Is there anything better than that particular languid heat of late summer? Late summer is sumptuous, sleepy, and all too fleeting. I’m a grown adult, but I still get that childlike feeling as grains of sand in late August and early September’s hourglass start to disappear— please, don’t let it be over yet! I’ve not yet enjoyed every morsel!
I was working on a summer bucket list for myself (a vanilla cone with toasted coconut from Marvel, a cheeseburger from Lil Al’s burger shack, more pickleball, more evening swims, more bike rides, more… more!) when I thought of these: a one-size fits all most checklist for making the most of summer.
Put these on your agenda for the back half of summer, I promise they will help you maximize the best time of the year and minimize the winter blues.
Let’s enjoy every last lick of summer, shall we?
Acquire and write a post card (or seven). Snail mail is the best of the lost art forms.
Make plans to eat a cold dinner: lobster roll, pasta salad, gazpacho, ceviche… something that you won’t be able to enjoy come dead of January.
Ride your bike to put said post cards in the mail. I never feel more alive than I do when the wind is blowing through my hair while I ride my beach cruiser.
Drink an Arnold Palmer.
Get to the beach, the lake, the reservoir— whatever your drug of choice is when it comes to bodies of water— at least three more times. Mark them off on your calendar now, you got this.
Air dry your hair as much as humanly possible. (This towel and leave-in are my insurance policies on air dried hair.)
Pick 3-4 summer-y things from your closet that you haven’t been able to enjoy yet. Move them to the front and make an effort to wear at least one of them each week through mid-September.
Sink in to the analog. In the full swing of summer, my husband and I watch less TV at night and instead opt to read our books together on the patio, go for a long evening walk, or do a crossword together. Maybe this is when you whip out the deck of cards? The watercolor book?
Take advantage of the scant few days and evenings of the year in which one can wear both a sweater or sweatshirt and a pair of little shorts.
Make plans that include drinking a frozen something. (I’d love a frozen margarita, but there’s a coffee shop at the very tip of the barrier island I live on that does a coffee granita on Fridays— it’s time to make the pilgrimage!)
Treat yourself to a pair of ridiculous sunglasses and wear them all day every day. I tried a pair of bug-eyed Prada glasses (too big on my head) and I own these kooky striped ones from Sardine. Find your summer wild card!
Take a personal day. If you’re feeling like summer has passed you by without a vacation or a moment to enjoy it, plan yourself a day-trip or a long afternoon to read that book you bought on a beach blanket in the park or explore that botanical garden you’ve not yet made it to.
ZUCCHINI! TOMATOES! I tried these zucchini muffins last week and while the recipe was a little more involved than ideal, I followed it to the tee and it yielded the best, most structurally magnificent muffins I’ve ever baked.
Have friends over! Summer is a team sport, and if you mine your memory you’ll find that so much of what you associate with summer’s delight is actually delight in the company of your friends or family.
Play. What I love the most about summer is how close it brings me to my original childlike state— long bike rides, sloppy licks of ice cream as it runs down the cone, playing Marco Polo in the pool, squealing with glee when you paddle a ball back and forth 100 times without dropping it, devouring a sun-soaked paperback lying stomach-down on a towel, turning any outdoor area into your own personal soccer field. Have you played enough this summer? The answer for most grown-ups is no, and I suspect this is why we are kind of dead inside half the time. Come on, let’s go. Let’s play!
What’s on your own personal summer bucket list? Is there a special ice cream cone you have to have every summer? A few more games of volleyball to squeeze in? A hike you’ve been meaning to take?
If you get stuck or need a little sensorial inspiration beyond my bucket list for you, here are a few pieces of media that could jumpstart your engines…
I love Olivia Muenter’s suggestion to watch the surf cam when you can’t make it to the ocean on the regular.
A hearty helping of summer reads for you to choose from.
If it’s a Nancy Meyers vibe you’re craving, this vlog may scratch the itch and inspire you to envision your own late summer Nancy Meyers agenda!
A Piero Picconi playlist to help you romanticize the mundane.
Salt air…. and the rust on your door…
17 things I'm doing to prepare for summer as a beach person
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Jun 18
Summer is my super bowl. I’ve waited all year for the warmth, for our home on the beach to enter it’s incredible golden era, for long rides on the beach cruiser and nights spent laughing until our ribs ache on the patio. Ahh. And it’s almost here.
The ULTIMATE beach read round up: 35+ books for your summer TBR
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Jun 25
I am the best person to ask about beach reads, I know this with great confidence, I feel it in my bones. I will not waste space here justifying this to you, but I am hoping the fact that I write this modestly successful newsletter about books and live on the beach proves my point well enough to any nascent critics.
16 things I wish I'd done sooner
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May 6
Started using this cuticle oil pen before bed every night. I learned— somewhere, I’ve long forgotten where— that cuticle oil isn’t just good for the part of your fingers that you see, but it absorbs into the nail and works to extend the manicure in ways we simply can’t perceive with our eyes. This sounds like propaganda by Big Nail, but I promise that after doing it I can tell a difference. My gel manicure is on Week 4 and looks like it’s on Week 2.
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