Summer Bucket List

My most recurring thought at the moment is 'can I fit into my empty fridge', which can only mean one thing, summer has hit Italy with a vengeance. If it wasn't for 6 weeks of travelling in August last year, I would probably have melted by now, just like the Wicked Witch. But thoughts of less than 4 weeks left have kept me from jumping into the freezer and instead I've decided I should probably make a list of things I want to do when I'm back in England. After over half a year away, I know I need to make the most of my time home with my friends before we all part ways again for various travels and university in September.With this in mind, I decided I wanted to make a list of 11 achievable goals for the summer.

1) Throw a Summer Soiree
The combination of  a need to be hostess with the mostess and not having seen a lot my friends in a long time, has given me this idea to host a little summer gathering in my garden. The girls in my group of friends often throw dinner parties where we all bring food (and wine) and someone hosts, but since I haven't actually ever hosted -partly because everyone knows I can't cook- summer is the perfect time for salads and cool dishes. I have big plans to set out lots of candles and lanterns and lay down loads of cushions and big blankets and have a picnic style meal with my nearest and dearest.

2) Learn to Cook
This is definitely a must rather than a 'should'. As I'm moving away and into non-catered accommodation halls at university, it's time to step up and learn to cook. Right now, I am limited to toast, simple pasta and chucking things in the oven. But I could never make you a stir fry or a lasagna or, well anything. I am a reasonably good baker but for some reason, cooking just doesn't agree with me. I wish it did, but I am completely and utterly inept, it's an undeniable fact throughout the whole family. 

3) Spend More Time at the Beach
Back home, I live about 10 minutes from the beach, but I've always taken it for granted and never fully used it. Now that I've been living in a city and haven't seen the sea for a very long time, I'm absolutely longing for the waves and the sand, even if it's in the freezing British weather. Whether it's with my friends, or by myself, I want to make the most of living so close to the sea, I'm so lucky to live so close and when I start university I'll once again be moving away from it, so I definitely need to make the most of it now.

4) Road Trip

Let's be honest, it wouldn't be a real Summer Bucket List, without the stereotypical 'Road trip' thrown in there. I'm old enough now that this is a real possibility, as most of my friends drive. Last year I was saving for travelling so I didn't do so much as all my spare time was spent working extra hours. But this year, although I do want to work, I'm also in no massive hurry to earn thousands of pounds, so I can take the time to spend some quality time with a few friends and go and explore somewhere new for a couple of days. 

5) Barbeque Halloumi. A lot.

This one needs no justification or explanation really.

6) Buy a Bike (second hand)
As I'm only home for a little while, I know it would be stupid to spend a lot of money on a brand new bike when I'm not going to be able to use it. But I really want to buy a bike to ride along the beach or through the country side. Everybody rides bikes here and it's so under rated as a mode of transport in England.



9) Master the Art of Melonade

This is the stuff of dreams, or so I've heard. I am a huge watermelon fan, it's probably my favourite fruit, and whilst I will be spending a whole lot of my time drinking Pimms, I'd love to make batches of this and keep it in mason jars ready for a hot day. I've had a look on the internet and have found a variety of different Melonade recipe's, so I'm sure there will be trial and error before I perfect it.

8) Read and Write More
Right now, I probably read and write more than I have in a very long time, but I know that's partly to do with not having as big a social life here as I do back home. It's really important to me now, that I keep up with the reading and writing I've been doing whilst away. Becoming an internet human stopped me from doing the traditional pen to paper, but you may have seen a couple of blogs back, I'm getting really into it again and I'd love to keep it up, at least until uni when I have real excuse to calm down on it a bit.

9) Visit the Zoo or the Aquarium
This is a slightly irrational, 'I have no reason I just really want to go' one. I haven't been to either in at least six years, and nothing makes me happier than animals. I just really want to go and have a picnic on one of those circular benches and doing a little dance to avoid getting stung by wasps as I throw my rubbish into bins and take selfies with the monkeys or blow fish and send to my friends saying 'Me and You' and wait in line behind 350 children for the ice cream van. I would just really like to go.




10) Start My Youtube Life
The only thing stopping me from starting this tomorrow is the quality of my camera. But when I'm back in England, even if I don't buy an incredible camera straight away, I have a lovely friend who's offered to lend me their's once a week. I have an introduction, a channel with subscribers and a really good idea of what I want to use the channel for, so I should probably start cracking on.

11) Meet New People
This is another cliche one, but I really want to actually make the effort to meet new people and meet other humans in person who I've met through the internet. There was a time where I'd go to huge lengths to hide the fact I'd met friends online, but now most of my real life humans know and are all pretty ok with it and I've realised that if they aren't, it shouldn't bother me anyway. I'm lucky enough to have met some amazing people through the internet and there are some lovely blogging ladies who are new additions to this list, so when I come back I really want to expand my friendship horizons even more. I have to do the obligatory 'it's import to be safe', because it is, but it's also important to meet new people and not contain yourself in a bit of a rut, you never know who's around the next corner!

I hope you like this little bucket list, I know some people will find '11' points annoying, and it sounds crazy but I'm just not a fan of the number 10 and 11 is a double number, which is all very nice. Let me know if you have any summer plans yourself or your own bucket list! On a (very very) side note, I want to apologise for the constant header changing on my blog. I'm just not content with my design at the moment and I'm trying out a few things, if you see something up for over a month, then I have probably settled, but at the mo I am trying my hardest to create a header I really love, sorry sorry sorry!

Ciao for Now!
x