50 Things To Do Before Summer Ends
[ 14 July 2008 ]
Feeling bored? Does the hot weather have you lethargic & listless? Try keeping yourself occupied with one (or several) of the following!
Buy a stack of old MAD magazines from a second-hand bookshop & read them in the sun
Take lots of photos of you & your friends enjoying the weather
Wear something totally inappropriate & go dancing
Drink cocktails & listen to Duffy
Make at least one new friend
Lie in bed in the morning, with the windows open & good music playing loudly
Take an outdoor yoga class
Eat black cherries
Flirt with someone of the same sex
Have a picnic in a tree
Buy an inflatable paddling pool, lie in it & take self-portraits
Take a dog for a walk (if you don’t have one, borrow someone else’s!)
Trust your intuition
Climb on a jungle-gym
Explore a new area — even if it’s just another neighbourhood
Kiss someone new
Choose a project to start working on over winter
Get a deluxe spa pedicure
Buy a hula-hoop & start using it!
Throw a party in celebration of how fabulous you are
Go to the beach & build a sand-castle
Stock up on jangly bracelets at a flea market
Start a journal
Have a slumber party with a friend & go out for breakfast in the morning
Go to a rooftop party
Learn some words in another language
Make some choices which make you nervous
Go for a bike ride with your best friend
Get a massage which makes you feel as if your body’s melting
Buy a fabulous sun-hat
Visit the tourist attractions in your own city
Hack up an old pair of jeans into shorts
Have an Elton John singalong (BYO crazy glasses)
Learn to appreciate good guitar players
Do something that your parents or friends disapprove of
Take the vacation days you have owing
Take an art class
Spend some quality alone time in saucy underwear
Carry a tiny water-gun in your purse
Go skinny-dipping
Start to believe that you can truly have whatever you want
Make a commitment to wearing heels at least one day a week
Try every different bottled iced tea at your local shop
Lie around in the grass with your sunglasses & a pair of headphones on
Go roller-skating
Take a flower-arranging class
Keep a secret
Swear off drama
Reconnect with your old friends
Read this & be inspired!
(My antipodean darlings! I have not forgotten about you! The winter list is coming soon! Kisses!)
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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I’ll have to add so many of these ideas to my own list of things to do before summer’s imminent end! Reading and biking alone are two big ones, as well as creating new music. I wish we had rooftop cinemas in Massachusetts!
I love, love Duffy! Her album has been in heavy rotation on my ipod for the past month or so.
I really like how all of your posts are uplifting and inspirational. I am sure that there are times that you have some moments that aren’t fantastic (we all do) but one of the reasons I enjoy reading your site every day is that it reminds me to stay on the positive side of things and look at the good things in life.
I picked up The Red Book based on your recommendation and I am really enjoying it.
Have a fabulous Sunday!
Thank you for these! I’ve added a few of my own and printed it off to hang on my wall. I’m proud to say I’ve already done 20 of them since summer started!
Oh Gala! I love you! You always have the best ideas! I’m just sitting around the house when I could be having all sorts of crazy beautiful adventures.
Your ideas are fabulous, which isn’t a surprise since you’re always fabulous.
Time to do a bunch of adorable and awesome things before the summer ends!
lovelovelove this!
:)
So lovely!
AMAZING.
thankyou for this.
however, the weather here in the UK has been constant rain a lot of the time sigh but i wont let that spoil my fun!
x
oh, really nice! i love when you put up lists with such ideas, thanks!
Yaaaay! Summer ends in 7 days for me when I fly back home! Wahhh! Bye bye shorts & singlets.. hellooooo warm snuggly beds, hot milo, pumpkin soup, rugging up…mmmm doesn’t seem so bad after all :D
& Lol @ MAD magazines, my parents would never let me have them so I’d sneakily read them at my friends house whose parents didn’t mind!
And I would LOVE a spa pedicure, I’m getting a massage Today so that will have to suffice for now:) xx
These are such cute ideas, which make me nostalgic for summer, even though I LOVE winter, too. This one especially appealed to me: “Learn to appreciate good guitar players” – don’t tell anyone, but I’m kind of a bogan sometimes . . .
(And, most cheekily, “Trust your intuition” made me laugh: Quick! Gotta trust my intuition before summer ends!)
Marisol — Complaining is too easy :D No one wants to hear other people’s whingeing! Keeping it positive is a good challenge :>
chiara louise — Just take your brolley!
kitten` — I know the feeling! I feel your pain! I’ve been sitting around in my underwear for 3 months, & in a couple of weeks I have to go back to freezing cold Australia! Argh! I love MAD, my dad & I used to buy huge stacks of them when I was young :>
Nadine — Haha! I think people put things off, so maybe having summer as a deadline will help?! Hee! Who knows really. Oh & yes to the guitar thing. One of my old boyfriends is an amaaaaazing guitar player, really fast & technically awesome. Spending time with him was quite an education!
i love love LOVE this list! i will be printing it out soon and checking things off for sure. thank you!!!
Ooooh it’s FREEZING over here! Can’t wait for Summer!
oh man i’m bummed out, here in england it’s not sunny or winter-y it’s distinctly overcast lol
i must get myself to a sunny climate pronto, long weekend in berlin anyone? =)
OH GALA!
this is just the most absolutely perfect article that i have been waiting for – i have an 8-week holiday that now has some PURPOSE!
xx
Man, I wanna do all of them NOW
I like flirting with someone of the same sex, the tiny water gun and the hula-hoop one the best. I wonder how many of these I can do at the same time…
I lurk your site a lot (like EVERYDAY!)and just wanted to comment and say I think this list is adorable!
sigh. bloody english weather. i went to see justice in an open air venue two days ago and it BUCKETED down. absolutely torrential. bah.
Fab list… I like to make a habit of more than one of those things.. wearing heels, same sex flirting, elton john singalongs, loving Duffy.. best of all, I don’t have to wait until summer to enjoy those things (good thing as I expect I won’t see much of summer for some time!).
Gala! With these ‘things you should do’ lists, you should have a downloadable version with little boxes instead of hearts so we can download, stick to our wall & tick tick tick when we do them!
WuHu can’t wait for the winter version! :)
Ack! I am inspired! Now I have something to do with my time!
omg. let’s go karaoke and sing good old elton and wham songs!!! HAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAAHAH wake me up! before you go-go!
(Gala, you’re so creative!)
No need for me to buy a stack of MAD magazines. I still have a big stack of them from when I was a kid in the early 90’s! I /loved/ MAD magazine!
Oh what wonderful ideas! I think I’ll try to do pretty much all of them. This will be my busiest summer yet, I’m starting my first job & learning how to drive. Scary!
Wonderful post! I’ve done a few of those things so far, which has made me feel good! I can’t wait for your winter version of ’50 things to do’ down here in Australia :D
& that was a really lovely link (to “A walk on the beach”), thanks so much.
I’m already doing the majority of the items on that list, which must be why my summer has been very eventful and immensely enjoyable thus far.
Hurray! :)
mmm this list is fantastic!
its a bit cold here (nz)but im tempted to try it all anyways!
I can check a off a few but finally I can check of spend a day at the beach and make a sandcastle! Had a fabulous day of laying at the Jersey shore with my friends (it was all great except for the grossness of the Jersey water…eek!!) followed by a incredible sushi dinner!
Thanks for giving me a ton of other fun summer days, you are the greatest!!
-Misha
What a gorgeous list of things to do. Thankyou for your continued inspiration. xx
i am so excited to make my own list like this, and im totally adding most of yours! ha u inspire me galadarling i swear ive been asleep for so long u keep inspiring me to get up and wake up.
I was reading down your list and realizing how wonderful it was! Then re-reading it I realized how much I’ve done! And that new kiss became a new relationship! I even showed him around all the Civil war attractions where I live, fanny pack not included but bulky camera was worn!
You amaze me, Gala. Lots of these things on the list are things I do regularly. Visiting tourist attractions… I WORK at a tourist attraction! I’ve been carrying a mini pink water gun in my purse since Halloween when I went to Rocky Horror. I’ve already kissed a new person (two). I’m currently wearing jeans that were cut off into shorts. I don’t need a flower arranging class because my mom is a florist!
My favorite of all… I’ve made lots of new friends this summer! (And one more than just friends)
Hehe I already did some of these! My favorite one is kissing someone new! I did that today! _
wow that’s a long list- a good one, though!
Ivy — Ahhhh, I love the idea of doing a whole lot at once! Report back!
kitten` — You could always print it as is & tick the heart!
gilda — YES, let’s! I am soooo keen… I will blow you away ;D
Annie Spandex — Mine are in a huge pile at my parents’ house. I miss having them on hand!
danni — Thank you, gorgeous!
Lauren — Awww, that is so cute!
AmyTheFreak — I want to find a little water-gun which doesn’t leak! I’d be all over that like… a rash!
Ashley — Yay for kissing! :D
I usually dread summer, so this makes me very happy. Bring on the sunshine!
Ooh! I agree, Gala! My water gun leaks like crazy! When I was at Rocky, I filled it up and then when I went and sat in my seat… I got a lap full of water (not good for my improvised black underwear… no one would drive me to the mall so I painted a pair with black acrylic paint![]())
You just made me get super excited for summer! Even though it’s months away!
Ok, now I’m super excited for summer!! You always manange to inspire me somehow – right now my mind is sparkling with plans for the rest of the year :) love and pixie kisses xxx
HAHAHAHA :D “Throw a party in celebration of how fabulous you are”
thanks gala!
I feel like I’m gatecrashing a party here, but I wanted to say thanks for the link through to my story about beliefs as #50.
Looking at the list, there are some cool things to do and I want to reiterate ‘Trust your Intuition’ I’m going to go off on one now and probably bore the arse of anybody still reading but what the hell…
Your conscious mind can deal with 7 + or – 2 pieces of information at once and your unconscious thousands. Your conscious is like the RAM on your computer and your unconscious the hard drive. When we get ‘intuition’ it’s out unconscious trying to communicate with us. It can’t talk directly because it’s our unconscious so it sends signals.
Ask yourself this. How often is your gut feeling wrong? I already know the answer, it’s hardly ever. How often do you override it with your puny conscious analytical mind? If you’re like most people, the answer to that one is lots! And later you usually say something along the lines of, “Shit! I knew I shouldn’t have done that, I just knew it!”
Listen to your instinct always because although it can be wrong it’s much more likely to be right.
Woo! I have to print this out. I want to make sure I do these things. Especially the part about wearing heels once a week. I struggle with that, as I am a big-time flats wearer.
PS—Go here: relyme.blogspot.com/2008/07/bl…
I’m so sad that summer is ending it’s going by too fast!! There is still much more fun to be had though! I hope we run into each other again soon!
Love Love,
DH
Hello, I’ve found your blog very interesting. This post is simply great so I’ve decided to translate it in Italian and post it on my blog.
Here it is:
lallypoppins.blogspot.com/2008…
I think you’ve just gained a new fan! Kisses,
Laura
i made a polyvore of bunnyhead and a makeover thing-a-magig of u:
www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=23…
www.dressupchallenge.com/makeo…
i have my own list of things to do this summer! right now it’s about 46 things. here are some bonus ‘to do’s!
•watch the sunrise
•sit on your roof with a good friend and some lemonade
•make friendship bracelets
•dip fortune cookies in melted chocolate
•jump in a pool fully clothed
have fun!
I love lists of fun and happy things like this. :) I particularly like the picnic in a tree one! On my own list are:
- have a tea party and dress up like old ladies – have a picnic in every park in my city (I like picnics hehe) – go to the drive-in
I’ve just recently started reading iCiNG and I absolutely love it!
<3 this Gala! I love making lists like this. I’m printing this out and sticking it on my mirror to remind me to get outside and enjoy the rest of the summer before I head back to school. Also,that article you linked to-SO inspiring! Those ladies sound like such fun people to know.That’s how I want to be when I’m that age.
Dearest gala, I LOVE YOU!
Every time I don’t look at iCiNG for a few days, when I come back and see all the updates, it just sets my heart into a little flurry. Thank you :)
Wow! I followed the ‘read this and be inspired link’ and I ALSO WALK ON ABERSOCH BEACH!! If you guys can’t understand my utter amazement it’s because Abersoch is a postage stamp sized place at the end of a small Welsh peninsular (that looks strangely like a witches nose) and I live a five minutes away from it in another tiny village called Botwnnog but my parents live in Abersoch. My dad walks his, rather fat, little dog Cracker on the same beach every morning also!
How cool and funny is it that I bounced from Gala to Tim!! I’ve e mailed him and maybe we’ll end up buddies!
Gala’s spirit really does circle the globe all the way round and back again!!
Sarah (still grinning about this) xx