Dear Ladies,

It’s summertime, which means it’s time for beaches and bikinis and hotties with the bodies. For a lot of you, that’s going to mean crash diets and double duties of Pilates boot camp. But I’ve got a few questions for those of you who feel compelled to stress out about re-attaining that beach body: Did you not see summer coming? Did it sneak up on you this year? Did you get so wrapped up in Mardi Gras that you never bothered to flip your calendar? Or maybe you didn’t notice the days getting longer. (That’s why we turn our clocks forward.) Perhaps you got momentarily confused at that bright thing in the sky that seemed to be getting warmer and warmer every day. (That’s the sun.)

Summer doesn’t have to include the rushed self-torture of a May Day crash diet or a June Gloom marathon session. In fact, I know of a sure-fire way to avoid this madness next year.

First, go grab your calendar off the wall or flip to the e-cal in your phone. Skip ahead to December 21, 2009. Go ahead and pencil this in:

BIKINI SEASON STARTS IN FIVE MONTHS.

There you go. Problem solved.

Your friend,
Eddie