Summer 2026 Bucket List and Goals

 

Hello dollies!  This is the longest day of the year and it has felt like it! We have eaten supper and are sitting in our recliners digesting now at 6:00 pm.  It is 103* and I am ready for bed.  But I need to get this post out before the first day of summer is over.  So away we go...

Bucket Lists

I have heard these called activity lists, possibility lists, life lists, wish lists and dream lists.  The phrase 'bucket list' is often associated with a list of experiences one wants to complete before they kick the proverbial bucket.  I call them bucket lists but I don't think of them in that way.  They are really just reminders of activities I would like to try to do each season.  

When I first started making my bucket lists, I could, at times, get kind of wound up if we didn't get around to checking all the items off as completed.  But over the years, I have loosened up a little, and this year, with my word of the year being 'flow,' I am trying especially hard not to get too bent out of shape about the small stuff.  

And studies show that bucket lists improve quality of life and are good for you (and me!).  I am a huge proponent but I am not alone.  This article, "Living the Dream:  the Mental boost of bucket lists" by Bethany Harris on Haven Psychology  outlines some of the benefits of creating bucket lists.  Good stuff.

Summer 2026 Bucket List

I just shared the final update of my spring 2026 bucket list, here.  There are a couple of activities on my summer list that are being carried over from spring, and maybe even 1 or 2 bumped from winter!!  

For my bucket lists and seasonal goals, I always use the key below to rate my progress on the activities.

Completed  ✅

In progress ⌛

Not started or not completed 🛑

Taking the fail ❌

Bumping to fall  🍂

• 4th of July BBQ:  might not happen ON the 4th but it will be a birthday party for our country.

• attend 1 public library event (carry-over from winter's list❄️):  our public library has a plant swap several times a month on Saturdays and crochet class on Friday afternoons.  Neither day is really good for me but I am going to try again this summer. Going to add, though, that if I don't get to one of the library's events, I will try to attend something at Crafts-n-Moor or Margin Notes Book Bar.  Surely I can make one of these happen!!

• brainstorm an activity for my online book club (another carry-over from winter❄️): I think I have thought of something but going to mull it over - as if mulling it over for 6 months hasn't been enough already!!  Want to do something fun for the most active members of "Come Read with Me."

• Chihuahuas baseball game:  we always try to take in at least one of our Triple A baseball team's games each summer.  Thinking we should get tickets for 1 of the 3 fireworks extravaganzas 07.03-07.05.2026.

• create at least one collage with Jennifer Chamberlin (carry-over from spring list🌼): I purchased this collage experience in the spring but haven't made any of the collages yet.  Have been caught up in scrapbooking but want to make time for a collage this season.  

• family game night:  we last had game night in Durango, Colorado over the Christmas holiday.  Time to do it again.  I have put all of our game night gear together in a bag so it will be easy to set up and make this happen.  Maybe we can make some fun snacks, too.

• ice cream downtown at Gozo's:  Gozo’s Ice Cream is an El Paso ice cream shop serving homemade flavors and endless joy. Our stores are run by hardworking employees who have an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD), giving them an opportunity to shine and practice life skills [source].  Have wanted to visit for several years.  Just sounds like a feel good place. 

• Lake Bonito, NM Father's Day fishing trip:  PC and I usually don't celebrate Mother's and Father's Day because he is not my daughters' dad and I am not his children's mom.  But this year, he took me to dinner for Mother's Day and I am treating him to an overnight fishing trip.  We are staying in what I hope will be a super cool accommodation.  

• Pensacola Beach family vacay and birthday celebration:  we try to celebrate the summer birthdays of Mustafa, Cadence, Brennyn, Lauren and Francisco together most years.  Our last celebration together was at South Padre Island in 2024.  This year we are going to the Emerald Isle on Pensacola, Florida.  

• Try a new restaurant for date night:  we are slipping back into a rut of patronizing the same 2-3 restaurants so it is time to try something new.  Maybe Oak & Antler, Lamezze, or Margie's Central Canteen.

Summer Goals

• bake bread:  had one successful loaf of bread using my bread machine during the spring.  Now to do it more often and perfect the recipe.

• clean rock garden beds (a spring list🌼carry-over):  bought this Armor All wet/dry vac to make the job easier but still haven't gotten this done.  Will happen this season.

• complete 100% of my memoir course on DailyOm (sound familiar?? Yup, bumped from winter❄️):  at 96% complete - so close.  Will get this finished during summer and start on my next course.

• donate blood (didn't happen winter❄️ or spring🌼):  so easy and yet so hard to get done. Have been sick-ish since we got home from the UK.  Hasn't happened but will.

• paint pull-outs on the pillars around our house:  we have determined what color paint we need and bought it, now to get painting.  

• payoff the remaining balance on my Amazon card (I know, I know):  have been working so hard on this. I will have a zero balance by the first day of fall.

• purchase screens for the pergola and behind the grill:  we had a screen on the pergola that provided shade to anyone sitting in the hot tub but the wind tore it up.  We want to get a replacement for the pergola and another one for behind our barbecue grill to keep the afternoon summer sun from being so strong on the patio.  They are on sale on Wayfair right now so we need to act fast.

• scan the remainder of our family photos into Photomyne (bumped from spring🌼):  just when I think I have surely scanned the last photo, I find another stack of pictures.  Surely, surely about to get them all scanned.

• tidy the backyard area, pool and patio:  we need to clean the pool deck, furniture, tend the plants, shape up the bushes and scrub the pool tiles.  El Paso has incredibly hard water and calcium really reeks havoc on our tiles.

• videorecord myself reading all of my 'books' or 'stories':  I am working hard to finalize 2 of my 3 manuscripts.  Want to record myself reading those 2 and maybe the third one.  Also working with Dianne Ochiltree, children's author, to fine tune my book/story "Crinkles and Dots."

Figuring that these activities and chores should keep me from being bored this summer.  In reality, I am NEVER EVER bored.  There are always so many things I want to do just not enough time to do them all.  Hope you will come by now and then to cheer me on.

Your Turn

Have you made your summer plans yet?  What fun activities are on your list?  Do you have seasonal chores to tackle?  If you have a summer bucket list and/or summer goals post, please link it up with us below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

We are off today to Nogal, New Mexico to fish and cool off from the triple digit El Paso heat.  And this getaway will earn my a coveted green checkmark ✅ on my bucket list.  Yay me!!

Thank you for the visit.  Let me know how your summer plans are shaping up in a comment below.  And stop by to visit some of the others above linked up for this series.  Make it a good week!!

Hugs and kisses,