summer goals

I LOVE SUMMERRRR!!!  I especially love the flip flops, long hours of daylight, sundresses, road trips, fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, beach vacays, grillin', warm nights on the front porch, ice cream, and NOOO SCHOOOOOL!!!  Neither warm nights nor front porches exist in SF and we're having our second winter til July/August, but I'm adjusting. Back to the no school thing.  So what's a girl to do with two months off?  Some summers I've worked or taken classes, and other summers I've brushed up on the Spanish in paradise:  

It's a rough part of the job, but I suffer through it.  And there was this one summer I planned a wedding, got married, and moved across the country.  That one is not to be repeated.  Other summers I've just taken it easy at home and this summer is one of those.  But to avoid countless and mindless hours of aimless nothingness, I've found it's been good for me to set a few summer goals.  I try not to go overboard on the goals so that I can still enjoy the slower pace and the spontaneous ice cream run or lunch out or shopping adventure or Skype time or walk in the park.  In case you're not getting the hint, I'm happy to be interrupted.  

So here are the goals for this summer.  5 of my own and 5 I picked from the Summer Goals Challenge by my fellow teacher/goal-making friend, Kathy.  

Summer Goals 2011

1. Work out 5x a week.  I have all day. I have NO excuses!!!

2. Sort through recipes and make some kind of binder/organizational system (open to suggestions.)  I've got gobs of recipes sitting in a Ziploc freezer bag that I've moved from house to house for oh, 10 years?  Some recipes will be tossed and others, like Aunt Sue's Amazing Crab Dip, need a better place for easy access.  

3. Make vegetables the main dish of the meal 2x a week.  Gotta maximize on all the fresh summer veggies.  This was our first one this week:  Asian Noodle Salad, but went WAY light on the noodles.  (Had flashbacks to eating this at your house, Connie. Miss that. Miss you.) 

4. Read in a different spot other than my couch or bed once a week.  I've got some cafe spots already slated: Velo Rouge, Blue Danube,Tartine, Bazaar.  I need some outside spots. 

5.  Study 3 books of the Bible.  Starting with Hebrews.  

6. Plant herbs on our balcony.  

7.  Make some homemade ice cream (sans ice cream maker).  Gotta find a recipe.  

8. Say YES to summer dresses week.  Wear a dress/skirt everyday for a week.  I LOVE summer dresses and have too many sitting in my closet feeling unloved because of our cool weather.  Gonna try and scope out the weather forecast for a warm week or succumb to wearing lots of sweaters and leggings along with them.    

9. Take a picture every hour of a normal or fun day.

10. Make my own wedding photo book.  I want to make some kind of fun wall art/craft too, but I'm at number 10 and the photo book gets priority.  And making more than 10 goals is dangerous.