Wine in the afternoon

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I live in Rio de Janeiro, and it’s been living hell around here. I don’t mean that things have been bad, but it’s been so hot I feel like I’m going to melt every time I step outside the air-conditioned room. Still, the days have been utterly beautiful, and life’s meant to be seized, not sleep-walked through, so I thought I’d share some ideas of things to do on deadly hot days.

• Eat healthy: I don’t feel as hungry when it’s hot, and I tend to eat lighter and healthier things. I recommend fresh fruits and vegetables, and also juices and smoothies. I like to get myself a big jar of grape juice with lots of crushed ice and drink it all. Here’s a list of 101 simple salad recipes.
• Go to the movies during the day: Movie theatres are always cold, and they’re not really full during the daytime. So pick an interesting film, get a big cup of soda and be delighted with soft chairs and cool air-conditioning.
• Take a bath: Not just a shower. Fill your tub with cool water, lie in it, turn up the music and read a book. Bonus points if you add bubbles, rubber duckies and a cold and colourful drink (Cosmo, for example).
• Go to a park, lie down, read and listen to sunny music: Yes, sunny music. Things like The Beach Boys, early Pink Floyd, Duffy, Belle & Sebastian, Little Joy, She & Him and The Beatles. I have a playlist called A Summer Wasting, featuring 916 summer songs.
• Summer movies: Invite some friends over and watch movies about summer, sunny days and vacations (some ideas: Dazed & Confused, The Dreamers, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) . Cool beverages and a cold room are required. Ice cream is optional.
• Ice cream: Go to the supermarket and buy ice-cream (as many flavours as you like) & toppings (syrup, honey, cashews, cherry, cereals, chocolate bars, M&Ms, marshmallow, whipped cream, whatever). Get together with a couple of friends and make a huge sundae, in a single bowl. Get spoons and eat it while gossiping about the cute boys you saw at the beach earlier.
• Pool party: I wish I had a pool so I could have pool parties. That’s pretty self-explanatory, but some more specific suggestions include a theme (e.g. mermaids & sea creatures), jell-o & vodka shots, loud 90s music, quirky hair-dos and skinny dipping.
• Go to the beach: I don’t like the beach. But I know most people do, so it’s always an option. I think you should include oversized (and/or heart-shaped) sunglasses, 50s pin-up swimwear, a cute scarf, a huge and colourful beach ball, an iPod, sunblock, a trashy novel and coconut water.
• Photos: Go out, take your cameras (Lomo & Polaroids are more than welcome), grab some friends and take photos. Everything looks beautiful under the sunlight. Fancy/strange clothes and props are a great thing too. If you only have a normal digital camera, put the photos on Poladroid when you get home.
• Ditch: If you hate the weather, just close your windows, turn on the air-conditioning, put on mittens and scarves, drink hot chocolate, listen to classical music and pretend you’re spending winter in Russia.

Miss Sofia

This entry was posted on sábado, novembro 7th, 2009 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.