I am so happy I created a bucket list for this summer. Two to three months is my sweet spot for goal planning and making every day count. I think I will keep it going and not try to get back into yearly goals, which never seem to work for me.

This summer was amazing: the weather, what we accomplished, the places and people we were able to visit. I’m sad it’s winding down but I’m thankful I have my PL album to look back on that last few months.

1. Use our ice cream machine to make coconut milk ice cream. Many flavors. // Well, the many flavors didn’t happen, but I did manage to squeeze in vanilla coconut milk ice cream over Labor Day weekend. Greg went au natural, while Becky and I dressed ours up in root beer floats. It was delicious and easy, but I’m glad it requires planning ahead and at least 8 hours to complete. We don’t need ice cream at the ready around here.

2. Finish the front yard and get it to a point where it’s just maintenance. // We did it! We spent several weekends weeding, trimming, mowing, and laying bark. Then we handed the yard over to our wonderful new gardner who is making it shine.

3. Stop wasting food (i.e. use all the food I buy & defrost). Keep summer cooking simple. // I definitely improved though there’s still room for more improvement. Food was simple over the summer but I still found myself cleaning out dead vegetables a few times. Work in progress.

4. Try ten new BBQ recipes. // Going into the summer, I thought this would be what I was most excited to work on. Turns out I really like simple BBQ. Meat + seasoning + veggies = awesome dinner. Recipes mean more grocery shopping, prepping, and cooking. We ate some good food, but going forward I’m sticking to the simplest meals possible on the grill. They are our favorite. 

5. Get a fun family self picture. // Not everyone (ahem, husband.) is as into this photo as I am, but I LOVE it. We spent our summer walking with the doodle and this captures it so very well.

6. Make a fire in our front yard fire pit. Potentially make s’mores. // Done and done. Only once, but with friends and it was fun. And tasty.

7. Walk fifty miles with Alfred (basically, get back in the habit of after work walks). // We did it! By far my favorite bucket list item this summer. We tried new parks, walked with Greg and friends, walked when we were out of town, pretty much walked, walked, walked. The three of us did out fiftieth mile, a lap around “our” park, on Labor Day morning.

8. Hang art in the office. // We got the map wall and I’m calling that success. Greg’s desk has art hanging above it as well, but I haven’t finished mine yet.

9. Learn to give myself a decent pedicure. // Nope. Didn’t even think about this after I wrote it on the list.

10. Make pull-up progress. // I did! I moved down a band size (smaller band = less help getting up) for WODs, from purple to black. For volume training, I stopped using a band and started doing negative pull-ups (jumping up, then slowly lowering myself down), which I’ve been told is the last step to *finally* getting that one single pull-up on my own.