summertime

In keeping with my love of lists and my upcoming summer of part-time work, I've been thinking of some summer goals. Of course. I love lists of goals. So here they are (thanks, Kathleen, for reminding me of how fun it is to post these).

Start journaling
I used to journal daily and have completely stopped. I have a couple of little notebooks where I jot things down from time to time but I miss real, concentrated journaling. I'm very excited to start this habit again and think it will make me a better person and writer.

Bake bread
I've never baked a slow-rising bread that requires more than one punching-down, and I would like to try it this summer in the early morning hours (the only time it won't be too hot in my house to consider turning on the oven). Something about baking bread seems really soothing to me. We'll see. Maybe I'm romanticizing it.

Keep my garden alive
Every year I plant a garden--vegetables in the back, flowers in the front. Every year I forget to water the vegetables and everything dies except the tomatoes. This year, I want everything to LIVE. Garden, I love you and I want you to live! (Anybody know what that's from?) I'd like to keep the flowers alive too.

Do more yoga
I've started doing some yoga videos and I really like them. They're short and relaxing and encourage me to spend time on things like my desk-warped back and tight hip flexors that I'd normally ignore.

Submit some piece of writing for publication
What piece, you ask? I don't know. What publication, you ask? I don't know. But I'd like to submit something before summer is over. I've got one idea brewing...

Spend time with my middle school girls
There is a rapidly growing number of middle school girls in our youth group, and I want to spend more time with them over the summer. I'm thinking of coffee trips, dessert parties, Bible studies or book groups...who knows? But I'd like to get to know them better and to become more cohesive and supportive as a group.

Sleep
I choose a lot of things before I choose sleep, and maybe it means I get more done in a day but it also makes me grouchy and slug-like on some days (like right this very instant). Sleep is good. And important. I should act like it.

Turn our basement bedroom into my summertime office
I want to turn our guest room into my unofficial "office". There's already a desk there, but the whole room is massively disorganized and undecorated, and I would be way too distracted by its current state to get anything done. So, I'm hoping to spend some time buying paint and putting up shelves. Anybody want to help me? It could be fun....I'll give you some fresh-baked romanticized bread!

Bike more, and swim
I'm going to try to bike places as much as possible instead of driving. This will require a bicycle basket, because I'm not good at hanging onto things like grocery baskets or my purse while riding. I'm barely confident enough to let go with one hand to signal a left turn. I've been mentioning bike baskets to Brad almost constantly. I'd also like to swim this summer--it seems like such a good complement to running, and it's so freaking hot out that submerging my whole self in water is practically a necessity. (By the way--I just learned about two months ago that "compliment" and "complement" are two separate words with two separate meanings! Thanks a lot, English degree.)