Pancakes for dinner.

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday. Whatever you want to call it, I call it Pancake day and it’s here!

Traditionally, pancake day is the last day before the beginning of Lent. During Lent, it is customary to give up things we love (think drinking pop or alcohol, tv, or eating chocolate) so historically families would try to use up things like meat, butter, and flour, and thus the tradition of Pancake Day began. As a kid for Shrove Tuesday my family usually went to a Pancake dinner at the church, which was always an awesome excuse to see friends in the middle of the week. These days, as someone always looking for an excuse to have friends around the table, Pancake Tuesday dinners seemed like a great tradition to start in my house.

Potluck beet, blueberry & collard salad.

Potlucks. Do you love them or hate them? My feelings are mixed. In some ways they make things easier – you don’t have to cook as much, there is less clean up and there are more options for picky eaters. But, it is also possible to end up with a table full of desserts or five macaroni salads. So what’s a girl to do? How do you decide what to bring?

Simple summer blueberry sipping.

I’m a summer girl. There is no way around it. Summer is my season.

To be fair, fall clothes suit me better, but when the sun is high in the sky and the days are sticky and long, I’m at my best. The most me.

The other day I realized that I get more done in one hot afternoon than I do in a week of cold weather. Heck, if I lived somewhere that was warm full time I would probably be unbearable because I’d be the most insufferable achieving optimist.

Summer just makes being happy so simple.