Summer Bucket List

Happy summer solstice, my friends!

I’m a fall baby with a low tolerance for hot weather, but every time summer rolls around I’m thankful for the longer days and warmer nights. There’s nothing I love better than a barbecue and a beer in the sun.

One of my favorite bloggers, Kaylah at The Dainty Squid, posted a summer bucket list today and it inspired me to make one of my own. Here’s a list of things I’d like to complete before September 22nd.

1. Go swimming in the ocean at least once a month… nothing makes me feel as refreshed as a dip in the Pacific does. I don’t prioritize going to the beach, even though it’s only ten or fifteen minutes away from me at any given moment. I want to embrace my good fortune and get out there more!

2. Take a day trip to LA with Marshall… I’m the first one to declare that I can’t stand Los Angeles, but the fact is that it has museums and cultural experiences that Ventura just doesn’t. We’ve been talking about taking the train down and riding our bikes to Little Tokyo for ramen, and I think it’s time we make that happen!

3. Finish the first draft of the ATFS sequel… between the fire and getting a new job, my writing has been seriously stuck on the back burner. I’m so close to finishing this first draft, and I really need to just sit down and hash it out.

4. Go camping at least twice… Opt Outside. All summer long.

5. Take more photos and post them here… I love taking photos as often as I can but I’m not sharing them as much as I’d like to. I think posting them and talking about them here on the blog might give me some motivation.

6. Update my Society6 and Redbubble shops… I used to update these all the time, but they’ve recently fallen to the wayside. Time to pick them up again!

7. Play guitar and sing more frequently… One of the reasons I named this blog Coffee and Composition was because I had high hopes of featuring my three types of composition — literary, photographic, and musical. Music was such a big part of my life in my teen years and I miss it so much. I keep thinking about starting a Youtube channel or something but haven’t mustered up the motivation to actually do it. The point is, I want to start making and sharing more music one way or another. It seems like a reasonable summer project.

8. Try to journal… again… it may very well be that I just like the idea of keeping a journal better than actually keeping a journal, but I’m hanging onto the delusion that I just haven’t found the right journal yet.

9. Send more letters and postcards… I’m blessed as heck to have internet friends all over the globe, and I need to be more proactive about sending them things. After all, who doesn’t love getting snail mail once in a while?

10. Get out and get active… ride bikes. Swim. Walk. Hike. I need to implement more exercise in my life, and what better time to start than when the weather is lovely and the days are long?

What are your goals for the summer?