Firefly Summer

Well, folks, the school buses are running, the temps are slowly falling off their '09 peaks and the pools will be closing so very soon. This all means one thing: sweet, sweet summer is slipping away once again.

To cling to summer for a few more precious weeks, I have been enjoying a delicious summertime cocktail: Sweet Tea Vodka. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is "distilled four times, infused with tea from a plantation 5 miles from the distillery and blended with real Louisiana sugar cane", according to their website. There are a number of brands claiming to make sweet tea vodka, but most of them use artificial flavoring and miss the mark.

If you're a fan of sweet tea, you will love this drink!! Be careful though, they are so delicious they can really sneak up on you! Check them out: www.fireflyvodka.com

The recipe:
1. Mix equal parts water and Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka in your favorite glass over ice
2. Add fresh lemon to taste and as garnish

An Anniversary to Remember

It's Friday and it is finally time to relax and cool off. Literally. Every year I hear horror stories of air conditioners malfunctioning during the balmy, Texas summer. This year it happened to me. On my anniversary.

As you may or may not know, one of my favorite events to manage and celebrate is the wedding anniversary. Don't get me wrong, the wedding is magical and wonderful, but there is something to be said for the intimacy and nostalgia involved in anniversaries.

It is hard for us to believe, but last Tuesday, June 23, my husband and I enjoyed our 2nd wedding anniversary. We went to the Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood concert on our actual anniversary, so we decided a few weeks ago to celebrate our anniversary at home a day early.

The morning of our anniversary celebration I awoke to an unusually warm house. I decided to call the repair man just to make sure, since we had our perfect evening planned - our china and crystal was already set out on our table. My husband, Blake, went out to DFW airport to pick up some lobsters flown in fresh that day. I picked out some flowers and some other things for our 'Cotton Anniversary' flower arrangement. The repair man arrived early in the afternoon and quickly diagnosed the problem: one of our coils had a leak and our air conditioner had leaked 2 lbs of freon. But, he would have to come back Tuesday or Wednesday with the tools to repair it and he advised us to leave the airconditioner off until then so the whole unit wouldn't burn out. We did as we were instructed and the heat moved in immediately; 75, 80, we finally topped out at 85 degrees!! We were determined to make this an intimate, memorable anniversary, so my husband and I enjoyed a candle lit dinner with beautiful flowers, sparkling champagne and fresh lobster in our underwear with 5 fans pointed directly on us. It turned out to be a wonderful night and definitely one that will go down in our history book. The heat just made it extra steamy and romantic.

I am happy to report that the air conditioner is fixed and everything is cool once again.