Some things are very hard to let go of. It’s not over yet. I’m not ready for it to be done.

I’m talking about summer. I’m just not mentally ready to say goodbye to the best season of the year.

Technically summer still has 5 more days and I would like to hang on to them. Yes, fall is fun and cozy and flavorful and we’ll be welcoming the pumpkin goodness in the next week. Fall also brings cold, dark mornings and other things that I don’t particularly like.

I have a love/hate relationship with pants. Pants are my least favorite article of clothing and I would gladly wear a dress every single day. But it’s not a good look in the winter when the freezing temperature makes my skin look, as my mom describes, “like you just plucked your feathers.” So I wear the pants and I try to get through it with big scarves and cute boots but I’m really just counting down until spring time again. (Unless it’s like May 2015 when it snowed on my graduation day.)

I had to take a 20-second rest stop on my long run last weekend to capture these trees!

Since I want to send summer off with a proper goodbye, I made an amazing Summer Squash and Fresh Corn (Lightened) Chowder last night for dinner. Granted, it was 58 degrees and cloudy and I was wearing an oversized sweater. So, not the most summery environment I was envisioning. But the fresh corn and the bright colors of the veggies were refreshing and I was really happy to make a healthy version of chowder by removing the butter, reducing the salt, and substituting the cream with 4 cups of water and 1 cup of fat-free half & half, plus loading the pot up with every color of vegetable and throwing in lots of herbs and spices.

First of all the color of the soup was really pretty because the sweet potatoes stain the broth an orange. When you pour in the cream, it turns into a creamsicle color with bright veggies peeking through. It’s also extremely HOT when you first serve it, which gave me plenty of time to find cute serving bowls and photograph the heck out of it.

Lightened Corn Chowder with Summer Squash and Sweet Potatoes:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 ears of fresh corn on the cob
• 3 large zucchinis
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 chopped bell peppers
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 large sweet potato, diced
• 1 tbsp thyme
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup fat-free half & half

1.) Heat olive oil in a large pot; add in garlic, onion, carrots, and bell peppers. Stir occasionally until softened (5 minutes)

2.) Cut the corn off of the cob; add the corn, sweet potatoes, zucchini, water, thyme, salt and pepper. Add in some garlic salt or sodium-free seasoning if you wish. Bring to a boil, then back down to a simmer for 30 minutes.

3.) Pour half & half into the soup, stir and simmer for 5-10 more minutes.

This weekend I’m heading to the mountains for a little vacation. I’ve packed my favorite new denim dress and wedge booties, big plaid blanket scarves and a couple of new books. (Notice the lack of pants.) Sunday is supposed to be a rainy day and I will fully embrace the gloom by finding a local coffee shop and catching up on some reading, and wrapping up some of the blog posts I’ve been drafting in my head.

See you back here Monday!

XO.