End-of-Summer Bucket List

How on Earth is it already August? It's like I blinked and the summer just disappeared. This time of year is always a bit sad. Even though there's roughly two months left of the season itself, August is a time for Higher Ed professionals to get back into student-service mode and make a few finishing touches on plans to welcome students back to campus. Essentially, the quiet days of summer have come to close, fall is right around the corner, and before we know it there will be snow on the ground again. #heartbroken

Anywho, with cold weather and busy schedules looming, there are still a few things that I want to do this summer before my schedule gets crazy once again. Sadly, Brett's already back at work for football camp so I have a bit of extra time on my hands to get some of these items done and really enjoy these last couple of weeks of summer! Here's what's on my End-of-Summer Bucket List:

1. One more beach day. I love, love, love the beach and luckily I've been able to visit a few different times so far this summer, but I could always use another! Rob (who also works in Higher Ed and feels my pain of shortened summers) and I are planning a trip in a couple of weeks and I can't be more excited! Our trip last year was the perfect way to catch up and cap off the summer, so I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again this year. :)

2. Go hiking. It's been such a long time since the last time I went on a hike. It's always hard to coordinate a full day hike with someone as you have to figure out work schedules, drive a relatively far distance, and then pray that the weather works in your favor. My parents live right down the road from a nice hiking trail so if anything, I can hike there before the summer ends!

3. Read in the grass all day long. Reading outside is one of my all time favorite summer activities. It's so relaxing and I can't think of many other things I like better than getting lost in a good book. Spending a whole day outside reading in peace sounds like absolute heaven, and it's definitely something I would love to accomplish before the craziness of the year begins.

4. One more visit home. Family time tends to get put on the back-burner once the year begins (I'm lucky I have extremely understanding parents!) so I want to take advantage of the summer slowness and give my parents at least one more visit before I may or may not disappear until Thanksgiving. (Who knows, really?)

5. One more Several more ice cream stand stops. Probably in one of my top 3 favorite things to do during the summer is go to local ice cream stands and eat their delicious ice cream. There's really nothing better than a waffle cone full of cold deliciousness on a warm summer night! I want to make sure this happens way more before they all close shops for the winter!

6. Spend a rainy day painting. Thankfully we haven't had very many rainy days this summer. When it has rained, it's either been when I'm stuck inside working all day or in short little off-and-on bursts - nothing that would really tie up a whole day. However, I'm hoping that sometime between when I post this and when the students arrive back to campus, we'll get at least one any day where I can sit inside and just paint to my heart's content!

Is there anything you want to do before the summer comes to a close?