{Synonyms for summer: love, sunsets, Nantucket, home, The Grey Lady, sisters, Nerf, surfing, ACK, ice cream, kickball, the Box, skeek skeek, Something Natural, lighthouses, Cisco Brewers, frat, playing, graduation, loving, family, Brant Point, Blues Beach, pacts, love.}
Spot any themes in the synonyms for summer above? For me, summertime is all about my family, the beach, vacationing in Nantucket, and loving on my friends as much as I possibly can when we’re together for a super concentrated amount of time (which, in the normal 72 hours we get to spend together, is a monstrous amount of loving). While I would love to spend every waking hour with every single person I love in my favorite place in the universe, summer is actually made sweeter by the mere fact that we only experience these things — a Memorial Day weekend bender, Juice Bar waffle cones, Crantucket mojitos, family vacation — once a year.
This year, after some encouraging and inspiration from our favorite bloggers (Joy, Tracy, and Kelle), Molly and I decided to make our own bucket lists for the summer. I’m moving from Los Angeles back to New Jersey/New York one month from today (eeeek!) and, in addition to the standard activities of playing running bases with my sisters, swooning over bow tie-and-pastel-clad men, and throwing a Labor Day rager, I have things to accomplish on both coasts!
{2012} Summer Bucket List
-Watch the sunrise. I lived on the east coast for the first 22 years of my life and I never actually sat and watched the sun rise. How ridiculous is that! If I end up seeing the sun come up because I’ve been out all night in New York City, awesome. If I wake up insanely early to navigate my way through the Nantucket morning fog, that will be equally amazing.
-Go skinny dipping. It’s a summer rite of passage. Get on board.
-Unplug for a week. The week of August 3rd-August 10th, I’m going to vow to abstain from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, text messaging, calling, and television. The one exception to this is for the Olympics — I’ll be damned if I miss one second of Ryan Lochte in a speedo. I know I spend far too much time with my phone glued to my hand and in front of my face, and am a social media junkie (both personally and at work) and there’s no better time to completely disconnect than while on vacation with my family.
-Be 100% vegan for a week. I’ve been experimenting with vegan cooking techniques for a few months now, and I think I’m well-informed and prepared enough to be completely vegan for seven whole days!
-Attend a Dodgers game.
-Cook a meal entirely from farmers market purchases. I have this great cookbook and I want to capitalize on the incredible seasonal California produce and the abundant number of Los Angeles farmers markets before I move back to a teeny tiny town.
-Write more notes, letters, journal entries. One of my best friends, Sarah, is joining the Peace Corps this summer and will be spending 27 months in Togo, Africa largely without a connection to the virtual world. She gave me some stationary for my birthday way back in February, so posted mail to Africa and I will be come well-aquainted come July.
-Make my own vanilla extract! It’s so easy!
-Create my own signature summer cocktail. When it comes to choosing what to drink, I select from the same pool of three things — a bold cabernet, tequila and something (no shots…I’m classy like that), or champagne. Vodka and I don’t get along, I’m not a fan of gin, and white wine is too sweet for me. But I’m willing to experiment! If this cocktail concocting goes well, I’m going to make this a seasonal thing — a Kelsey Cocktail for fall, winter, and spring!
What do you hope to accomplish this summer? Need some more inspiration? See what Molly would like to do over the summer!
Ready to Salivate 