...I always like to create a list of summer fun - things I hope to include as part of a more relaxing time of year. Here are my top ones for this year.

Hit up the fests. Milwaukee is known as the festival city, for good reason. There is Summerfest, which is a 10 day music festival in July. It is definitely the largest one, but I am also excited to go to Irish Fest, Festa Italiana, and Bastille Days. Festival food, music, and good times to be had. Chris just sent me this list of 100 things to do at the Milwaukee festivals. Let's see how many that we can check off.

Watch Downton Abbey.You might be thinking - that is not summery at all. True. However, I have had my Netflix queue on hold for months now, waiting until I had a little more time to watch my dvds. And Downton Abbey is at the top of the list. I just finished Season One, and got the first disc for Season 2. I couldn't keep up when it was on PBS, so I have saved it for my summer. I am sure there will be some rainy days and nights, when I can curl up on my loveseat and watch straight through. Who am I kidding? I'll be done with it by next week...

Spend time at the lake. I love living just a mile from Lake Michigan. It's right there. I run by it multiple times a week. And once the warm weather hits, there is even more to do. Bradford Beach, flying kites in Veterans Park. We already headed out there over the weekend and it was just lovely, despite the wind that blew the sand straight across the beach. Can't wait to get out ahead.

Read lots of books. It's obvious by now that I like to read. I find that I do a lot more of it during the summer, since all of the shows are in re-runs. As a bonus, a lot of my favorite authors tend to release new books during the summer.


Go to more baseball games. I have been to three Brewers games already this season, plus a White Sox/Red Sox game in Chicago, and we had the opportunity to do the MVP tour of Miller Park this past weekend while the team was away. Did you know that they have the replace the grass where Ryan Braun stands after each home series? He is apparently a Nervous Nellie and wears it out pretty quickly.

Eat outside. Dining al fresco. It's the best. Especially since it is cooler by the lake. 

What are you looking forward to this summer?