Today I'm participating in Mama Kat's weekly writing prompts. Today I've created a bucket list of 50 things I want to do this summer. Coming up with 50 things just about killed me, and halfway through I started to wonder why the hell I didn't pick a different writing prompt! I stuck with it, and at the end of the summer I'll post an update to show how many things I was able to cross off.
- Get way more active on Good Reads. I was really excited about the site when I first joined, but my interest sort of petered out pretty quickly. I think part of the problem is that I feel this weird pressure to add every single book I've ever read to my "Read" shelf which of course is completely overwhelming... and part of it is that I only have a handful of friends on there to interact with. So if you're on there, let's connect! There's not much in life that I'm more passionate about than reading, so if you feel the same, let's chat about books together.
- Start writing some book reviews, on Good Reads and also on my blog.
- Get back into blogging. I keep falling away from it, and every time I do I really miss it. I'm going to set a really achievable goal for myself and say that I would like to blog at least twice a week.
- Get back into commenting on other people's blogs. I go through phases with this and I hate it, because I know how much it means to bloggers to get comments. I will say that I still faithfully read everyone's blogs, I just haven't been taking the time to comment. I'm going to try to work on that.
- Discover at least 5 really great new blogs to follow. It's been a while since I added to my reader, and I'd love to find some new authors to follow. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
- Read 5 Stephen King novels. This is something I always mean to do, but I always seem to have a million other books on my shelf that are begging to be devoured. I've only read two or three of King's novels and I want this to be the summer that he and I get a bit better aquainted.
- Learn to run. Before the wedding, I had managed to lose about 12 pounds through reforming my diet and working out religiously. Since we've been back, I've gained back about half. I've always wanted to learn to run - when I run now about four minutes in my lungs feel like they're going to explode - and now seems like a good time to try. Nick and I have decided to give the C25K another shot, outside this time. I'm hoping that by the end of summer we'll be able to go for runs together to get in shape and stay there.
- Find a great recipe for apple muffins.
- Try out some of the recipes in the cupcake cookbook my mother in law gave me.
- Set up my sunroom as a home office. I want a dedicated space to write and to store my notebooks and things. Somewhere I can go to feel inspired. I recently took ownership of a beautiful antique desk that I'm dying to set up in there. Once I find places for the last few wedding gifts currently taking up residence in the sunroom, I can get the desk moved in there.
- Finally put together my wedding planning scrapbook.
- Print my honeymoon pictures and get that scrapbook put together.
- Get caught up on some of my other long-neglected scrapbooks... god this is overwhelming.
- Go camping with Nick and Dunkin. We've cancelled our September Disney trip (sob!) in favor of saving up to hopefully buy a house next spring, but I'd still like to get away for a few days and just spend some time together away from our day to day routine.
- Post. Wedding. Chop.
- Become a successful meal planner.
- Add some new recipes to my (very) limited repertoire. I find this challenging because Nick and I don't eat a lot of meat, (basically chicken, ham and turkey) but Nick also isn't crazy about many vegetables (while I love them all). When I try to find recipes we will both enjoy, I get discouraged really quickly. At the same time, I can only eat chicken with rice and corn so many times before I go quietly crazy!
- Work on my book. I need to stop making excuses and just do it already.
- Watch all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (I've seen the first two, and I love them!).
- Finally try the Spanish restaurant down the street.
- Go golfing with Nick. I don't actually golf, but sometimes I go with him to keep him company, and I sit in the golf cart and read while he golfs. It's actually really relaxing and it's a nice chance for us to spend some quiet time together outside.
- Continue to work on paying down our debt so we can make the house a reality come next spring. We've made a huge effort with this lately and I'm proud of us.
- Make a great soup from scratch.
- Try out my new ice cream maker. (Man, with all these food-related goals, I better hope this running thing works out!)
- Throw a fun summer party.
- Send out 5 greeting cards for no reason.
- Schedule my first riding lesson. Nick bought me a set of them as part of my wedding gift, and for some reason I'm really nervous to schedule the first one! Sometimes it's hard for me to try new things on my own, but I'm really excited about this so I know I need to just force myself.
- Take Dunkin for lots of walks while it's nice out and we can.
- Sell my DSLR. I was so excited to buy it, but it's been over a year and I still haven't found the time to learn to use it. Right now I could better use the money to pay off some debt, so if I can get a good price for it, I'm going to part with it.
- Find a really great point & shoot to replace it with. I had a Sony with a touch screen that I liked a few years ago, but I think it's been discontinued. I'm not in love with my current Nikon. My last Canon was really slow. I'm pretty much at a total loss here.
- Dust off my wii. Nick and I had so much fun with this back in the day, and now it's been sitting sadly neglected for years.
- Ditto for the wii fit.
- Read some books on writing to help me get inspired. I've ordered Stephen King's On Writing from my local Barnes & Noble, but I'm open to other suggestions too.
- Try to be better about keeping my house clean... although if I manage to successfully work on my book I don't foresee a ton of spare time for intensive cleaning!
- Get back into Twitter.
- Make more time for friends and family. For months I've been pretty consumed by wedding planning and starting my new job, but now the wedding's over and I'm a bit more settled in at work, so I'd really like to start reconnecting with my friends again.
- Host a family dinner with my wedding china.
- Go to the beach. I love it and I so rarely make time for it.
- Start using my crockpot.
- Wake up early enough to eat breakfast at home and spend a few minutes on my computer before I leave for work. I hate being rushed in the morning but I always, always am. The reality is that it's always hard for me to get up, regardless of the time, so it may as well be the first time my alarm goes off instead of the third.
- Pay more attention to Jasper. The poor guy has lost out on a ton of attention since Dunkin's arrival, and I feel bad about it.
- Push-ups. Crunches. Lots of them.
- Get my bike tuned up and take it outside!
- Spend enough time outside that my freakishly pale self actually gets a tan.
- Try to get better about not wasting food... we throw so much out every week and I feel terrible about it, it's such a waste of food and money. I think meal planning will help with this.
- Read the Sookie Stackhouse books! I'm obsessed with True Blood, and I really want to give the books a shot.
- Sell my wedding dress. I'm never going to wear it again, so really, why keep it? If I can get a reasonable amount of cash for it, I'm going to sell it and put the money toward paying off our debt. And hey, I'm sure there's a girl out there who would love a good deal on a wedding dress, right?
- Go through my closet and get rid of some clothes. I've been putting this off because I'm still trying to lose weight, but if I'm where I want to be by the end of the summer, my closet is getting cleaned out.
- Make quinoa.
- Distance myself a little from the friends who always seem to take a lot more than they give. I have too much going on in my life right now to make time for people for whom I'm not a priority. All it does is limit the time I have for the people who mean the most to me.
What's on your summer bucket list??