on summer bucket lists.
So I have this thing where I pretty much still believe in summer vacation even though I’ve been out of school for nearly ten years. It’s just ingrained in my brain that the end of may through the beginning of september is SUMMER! and it won’t even stop. Regardless of what I’m doing at the time or where I’m working or how much time I even get to spend in the sun. Summer is soon.
One of my favorite people ever makes a bucket list every summer with her kids and I just love the idea. I can’t wait to do that with kids someday. In the meantime, I made up my own little bucket list. Trying to make 2014 the best summer ever. I may even make a summer inspiration board. #howannoying
This is what I’ve got so far!
- Make a watermelon keg.
- Read 20 books (between June-September).
- Paddleboard! We’ve wanted to do this for years but never have. This is it!
- Do paddleboard yoga. Another thing I’ve wanted to do for.ev.er.
- Make killer strawberry pimms cups. Everything’s better with strawberries.
- Walk outside everyday (as brain exercise) and set my fit bit daily step goal to 20,000 instead of 15,000. And meet it! Sometimes I feel like I’m cheating when I wear my fit bit to workout (such as doing Turbofire, I get around 6000 steps in 35 minutes or so) and I need to stop that ish.
- Grow some freaking herbs, organically and successfully. You know I struggle with this every year. I always start out organically and then they die and then I use miracle grow on them and then I refuse to eat them. HELP. Maybe I’ll get a self watering vertical planter. Because they look cool.
- Go to the zoo. Because it’s fun.
- Plant flowers and actually give a crap about them, like water them and take care of them. I’m successful at this about every OTHER year, so we should be good this summer of ’14.
- Make some to die for nachos – on the grill.
- Go to as many country concerts as I can because I’m the pop country convert that everyone hates.
- Take a last minute weekend trip. Just pick up and go!
- Taco night every single week. With chips and guac. Every single week. With lots of variety.
- Go to the drive in. Can you believe I’ve NEVER been to a drive in? So deprived.
- Make a different fruit infused water every week. I have some of my favorite combinations in my cookbook, but I’ll share them in the next few weeks.
- Master trashy nail art. Think neons and glitter and white polish oh my.
- Freeze some awesome cocktail popsicles. Have one on hand… at all times.
- Go six weeks without blow drying my hair – last year I made it about four weeks or so. So healthy!
- Make old-school fruit pizza. I’ve been craving this for a month and I think it might happen this week.
- Sit around the fire pit every other week or so. With adult beverages and SNACKS.
- Convince Eddie more than once that a stellar cheese plate is dinner.
- Go to a movie by myself. I love doing this. (the trashier the better.)
- Finish my ginormous summer playlist that gives everyone but me second embarrassment. (hello bette midler. and pitbull.)
- Improve my gourmet hot dog game.
- Tie-dye white tanks. I’m a child.
- Remember to wear sunscreen on my hands every single day. I rarely do this. I put it everywhere else though.
- Make homemade shaved iced and custard. Can I make homemade Rita’s? Teach me.
- Bike ride every weekend. It’s so freeing!
- Take a vacation to somewhere we’ve never been. I’m absolutely DYING to go back to Nantucket, but I feel like we should explore and try somewhere new. We will obviously be going to Michigan later this year so we should go somewhere new to us too.
Now tell me! Dying to know what’s on your summer bucket list. Also because I want to add to mine. Over the next few weeks I’m going to come back and add a few things as well as mini-update on what we do. SO FUN. Checking things off is my dream.
135 Comments on “on summer bucket lists.”
i love this list. For reals. The only thing I would add is “Find a Polaroid Camera and document all these events” so I could make an adorable scrapbook/photo album at the end of it
i love that idea!
ha! Great idea! I think my parents still have their Polaroid! Paddleboarding is definitely on my list! There are so many items on this list I love, starting with nachos on the grill! I would have to pair them with margaritas, of course!
WHAT is that delicious looking cocktail in the photo???
i grabbed it from one of my vacation posts a few years ago – i think it was a mojito??
I’ll be in Boyne City this weekend- isn’t there some doughnut place that you love? I will obviously need to stuff my face. . .
ah so jealous! we get the fresh cherry donuts from friske orchards but we get them at the boyne farmers market (weds and sat) – my husband and i were just talking about those last night!!
I’m headed to Hilton Head tomorrow and plan on paddle boarding for the first time!
I’m also doing my first 5K this summer. COLOR RUN.
Tie-dye sounds like so much fun. Can I join?!?!?
Love this idea!
My list
– travel as much as my rolly bag can take
– learn how to use my ice cream maker! (Coconut milk, Caramel swirl? HOW DO I MAKE YOU)
Happy summering!
So I had to Google ‘Watermelon Keg’. Mind blown.
I love this list! And I think you’ll really like paddleboarding. I tried it for the first time last summer in Vancouver, and I sucked at first but once I fell in the water and got back up on the board, the fear of falling had disappeared and I was a lot more comfortable with it! Enjoy! :)
This is such a fun list Jess. Six weeks without blow-drying?! You’re a freaking CHAMP!
Having successfully converted the boy in my home to the cheese plate for dinner camp over this past winter, I have two suggestions for success. He now requests it about once every two weeks, I consider the lack of vegetables in a dinner that requires no dishes to be a worthy tradeoff at life. 1. Find crackers he likes and don’t try to change his mine. Boy loves the crunch master seedy gluten free crackers, and he was never a crunchy cracker person before. Not my fave, but worth it to not cook when its hot outside! 2. Add salami or whatever charcuterie he loves. I keep Genoa salami and hot soppressata (sp?) and immediately go to store when we run out. I think him knowing that these snacks are always around helps keep the idea in mind all the time 3. Sorry, one more little idea, nuts galore, his choice. I’m on camp cashew with cheese, but he is pistachios for life! Good luck, snack dinner is pretty much the best thing ever!!!
love this!
Definitely echoing the growing herbs !! Love your entire list!! Here are some of my other thoughts:
I want to have a picnic outside somewhere with a picnic basket – not sure yet where this will be :)
I’d like to go to the beach as much as possible and sit with an umbrella drink, though we have no plans to go to the beach yet!
I’d like to grow cherry tomatoes on our porch!!
Herbs are on my bucket list every year and I never even get it started. As well as vacationing somewhere new. We’re always “forced” to go to Florida because of family there (which I think is crock). We need to start going to new places.
If I had a bucket list, eating at a local hotspot while on a weekend getaway to somewhere new sounds like it’ll be on it. And it’ll have to be something good too. Like a burger or a crazy sandwich. Damn this diet I’m on.
I should do a bucket list! I’m just worried it will slowly turn into a to-do list, like “find a wedding caterer”, haha! And we got a gift certificate for a paddle boarding yoga class (or regular class) last year on the Potomac! We need to get on that.
You can get a manure mixture from Lowes that will help the herbs. I plant mine in the ends of cinder blocks with a vegetable feeding potting soil with a layer of manure in the middle and top it off with more soil. My basil was so big last year it fell over and grew into a bush! I have never had herbs grow as well as they do in the cinder blocks! Good luck :)
you mean in the holes of the blocks, just laying on the ground? Interesting!!!
i must try!
Yes in the holes!
OMG You will looooooooove paddleboarding! It’s our goal to save up and buy a couple so we can go whenever now that we live by water!
Makes me happy that you come to Michigan :) Traverse City, Holland and Grand Haven are always on our list. The State park in Muskegon is a hidden treasure :)
Also, your herbs. Things that have helped me:
Lots of sun (mine die every winter because mid-Mich is one of the cloudiest in the nation. yay.)
Free draining pots with the little saucers underneath
Water every single day. (I do this by putting the water in the little saucer/plate that sits under the free draining pot and the soil sucks it up)
And then I usuallky Google how to ‘harvest’ each type of herb. Some you can chop right off like a haircut, some need more finesse.
Hope this helps!
Definitely the Drive Inn and the zoo! Also go kayaking again (in a non-large, non-life threatening body of water), eat a Bratwurst – because I neglected to last summer, make our curbside shrubs/flowers presentable (so the neighbors don’t hate us) and actually act like I know how to take care of them, make homemade lemonade!
1) You get 15,000-20,000 steps every day?!? Girl, you’re killing it. I’m lucky to get 8,000. I need to move more.
2) Paddleboarding is fun but I think it’s a little overrated. I was so excited to try it when were in St. John for our honeymoon, but after 20 minutes or so I was done and ready to turn my board back in. It was so much work to get anywhere — kind of like kayaking, which isn’t my favorite thing either. I think I’d rather be lounging on a raft or in a motorized boat. lol.
i rarely hit 20K everyday right now, but that’s my goal for summer!! (i hit those numbers WITH workouts included though :) )
I want to actually use our ice cream maker more than once this summer. It’s probably about as old as I am (25 yrs) and I have to read the instructions every time I go to use it since it’s been so long since I last used it. I also want to learn how to use the bread machine and use it a lot. My mom has it buried in the basement and I’ve been dying to get it out and actually use it. Plus what better time than summer since it’s too hot out to turn on the oven? I have a general on-going book and movie ‘bucket list’ that I’ve been working on. I’ll be able to check a lot of those off next month while I’m recovering from surgery.
I LOVE that someone else loves going to the movies alone! When I tell people I’ve done this they look at me with pity, but I pity them, because they don’t know what they’re missing out on. Also, playlists that give everyone but yourself secondhand embarassement = all my playlists.
Word of advice for the drive in…. bring bugspray and dress warm. Somehow every year I forget that the drive in is outside (duh) and dress for a climate controlled setting.
The littles and i were just talking at dinner last night about making a summer bucket list and I told them how awesome Kristen is and that she does it with her kids every year! Great minds think alike. Totally copying watermelon keg (because YES) and tie-dye tanks! Adding growing tomatoes, walking or hiking the dog at least 2x a week, going an entire week without turning the oven on and making a trip to Disneyland!!
Wow, that’s quite a list! I wish you luck with everything, especially those flowers and herbs. I have a hard time remembering to water mine, but they are well worth the effort!
Yo, it’s your farmer friend here. Miracle Gro isn’t cheating! It just contains the exact nutrients required by your plants. Plants can’t tell if the nutrients are derived organically or not. Unless you’re going to start a compost pile and keep feeding your pots with it a few times throughout the season, stick with Miracle Gro. Local > organic.
xo
And I believe that Miracle Gro came out with an organic line this season-look for it!
Love this!! I started doing bucket lists last year when I made one for the holiday season and I currently have a Spring one going. They’re so much fun and I find that I really do get out and do more things because if it’s on a list, it HAS to be done or the world might end. I’m planning to get my Summer list done by June, but it currently has over 100 things on it, so….yeah. Need to narrow that down a little.
I love your fitbit goal! I thought I was being a badass with my 12k steps, but now I see I’m slackin’! No way I can do 20k steps with my 40-hour work week, but 15k sounds doable. Added to my summer bucket list! ;)
Oh and picnics! I live right by a beautiful park and I’ve been saying every single summer for the past 6 years that I’ll do a picnic and it has yet to happen… That’s changing this year!
Aaaand a watermelon keg, just because. With watermelon sangria inside! Omg.
I LOVE this, I need to make one, ASAP!
Love this list! I’m no help with toppings, but one tip for upping your hot dog game: SPIRAL CUT.
ahh!! you do turbofire?! i just ordered the dvds through my friend who started coaching this year… please tell, are they as fun as she says they are?
i really need something to kick me in the butt and get me motivated to work out!
i do like them! i don’t do them everyday and i don’t do them as the program (like it comes as suggested – i get too bored and need to switch it up) – but i really love all the workouts! and there are short ones too for when you’re pressed for time.
I love this idea! I’m totally making my own bucket list and I hope it also includes paddleboard yoga. I tried paddleboarding a few months ago in Malibu and it was so hard! It was also wavy which made a difference but I don’t know how I would do warrior pose or anything. Fun to try!
i absolutely love all of this – it would be wonderful, and fun(!) to sit down and do a joint list with my husband :) we have a lot of fun things on board already (trips, etc.) lined up but i love the lesser common ones you have…grilled nachos, epic playlist.
…and for the record, country concerts area AMAZING! i just had my first one not too long ago – jason aldean – and i about died. you will too, whoever you see. trust.
I am completely motivated to do this! My kids are out of school in a month, and no I am all ready to plan one with them!
I LOVE summer bucket lists, but I always get a big sheet of paper and do drawings of all the stuff I want to do, because I’m lame. My list is basically: learn how to can, practice new knitting techniques, make pies, go to the farmer’s market every week, make infused simple syrups for cocktails, grow some fresh herbs, read Stephen King and Murakami all summer long, go see as many movies in theatres as possible, try a new liquor/liqueur, make ice cream as often as possible, start practicing yoga at home and try rhubarb for the first time!
I love this idea! I’m going to make one too! And I’ve also been dying to paddle board…:-).
I made a summer bucket list when I started an 8 week workout program that counts down to the first of summer. I have ALWAYS wanted to try paddleboard yoga! I have been following an IG acct that always shows it and I’m so in love.
I have a lot of the same things on my list too. Road trips, fresh ice cream, zoo, outdoor walks, new sunglasses…all good stuff :)
I love a good Pimm’s Cup – hope you share your recipe when you come up with a strawberry one! And my summer bucket list is studying for/passing the bar exam, so I’m going to be living vicariously through everyone else with actual fun bucket lists :)
Stealing this idea. I’m sure my toddler will have some ideas of her own to add. :) Love it!
Have heard you talk about how much you love Michigan a few times… we are planning our first anniversary in Traverse City area… do you have food recommendations?? Or recommendations for anything, really! Maybe you’ve already posted about this… please direct me to this glory if it exists!
I grew up in MI and we vacationed in TC every summer! Apache Trout Grill is amazing for dinner, and the wineries are great, too! Have so much fun!
Thanks Melissa!
erica, unfortunately we go a little bit more north and i’m not familiar with traverse city. if you end up going to the boyne, petosky, harbor springs area, let me know!
Thanks Jessica – we are newbies to MI so I think we’ll stick to the city for now. i have a feeling we’ll love it and want to explore more on a second trip, will certainly ask for tips in the future!
Jolly Pumpkin brewery and restaurant on the Old Mission Peninsula has awesome food!
Thanks Stacy!
~sewing my own bathing suit
~buying our first house
~and like all summers, hiding inside as often as possible to avoid the sun, hahaha.
You’ve just given me the motivation to do this! I’ve been wanting to do it the past few years and haven’t, so now I am! Crossing things off my list is my all time favorite thing to do!
Definitely try paddle boarding for sure! It’s so much fun!
Love this – I’ve never been to a drive-in either! I hoped to do that last summer but all the movie objects kinda stinked. Hopefully 2014 is the year! :)
Definitely meant options. haha
And pretty sure that was all grammatically incorrect, ha!
Please figure out how to make homemade Rita’s!!!
My favorite recipe is super simple – 1 part fresh lime juice, 1 part agave nectar, 2 parts tequila, salted rim glass, shaken over ice in a martini shaker. It’s a Bon Appetit recipe but it’s my go-to!
Regarding the Polaroid camera: try an old school disposable camera! My friends grabbed one for graduation weekend and we’re loving it!
Also, if you’re looking for quick getaway suggestions, see if you could make it to Milwaukee for a long weekend! Summer is the best time to visit and there is tons to do, plus about a million amazing food options- frozen custard, beer, cheese, sausage (like ALL the cheese and sausage you could ever want), burgers, etc. I always suggest it to people looking for new places to go- it’s not glamorous, but it’s really one of the most fun cities in America!
This list has put me in the BEST mood – what a pick me up for my Wednesday morning. Thank you! And I’m going to get to work making my own list now. :)
I love soo much on this list! I have been dying to do Standup paddle boarding and last year on vacation we made an appt, and when we showed up, we were told it was ‘too windy’ to do, so FAIL on that vacation list , boo!
I also want to workout outdoors every morning. I did this the past 2 summers. Every month I make a ‘daily workout challenge’ that I will get up and do first thing in the morning, out in my backyard while my dogs run around. I love it, great way to start the day!
Also Toes in the Sand ATLEAST 2x a month. I live so close to the beach and get so caught up in household things…this will change this summer.
My bucket list:
*Spending more time at the museums in Los Angeles: The Getty and the Getty Villa, LACMA, MOCA, etc
*Make it to a couple baseball games!
*Explore more of LA via the Metro subway (cheers for no parking problems!)
*At least one weekend getaway (Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Ojai, ANYWHERE but home)
*Turn off the TV and read some books! (your goal of 20 makes me jealous!)
I’ve always wanted to paddle board on Lake Tahoe (it’s our spot) and gaze straight down into the clear, blue depths…and maybe get a little freaked out from how clear it really is. Probably not this summer since I’ll be a giant pregnant lady smack in the middle of the summer, but hopefully next year! I’d also like to make my dog sit on the paddle board so she can have a leisurely sun-nap…this will probably end in disaster.
I”m totally inspired to make a summer bucket list now! Just found your blog a while ago and I really love it. Cheers to a great summer for you.
omgosh, can we spend the summer together? your list = perfection. I’d also have to add working on abs (meaning any real muscle definition would be nice) and putting more time to creative hobbies or activities like painting or writing.
That sounds like such a good idea!
My birthday was last weekend and my family and I went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. SO much fun! We plan on going back to do the cave exploration tour. You get to wear a harness and crawl around with a light on ur head! adventure here we come!
The watermelon keg sounds epic.. i must make one.
I love your list so much! I need to work on a list for me/the family. Too bad there isn’t a single drive-in anywhere around here because I’ve never been to one either!! You’ll have to tell me if it’s really fun or not.