This is my favorite classic car and I was thrilled to see one on the road Saturday, cruising on a California summer night with a line of other classics of all kinds. It wasn’t in cherry condition, but it was this model and it made my night.

California nights: midsummer vacay mode!

It was a vivid reminder that it’s already midsummer and that vacay mode is ON! And we find many ways to enjoy it.

We love to drop in with friends for morning cappucino at our nearby Eataly. Later, cool nights in northern California make sitting on our patio  a relaxing way to spend an evening.

We’ve done a little fiddling around with our travel plans to accommodate a brand new entry in the dreams come true category: I was invited to the Mercedes-AMG hospitality suite at the first Vegas Formula 1 race in November! I made the invitation list because I own a limited edition high performance sports car, Kitty, my fabulous Mercedes AMG GT-43.

Kitty.

Of course, it’s not free, but nonetheless, it is three days of Formula 1 activities and parties and best of all, all three Mercedes drivers will be there. Including my favorite driver. Lewis Hamilton. Everything got signed, sealed and delivered last week, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. So vroom vroom, we will be Vegas-bound! Thank you, Kitty!

Aloha!

We’ve also just booked our annual trip to Maui for January of next year. The Maui Girls (my adopted sisters and I) used to do this with our husbands every year until the pandemic. We stay at the gorgeous home one of them owns on Wailea Beach and have our own little favorite routines for the week, built up over several years of trips. Morning coffee on the lanai. Always a lunch at Mama’s Fish House. Nights in the pool. Shave ice. Casual takeout at the Island Market. Walks on the beach. Visits with their brother. And we’ll extend our trip by hopping over for nearly a week at Michael’s favorite Honolulu hotel, the Halekulani.

But before that…

We are doing a couple trips to our little east coast house in our hometown for summer fun with friends and family. We’ve already got boating, a car event, cooking course, birthday celebration, dinner plans and a full complement of activities on the calendar there, as summer draws to a close, and we’re hoping family will visit during our October trip, when we’ve crossed our fingers that we’ll catch the tail end of fall colors.

We were introduced to a lovely summer port wine on our Norway cruise and some bottles are waiting back east for us to share with friends. I have a little more decor to take care of and it’ll be great to have M there this time, as he doesn’t always join me. Plus, apparently we have a small water leak that we’ve got to check into with the water department.

My cute little 10-year-old Subaru Outback is waiting in the garage on a trickle charger. We moved it there last year when I got Kitty and it’s been great, especially with the price of rental cards. We’ve already made back our investment in shipping it.

Happy rest of the summer to you

Hoping that you are enjoying summer and that you are taking a moment to visit mountains, streams, lakes or ocean. Let’s breathe in the beauty of nature while we can, because things don’t look good for the planet.

Gentle reminder: I can’t emphasize enough how helpful our tools for grief and healing are, and how highly rated they are as gifts. They’re pretty, they’re helpful and as important, they are thoughtful gifts. I’m also making candles for a few more weeks. See them HERE.