FIY, I have every intention of acting like a big child this summer. Why should those brats have all the fun? 😉
Seriously, though, summer is a tough time for me. I have heat and light triggered migraines so I can be outside about five minutes before I start to feel ill. Funnily enough, it takes about half that time for me to burn to a Wondra-flavoured crisp.
(Maybe I am part vampire? Lol.)
I'm trying my best not to let summer get me down this year. Instead of hiding inside, wishing I could hibernate, I'm going to spend as much time enjoying (I feel like that should be "enjoying.") summer as possible.
Wish me luck!
Summer 2018 Bucket List
Have a bonfire. Bonfires remind me of school and make me think of friendship. Now that our garden looks like a garden again (thanks to a very helpful neighbour) we have space for the fire pit I've been dreaming of. A teeny one, maybe, but size doesn't matter, right? 😉
✅Eat s'mores. So much *squee*. A very old, very awesome friend send me a box of graham crackers a couple weeks ago -- which I immediately put to good use! Jay and one of our neighbours (who we're going to call "Wilson" because of his habit of popping up over the garden wall) were horrified by my s'mores. Lol. I had to endure a lengthy rant from the two of them about "the kind of shit Americans eat" and I enjoyed every freaking mouthful.
✅Get a new gnome. Can you have too many gnomes? No. The answer is no. I lost a few gnomes to The Great Garden Revamp of 2018 (sniff) but I intend to repopulate. I already bought a new hipster gnome. Expect more to come. Many more.
✅Paint my gnomes. This is a work in progress. I've repainted a few of them but my zombie gnomes are going to need a more talented hand. (Guess what Jay gets to do!) If you have any tips for keeping gnomes from getting weathered, I'd be happy to hear them!
Paint rocks. This is a fad I totally want to get into. There are so many clever ways to paint rocks that (luckily for me) don't take much artistic ability. I just need to find some good rocks to get started...
Goth up a flamingo. Have you seen a plastic flamingo turned into a vulture? This really appeals to my dark sense of humour. Gotta be done, right?
Have a DIY spa day. Much needed and long overdue. I need to spend a day making some scrubs, painting my nails, doing masks, and treating my hair. Summer makes me miserable and I need to do my best to fight that.
Cut my hair short. Frizzy hair? Hot, humid temperatures? UGH. I feel like a strung-out poodle during the summer. It's much easier to manage when it's short so chippity-chop. Even though the hubs cut it for me a few weeks ago, it's still not short enough. If it were up to me, I'd shave it off (and get a big dragon tattoo) but chin-length will do for now. Maybe a dye job, too?
Wear a sundress. I'm not normally a dress kind of person, but when it's hot out... I think I own maybe a sundress? Time to bust it out.
✅Buy a bathing suit. When I started this list, the only bathing suit I owned was several sizes too small. It fit poorly and made me feel crappy about myself. But, just this week, I found a suit that is exactly the cut I want and makes me feel awesome so I snatched it up.
✅Go to the coast. I don't know about you, but I find the coast a peaceful place. I feel calmer. The sound of the waves are soothing and drown out my tinnitus (hooray). I breathe easier. Sure, there's the sun thing but I'm willing to Morticia it with a parasol if I have to.
✅Hang out at the beach. We made our first trip to the coast for the year a couple weeks back but it was too cold to consider going in the water and Jay's back was too bad to make the trip down to the beach. We ate ice cream and played games at the seaside instead. Next time, though, there'd better be sand between my toes!
✅Go for a swim. Gotta make that new bathing suit earn its keep! The sea isn't exactly crystal clear and warm off the coast of South Wales but you take what you can get, right?
Go to a fayre. I'm a sucker for cheesy games and bright rides. There will be several fayres in the area come the summer. I'm determined not to miss them all. This time. I always seem to notice them in passing on our way to someplace else so it will be a challenge to make them our destination.
Be a tourist. It's scary how much of the UK I haven't seen, even though I've been here forever! There are vineyards nearby, museums, and all sorts. I need to get out and see the sights!
Send a postcard. The places that we see all the time can seem exotic to people back at home. I'm going to try to remember that and grab postcards whenever I can this summer.
Hunt down standing stones. There are megaliths scattered across South Wales and, although I've been here over a decade, I've never seen them. Time to fix that!
Visit a waterfall. Supposedly, there are lots of waterfalls around. I haven't found any yet but I intend to!
✅Nom on some popcicles. I won't lie, I basically live off popcicles in the summer. My freezer is already full of them!
Make homemade popcicles. And if there's alcohol in them... even better! 😁
Make homemade ice cream. I've seen tutorials that make this look super easy and I'm dying to try it.
✅Eat an ice cream cone. Ice cream cones are basically the whole point of summer, right?
Have an ice cream float. Did you know British people don't do this? Weirdos. 🤣
Make lemonade. I make wicked lemonade, if I do say so myself. I had to learn to make it when I realized they don't "do" real lemonade here. What the Brits call lemonade is just Sprite. Lame.
Pick berries. The blackberries won't be ready until a lot later but I'd like to get to the local pick-your-own farm and see what they've got in the meantime. It's amazing value for money, too.
✅Eat watermelon. Love me some watermelon. (Jay doesn't like it at all. Lol.) I'm thinking that slicing it up and popping it in the freezer might just have to happen with it gets really hot this summer.
✅Enjoy fresh veg. Vegetables are always better in season, right? I don't grow veg myself but some of our friends do and things always find their way over here. For everything else, there are local markets.
Watch a movie outdoors. Jay and I were talking about doing this a few days ago. We've got a projector hidden away somewhere so it would be easy to throw down a blanket, point the projector at the garden wall, and enjoy a film. I really hope this happens!
Build a blanket fort. They mentioned this on a re-run of The Big Bang Theory I watched recently and it got me thinking... Have I ever built a blanket fort? No. And why the hell not?! First, we find the blankets, then we google how to have child-like fun.
✅Read a book in the shade. Our house faces west so I don't get much shade time. If I'm up and about early enough, though, I can get a few chapters in before the sun starts scorching the patio. (And, yes, my early is probably later than your early. I blame insomnia.)
Visit the library. Oh, this isn't a dreamy ideal. I have to go to the library. I just found two books that I checked out... you know what? Doesn't matter. *ahem* Library, it is.
Go stargazing. I would love to lay out in a field and watch the stars. We're not as far out in the country as I lived growing up but it's not a bad area, either. The stars are fairly clear here so it would be a shame not to enjoy it.
✅Do some bird watching. Kind of a given for us, really. We regularly sit outside and share our lunches with the birds. (There are sparrows and tits nesting in our porch, btw.) I'm pretty good at naming most of the Corvidae but I still have a lot of birds to learn.
Make a flower crown. Have you ever done this? Not me. I don't even know where to start. Isn't this a skill we're supposed to learn as children? Never mind, YouTube to the rescue!
✅Make a wish on a dandelion. Be honest. You do this, right?
Have a summery photo shoot. Summer is a great time to shoot because LIGHT. (Okay, I'll be honest. I prefer autumn light but it rains during the autumn here. Seriously. Like, all autumn.)
Get sporty. Well, a little sporty. I'm not running any marathons any time soon! But a few games of badminton would be fun. Maybe a bike ride or two... You know, sport lite.
Go for a hike. That's kind of sporty, right? The one thing Wales has is forestry. (And castles. We're up to here in castles.) Lots of gorgeous woodland to get (metaphorically, I hope) lost in.
Carve our initials into a tree. This is on my actual bucket list. My for-life bucket list. It's just one of those silly, romantic things I've always wanted to do.
Go to a car boot sale. This was a lot easier to do when Jay's mom was around. You think I suck at mornings? Well, Jay's worse. Why can't they do car boot sales for people who hate mornings?! Maybe I need to start a thing...
Go to the zoo. I'm a massive animal lover. Any zoo I could visit is a good trek, unfortunately, but hopefully we'll make it to one this summer.
Wash the car. Don't try to imagine me sexy-slow-mo washing my car. You won't be able to get that image out of your head any time soon. 🤣 We honestly don't wash our car as often as we should. I should try to wash it at least once before autumn comes.
Have a water balloon/water gun fight. I've already threatened to chase Jay down the lane with a Super Soaker. Let's see how hot it gets and which one of us breaks first...
Play with sidewalk chalk. Can you remember the last time you did this? I can't. I'm not much of an artist but it seems like fun, anyway. Maybe I can get Jay in on the action? (Hah!)
✅Celebrate 4th of July. Not in a braggy "Hey, we kicked your asses!" kind of way but... oh, who am I kidding? What's the point of being an American in Britain on the 4th of July if you can't brag a little? 🤣
✅Celebrate the Summer Solstice and Lammas. You know, witchy stuff.
Enjoy a cocktail. Preferably one I don't have to make myself.
✅Make sangria. I'm not a massive wine fan (give me rum any day) but this fruity version is pretty good.
Go to a concert. I'm not a festival person. I mean a proper, sit-down concert where people aren't peeing on each other. *shudder*
✅Fall in love with a new band. Consider that an open invitation to bombard me with new music. Until Twenty One Pilots return, there's a void in my life.
Crafty Mini-Bucket List:
- make a natural loom
- make a terrarium
- make a wind chime
- make a sun catcher
- make some tie dye
- make some macrame
What do you make of my list? Any ideas I've forgotten? What's on your list? Get in touch and let me know!
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