It's always summer in my heart and in my soul.

Summer and I have a love/hate relationship. 

That is, I love summer until around August when the heat settles in and seems never ending. Then all I can crave is rainy mornings, falling leaves and cute sweaters.

No one ever said I wasn't fickle.

But since I'm still in that puppy love stage of pre-summer times, I thought I'd list five things I'm newly, obsessedly (so a word), desperately looking forward to this summer:

Sangria!

For whatever reason, I thought I hated this nectar of gods. Then recently I was re-introduced to it (hello Cactus Club specials and your temptations). I have no idea why I thought I hated this perfect summer drink.

Summer TV.

Well obviously I watched True Blood and So You Think You Can Dance, but each year more and more summer shows come out and I honestly cannot wait to start watching them all. While y'all are out and enjoying the sunshine, I do not mind at all staying in with Donna. 

The gym.

Okay. 

No, seriously.

Yeah, I didn't think this would ever happen either (just ask me three hours ago when I was practically dragged kicking and screaming to said gym). 

Maybe it's all the endorphins flying around, but at the moment I really do enjoy going to the gym. I love the sense of accomplishment I feel afterwards. 

Plus I need to work off all that sangria I'll be sipping.

 Maxi dresses.

I was always a little worried about wearing one because I'm so short. Thankfully I could not have been more wrong about this because seriously, it may be the most comfortable outfit I've ever come across. 

Well the only extremely comfortable outfit I can get away with in public for long periods of time. (They look at me weirdly when I wear my pjs out and about).

Day trips.

The last couple months have had me questioning a lot of things about my life.  The people in my life, the career I've chosen and even the city I live in. With talk of looking at property and making a giant and semi-permanent leap into making Vancouver my home town forever, I started looking at other options. After all, my other friends had relocated for many different reasons and they seemed to be doing well.  

However, last weekend I spent a rather large chunk of my afternoon on the seawall and I honestly didn't know we had so many things in Vancouver to explore. Steveston, Port Moody, New West... there's so much out there that I haven't seen or done. It's amazing how uneducated one can be having grown up in a city and yet I've barely experienced much of it.

Two years ago I was all about getting cultured. Operas, dance competitions, film festivals. I think it's time to get educated and experience the outdoors that Vancouver and the summer has to offer.