Summer. It’s a week away. Queue the happy dance, and queue me getting my butt in gear to seize the season. Which means, time for me to make a little to-do list.
I must confess, last year’s list was an epic fail. I think I accomplished, ummm…maybe…one of the items on the list. It all sounded great, but those three months flew by, and I am not Super Woman, I am Super Easily Distracted Woman. So this year’s list is a bit more manageable, but also fueled by a bit more motivation, since it’ll be the last summer without a kiddo in tow.
Also, to be totally honest. I’ve been a bit hard on and negative in my mindset towards living in LA. Yes, it tends to feel like Groundhog Day. Yes, driving anywhere makes my blood pressure rise. Yes, the beaches are almost always busy, so are the surf lineups, and getting to them when you don’t live near the beach (which is so darn expensive it’s depressing) involves more stressful driving …and the there’s the actual parking situation. See, here I go into my negative mindset again. But on the plus side – the GREAT part about LA is that you can hop in your car and drive OUT of it’s jurisdiction to some pretty epic places. Which I am aiming to do more of.
Even while my belly gets huge.
So here we go.
Summer To-Do’s for 2015.
Trying to check off more than one of these this year.
• Go to Big Sur or Tahoe, and paddleboard, or camp, or hike. Or just enjoy one of these amazing places that make my heart rate go up just by thinking of spending a few days there.
• Surf Rincon. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get a few sympathy waves since I might be knee paddling in a few more weeks.
• Do one painting a week. This is a must.
• Actually make some homemade popsicles. Since I have about 27 different recipes bookmarked. And make them healthy, so I can eat a ton of them.
• Meet my mom and sister at the Arizona/Utah border for a few days to explore Antelope Canyon and Horeshoe Bend. Dayum those places look spectacular. And hopefully we can bring our pups along for the fun.
• Drive down to Laguna for some more beach days. And take Kili to Dog Beach in Huntington Beach as much as possible (even though I do this year round).
• Actually use my little polaroid camera that I finally bought. And have taken about 5 pictures on so far. I’m thinking baby bump in cool natural locations would be a coo theme. Yup.
• Buy a bouquet of flowers each week to brighten up the home/office. Maybe I’ll even get saucy and put some flowers in our yard or something.
• Float in an innertube or cool flotation device, in a calm body of water, for like three hours. Not sure if there is a river somewhere close, or maybe someone’s pool will suffice.
• Put down my stinking phone, and soak up moments, instead of worrying about taking pictures of them.
• Enjoy being forced to wear lots of rad maxi dresses, sarongs with tees, and stretchy flowy feminine stuff. Since my usual cutoffs and tee uniform might become a bit uncomfortable.
• Do something fun for the 4th of July weekend, preferably where it’s not insanely crowded. Probably should start planning this before July 3rd like we did last year.
• Decide if I am going to go back to Miami for Swim Week again…or head back to Hawaii for a few days before my “able to fly while preggo” window closes. I’ll let you guess what direction I’m leaning….
and last but not least…
• Grill out, watch as many sunsets as possible, embrace the simple things and little moments that make me smile. And enjoy a killer ice cream cone every now and then. Since a six pack of cold beer is off the menu for now.
Summer. Bring it on.