summertime and the livin' is easy...

It's hard to believe today is the first day of summer. I was reminded of this when reading lovely Salt's tweet this morning. I guess it makes sense that the thermometer in my Jeep is currently reading 101, since it is in fact the first day of hell here in the South. My Jeeps thermometer isn't really very accurate - often times it will read 84 when it feels like 104 in the car and outside the car. I have black leather interior as well so I'm sure you all know how that feels on a HOT summer day. No me gusta!

All this bitching aside I really do enjoy the summer. It means grilling out,  longer days, long floats down the creek in our new kayaks and lots of fun with friends outdoors, when the weather permits.

Sadly this weather also means a lot of health concerns and worries. Neither Mike or myself have ever truly been affected by the weather here. We usually stay inside if it is hot or you know get dressed up, sweat a ton and bitch about the heat. Neither of us was very happy when his brother decided to get married in the dead heat of summer, outdoors two year ago. We survived but we were not pleased. All in all it was a great ceremony but way too hot for that shizz.

Currently we try to use the AC in the Jeep as little as possible. (Mostly because my Jeep is already a gas hog, it's a 4x4 with all time 4 wheel drive people, it sucks down some gas, add AC to that and it's just a mess). That being said days like today riding without air isn't an option. We leave it off during our morning commute. This morning it was a perfect 80 degrees while riding through downtown and not too humid. That didn't last at all.

I bring up health concerns because yesterday Mike suffered his first bout of heat exhaustion. I felt so horrible - I've never felt so helpless or seen him so helpless in all of our years together (going on 6 years this Fall). I finally got him feeling better after many doses of Gatorade and a cool shower but it freaked me out and it really freaked him out. When your boyfriend tells you to call his mother to ask her what to do, you know he's worried. He was mowing the lawn when it hit him. He's done the lawn a million times but I guess the heat was just too much yesterday. I urge any of you that like to run, or workout or be in the sun all day outdoors to do your best to hydrate yourself and try to take shade cover when you can.

I've had my share of times that I thought might have had heat exhaustion. Once when living in Ft. Lauderdale I took a day trip to the beach on my own and stayed out too long in the sun - while walking back to my Jeep {different jeep, yes, I'm a jeep girl} I started to feel faint - thankfully I made it to the vehicle but my vision was blurred and I felt sick. After sitting in the AC for 20 minutes I finally felt better and went home but I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Mike was extremely ill yesterday and just truly should have stayed in bed but we had to do Father's Day things with his family. He was a trooper but the look on his face read, please take me home the entire time.

All I can say is the summer heat is no joke. And I hope that he will get to feeling better soon. I've offered to finish the yard for him and when we go floating down the creek this weekend (if we go, depending on how he feels) it will be with water and gatorade only, no beer this time kids!

I hope you all had a great weekend and gave your father's lots of love and to those of you that are fathers I hope you enjoyed the day with your family and friends!!!

STAY COOL EVERYONE AND BE SAFE IN THE SUN!!!

Side note: Miss I LOVE SPF over here ended up getting a sun burn on her legs while out on the creek this weekend - trust me no one is more disappointed than I am. SHAME ON ME FOR NOT REAPPLYING!

In other news I won my first giveaway and I'm SO floored and excited!!! I never win anything!