Family Updates

"Best Summer Ever" Planning and Botanical Gardens Wine Festival and Wines to Try Right Now!

Greetings-

It's Week 2 of Summer and I hope everyone is making plans to make this one great! Summer is the season that we seem to "rank" more than any other agreed? "This is going to be the best Summer ever", or that was "The Best Summer of my Life". Summer gives us a chance for so many things- most of all freedom- be it vacation, more casual clothing, staying up later, that extra cocktail, or 5... etc etc... you get it.

So at this point in my life, I am lucky to say I have had many "best summers ever". So I wanted to take some time to think about what made them great and find ways to evoke those feelings and memories and make them part of the Summer to come. My best memories come back with music and smells- so I thought about favorties... I went all the way back to HS when we would caravan in our old CJ7's to Merriweather Post for Jimmy Buffet and Ziggy Marley to name a few- I had not heard either in so long, I started remembering so many of my Old School Faves and made a great playlist of like 20 songs.

Some of my faves from the Soundtrack are: Here Comes the Sun, Peter Tosh--Turn Your Lights Down Low, Bob Marley, --Little T & A. The Rolling Stones,-- Amber, 311, --Big Country, Big Country--One Particular Harbor, Jimmy Buffett, Wild Horses, The Sundays.

I was so excited about my new Summer Soundtrack that I decided my next theme event will be a Cheeseburger in Paradise Party... inexpensive super fun way to throw a summer theme bash- ( and use the grill which gets the guys to help big time!).

Tell me your favorite songs- I love being reminded of great ones!

On a final note, I went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens for the first time this weekend for the Wine Festival! The gardens are gorgeous and if you are local you should go there for a walk, picnic, or just to get away for a bit. NO matter where you live - go to a wine festival! It was fun and social- lots of crap wines- but who cares- there were some good ones too! Saw a definite trend towards the Rose's and Proseccos'- which I have been reading more about and using Prosecco for events- BUT- it truly was in full force and the vendors were pouring it with glee! What do you think? I think that the rose's are mostly crap and it takes so much effort to find one that is actually dry and natural tasting that by the time you find one you like you could be tipsy on something else better- I want to know what you think-

So try and new wine, any wine, this week and tell us about it and also what are your favorite songs so we can all fire up the itunes accounts and have fun.

Heres to a Summer of great drinks and tunes!

Cheers! H&H