Summer Drinks

I thought it'd be nice to share some favorite summer drinks we've shared over the past few months. Pretty much all of these are best reserved for the weekends, unless you have a particularly forgiving work/school schedule during the summer. I generally stick to wine or beer during the week and mix up a pitcher of one of these to enjoy (and share!) over the weekend.


Pimm's Cup -- You need a bottle of Pimm's No. 1 and Ginger Ale or some kind of Lemon-Lime Soda. 1/3 Pimm's, 2/3 mixer. Top with cucumbers and strawberries. Or don't, it'll be delicious either way. We generally make these in a big pitcher to share with friends. Use plenty of ice, the Pimm's is a lower alcohol content so this is nice for day drinking (sorry, Mom, but yeah, day drinking).

Cherub's Cup -- recipe is here. Delicious, I like it with unflavored vodka best, but have had it with Hendrick's and that's pretty good as well. Also a good "pitcher" drink.

Dark and Stormy --2 oz dark rum, 3 oz ginger beer and a squeeze of lime juice. I use whatever dark rum A's got around, since this is the only time I drink it. A quick Google search tells me that people want you to use Gosling's Black Seal, so maybe try that? Don't used spiced rum or light rum. Make sure you get ginger beer not ginger ale. I like the Fevertree Ginger Beer. The whole thing is a little spicy and a little sweet.

Summer Sangria -- I just mix up: a bottle of white wine (nothing expensive or fancy), 1 cup of St. Germain or 1/2 cup of Hendrick's gin or 1/2 cup of Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka, and a bunch of sliced up summer fruit. Especially peaches. Depending on how you mix it up, maybe not a great day drink. Or a perfect one, I'm not here to judge you!

 

Weekend, in review

All iPhone photos again! I promise to take the nice camera for a walk this week. I have some nice snaps to share, but it's too nice around here to sit at the laptop. This weekend we hosted a grilled cheese brunch, cleaned up our yard (a total mess post-travel), took Bailey for a haircut, spent an entire day watching Justified and drinking wine with friends, and I played with nail polish with a buddy. Photos below! (Not sure why, but they're posting out of order)

Brie, spinach, apple, onion grilled cheese

Green water (more coming later, super simple)

A and Bailey, chatting between Justified episodes

Orange Fizz, a little less red in person

Puppy cut!

Summer drink

Return!

There's much to catch up on! I've been on a few trips and been in the hectic pace of a workplace in some transition. To review:
I spent a magical weekend with my best girlfriends on the Mississippi coast, eating donuts, drinking coffee, playing with nail polish, cuddling a sweet pup and sipping a delicious white wine/vodka/berry concoction. Being with those girls is always the best antidote for anything that ails us!

Just last night, we got back from a vacation to Vermont with A's family. The lakehouse is on Thompson's Point at Lake Champlaign. All of A's siblings, our nephew met his grandmother at the lakehouse for four days of sitting in the breeze, splashing in kayaks, swimming, wandering around downtown Burlington, eating mountains of ice cream, and making trouble with all of his Vermont cousins and their children.

I seem to have forgotten to take any photos my coast weekend, but I'm going to pull some from my other friends and put them up tomorrow (these sweet girls are too beautiful to not share!). For now, here are some Vermont snaps.

All photos are from the iPhone/Instagram, Noahman's the only kiddo pictured because I didn't ask permission to post any of the others, but there were seven other children between the ages of 3 and 10 all chasing A and his brother around. I preferred to drink beer and offer some post-crazy hugs and rocking.

Morning run path

Granny+Belle

A+Noahman, exhausted

Maple syrup cotton candy

View from the porch

Burlington Church Street

Cookie Love cookie sundae

Homeward Bound

A+Noahman at Burlington Farmer's Market (my favorite photo from the trip)