So after today summer vacation is history. In the books.
My photo today is of one of my scrap-journal title pages.
I used a mix of spray ink colors for the paper (Dylusions inks). Then I used a Cheery Lynn die to make the big polka dot background. Everything else is die cuts and a few ancient stickers I had. I did do a bunch of coloring and I did add some Viva paint pen dots.
And since this summer break is just about history (oh how sad!), I thought I would pull out my summer to do list and see how it matched up to my real summer.
(the tears are starting to well up in my eyes just writing that...LOL)
I have a feeling not very much got done since my summer took a lot of unexpected twists and turns. It is often easier to go with those turns and twists rather than fighting them. I mean, I didn't plan on working oodles of hours at the lake and I didn't plan on Dave being home. I thought I would have a lot of down just me time. Well, that might be next year! And I will say- this has been an EXCELLENT summer so far- and in reality-it isn't over yet. Just my off time from school.
1-have a big fertile veggie garden-tried to, but then it filled in with weeds and grass and I got super busy and it was very dry and never got enough water into it so it was a REALLY nice thought...
2-go kayaking more than once-yes I did, and they were fabulous kayaks. Hope to get a couple more in before fall arrives.
3-learn to back up the boat trailer This one is still on my wish list!
4-pick some of my rhubarb and make a strawberry rhubarb pie Sure did, and it was delicious!
5-go blueberry and raspberry picking-Nope, didn't happen. Kind of disappointed I never got to do this
6- get out my barbecue cookbook and try out some interesting and different recipes haven't done a lot of cooking this summer, no time! But I did get the cookbooks out and look at them
7-clean and organize under my basement stairs HA!HA!HA! My ambition makes me laugh. What was I thinking?
8-paint my bedroom hopefully will get this completed and will be very proud of myself too
9-get my bedroom floor put in hopefully before Dave goes back to work. We went out yesterday and bought the floor, now I just need to finish painting the walls (this weekend I hope) and then Dave can lay the floor.
10-go exploring-whether it is near or far-oh yeah- I did major exploring! Need I list it all?
11-get out walking most mornings yup- I was good at this
12-lounge on my screen porch-a favorite spot, and porch lounging doesn't end when you go back to school
13-take some road trips like up route 153 in NH, and Down East Maine and to the National Park in Cornish, NH -up to the woods of Maine, out to western New Hampshire, up to visit my brother at his camp, down to Boston, a couple of Costco trips and trips to my favorite craft store And I did get to St. Gauden's National Historical Park, after having it on wish list for 3 summers.
14-make ice cream yup, chocolate mint and chocolate chip mint-yummy!!!
15-lose some weight maybe, maybe not. I'll never blog about that.
16-read a lot- especially a couple of those books I have been wanting to read-I made it through like 9 or 10 books
17-be spontaneous-that is what this summer has really been about. A blast, and very different but first of all, when school got out I never expected to be working quite so much and having Dave home half the summer.
18-spend lots and lots of studio time-more like squeeze in a few moments when possible, definitely a summer regret
19-go to Pop's Clam Shack in Alton, NH for some of their yummy fried clams and onion rings a trip in the early summer and a trip in the late summer-2 times is just enough
(so much for losing weight)
20-go eagle watching- this was the summer of some GREAT eagle watching. Between Merrymeeting, Rangely and back bay in Portsmouth I saw a lot of eagles.
21-go to the beach and lounge at the lake no beach, but we did go swimming after beaching the boat in the ocean a few times, and I did go to the lake a few times-not as much as some summers but still quite a bit
22-have a fire in my chiminea stove and sit on the deck, star gazing maybe this fall-had a campfire in Maine one night though
23-have some adventures-but not sure yet what they will be-since they are adventures-they should be a surprise- Did that, that's for sure. Which one should I start with?
24-try some new things Did I mention these already? I have been doing things all this summer. Part of all of my adventures. Like riding in a Porsche, riding in a 6 wheel drive glacier mobile, saw a wild wolf, went to Alberta, Washington and Idaho, knit socks...and....
25-take an art class Tomorrow I am taking a Julie Fan-Fei Balzar class.
26-go to the drive in to see a movie nope, didn't happen as of today
27-watch the new season 4 of True Blood when it comes out and finish watching the Dark Shadows that I have- no Dark Shadows-in fact the amount of TV I watched was pretty low but I not only saw Season 4 of True Blood on DVD but have been watching season 5 on HBO
28-see the sunrise and the sunset-not so many sunrises but some gorgeous sunsets!
29-hang out with friends-especially those I don't see very often- well, a saw a few friends, spent a lot of time with my sister-in-law, did see my brother and his family, did spend a day with Vicky, but mostly spent a lot of fun quality time with my hubby
30-Have lots of fun in whatever form it takes need to do any explaining here?
31- try some new art techniques, start an art journal although I have had limited art time, I have been keeping a summer journal and in that I tried several new things-small things, not learn big new skills or art styles, but little things are good things.
32-do something different-something I have yet to figure out like walk over swinging bridges, see glaciers and ride up in glacier bus, first ride in a Porsche, not stress about how messy my house got, take a few small risks for me, keep extremely busy
33-learn how to play golf-maybe did I really write this? I haven't even had this thought since I wrote this list I guess.
34-practice my French and learn a little Swedish there's always fall, move that onto my fall list
35-send out some art to magazines- I had good intentions. Maybe this fall
36-try some new recipes a few, a few, but cool fall days are better for cooking
37-go to some new places-there's a couple restaurants I'd like to try, new stores, new views, new water places....yeah, I did, but not what I think my original intention was. No new restaurants from love to try list, yeah, I did find a new yarn store. But I haven't been out shopping much this summer
38-have a great summer vacation-a great trip, some great little road trips, a great summer overall, yeah, I did this.
39-get enough shifts at the lake to make it worth it oh yes, and then some
40-do some of that art I don't do very often like mosaic tiles and metal clay this one hurts because I REALLY wanted some time to do this. But, life spontaneously changes and gives us some things which are great but not what we expected or thought
41-send some quality time with my hubby, daughter, critters, mom, in-laws....tons of great time with the hubby (a summer highlight), not enough time with my own mom, good daughter time, critter time, in-law time...except for my mom, no complaints.
42- watch a bunch of DVDs wasn't really on this summer's agenda.
So happy Friday.
Thanks for stopping by!
1 comment:
Hi Erika!
I wish I could plan half of what you have on your list - it would make such a cool summer! Really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow as you complete #25! We'll have lots of fun :-)
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