Ingredients For A Delicious Summer

- spunky haircut
- cute hat with button detail
- good running shoes
- a bike
- a fab job
- plans to move around
- invitation to a wedding (!!)

I still can't get over my new 'do. I love it just as much as I did when I first got it and I can't tell you just how awesome it makes me feel. I've gotten compliments from strangers (a waitress at a Hard Rock Cafe in Boston, an Air Canada flight attendant on my flight to Montreal last week) and I swear, people think I'm cool because of it. The students on my last Boston trip even voted for me over our driver for the Best Haircut award, even though he had just gotten his done that very afternoon after whining about it for four days. The students on my trip this past week told me how well it worked with the shape of my face and the texture and thickness of my hair, and to receive a thorough, analytical compliment like that from university-level music students from Long Island means the world to me.

I got a new hat. It's kind of muffin-top-ish, and I wear it askew so that the big white button that holds the folded brim in place sits right above my left eyebrow.

I'm in the market for new runners and a new bike. Both will most likely be presents from my brother who's now making more money than anyone in my family ever thought he would. I'm fiercely proud and super excited that this means awesome gifts for me for years to come. The runners will have good shocks and the bike will have a basket.

When people ask me about my tour job, I invariably answer with, "I work as a tour leader with an educational tour company, so I take elementary and secondary group tours to various destinations within Canada and the USA." Oy - I sound like my resume. I guess I'm trying to be professional and explain the job technically, when, in reality, my job basically means I'm paid to be a tourist; a paid traveller.

I get paid to travel to Ottawa, Quebec City, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Chicago, Boston, and New York. I get paid to stay at different hotels, to have big beds and more fluffy pillows than I know what to do with. I get paid to eat lots of food at many different restaurants (and consequently gain a lot of weight), some of which I burn off during those walking tours I get to go on. I get paid to do all sorts of touristy things that otherwise would cost me the tons of money I don't have.

It's not all sunshine and roses or picnics and teddy bears though. My tour job also means that I get paid to wake up at 5am on a departure day and be up and at 'em starting at 6am on days thereafter. I get paid to be energetic and on my feet for an average of seventeen hours a day, and when you work out my pay, I'm not making too much more than I was when I was an English tea maiden at the tea shop in the local mall. I get paid to deal with rude people, bad drivers, and trouble shoot problems that I didn't create. Those are always fun. Sometimes I get paid to be yelled at and be a sponge for people's anger because all I can do is soak it in with a nod and mumble a quiet, "Yes, I understand."

But this week, I had no problems and got paid to hang out with people my own age (the Long Island University music students who analyzed my haircut). And by "hang out" I mean I did my job professionally during the day, and at night when I was off duty, my uniform and name tag came off and we went drinking and dancing. I also threw professionalism to the winds and may or may not have gotten a little close to one of the students. One of the male students. One of the SUPER HOT male students. It is so not my fault that he started calling me "babycakes" and randomly giving me hugs. It may or may not have been my fault that we sorta held hands and danced the way we did. Oh, what. It was fun and totally harmless. Besides, if the remnants of my professionalism didn't prevent me from "going for it" like the other girls told me to, then his extreme religiousness would have. It does put a slight smile on my face to know that I came this close to living out every tour leaders' dream story: hooking up with either a student or teacher on tour.

I'm about six weeks away from moving to Quebec! I'm both excited and nervous to learn French (Quebecois style). I'm looking forward to small-town French-Canadian life, bike rides through the woods and running along the river.

I just got invited to be my friend's guest at a wedding in June. Eee! I haven't been to a wedding in ages and I love them - it totally made my day when he asked. Anyone else going solo to a wedding? I make a great date, I promise.

Throw in a few concerts, some BBQ and beer, warmer weather, and summer will be everything I want it to be.
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