But Oh, Oh, Those Summer Nights

Summer has officially (OK, 4 days shy of officially) come to an end. Which officially means my unofficial Summer Blog Hiatus has officially come to an unofficial end, too.

Officially.

Let's take a look back at what I was doing this summer instead of blogging about cooking, shall we?

I was spending 10 hours in Montrose Park having a Fourth of July BBQ:








I was lounging in my (old) backyard, taking pictures of the late-afternoon sun:



I was attending quite a few other BBQ's, like this one at Ecole's swanky downtown pad:






I was playing hookey from work to take two-hour bus tours around Chicago:




I was celebrating Sarah's brithday...



...with everyone who ever went to the Creative Circus!



I was going dancing with Jesse, Jess, and Leigh, followed by a 5 AM breakfast at Melrose Diner:






Ross and I partied at our friends' Steve and MaryBeth's beautiful wedding:



Then we partied some more at the highlight of the Chicago ad communitiy's summer, the Optimus Party:




A few days later, Leigh (and my other wonderful friends) helped me celebrate my 26th birthday!



And my best friend Alisha came to visit!




I know that sharing all the fun I had doesn't make up for the fact that I have left my (admittedly small) fan base hanging all season, but I hope you'll all stay with me through the fall and into winter (when there'snot as much fun to be had, and therefore lots more time to sit at home and upload pictures all night).

And the good news is, coming up within the next few hours, I'll be posting two new blogs! And they're actually about cooking!

As I sit here in Ocean City, NJ, listening to gale-force winds howl outside (what little respect Mother Nature has to my piddly two weeks of paid vacation per year!), I'm reminded that you have to seize the good times - and good weather - before they're gone.

Summer flew by (and this vacation - summer's last hurrah - is flying by even as I type), but I'm looking forward to a cozy winter in a new apartment, with new blogs, new recipes, but - of course - old friends to share them with.

If you haven't been over as a blog judge in awhile, give me a call. We'll set it up.

More to come! Peace...