Laundry List: Chick Flicks for Summer Friday Nights

• How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The cute, summer outfits—beach tops and that iconic yellow dress—and coastal setting put me somewhere.

• The Wedding Planner. There’s this scene where Mary and Steve ride doubles on a horse through a canopy of trees, and I prom that I think about that every dang day. The flowers, the outdoor movie, the fact that it’s wedding season, thats summer.

• Notting Hill. There’s nothing overtly summer-ish about this flick. Actually, there’s a montage scene about changing seasons, but Julia Roberts’ smile radiates sunlight. The serendipitous, youthful, silly, romantic moments feel like 4th of July fireworks and warm garden strolls at midnight. Crickets, it makes me hear crickets.

• The great Nicholas Sparks band of brothers: Safehaven, The Choice, The Notebook, The Longest Ride, and The Best of Me. Take your pick. I’m pretty sure that all of them take place in the warm weather south. The carnivals, the canoe scenes, the rain kisses, the bike rides, and the beach houses, I never make it through the summer without ‘em.

• The Bodyguard. One of my favorite movies of all time. It’s Kevin Costner—cold, protective, unintentionally romantic. And it’s Whitney Houston, sharp, gorgeous, with all of her best songs. Her greatest hits were made for this film. It’s California, her Mediterranean home, and the sparks that do it for me.