What I'll Do This Summer

A number of years ago, my friend Jen and I decided to make a list of summer goals. It didn't start out as anything too intense. If I remember correctly, 2 of the goals were to watch the Back to the Future trilogy all in a row and to watch Sister Act 1 and 2. But we also included goals about books to read and new things to try - ways to keep our summer from being too lazy with no direction. Some of our other friends joined us and this has been one of our most fun traditions. Right around the time that my college students are finishing classes, Jen is finishing her grad school classes, and our teacher friends are getting out for the summer, we all start posting our summer goals. I always get so excited to see what my friends are committing to for the summer and what fun things they have planned that I can join them in! Jen has already posted her list on her blog, so I thought I'd post mine here and I'll write occasional updates over the summer on how things are going. Here we go!

1. Go swing dancing with Allison at least once, preferably more often - There was a period of my life where I went swing dancing 3 times a week, and I definitely miss it! Allison has been going consistently and I want to join her. I'm looking forward to getting a group of friends together because it's always more fun with a lot of people.

2. Eat only mexican food for a week - So you know how you love a food so much that you say you could eat it every day? We were talking about it in Belize and I decided I should test it. I don't eat breakfast, so I actually think this'll be really easy. And delicious!

3. Scat Jazz Lounge Black Dog night at least once - Long ago there was a place called the Black Dog and they had a free jazz jam every Sunday night. It was glorious. I recently learned that Scat has started hosting it again and I have GOT to go. Who's in? Great music, great friends, maybe we can use the swing dancing from goal #1!

4. Read at least 5 classics I've never read before - I always want to make sure I'm well-read, and I feel like I've been focusing too much on contemporary lit lately, so it's time for some classics. I spent a long time coming up with my 5  - Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin, Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, and The Once and Future King by T.H. White. If I finish these, I have a backup list ready to go.

5. Hang out with Elle, Alyssa, and Bailey - Every time we see each other at parties we talk about how we want to hang out and then it never happens. Well ladies, now it's on the list, so it's happening. Get excited!

6. Finish reading John Adams by David McCullough - Years ago I decided I wanted to read a bio on every president to learn more American history and study for Jeopardy. I read one on Washington and stalled out. Last year I got about halfway through this and then got distracted by other things. I've got to get past president #2.

7. Make salsa - I freaking love salsa and I want to make my own. It'll be fun to try different recipes and find a good one.

8. Blog once a week - In January, Jen talked me into starting this blog. I've written on here 8 times. I figure if I blog at least once a week over the summer, I'll get in the habit and be better about it in the future.

9. Watch 5 classic movies I've never seen - I haven't chosen these yet. I'll look at lists of Best Picture winners and best movies of all times and find some that I've been meaning to watch but just haven't made it to yet. I love old movies!

10. Have 6 friends pick favorite movies I've never seen and watch them - I did this a few years ago and it was really fun! I've asked Jane, Kate, Callie, Josh, Will, and Kevin to pick movies. It's kind of a hard process because I've seen a lot of movies that people suggest at first, but it's fun to find ones I haven't seen! I'll update later when they've all picked movies for me.

11. Update pictures in frames in my room - I have a lot of pictures from the last few years I've been meaning to print and a lot of frames to put them in. I want to finally do that this summer.

12. Memorize the presidents in order - This was a goal last summer and I don't think I even worked on it a little. It's something I think I need to know if I want to be on Jeopardy someday, so I want to work on it.

13. Eat at 5 Ft. Worth restaurants I've never tried before - I love FW and one of my favorite things about it is all the unique restaurants we have. There are lots I've never been to, so I want to try some new ones.

14. Visit music class with Caitlin, Stacey, and Chavon - I won't be babysitting this summer, so I can finally go! I've heard some great stories about this class and I can't wait to see their little boys interacting with each other!

Do you have summer goals? What are they?