your pre-summer bucket list

I have always been one to revel in being well prepared. And what is second best to enjoying summer? You guessed it - preparing for it! Now if your version of preparing for summer includes counting calories and measuring thigh gaps, please prompt out immediately. In fact delete this newsletter from your inbox and/or browser. This is not that type of event.

Preparing for summer means preparing yourself to enjoy the activities of a slower, much warmer version of life. It means adding to your gelato lists, expanding your cocktail knowledge and climbing up the vacation ladder (NOT to confuse with corporate which is an autumn/winter exclusive). As far as I’m concerned, the only career moves we should be concerned with this summer is adding to our sommelier and air hostess experience.

Hibernation is presented as the only period of the year one prepares for the upcoming season, but I would wager that it is almost as important to prepare for the upcoming season as it is for any. There’s a particular freshness with spring, a certain sharp wind that jolts us back into considering the bigger pictures.

With the nights getting shorter, we are no longer going home in the dark, eager to get the day over with. It seems we now have time, additional hours of the day we scatter to use. So, if you are in need of ideas for how to use your time wisely in preparation for summer, I hope you will enjoy my list.

Now it goes without saying that nothing of this list is mandatory, some ideas may resonate and some may not. Use what you find pertinent and ignore the rest.

2026 pre-summer bucket list:

• Make your own bookmark

• Learn the recipe to your favourite summer cocktail/ drink

• Make your own bouquet by walking in nature and collecting as you go

• Have an after-work drink at home and outside: on your garden, your terrace, your balcony, your side of the window, whatever it is

• Support a new local coffee shop

• Buy your fruits and veggies somewhere else than a supermarket chain

• Find a new dream to work towards

• Find a new third space

• Attend a festival or an outdoor concert

• Try a new ice cream flavour

• Watch a nostalgic movie

• Make pancakes/ crepes one morning

• Spot a lady bug, a butterfly and a beetle

• Make a new playlist

• Visit the botanical gardens

• Make a photo collage

• Go bare feet in the grass

• Make summer jewellery

• Help a stranger

• Make your own dips (hummus, tzatziki…)

• Sunbathe in short amounts to avoid suburbs before summer

• Donate some old clothes/ books

• Open the windows and put on some music

• Add a pop of colour to your bedroom

• Try a new nail polish shade

• Print out some pictures

• Host a board game night

• Do some research on the places you’ll be this summer

• Read a new book

• Clean your computer and phone

• Volunteer

• Plant herbs on your windowsill

• Treat yourself to something small but meaningful

• Write yourself a letter about everything that happened this winter (keep it or burn it)

Let me know in the comments if there’s anything I missed!

Love,

Anastasia

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