It’s officially mid-September, which means the arrival of cooler days, leaves beginning to fade to brown, and golden autumn sunshine. And I hate it.

Since the last couple weeks of August, I’ve been dreading the shift back into fall. There’s almost nothing I like better than doing than following up a sweltering day at the office with a breezy bike ride down to the beach, then floating for hours in the Mediterranean. I like when you get out of the water only to dry off again in the sun in a few minutes. I like the feeling of having spent the day outside in the sunshine, salty water, and summer breezes. I like having my skin warm up instantly when I walk outside.

I’m currently in California, and by the time I get back in October, I’m pretty sure that’s going to be it for the lovely weather. I’m sad just writing those words. So, before I get too sad, I want to remember all the fun stuff I did this summer in a photo post. 

Oh, and you may notice a lot of these photos are from my new Instagram account. Come follow me on Instagram and on Facebook for more adventures!

I kicked off the summer fun with a cruise to Ibiza for a solid week of 24-hour partying: 

party-ibiza-paradis-summer-spain

I also had a mini-trip to Formentera, a.k.a. paradise: 

Formentera-Ibiza-Spain-beautiful-beach

I celebrated my 2-year anniversary in Barcelona (I still can’t believe it!): 

Barcelona-sunset-Montjuic-Spain

I also enjoyed some amazing free music (The Vaccines and Delorean were great!) at Primavera Sound: 

barcelona-primavera-sound-2013

My parents came to visit! We started off our travels with a trip to beautiful medieval city Girona: girona-spain-temps-de-flors-flower-festival

 

Then it was on to elegant San Sebastián: 

best-things-to-do-in-san-sebastian-spain-views

We also stopped by Bilbao:

bilbao-spain-guggenheim-museum

And on our way back to Barcelona, made a mini-pilgrimage to see Beast Jesus himself in Borja:

borja-spain-ecce-homo-beast-jesus

Back in Barcelona, I got right back down to enjoying the sunshine:

barceloneta-beach-barcelona

I also managed to make it to a few parties, especially with my huge group of old roommates who came to visit. We celebrated at my favorite party, Nasty Mondays:

nasty-mondays-apolo-barcelona-party

I kicked back in style at some of the fab summer terraces in Barcelona:

barcelona-sunset-montjuic-hotel-360-barcelo

There were also a few amazing summer sunsets I caught either on the beach or from my balcony:

barcelona-summer-sunset

In August, I finally worked up the courage and moved to a new neighborhood – Gràcia!

placa-del-sol-barcelona

Mid-August, I got a front-row seat to the Festa Major de Gràcia:

barcelona-festa-major-de-gracia-2013

Living in a neighborhood of wildly decorated streets was fun:

festa-major-de-gracia-barcelona-2013-carrer-perla

But the noisy correfocs were not so much to live by, especially when they started at 7:45 a.m. on my day off work:

barcelona-correfocs-fiesta-de-gracia-2013

I enjoyed a few more weeks of beach time, although it’s been mostly overcast lately:

nova-icaria-beach-barcelona

And now, as summer sadly draws to a close, I can finally say – “¡Estoy de vacaciones!” I’m spending a couple of weeks on holiday in California!

street-art-estamos-de-vacaciones

I hope you all had summers as enjoyable as mine. I’m not looking forward to fall (and especially not winter), but living with seasons has definitely made me appreciate the fleeting summer months much more.

What was the highlight of your summer 2013?

Besos!
-Jess