hottest day of the year

Portland has pretty mild summers, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. But every now and then a 100 degree day pops up and melts us all into a cranky people.. and since most houses don't have AC, it can get pretty miserable. (Our third story was 110 degrees!) So I skipped town and headed to the suburbs with some friends and sat in the pool all day.. which was HEAVENLY. I'm such a sucker for  swimming in a pretty blue pool..

And even though I've been loving every second of summer, I can feel fall just around the corner and I can't wait..

Strawberry vanilla agua fresca (with honey) and booing hot weather

This is me booing the hot weather. I'm not a fan of the heat and humidity that the Georgia summer brings. Especially with the A/C in our car broken. Yuck! (One good thing about summers here, it storms at least once a week! Sometimes more.. and i'm always down for a loud, rainy storm)

But the heat means swimming! And we've been getting to do a lot of it. My favorite time to swim is at night.. its peaceful and so relaxing. My husband has been running with me (even though he hates it. points for him!!) and nothing is better than jumping in the pool and be weightless after a LONG run.

The heat also means drinking more water! I like changing things up with agua fresca. It's easy to do and a nice change from a normal glass of ice water. And the strawberries are so good right now, I can't stop putting them in everything. (which you'll be seeing soon)

Strawberry vanilla agua fresca with honey
makes 1 pitcher

1 pound strawberries, hulled
4 cups ice-cold water, divided
scant 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey (or sugar, if you prefer)
Ice, for serving

In a blender/food processor, combine the strawberries with 2 cups of the water and the vanilla extract. Puree until completely liquid. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or through cheesecloth into a pitcher.

2. Stir in the remaining 2 cups water, lemon juice and honey. Taste and adjust honey to your preference

Speaking of strawberries, my hair was quite literally strawberry "blonde" last weekend. I'm in the process of going back to blonde and red is SO hard to get out. I've bleached it three times so far and my hair is not happy. Thank goodness for reconstructing treatments! I hope to only have to bleach one or two more times to be to the color I want. For now I'm just embracing this weird/awful color.