SUMMER IS COMING.

I wish I was a little bit taller.

I do not wish I was a baller*.

[No one under thirty is going to find this cultural reference funny, are they? Dag y'all, summer makes me nostalgic.]

I wish I had a tall jar of something frozen in front of me right now.The very last of the chilly weather officially faded away this week, and it feels like Summer Is Coming (dun dun DUNNN).

Today is the first ninety-degree day, and while there's still only a whiff of pleasant humidity in the air (the kind that says 'beginning of summer vacation, let's go to the beach!' rather than 'OH GOD KILL ME NOW IT'S SO HUMID I COULD SWIM TO WORK'), I can feel the first beads of sweat beginning to trickle down the backs of my knees, whether it's real or imagined. Beads of sweat I would much rather see trickling down the frosted outside of my tall glass jar of something cold and delicious. How far into summer I will hold out before dragging the old eyesore a/c box out of the closet and re-installing it in the window is anyone's guess, but I'm guessing it's directly proportionate to the amount of time I spend drinking frosty beverages.

When I was little, we drank out of jars daily (loooooong before there was a Pinterest to make them trendy), and nothing says comfort to me quite like a wide glass mouth, a threaded lip & the little embossed 'Ball' insignia. From here on out, I wish I could lounge in a hammock around all lazy summer long, doing not a whole lot more than sipping enormous cold beverages out of good old mason jars with mountains of crushed ice and a straw.

[ Is there anything lamer than using a watermarked stock photo? Sorry for being lame, but this is just a reminder to me that I need to get busy making sweet, luscious icy summertime drinks of my own!]

Giant frosty jars of freshly squeezed slushy limeade, sweet super-strength Vietnamese coffee, cool watermelon agua fresca, homemade ginger syrup over soda, cold-brewed coffee concentrate, spiced Thai iced tea, sweet & tart peach iced tea, blackberry shrubs & classic pina coladas.........I wish, I wish.

And I wish I had some reusable straws with which to sip daintily (I like the stainless steel ones, might just have to violate this week's strict, poverty-imposed 'no shopping but grocery shopping' policy and buy a few of these.....FOR THE SIPPING!!).

Because, you know.

SUMMER IS COMING.