Fall 2026 Bucket List and Goals

 

Happy fall, ya'll!!  Don't know about you, but I am positively ready for cooler temperatures and 🍁fall🍁colors and everything pumpkin spice.  Last week our highs continued to run in the 90s and this week with the official arrival of 🍂autumn🍂.  

Today I want to share my 🍁fall🍁 bucket list but before we can do that, we have to see how I wound things up for the summer.  I'm feeling pretty good about things but haven't taken a final tally of checkmarks.  So, let's do that together.

Final Update: Summer 2026 Bucket List

You can find my original summer 2026 goals and bucket list post, here.   It will give some explanation of the 'why' behind the things on my lists.  

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  🍂

Summer Bucket List

• 4th of July BBQ:  ✅

• attend 1 public library event:  ✅

• brainstorm an activity for my online book club:  🛑

• Chihuahuas baseball game:  ✅

• 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.  Finished my ballerina collage just under the wire.  ✅

• family game night:   ✅

• ice cream downtown at Gozo's:   🛑 will try again next spring

• Lake Bonito, NM Father's Day fishing trip:   ✅

• Pensacola Beach family vacay and birthday celebration:  .  ✅

• try a new restaurant for date night:  ✅

Summer Goals

• bake bread:  🛑 bumping to 🍁fall🍁

• clean rock garden beds: 🛑bumping to 🍁fall🍁

• complete 100% of my memoir course on DailyOm:  ✅

• donate blood:  ✅

• paint pull-outs on the pillars around our house:  ✅

• payoff the remaining balance on my Amazon card (I know, I know):  ✅ I will have this completed by the end of September, I promise

• purchase screens for the pergola and behind the grill:   ✅ 

• scan the remainder of our family photos into Photomyne: 🛑bumping to 🍁fall🍁

• tidy the backyard area, pool and patio: 🛑 will try again next spring

• videorecord myself reading all of my 'books' or 'stories':  🛑bumping to 🍁fall🍁

Looks like I completed 8 out of 9 of my bucket list activities.  Woohoo!!  But didn't do quite as well with my summer goals.  Only completed 50% of my goals for the season.  So, fair warning, my fall goals may look a lot like a rerun of summer!!  

So, enough of this looking backward.  Time to look forward and jump into 🍁fall🍁 with both feet.  Here's what I am hoping to enjoy and accomplish in this shiny new season.

16 Fall 2026 Bucket List Activities

As much as I love this season, I was a stumped just a little trying to think of some new-to-us 🍁fall🍁 activities to try.  After some research and a little deliberation with PC, this is what we came up.

I will be using the same key as I used in summer (and for years and years) to rate the progress on my lists.

• attend University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) football game with PC and Matt: Paul's son is coming to visit mid-October and we thought this would be something fun to do together.  
• bake or make something pumpkin-y:  not sure what yet.  Definitely something sweet but I like pumpkin chili and pumpkin Alfredo, too.
• buy pumpkins for the vintage wagon on the porch:  I bought a vintage red wagon earlier this month.  Hope to put real pumpkins in it this 🍁fall🍁 and little artificial Christmas trees in it over the holidays.
• celebrate Thanksgiving:  we always celebrate so this isn't anything new or novel.  Might try a new recipe of two.
• collect assorted mittens to make winter garland for the mantel:  check out this adorable garland.  Would like to find bright colored mittens at the thrift store or Goodwill to make one.

• decorate for 🍁fall🍁; make cauldron, put out decorations inside and out:  I love decorating for the holidays and seasons.  Especially 🍁fall🍁.  Hoping to make this cauldron for the front porch then put out all of the Halloween, dia de los muertos and Thanksgiving things.

• dress up for Halloween:  I have a half-dozen costume choices to include a Katarina for dia de los muertos, a medieval peasant girl, or what I thought was a Renaissance gown but turns out it is Winnie Sanderson's costume from "Hocus Pocus" (which I have obviously never seen!!).
• hike with the El Paso grands and fam:  the girls are old enough to make the hike to Aztec Cave this 🍁fall🍁.  Or maybe Dripping Springs.  Hope to make that happen.
• indulge in pan de muerto for Dia de los Muertos:  I absolutely LOVE pan de muerto.  Didn't get a single crumb last year.  To need make up for that this year.
• learn to crochet:  are you tired of seeing this on my bucket lists each season?  Me, too!!  Going to make it happen this 🍁fall🍁.  
• read to the seniors at White Acres Retirement Community:  a librarian friend of mine reads to senior citizens at her mom's retirement community once a week.  Beth is going out of town and I offered to 'sub' for her.  She does an amazing job so I have big shoes to fill.
• sneak away for a weekend, perhaps writing retreat:  our writing pals, Dick and Denise, are talking about getting together for a 3-day writing retreat.  Hoping we can do that and/or enjoy another fishing getaway. 
• surprise PC with a new fire pit; enjoy wine and charcuterie in the hot tub by the fire:  currently, we have a tiny fire pit made from an industrial-sized fire extinguisher but it puts out little heat.  I would like to have something bigger and more powerful for chilly nights in the hot tub.  Really like this one and it is iron so it shouldn't budge when our gale winds hit.

• trip to Ohio and Tennessee to see family:  hoping to solidify our plans soon now that PC is recovering from his hip replacement surgery.
• try a new soup recipe:  I love soup and could easily live off of soup and salad with the occasional piece of chocolate.  Discovered this potato soup recipe on IG so want to try it.  Maybe a new version of chili, too?  

10 Fall 2026 Goals

• arrange for new carpet installation; thoroughly clean rooms to be carpeted:  we have the installation appointment and apparently the can do everything in one day.  Just want to be sure PC is up to that hubbub while he is recovering.
• bake bread:  why is this so hard?  I think because my bread doesn't rise.  Going to try, try again.
• clean rock gardens:  started this in the summer but it was truly pointless because our neighbor's mesquite trees dump so much debris into our yard until mid-fall.  And then, in the spring, it will start all over again.  But I need to clean this year's debris out of our rocks.
• find a Blogger course to take and complete it:  if we have been buds for any length of time, you already know that I have much technology troubles with my blog.  First using WordPress and to a lesser extent here with Blogger.  Want to take a course so I know my way around Blogger a little better.  Maybe this one on YouTube.
• finish addressing Dianne's suggestions/revisions for my book Crinkles and Dots:  Dianne is children's author Dianne Ochiltree.  I purchased a consultation with her this summer for my children's story/book.  She has given me helpful feedback and great suggestions.  Now to finish incorporating them.
• scan remainder of family photos, file into albums:  this probably looks familiar.  It is a carry-over from several past lists of seasonal goals.  Need to finish this project.
• touch up driveway address numbers:  we had our house numbers painted on the end of our driveway several years ago and they still look pretty good but are peeling slightly.  I need to just touch them up a bit and reseal them.
• utilize the resources available through David Gaughran and his book Let's Get Digital and those available through IngramSpark:  so many resources to wade through in hopes of self-publishing my book.  I have friends who have self-published so surely I can do this, too.
• videorecord myself reading Cuddles Lil Bitsy and Crinkles and Dots: another carry-over from previous lists.  This should be easy!!  Just need to do it.
• wash windows outside:  we have the special outdoor Windex.  Now to wash the windows!!

Mighty big plans, huh.  Hope you will stop by now and then to see how I am coming along and to cheer me to victory!!

Your Turn

Do you have your 🍁fall🍁 bucket list and goals put together yet?  If so, link them up with us below.  We can be each other's personal pep squads.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Also, linking up this post with my friend Penny.  I had lost track of her but rediscovered her blog recently.  She has a series Thinking Out Loud Thursday, and I am joining her for that this week.  

PC is doing so well now 5 days into his hip replacement recovery.  Hope is back to 110% by mid-season so we can get all of these fun things accomplished together.

Off to bed.  Will start tackling these lists tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Hugs and kisses,