At the start of the summer, I had a lot of goals for what I wanted to get done not only on my own list but fun things to do with my family that we always forget about. My friends at A Beautiful Mess made printable bucket lists for summer that you can fill out. I thought that would be a great way to have a visual to remind me and keep me accountable by hanging it up on the kitchen wall so we can see it all summer long. My daughters and husband also made their own summer bucket lists so it was a fun project to start and work on together….

The first thing I noticed was that their bucket lists were all about fun and learning! My 7-year-old listed things like “Learn to tie my shoes” and my 10-year-old added “Try 10 new foods”. I wanted to have that kind of spirit and joie de vive for life, so I added some fun to my list as well.

The girls were also completely confident that they could get everything done this summer, and my dreams were a lot more aspirational (and some harder to quantify). I think there is a place for both types of dreams for people, but this was a summer bucket list – like, I was hoping to get it done by the end of summer! So that helped me to focus more on what I could achieve in the two+ months I had.

If you’ve been following my Instagram stories, you probably already know my list has come down to the wire! Like, I just checked off the first one last week. But that’s ok, I knew most would take me all summer to get to or finally slot in. Here’s my list above of 5 things – what did you have for your summer list?

• RELAX while I’m on vacation (which means less email checking, more sleeping in, more vegging out, and lots of snacking!). I don’t know if I have achieved that…yet.
• Make more money. This was kind of a joke, but also has helped me put in some extra hustle at work!
• Go to the beach…that’s an easy one but one we missed last summer!
• Finish my gallery wall. This was a lagging project that I finally finished recently thanks to this list!
• Go to the Art Museum. We have so many great museums in Los Angeles, and it was helpful to remind myself to take advantage of that!

I’m so glad that I did this in a way that didn’t feel as overwhelming as a lifetime list or even an annual list, and I would 100% do it again. Are you thinking about a fall/seasonal/last half of the year list? I definitely love the idea of making it into a family thing as it’s also a great way to hear what your loved ones want to accomplish!