I love how much more relaxed everything feels in the summer—maybe I’ll have to move to California one day? Last night we ended up hosting a mini-dinner party. It was great to catch up with a few friends from way back when. Dinner was simple but good—roasted garlic, zucchini, and pepper along with fresh bread; salad with tomato, feta, and cannellini beans dressed with Italian olive oil and vinegar; and Trader Joe’s pasta with some of my homemade marinara and fresh-grated cheese. Of course there was wine—a sparkling red I brought back from Parma, Italy, and a bottle of weirdly-good Yellowtail Reserve that Ali (shown on the ukulele) contributed.

When a few more people showed up later on, we headed up to the roof to smoke some cigars.

We also cracked open some salted peanuts and dark-chocolate-covered peanuts we got for Christmas (no time like the present)…and opened the bottle of white zinfandel Jen and Matt brought. The spritzer on the left was for me—classy, I know, but a whole glass just wasn’t gonna happen.

Hahah I can’t exactly give the night an A-plus for nutrition, but, as evidenced by the blurry pictures, we had a great time! I even stayed up until 2 am!