Take a bike ride.

A great way to get out, enjoy the sunshine and get some exercise. You can do this solo, with a significant other, friends or family! You can also throw some munchies, maybe a bottle of wine, into your bike basket or backpack and stop for a picnic.

Visit a park.

Mother Nature is so beautiful, especially when accompanied by warm weather. There are hundreds of state parks across the country. Go online to find the one closest to you. You can also grab a buddy or good book and head to the nearest playground park for a youthful afternoon!

Go for a swim.

When the weather is hot nothing is better than a cool dip. Ocean, lake, river, pool, waterpark. Doesn’t matter just get wet!

Initiate a water fight.

If none of the above water options seem to work out for you, just grab a hose or bucket and soak an unsuspecting someone. They might scream and yell at first, but you know they really like it!

Take a drive.

If you have a convertible, that’s best. Drive around with the top down and music blasting. If you are not lucky enough to have a convertible, improvise and roll down all the windows. I think you will get the same wind-blown effect!  And there’s no need to have a destination, it’s all about the journey!

As the summer temps have been reaching their peaks, I have been researching ways to stay cool without air conditioning—and without stripping down of course! Here are my top picks:
Put your clothes in the freezer. Just don’t wait too long; you don’t want to cut yourself with sharp frozen clothes.
Find some tile. Tile always stays cooler than wood or carpeted floors and will feel great on overheated toes.  (This little trick is frequently used by my puppy!)
Take a cold shower. Nothing is better than rinsing off in a refreshing cold shower after a sweltering day at the office!
Rock a muumuu. Or other varied flowy garments!  Any slight breeze will be a delight, flowing through the light fabric.
Sit in the dark. Yes it might sound weird, but we tend to associate light with heat, so we can trick ourselves to thinking it’s cooler when we are in the dark.
Eat some ice cream. Mmm mmm mmm.  Ice cream on a hot day, it’s just like you’re a kid again!

and don’t forget, WATER WATER WATER! (maybe a nice chilled glass of vino, too!)

Cheers!

Its fruit season….time for afternoons in the sun enjoying deliciously ripe and juicy strawberries, watermelons, and mangoes. Arguably some of the best mangoes come from India, where they have over 1,500 varieties! Thankfully the king of all Indian mangoes, the Alphonso, can now be found here in the US. Just two years ago the FDA lifted their ban on this varietal of Indian mangoes and now these wonderful sweet lovely fruits are making their appearance known. Mmmmm…..delicious!