I promise I am not going to complain about my crazy summer schedule in this post. SWEAR. The crazy part is almost over, anyway, and I really have it pretty great — my officemate and I were talking about this the other day, in fact. We both used to work in banks, and, in comparison, the work schedule of a teacher (who can take prep and grading work home, to do in pajamas) is roughly a million times better.

So what else to tell you about, then? Well, the full heat of summer is here and it is, dare I say, delicious. It has been a bakingly oppressive 95-99 degrees here lately (I don’t think we have officially hit 100 yet, but the “feels like” index is up there for sure). Normally this is the exact thing that I tend to hate — the roasting, hot, humid, temperatures. The necessity to blow-dry my hair in the nude lest I get my fresh clothes all sweaty before leaving the house. The et cetera, et cetera of it all. You know.

But strangely, this summer, I am loving it. Ever since my weight loss efforts of two years ago, I tend to run pretty cold. Even sitting in the air conditioning for too long has me covered with goose bumps these days. I’m sure my body will regulate soon but for now I am appreciating the heat. Even if it means getting up to run at 6:00 AM or coming back from my bike rides with a crust of salt all over my body. Bring on the heat!

Speaking of which, I think it is time for me to tell you that I have been going out on dates with a boy. I KNOW. I never do this sort of thing. I am a lone wolf! A life-time singleton! I walk my life through a vast desert of dry spells! But not for the moment, anyway, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

This blog is not a place where I like to say a lot about other people, really. For one thing, it’s ME ME ME all the time (I mean, who pays the hosting around here? ME), but for another thing, it feels weird to write too much about people who don’t even know about the blog, you know? Awkward. But, that being said, I will tell you a couple of things about this dude:

Thing one: this dude is not really what you would call a “dude” at all. For example, I have never actually touched a door in his presence. For another example, he actually pays attention to things I say and remembers them and is interested in them. While I certainly do not require a suitor to open doors for me, I now think listening and paying attention should have been things I required all along. Live and learn.

Thing two: we had plans to get together one night, and here is what he did. He cooked dinner and brought said dinner, wine, dessert, and a movie over to my house. With his own dishes. And he took his dirty dishes back to his house afterward expressly so I would not have to do any clean up. I KNOW. I KNOW. Sweet fancy Moses. Guys reading this, take note: that is a good way to pitch your woo.

In other news, here are some recent daily photos for your visual stimulation:

Bike rides are one of the best parts of triathlon training.

New Malcolm-X-ish spectacles from Zenni Optical. I highly recommend their stylish frames and ridiculously low prices. Apologies for the facial expression: I tend to have accidental bitchface a lot. I was in a good mood when I took this!

Huge new work desktop computer makes the office like a theme park. Twitter and blogs are now enormous! (Wait, I’m supposed to be doing work on this thing? Missed that memo.)

Me and Eegs. Just cold chillin’.

Bourbon, copper bar top. Much-needed happy hour.

What I spend too much of my work day staring at. Mundane items made faux-artsy via the Instagram App.

Well. Suffice it to say, things are busier than ever over here, but I certainly can’t complain.

Finally, I have a guest post up at Rose-Anne’s blog, Life, Love, and Food. You might know her as a commenter over here, but I hope you are reading her blogs as well — she also writes a fitness blog, Feels Like Flying. Rose-Anne is an incredibly thoughtful and interesting writer, and a thoughtful and generous person as well. She celebrated Vegetarian Month over at her food blog, and asked me to contribute a guest post. If you want to read about how I decided to cut animal products out of my diet and the related changes to my life, click on over there — and stick around for her great food writing and recipes, too.

Until next time!