we sleep til nine, wake to sunshine. the bedroom window is a square of blue sky and green trees and cool breeze. we ride our bikes 10 minutes south to Wells Park where we host a pickup ultimate frisbee game (19 players this week!). after the game, we head over to the Fireside* for brunch (outside table, of course) with a few of our frisbee buddies. then back home to clean up and rest up after the game. i make a quick trip out to pick up this week’s CSA fruit and veggie delivery (so many blueberries!!) while catching up by phone with my family. an iced coffee at The Grind in Lincoln Square on the way home, and there i assemble a picnic dinner: crackers with goat cheese and homemade pesto, pasta tossed with feta, chopped veggies, and herbs from our container garden, grapes, chocolate chip banana “muffins”**. then back on our bikes and riding north this time to Loyola Park to see Chicago Shakespeare’s free outdoor production of Comedy of Errors and eat our picnic in the fading twilight. then post-play beers at the Edgewater*** with the Keenans before heading home, an earl(ish) bedtime in order to be up with the sun for marathon training the next day.

the theme, of course? out-of-doors-ness. as much as possible. biking instead of driving, ultimate frisbee, sidewalk cafes, beer gardens, shakespeakre in the park, picnic dinners. blue sky, green trees, yellow sun. just a few weeks of chicago in the summertime keeps me going through all those months of cold. in fact, i’m going to come back and read this blog post next january, when its 12 degrees out and i’m questioning all of my life choices that have led me to this place. for today, i am content in this place.

* if i were actually designing my perfect day i’d replace Fireside with M. Henry, of course.
** eaten before 11am, it’s a muffin. after noon, it’s a cupcake. i’m a genius.
*** again, in the dream version, Edgewater would have been the back patio of Hopleaf, but who’s complaining?