pining for 76 degrees

monday was the official first day of summer, and ohmygodiamsotiredoftheheatalready.

things i love about summer:
not working
sleeping late
spending time with friends
taking fun trips
the ability to pick up and move across the ocean for seven weeks
drinking beer on patios
heavy rain showers that cool off the day
flip flops
people get married
[note: many things that i love about summer are made possible because of my awesome job.  so here's a toast to my job, too.]

things i hate about summer:
HOW HOT IT IS
getting sunburned sometimes
sweat dripping down my back if i'm outside for any length of time
friends not always being around because they are taking fun trips themselves

but back to the fact that it is officially summer now.  it was 94 degrees in atlanta on monday, the summer solstice.  I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS.  i am deliriously happy about going to a country where it will be significantly cooler than that.  for example, on monday in oxford, england, the high was 76 degrees and the low was 52.  i know that many people like the summer heat.  i am not one of these people.

so here's a toast to england - to wearing jeans and sweaters at night, to not sweating as soon as i walk outside, to sleeping with the window open.  and, again, a toast to my job for giving me the opportunity to do this.

as much as i'm looking forward to being in england, though, i feel a little sick when i think about not seeing my friends all summer.  i said goodbye to one of my best friends on monday - she's left town for a week and won't be back before i leave for england.  AND THEN SHE IS MOVING TO IDAHO.  this is not cool.  she and i work together and i'm used to seeing her several times a day and then at night or on the weekends.  so with the excitement of going to england i'm also feeling the sadness of leaving my friends - some for only seven weeks, some for much longer.  i'm trying not to think about it because it just makes me sad.

things end.  things begin.  but transitions can be hard.  exciting, but hard.