i scream, you scream...

this week's flashback friday is all about summer fun....specifically, ICE CREAM! although i'm not gonna lie, i believe that ice cream is a year-round delicacy. recently, as we were driving to work i noticed a little shop i'd never seen in the 100+ times we've driven by.  it was called hank's ice cream, and i just knew that we'd be visiting very soon.  so last night david and i had a perfect summer evening...swimming at the Y, then home for a (well-balanced) meal, and then....to hank's!

i have to tell you, that oatmeal raisin in a sugar cone was sculpted to perfection by a young gentleman i am guessing to be hank's grandson.  and there were three generations of hank's family behind the counter of this old-fashioned ice cream parlor...one to give me the delicious "tester" of homemade heaven, one to make the perfect cone for my licking pleasure, and the third to divulge my husband's creative nature.  he could not be bothered with your run-of-the-mill rootbeer float, he opted for the much more exotic, much more texan...

DR. PEPPER FLOAT

we don't mess around down here, ya'll! it was so much fun, walking outside on a hot (82 degrees at 8:00pm) night, enjoying a sugar high with my hubby. but today i got to thinking about how we rarely allow ourselves such joys in this carb-obsessed, south-beach-frenzied, calorie-counting country of ours. i thought of the glorious gelato stands in italy, where no one is shy to order extra pistachio creaminess...and then walk around the piazza enjoying every lick.

which is what i wish for you in these last weeks of summer: to truly indulge yourself. maybe you're lactose intolerant and ice cream isn't your thing, but find whatever it is...and really ENJOY it. don't eat it and then think about how many sit-ups you're gonna need to combat those cheese fries, just enjoy them.  as kids we don't worry about it "going to our hips"...and to be honest with you, i don't think we should be doing it as adults. i know i've rambled on about weight watchers in previous posts, but i'm gonna have to repeat it here:  they know what they're doing.

the one rule in WW (okay, there are a few...) is to actually taste your food, to enjoy it, savor it, make it worth it.  which is exactly what i did with my cone last night, right down to the last bite. life is short...we're never gonna be as thin as we think we "should" be. again, i ask you:  on your deathbed will you remember those extra 30 minutes on the treadmill, or that wonderfully warm night out with your husband, ice cream dripping down your wrist, watching this...

what are you doing this summer that makes you feel like a kid?