What can one summer do for you?
Taxi drivers in Greece loved to explain to me the phenomenon they called “erotic immigrants” which I’m sure has a lot more melody when said in the native tongue. They would ask, “What brings you here?” and without waiting they’d say, “Let me guess, you met someone.” From what I understand, the phrase covers the genre of romance where someone comes to Greece on vacation, falls in love and never leaves (Timeless! A hero’s journey!). I have a few friends who are half-Greek simply because their parents met on a Greek isle in the summer. It’s all very Leonard Cohen. Remember last year when I almost got trafficked by the Baklava King of Hydra?
ANYWAY, all this to say much like the famous words of Dua Lipa (aka a dashed off instagram caption): “A lot can happen in three days.” Just remember that when you’re disembarking a ferry off the Aegean sea.
I always wonder what people hope for with their summers. There are so many expectations and I like to hear about what people have in store for themselves. Here is a non-exhaustive list of things:
I expect a torrid romance is high on people’s list (at least for my audience). A good novel to reread (I find summer to be the perfect time to revisit books). Lots of you tell me you reread Happy Hour this time of year. A proper tan, not a city tan. Minimal time between the virgin feet > sandal blisters > salt-of-the-earth-skin-toughness-that-makes-sandals-bearable transition. Ice cream as commonplace. Actually drinking water. Playing enough tennis so storing two racquets year round stops seeming like a waste. Very good tomatoes. Putting my anklet back on. LEARNING TO DRIVE (I have thoughts on how I may… document my journey with this). Kitten heels at the baseball stadium. Sand-softened skin. The suggestion of a bikini strap. Airy silks. Pucci everything.
A couple of weeks ago I booked a house in Corsica on a whim all because I had the thought, “What goes on over there? I never hear anyone say they’re in Corsica.” Once I had the thought, two hours later the house and flights were booked. Call me an explorer. I’m on a lifelong expedition! The amount of times I’ve had to tell people “Corsica is a part of France.” ON Y VA, ALLONS-Y! I’ll be dispatching from there next week. I’m interested in trying the Corsican aperitif MATTEI…
SOME THREADS
I read an essay on air conditioning last summer that I suggest you read by Franklin Schneider. Whenever I approach the thermostat in my house, I do return to this essay in my mind. It’s only right we bring midday naps into North America. You have Summer Fridays, and yet they can’t let you have a midday nap?
While the vast majority of Americans are physically capable of living without AC, they would psychologically implode the minute their bedroom hit 77 degrees. But the nature of our comfort tilts toward consolation, rather than indulgence; we are more the tightly swaddled baby than the plutocrat reclining on a yacht. Beneath America’s projections of strength and assurance, we are a desperately addled, constitutionally nervous, and, above all, deeply fearful people. If we require comfort, it’s because we are so deeply discomfited—by our helplessness in the face of adversity, by the meanness of our desires, and, increasingly, by a future which we are just starting to suspect is inevitable, and which, even worse, we might have had a hand in creating. If the heat that presses against our windows is rising from an already ruined future, what can you do but crank the AC?
On one of my late nights out I came home and thought up a philosophy that I will call “Kangaroo Theory.” The way I was so astonished by my EUREKA moment that I tried calling my friend at 2am to spread its prophecy. Kangaroo theory was made in response to a friend saying she blocks people who she no longer dates or falls out with. She finds it insane that I just let things, quarrels, relationships hang loosely in the ether. I have a hard time cutting people out in any sort of strict way and I rarely leave first. Let those loose threads feel the wind!
“Why would I fire a kangaroo?” was born. To me, this means why would I stop someone from surprising me? Why would I stop someone from possibly doing something that’s amusing? It’s perfectly optimistic about people! All I do is complain about waiting for something interesting to happen without me having to stir the pot. It’s kind of like catching an ex boyfriend text you a long and yearning message and before he unsends it, you’ve already taken a screenshot for posterity. You’re telling me, you want me to block this person who is taking it upon themselves to make me laugh years and years later? I can’t say why “kangaroo” made the most sense to me at the time, but they are entertaining to look at and they hop around. I suppose another variation would be, “Why would I fire a clown?” but that seems a little more mean-spirited.
SUMMER BEAUTY
I want to look shiny in the summer!! I want to be tanned and shiny and soft.
-Ultra Violette’s new Sequin Screen SPF This kind of replaces my need for using the Peter Thomas Roth Primer which I love for the winter months. It has lots of shimmer so if you don’t like that go with the tried and true Ultra Violette Fave Fluid. I’m an Ultra Violette woman, I can’t be convinced otherwise… I have tried so many sunscreens in my life and these ones are the only ones that work with my makeup. A nightmare of mine is when makeup PILLS!
-I’m bringing the SIDIA Midas body mist to Corsica. I feel like I haven’t had a body mist in my beauty cabinet this far in my adult life (body mists are so nostalgic) and I’m slowly being convinced. This particular scent is made for summer. It brings to mind heat and sea-soaked skin. I also like that you can spray it all over yourself without it being completely overpowering. I’ve made the mistake of fragrance-bombing an entire restaurant with too many sprays of a Byredo perfume… Apologies!
Top notes: Madagascar Black Pepper, Coconut Water
Middle notes: Cyclamen, Fig Leaves, Labdanum
Base notes: Sandalwood, Suede, Amber, Skin Musk
-Moisturizing is IMPERATIVE. I go through so much body lotion that it doesn’t make sense for me to spend too too much on it. I’ve been using the Sephora Body Melting Butter to great effect. Don’t forget to moisturize your ankles and back of heel!
Tell me your summer plans below.
Ciao for now!
<3 i loved this and will be rereading it on the way to my summer plans. i remember the first time i read happy hour, freshly 23 and couch surfing and flix bus-ing through europe with 2 friends. the book came to me at the exact right time, since i had a dynamic with the other girl similar to the one in the novel.
anyway, i am road tripping with my mom and sister to my brother in new jersey, at which point i will get a sublet in nyc for 2 weeks and will reread HH, along with some other nyc and nyc adjacent books im bringing for the trip (lena dunham's first collection of essays, cult classic by sloane crosley, memoirs of a beatnik by diane di prima, some philip roth and larry kramer).
im meeting with my platonic ex sugar daddy (used to be my sd now we're just close friends) several times and he said he would take me book shopping, to some really nice restaurants, to the beach, to some spas w massages. also going to see some friends who have moved to nyc and have them show me around and see their lives there. i hope to have flings and romances from people i meet in the wild--the park, the bar, the street, the subway....
going to finish writing my collection of erotica, sunbathe nude at the lgbt nude beach, and hopefully get into some things that aren't on any list bc i can't even imagine them. ty for the post bc this made me so excited for the summer