It’s that time of year again!
BUCKET LIST buck•et list (noun): a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have accomplished during their lifetime. Also, a 2007 comedic film featuring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.
SUMMER BUCKET LIST sum•mer buck•et list (noun): a list of things that a person would like to accomplish and experience during the summer months. If done correctly, should involve water balloons, ice cream, and a pool party or two.
Here’s my Summer Bucket List. It’s pretty simple this year because my biggest intention is to make space. Slow it all down and make space to learn and create. It’s a luxury, but it’s also entirely necessary. I hope this list inspires some playful and quiet intentions for your warm months.
• Complete yoga teacher training and keep a journal. I’m committed to this all summer and I’ll share bits of it along the way as I gain perspective. I’m really excited. (I’m also really nervous.) (Such is the beginning of things.)
• See my sister Sweet Lo in Seattle – also I can’t wait to visit our girl Ashley Rodriguez at her new kitchen and shop! Trust that there will be some sort of ice cream and cookie popup sometime this summer in Seattle.
• Make root beer. Although I’m also thinking of making homemade cola, too. Maybe I’m just thirsty. Goal still stands.
• Have a big backyard party. Like, everyone I know + an inflatable pool + tequila + oysters on the grill. Okaaayy?
• Finish that book proposal. Not to worry. I’ve got my teeth in it now.
• Put your body in a new body of water. Something like, a new-to-me lake or river or bright blue ocean. I have plans for Mexico, fingers crossed.
• Make space to create and learn and be curious. SPACE and all its value.
Want to take a look at Summer Bucket Lists from the past few years?
Summer Bucket List, 2017! I’m still working on getting that piano. I’m having patience with myself and my bank account.
Summer Bucket List, 2016! Yep – that was a damn fine summer.
Summer Bucket List, 2015! That was a sweet little patio in the summertime.
What’s on your list this summer? I bet you’ve got some good plans.
xo Joy
Patricia
Joy…I’m a new follower who very much enjoys your ‘voice’ (and the recipes, of course!), especially your
‘Let if be Sunday’ posts…that said, your Bucket List demonstrates an artistic flair worth mentioning…the
watercolor illustrations are quite lovely…but, oddly enough, what keeps bringing me back to the ‘cover’
page is that little ceramic figure (bird?) on top of the mason jar…what can you tell me about it? Did you
make it? Will definitely look for a popup in Seattle this summer and perhaps it’ll coincide with a trip there from Whidbey Island where I live…cookies and ice cream..what could be better ?!?
Emily H
I am going to float the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, TX for my 30th birthday at the end of the month. Have you been there? Could that be your new body of water? Because…that would be the best 30th birthday present ever to have you there! You’re very much invited.
Mary B
i’m moving to Ghana for 6 months a week from today… so my I’ll have 6 months to complete my summer bucket list! I need to visit the slave castles, go to the beach, learn French, and visit a new country in West Africa.
Gsil
Best of luck with yoga instructor course… can’t wait til you teach classes!! My bucket list this summer; seeing James Taylor at Tanglewood on 4th of July !??
and taking a jam and preserves course with little sugar and pectin at BU Culinary in Boston?
AP
Go joy! I’m continually impressed with you.
My husband is a piano teacher and is always bemoaning his adult students. With few exceptions they start with great energy and then quit after 1 year or so. But I’m sure you’ll be the exception as you’ve already done many hard things. In this case the hard thing is to stay motivated, for years of boring and repetitive practice every day, which is the only way to learn piano.
My bucket list is to make lots of collages, build more shelving in my apartment, take a 2 week vacation on the cheap, find 2 new clients, and go in the ocean.
Danica
Inspiring! I love to watercolor too.
Jenn I
I’m getting married in 30 days. That’s my summer bucket list. (There are other things, but let’s be honest, that’s all I can focus on right now!)
Elle
Not be held back from doing my favorite summer things because I’d have to do them alone.
And I feel you on the backyard parties. I got a tiny inflatable kiddie pool for my backyard. I just want to be in the water – any (clean) water- as much as possible.
Tina
Yay for going forth alone! Thanks for crystalizing this for me. Why not enjoy my life and do things I love, with me as companion? Ice cream cones, sunbathing (which for me means being shaded/hatted/sunscreened and reading, but still loving the sun), listening to birdsong and dragonfly buzz, and venturing on my own. Thanks for helping me see the possibilities ahead. Yay Summer!
Cassie
I like doing things alone because I don’t have to worry if other people are having fun or if they want to do something different. It feels luxurious to do exactly what I want to do.
Kari
Best of luck with the yoga teacher training! That sounds amazing!
Kari
http://sweetteasweetie.com/aged-cheddar-sliders-with-pineapple-guacamole/
Lis
Yoga teacher training will change your life in all the good ways. Rock on girlfriend!
Vanessa Klett
Joy–Love your list and the little notebook you wrote it on. Can you please share where the notebook is from?
Come to North Carolina for a dip in new water!!!! Falls Lake just north of Raleigh is beautiful :) And the food here is off the charts good!
Thank you!
Alexandra
Such a pretty bucket list, mine would never be that pretty!
Also, I love Ashley Rodriguez’s book Date Night In–as a cookbook, it is awesome for any sort of menu planning, not just Date Nights! Tell her I’ve already pre-ordered her new cookbook.
Abby @ Heart of a Baker
I love these every year! I’m totally making mine this weekend!
Jenna White
Our family goals include going bowling a lot, eating more ice cream, and setting up an outdoor movie projector with our neighbor for family movie nights under the stars.
Niles
…loved this!
I want to get the paints and journal and try the embellishments to a themed journal…I think reflections on several different topics that currently are drudgery…this would reframe them to fun.
What paints and what type paper in the journal made both work so beautifully for you?
Taste of France
Great ideas. My kid is making a bucket list of new things to learn how to do this summer. Kayaking, hip hop dancing and cooking are on the list. “I don’t want to waste the summer just watching videos and sitting around,” my kid informed me. It was a good kick in the pants for me–what will I learn? Hmmm.
Michele S Jacques
Can I have your kid? Mine are perfectly content sleeping until noon and lounging in front of a screen.
Shellie Andrews
-Say no…I can’t do everything!
-Buy local/seasonal-food and other goods. I live in eastern Canada(just north of Maine) and we have a short growing season and I want to take full advantage of what is available when it’s fresh. Also, the current political climate is making me want to support my local suppliers even more.
-Explore my own province-there are places in my small corner of the world that I have never visited
-Eat more ice cream!
Martha
Hi from Nova Scotia! I hear you on the short growing season. All the farmer’s markets, please!
Shellie
I’m just waiting for my favourite vendors to return to the Boyce Farmers Market for the summer. It’s been a long winter and spring!
Ramona
I love your bucket list but I prefer to say the year of saying yes, so far, I have gotten my passport (Mexico trip next month!), got my first tattoo (it won’t be the last), went to Washington DC to visit my daughter and family and this summer I get to stay with the same daughter (they live near Boston), for 2 months! I can’t hardly wait!
Brenda
Have you ever put your body into Lake Michigan? It’s unsalted (I know, weird to some people, but your eyes will thank me), is accompanied by gorgeous white sand beaches, boasts stunning sunsets (on the Michigan side), and is surrounded by farms that produce some of the best fruits and vegetables you will ever taste in the summer. Bonus points for knowing someone who has a guest room, a Boston Whaler and an annual beach parking pass.
Beth
I’ll be returning to the states after two years abroad in the Peace Corps mid-July, so my list is focused on the last month and a half of summer: Be active/Get outdoors (hike, bike, kayak); go blueberry picking (I should be back just in time for peak picking in upstate NY); visit a new-to-me place in the county I live in; have a picnic; do some DIY and home improvement projects with my parents; eat plenty of ice cream; and play my violin at least weekly.
Mary B
woohoo! congrats on finishing your service! I had the best summer after I returned :-)
Tnt
So beautiful! Now I feel really inspired to make my own!