Could I go with L to the fair this weekend? Sure! Out for drinks Friday night with a visiting friend? OK! It’s summer, those lazy, hazy, crazy days. I’m carefree, enjoying the breeze and the ease of loose plans. Maybe next weekend the girls and I will mozy up to K’s cottage to round things out.
Crap. I forgot. This weekend I’m going to visit my Aunt (in the middle of capital N Nowhere) from Friday to Sunday. Oh, well that leaves… Labour Day weekend, the last weekend of summer. Wasn’t that supposed to be like really far away? Oh no! That’s next weekend! And I have plans to vacation in Maine with the fam for that too! Where have you gone summer?
In light of this startling revelation I had this morning on the bus ride into work, I realized I must grasp on to all those carpe diem moments of summer I hold so dear. I resolved early on to do something different or at least markedly “summer-ish” every day. I enjoyed campfires, sleepovers, barbeques, I tanned, and um, got proposed to! So I can’t lament that I wasted the summer away. But still…it’s fading so fast!
So here’s a list of some of my favourite carpe diem-ish things to do:

1. Smiling AND saying hi, making small chat with the people who typically get ignored, like cleaners, the mail guy, the guy who empties my recycling bin, etc.
2. Dancing when a sweet song comes onto my iPod. I know I put it on there cuz it’s a rockin beat, so it deserves the homage of a hip shake, even if I’m on the escalator.
3. Singing when I do the dishes.
4. Calling up my grama or Boompa to see what’s going on in their old-people worlds.
5. Going for that extra sprint at the end of a run that has already tuckered me out.
6. Deciding to wear matching underwear.
7. Opening the blinds really fast in the morning to get the full effect of how wonderfully bright and sunny mornings are.
8. Making a delectable fancy meal. It tastes good AND I get to pretend I’m good at it!
9. Reading and writing every day.
10. Filling an otherwise boring moment (like studying, or reading work emails) with a wonderfully warming cup of good tea.
11. Feeding the ducks the crusty pieces of bred at the end of the loaf.
12. Giving blood
13. Painting my toenails pink
14. Staying up late talking to my brother/sister/friend/parent/fiancé to make sure everything’s OK with them.
15. Petting my cat.