Summer Bucket List: A Recap

Today is the first day of Fall, which for most of you means you’re elbow-deep in scarves and blazers and pumpkin spice. For me it means that the long stretches of triple-digit temperatures are FINALLY behind us, but it’s still sweltering on the regular (yesterday it was still 103, btw). Back in May, when it was also sweltering, I posted a fairly ambitious list of things to accomplish over the summer, and despite a LOT of unanticipated changes and craziness over the last few months, I am so proud of myself for really sticking to my plans, which were pretty great to start with.

Summer Bucket List: 2016

    • No sunburns, no tan lines, and religious sunscreen application!
      Yes, ma’am!

Arizona Backyard After 5_feistyharriet_May 2016

    • Finish up the landscaping in the backyard.
      Yep! Also done! And it looks SOOO GOOOD!
    • Schedule a personal day off from work: go to a spa, get a massage, a pedicure, take myself out to a nice lunch, and maybe a movie, just because I can.
      This….did not happen. I need to revisit this idea, stat.
    • Go camping!
      Yep! National Park camping, FTW!

Arizona Backyard After 4_feistyharriet_May 2016

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    • Eat at least one full meal harvested entirely from the backyard garden.
      Mostly yes. It wasn’t a full meal in one sitting, harvest times being staggered and all, but we ate as much produce as our backyard garden would churn out: tomatoes, peppers, butternut squash, herbs, and my fridge is still full of eggplant.

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    • Make homemade ice cream happen.
      Yep. Batches of strawberry, black raspberry, and peach. Delicious!

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    • Visit four new National Parks.
      Three/four. I only made it to 3 new parks (Joshua Tree, Sequoia, and King’s Canyon), but also visited a few National Monuments, so, I’m counting it done.

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    • Go to a rodeo!
      Absolutely. Strawberry Days Rodeo is one of my favorite traditions.
    • Tackle and manage a joint budget with Mr. Blue Eyes.
      Ish? I don’t know if this is complete, meaning finished, but it has been tackled, and tackled again. It’s a work in progress, basically. Merging lives is hard, ya’ll.
    • Continue my current health and exercise regimen.
      Yes! I haven’t lost as much weight as I did in the spring, but I have been steadily improving my speed and distance. I still feel fluffy, but a lot less fluffy than I have for years. This goal will continue for the foreseeable future.

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    • Read a LOT of books. Inside. With the AC blowing directly on me.
      Yep, yep, yep. Fifty-nine since summer started (ok, since I posted this as an item on my summer to-do list).
    • Finish the last bit of painting inside our house: 2 rooms and a closet.
      Well…the closet is done… Ahem.

Ok, so overall, a pretty decent summer, with a lot of food-based highlights…which I didn’t quite realize until I started looking for images for this post, ahem. Additional wins included presenting at a non-work-related conference with a non-profit I’ve contributed to the last couple of years, and starting a new job here in Arizona.

My previous lists and successes, here.

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Summer Bucket List: 2016

I don’t know about you, but where I live summer is in full force. We’ve got summer vegetables available at farm stands, summer activities on weekends, kids in and out of the pool, and (COMPLETELY INSANE) summer temperatures. It was 103 last Wednesday and I still haven’t quite gotten over it. And this isn’t even the worst heat of the summer. It’s gonna be 118 before I know it. Summer in Arizona is going to be very different from my summer’s in the relatively mild Salt Lake City. I can’t just hop in my car and escape to the mountains for some mid-70’s temperatures and plenty of leafy shade. I mean, saguaro cactus give just enough shade for a really skinny person to stand in. My Summer Bucket List for this year (and all subsequent years) will look very different than previous lists, heading outside is more of an Arizona “winter” activity, not something that is at all enjoyable from May – October.

I have been firming up some work scheduling things and personal vacation-y things, the calendar was looking kind of…full. So I did the math: for a six-week long stretch I will only be at home in my own bed for six nights. Total. On average, one night per week for six weeks. Now, that sounds ridiculously overwhelming, but the good news is that every single one of the places I will be visiting (for work and for fun) are cooler than the Valley of the Surface of the Sun. So, despite knowing that kind of travel will be exhausting, I am looking forward to a little respite from the face-melting heat.

Summer Bucket List: 2016

      1. No sunburns, no tan lines, and religious sunscreen application!
      2. Finish up the landscaping in the backyard (the hardest part is already done, just some concrete work, finishing off some planter boxes, and laying the sod).
      3. Schedule a personal day off from work: go to a spa, get a massage, a pedicure, take myself out to a nice lunch, and maybe a movie, just because I can. (This should happen immediately after the 6 weeks of travel hell.)
      4. Go camping! Preferably somewhere higher in elevation, cooler, and leafier.
      5. Keep my backyard garden boxes alive! I need to rig up some shade to protect the baby veggies from 10 hours of the blasting Arizona sun.
      6. Eat at least one full meal harvested entirely from the backyard garden.
      7. Make homemade ice cream happen.
      8. Visit four new National Parks.
      9. Go to a rodeo!
      10. Tackle and manage a joint budget with Mr. Blue Eyes.
      11. Continue my current health and exercise regimen. (The good news is that the gym is heavily air conditioned, so while outdoor hiking may be a November and January activity, treadmill and exercises classes will be perfect when the temperatures soar.)
      12. Read a LOT of books. Inside. With the AC blowing directly on me.
      13. Finish the last bit of painting inside our house: 2 rooms and a closet.

I have had medium-levels of success with posting and then sticking to a summer bucket list in previous years, we’ll see how I do this year. Minus the “keep the backyard vegetables from burning up!” goal, these seem fairly manageable, even with six weeks away. Wish me luck!

What’s on your summer bucket list?

Summer Bucket Lists from previous years: 2015, 2014

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Summer Bucket List 2015: After

A few months ago I wrote a bucket list of things I wanted to do during my last summer in Salt Lake City. Here are my results with links and pictures and all the evidence necessary to somehow convince you that my summer was excellent.*

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Summer Bucket List: 2015

  1. No tan lines or sun burns
    • Accomplished! A+ for Harriet! I have tubes of SPF 385 sunscreen in every possible location (medicine cabinet, car, purse, day pack, other purse, camera bag) and was really careful to apply liberally and without mercy on the regular.
  2. Say “yes” to adventure!
  3. Sleep under the stars
    • I spent two wonderful nights under the glorious sky in eastern Nevada, one of the darkest places on earth (i.e. least light pollution). Without a telescope or anything I could see jillions of stars, the Milky Way, the Perseid meteor shower, and even caught the International Space Station as it made it’s way around the world. I need more stars in my life.
  4. Hike to the top of a mountain, a big one
  5. Summer kick off bonfire
    • Yess! Friends! Campfire! S’Mores!
  6. Go to a rodeo
    • Yep, the longest-running rodeo in Arizona, in fact.
  7. Run a 10k
    • Kind of. Did I run 6.2 miles in one morning or evening? Yes, twice. But not in an official 10k. I’m counting this half-done.
  8. Go to the farmer’s market, make meal with purchases
    • Done and done!
  9. Make homemade ice cream
    • ….fail. Absolute fail. Recipes for huckelberry ice cream and basil ice cream are both waiting for me to procure said berries and herbs….sigh.
  10. Outdoor movie (either at the drive in, or in someone’s back yard)
    • That’s a negative. I was double booked on outdoor movie night, and a good friend in town from Oregon/Canada and her new baby won over Casino Royale in the backyard. I have only a few tiny regrets (because missing larger-than-life Daniel Craig always has attached regrets).
  11. Attend the wild flower festival
    • I was out of town for the actual festival, but I went up the week before and took a million pictures of all the gorgeous flowers on the ski slopes.
  12. Dust off my big camera, take more pictures
    • Dear Canon: Why do I forget how much I love you?!
  13. Spend as much time as possible in the mountains: hiking on school nights, camping on weekends, dinner in the canyon with friends
    • Yes, even though there are not terabytes of photographic evidence, I feel like I spent more time in the mountains this summer than I have in several summers…and it always calmed my heart and fed my soul. Also? My friends are delightfully awesome.

How was your summer? Did you fill it to the brim with adventures and friends and BBQs? Or did you hunker down and wait for it to be over?

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*For the record, my summer was fan-freaking-tastic! And yes, I do have trouble sometimes with self-imposed publishing deadlines, and yes I know it’s October and no, in fact, I do not care.

Summer Bucket List: 2015

Last summer I wrote a pretty lengthy summer bucket list and left about a third of it undone. I mean, I still had a great summer, but I also feel like I bit off much more than I could chew as far as checking things off a list. So, this summer my list is much shorter and more manageable…hopefully.Some are repeats from last summer because, frankly, some things should be done every summer. That being said, this is my last summer in Salt Lake City (sob!) and I want to maximize my time here, especially in my beloved mountains.

Summer Bucket List: 2015

  1. No tan lines or sun burns (I know, boring and “adult,” but burns cannot happen for me.)
  2. Say “yes” to adventure!
  3. Sleep under the stars
  4. Hike to the top of a mountain, a big one
  5. Summer kick off bonfire
  6. Go to a rodeo
  7. Run a 10k
  8. Go to the farmer’s market, make meal with purchases
  9. Make homemade ice cream
  10. Outdoor movie (either at the drive in, or in someone’s back yard)
  11. Attend the wild flower festival
  12. Dust off my big camera, take more pictures
  13. Spend as much time as possible in the mountains: hiking on school nights, camping on weekends, dinner in the canyon with friends

And, I am forcing myself to stop at 13 instead of trying to edit this to a more even sounding 15. Thirteen things to do–some of them pretty significant–is plenty for a summer where I also have to go to work every day and go to some conferences and do the laundry and wash the dishes and blah blah blah. Also, a disclaimer: even though it’s already June, I am counting “summer” as the time between and including Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend.

What is on your list for summer? Do you have any big trips planned? Stay at home activities? What are you doing to stay busy and stay sane?

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Bucket List: After

Months ago I happily published a whimsical list of activities I wanted to accomplish over the summer. Um, it’s almost November, ya’ll, even the occasional sunny afternoon has a bit of chill in the breeze; summer is long gone. That being said, I don’t like leaving loose ends, so, two months late, I would like to wrap up my Summer Bucket List, with annotations.

  1. Visit the farmer’s market – bonus points for riding my bike; No bonus points, but farmer’s market was visited.
  2. Wear white pants successfully Several times, even! Without spilling chocolate or salsa or anything on them!
  3. Climb a mountain, a big one; This is a big, fat, negative.
  4. Make homemade ice cream Strawberry, my grandpa’s favorite
  5. Roast marshmallows with my stepkids; Marshmallows roasted, campfire attended with stepkids, but not both things together
  6. Dangle my bare feet in a cold mountain stream
  7. Attend a bonfire – bonus points for spending the evening updating our plan for the zombie apocalypse
  8. Make out with that very handsome husband of mine, a lot
  9. Sleep under the stars – bonus points if I can see the milky way
  10. 21 days as a vegetarian; I am counting this complete, I went 13 days but this did not accomplish what I was hoping it would accomplish (healthier eating habits), so I cut out early on Harriet As A Vegetarian
  11. Go to a baseball game (one will suffice), and sit on the lawn
  12. Run a 5k for a good cause; I ran a 5k for no cause, does that count? (No.)
  13. Many, many photo walks around my neighborhood and the surrounding canyons; Nope, not a one. Fail. But I did get better at regular Instagram posting. Not the same, I know,  but it is something.
  14. Go to a rodeo, yeehaw!
  15. Hike in red rock country
  16. Read a whole pile of books, a big pile, obviously
  17. Dinner in the canyon – bonus points for cooking said dinner over an open fire
  18. Attend an outdoor concert
  19. Eat lots and lots of corn on the cob
  20. Watch the sunset from a beautiful vantage point
  21. Keep my tomato plant alive; People I harvested 5 tomatoes AND 7 green bell peppers. I’m like a pot-gardening diva! (Not really.)
  22. Make it to September without getting any tan lines (meaning, no tan, not nekkid tanning)
  23. Go to the wildflower festival, take an inordinate amount of photos
  24. Go to Food Truck Thursday for lunch
  25. Take a midnight walk, preferably with an enormous full moon and a sky full of stars
  26. Schedule a personal day off work, take myself out to brunch and get a pedicure, for no other reason than I can.
  27. Go camping
  28. Eat strawberries off the vine – bonus points if they are sun warmed
  29. Visit one of the formal gardens in my city
  30. Go on an overnight motorcycle adventure with my sweetheart; Not on a motorcycle, but there were plenty of day-long rides AND a romantic overnight getaway, so I’m counting it. Ish.

Ok, so, 21 of 30 items complete is nothing to snuff your nose at. And I didn’t even have listed the massive apartment overhaul that happened in June and July, so that has to give me a couple of bonus points in there somewhere, right? (Right.)

Is it totally uncool to attempt to rejoin the social conversation and ask you how your summer was? Or, you know, your fall?

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