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I love spring, but I’m thinking about summer.

It’s high time to slow my roll and truly savor the sweet, laid-back season ahead. Longer days of sunshine and quiet reprieve from the colder months will surely bring a bit of peaceful gratitude.

I want to have a “good” summer, but it won’t be centered around grand vacations or spending tons of money. There will be no hustle and bustle this year, that’s for sure. For me, it’ll be about 61 things I’d like to mindfully tick off a simple (but super-duper) list—because lists are my jam!

Being truly present in all I do is the most important priority in order to savor Summer ’24—the brief, beautiful few months of time I’ll never get back. 

Here are exactly 61 things I’m planning so I can wake up my spirit and simply feel alive again!

1. Take a scenic hike (or two, or three, or four)
2. Find a few more Rail Trails and bike ’em all
3. Swim in the ocean and build a sandcastle
4. Go wading in a creek in cut-offs
5. Make fresh lemonade
6. Spend the entire day without an agenda, but with a great friend
7. Take a full moon walk and look up at the stars on a cool, clear night
8. Visit a farm (calves! baby goats! ducklings!)
9. Move some perennials to where they will feel better
10. Make a new friend
11. Plant sunflowers early for August enjoyment
12. Go to a big Country Fair
13. Spot an owl and then sketch it and then use watercolors to paint it and then frame it
14. Invent a fabulous, new signature cocktail
15. Visit an outdoor sculpture garden
16. Frequent the flea market
17. Shop local
18. Play outside with a child
19. Can some pickles
20. Read, read, read
21. Walk the river at Steep Rock
22. Get up early for a sunrise
23. Lay in the grass and look at the clouds on a carefree afternoon
24. Pay it forward, buy a stranger a fresh cup of coffee (and then do it again)
25. Sit by a nice fire at dusk
26. Grow a big fat juicy tomato
27. Sift through some second-hand shops
28. Get a hefty scoop of ice cream in a sugar cone and let it drip down my wrist…once a week
29. Study the birds
30. Find a small winery with Adirondack chairs and music
31. Watch a (local) baseball game at night under the lights
32. Wash all my windows and mirrors
33. Stop for a hot dog and a milkshake at a roadside stand (after a hike)
34. Dance to live music at a local brewery
35. Go on a boat ride and float on the lake until the sunnies nip my ass
36. Get caught in a warm summer shower
37. Watch the sunset on top of a mountain
38. Go skinny dipping
39. Camp out
40. Clean the attic and the basement once and for all
41. Write a poem
42. Do yoga outside in the shade
43. Eat some corn on the cob
44. Volunteer
45. Nap like it’s my job
46. Pay for a top-notch spa beauty treatment
47. Build a short, new walkway in my courtyard
48. Bake a fresh peach pie
49. Take the kayak out for a bit
50. Have some neighbors over for some unsweetened iced tea and a gab session
51. Get my produce from the farmer’s market
52. Go fishing
53. Eat a lobster roll
54. Watch the fireworks
55. Finish a whole jigsaw puzzle
56. Pack a cooler and sit down at the town park for the live bands on Friday nights
57. Plan a day trip; pick a spot not too far away and hit the road for shopping, exploring and lunch
58. Reconnect with an old friend
59. Learn something completely new
60. Forgive, let go of everything, and move the f*ck on
61. Put my damn phone down and not document any of it

Cheers to summer ’24! What would you add to this list?

~

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