I am a very big believer in summer bucket lists. Mostly because I love putting my plans for summer down on paper, but also because I think they are a great visual to inspire you to accomplish your goals.
Now that we are about three weeks into the summer, I have checked off a few items of my own, and have had so much for doing so! Here are a few of my Checked Off Items: 1. Video Blog Post A lot of my inspiration for starting a blog came from Hailey and Brad Devine, from Somewhere Devine. They are a couple of traveling photographers, who share different aspects of their lives and their daughters lives, through their YouTube channel and blog. I love reading their blog, because Hailey writes, in such a descriptive, exciting manner. But another part of their blog that has always drawn me in were their videos. Hailey and Brad both have INSANE editing, and videography skills. Their videos are always so colorful, and beautifully put together. Each time they release a new video, I feel that I get to take part in their thrilling adventures. Plus, I have learned a ton about each place they travel, by simply watching their videos. For that reason, I made it my goal to create at least one video blog post by the end of the summer. So when I realized that I had a ton of GoPro footage from my most recent beach day, I figured, why not put together a video? And it ended up fitting perfectly into my, “Summer So Far” blog post. If you decide that you’d like to do something of the sort, here’s a tip. Always bring your GoPro, camera, or smartphone with you. When you first begin, don’t go into it with the intention of creating a video, just take different shots throughout the day. Bring your camera along on your adventures; hold it on your paddle board, bring it swimming, if you go for a walk bring it there. Have it ready to catch the raw, authentic moments of you laughing or enjoying yourself. Something that really helped me in creating my first video was taking out the audio and putting the clips to music. Once you get the hang of it, than experiment, by adding different features to make it more your style. 2. Sunrise/Sunset Paddle Board When my mom asked my brother’s and I if we wanted to go paddle boarding before tennis camp one morning, I was beyond excited. For years, I have been dreaming of starting off my day in the best way possible, on the water. I sprung out of bed at 5:55 AM ready to go. We loaded up the boards into the trunk and drove down to the water. The humid weather made me nostalgic of summers as a child. When we arrived at the beach, the water was absolutely incredible, very still with zero current, and glistening from the rising sun. All of the beach grass was damp from the moisture in the air, and we shared the beach with just one other early riser. I was so impressed with my nine-year-old brother, who seemed to glide across the water. We paddled around the bay and just chatted, enjoying the blissful sunrise. It’s safe to say that I was very happy to have completed that bucket list item! 3. Watch Fireworks Watching fireworks is a summer staple. Conveniently, the Fourth of July just occurred, so I had a golden opportunity to complete this bucket list item. Normally after a barbecue at my grandparent’s house, or my uncle’s house on the Fourth, we would drive down past the bay and watch any fireworks being set off across the water, but this year we did things differently. The barbecue was at our house so after our family members headed home, my parents, my brothers and I walked down to the docks at the end of the main road and watch the fireworks from there. The warm breeze and salty aroma from the bay made the night extra magical. 4. Go Sailing Sailing is something I had never tried before, but both my brother and my best friend had been doing it for years. Recently, I had the opportunity to go out on my friends boat, and sail! It was so awesome. We sailed out pretty far from the shore, or at least I thought so. Initially, I was super scared. I was afraid of falling off the boat or getting hurt, and I also wasn’t sure of how fast we would go. To my surprise, from the second we launched, it was awesome. The boat tilted a little bit, but it wasn’t the least bit scary. We picked up speed here and there, but never went uncontrollably fast. And I even agreed to flipping the boat, something that scared the heck out of me before we went out. At one point, when my friend was turning the sail, I didn’t get out of the way soon enough and ended up getting knocked into the water, but I was wearing a life jacket, so it was more funny than anything else! 5. Go Crabbing This is something I added to my bucket list after doing it, LOL, because there are some things you don’t know you want to do until you do them! Each year when my uncle visits from Massachusetts, he takes us crabbing. I was considering not going this year, because on the day he planned to take us, I had a lot to do, but I sort of just dropped my responsibilities for a few hours and went crabbing. And I sure am glad I did! We ended up catching eight crabs, and we saw five different snapping turtles, plus I got to hear more of my uncles crazy high school stories on the drive, so it was a great time! 6. Walk To The Rocks For the longest time, I’ve wanted to walk to the rocks at the end of one of my favorite Long Island beaches. All I ever knew about these rocks were that they lined the end of the shore, and they looked gigantic. It’s a very far walk to get to them, but I’ve always been intrigued by what is down there. Finally, on our most recent family beach trip, everyone agreed to venture down to the rocks with me. As my younger cousins and I walked, we played tag, discovered washed up sea life, and listened to our uncle complain about the exhausting trip. After what felt like a never ending journey, we made it to the rocks. They were even better than I had expected. As we stepped up onto the hot surface, the view surprised us. The ocean flowed through this rock lined outlet into the bay. The greenish blue water was beautiful, and like something out of a Hawaiian movie, like nothing I had ever seen before on the island. Despite the tiresome walk, everyone was grateful to have discovered the hidden beauty behind the rocks. *** Those are all of the things I have checked off of my Summer Bucket List up to this point. The first few weeks of my summer have been unforgettable! I hope you are enjoying the nice weather, and I totally believe that anyone can benefit from making a Summer Bucket List. It doesn’t have to involve any pressure, even if you just check off a few items, that’s awesome! It’s just fun to see the new things you’ve tried throughout the summer and it’s great to wake up and have a piece of paper to look at to get ideas for what you want to do each day! Thank you for reading, and if you enjoyed please check back for more blog posts throughout the summer! I am so grateful to have this outlet to share on, and I am beyond grateful for your unwavering support. Happy Summer! P.S. What Time Is It? Summer Time!
1 Comment
Franmcveigh
7/17/2018 07:04:37 pm
WOW!
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