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"  Ahhh...summer. The fabulous season when it&amp;#039;s perfectly acceptable to ogle shirtless guys like it&amp;#039;s a sport, wear your bikini day and night, and play even harder than you work. Problem is, these amazing couple of months seem to come and go faster than any other time of the year.   &amp;quot;When we were younger and in school, summer was a guaranteed three-month vacation, which made it feel like it was passing slowly,&amp;quot; says medical psychologist Dan Baker, PhD, founding director of the Life Enhancement Center at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. &amp;quot;But as we age and have more responsibility, we no longer have that luxury of free time, and the season seems to speed by.&amp;quot;   Which is exactly why you have to make the most of summer while it&amp;#039;s here. To do that, you need a clever game plan for cheating the system \u2014 that&amp;#039;s where Cosmo comes in. These are our most-inspired suggestions.   One of the biggest benefits of summer is that the sun doesn&amp;#039;t set until looong after the workday ends. Use those extra hours to your advantage. Rally a few friends and head to a trendy outdoor bar (go to citysearch.com for ideas) early so you have first dibs on a prime table.   Then just sit back, sip a cold drink with some munchies or a shrimp cocktail and take in the setting sun and the happy-go-lucky atmosphere. Bonus: If you&amp;#039;re single, summer happy hours are a hot place to eye some man-candy. And the fact that it tends to be a postwork crowd makes it likely that the dudes actually have jobs.   When it&amp;#039;s cold outside, it is so easy to come home from work and curl up on the sofa in front of the tube...and stay there all night. But in the warm weather, TV time is a surefire way to let the season pass you by. &amp;quot;When you watch it just to kill time, TV can be depressing. Give yourself a mood and energy boost by going outside,&amp;quot; says Stella Resnick, PhD, a clinical psychologist in West Hollywood, California.   Curl up with a book on your porch or patio, take a long walk with your man, or hit an outdoor concert. You won&amp;#039;t be missing much \u2014 summer television tends to have more made-for-TV movies and reruns anyway. Take a break and wait to be a couch potato in the fall, when more of your favorite shows are on.   When summer is at its peak, the what-to-eat options are endless. Our advice? Save the pizza and chips for winter and fill up on fresh foods. Try this delicious watermelon, feta, and black olive salad from celeb cook Nigella Lawson, author of Forever Summer: Peel and halve a small red onion, then cut it into thin strips. Place the strips in a bowl with the juice of two limes (it will soften the flavor of the onion).   Remove the rind and seeds of one 3.5-pound watermelon, cut into 2-inch chunks, and place in a large, shallow bowl. Add 9 ounces of feta cheese crumbled into similarly sized chunks, along with a handful of chopped mint and whole parsley leaves (tear them off the stalks like salad greens). Pour the onions and lime juice over the salad, add 3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and 1/2 cup pitted black olives and toss gently. Finish with black pepper. Serves eight.   An easy way to feel the effects of summer 24/7 is to bring the outdoors in. Go to your local flower market once a week and gather fresh blooms to liven up your pad or work space.   Have a date? Clip a bud and slip it into your ponytail or tuck it behind your ear. Celebrity party planner David Tutera suggests using fruit to decorate your pad too. &amp;quot;Fill a tall glass cylinder with multicolored citrus fruits, like oranges, lemons, and limes. Add same-hued flowers, like green cymbidium orchids to your limes, for dramatic effect,&amp;quot; he says. It looks as pretty next to a bed as it does on the kitchen table.   Or make summery votive candle holders out of lemons or limes. &amp;quot;Slice the fruit in half horizontally and cut a small portion off the bottom so it&amp;#039;s flat and can sit upright on a coaster. Then carve out the center of the fruit with a spoon and pop in a votive candle,&amp;quot; says Tutera. When you burn the candle, it will smell amazing.   Schedule a bunch of four-day getaways throughout the summer, starting in early June, rather than a fat, weeklong vacay in July or August. &amp;quot;Too many people load all their free days into one big trip, but it makes the rest of the summer feel like a letdown because you have no days to look forward to,&amp;quot; says Resnick. &amp;quot;By taking three- or four-day weekends, you&amp;#039;re giving your mind regular stretches to unwind, and playing catch-up at work will be easier because you&amp;#039;re only away for a few days at a time.&amp;quot;   Another way to lengthen the season: Take a post-Labor Day jaunt. Summer doesn&amp;#039;t end until September 21, so live it up when everybody else is back to the grind. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/advice/a1837/The-Cosmo-Girls-Guide-to-Milking-Summer/?click=rel>