Summer Bucket List 2012

In one week, I will officially be on summer vacation--until the end of September.  This may very well be my last summer vacation ever.  Next year, I enter my senior year of college, and after that, summers seem to disappear from existence, being replaced by two week vacations from "real world" jobs.  So, this summer, I'm going to make it count.

I'll be staying here by the beach all summer, doing an internship related to books, marketing, and publishing (i.e. dream job).

I have a trip or two planned to go home, but I'd rather not think about that.  Living in the Salad Bowl of the World really isn't all that Steinbeck wrote it to be.  It'll be nice to see Momma, Crumpet, and Gma though.

No, by the the beach is where I'm meant to be.  I have great community here, to which I'm starting to feel I belong.  Oh, and did I mention that the sun is always shining?

So, what will I be doing besides interning, gallivanting around, and "hangin' out"?

Summer Bucket List 2012

1. Love people.

It's a sad but true fact that loving people falls by the wayside when the busyness of school picks up.  I hate that I let that happen.  But that won't be true for the summer.  I want to hand out compliments left and right, and maybe a hug or five.  I want to invite you--yes, you--over for dinner.  Why?  Well, because these verses keep coming to mind: 

"Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  It does not demand its own way.  It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

2. Love Jesus...really Love Jesus.

Substitue the name "Jesus" for "love" in the above verses, and it would still make sense.  Why wouldn't I want to spend more time then with the God who loves me so much that he sent his son to die for me so that I could be in relationship with him and experience that love?  Put that way, it seems simply silly for me not to.  That's not to say that I haven't been loving Jesus all quarter.  I love Him everyday, but distractions have their appeal...yeah, but not really when I think about it.  

and now for some fluff...

3. WRITE.

This summer I will work on my novel.  I will sit in a café with this laptop, sipping on a latte or some herbal tea, and I will write.  I will write until I can write no more!  Muahahahah.

4.  Blog.

I bought that thing today.  OK, so maybe it was a bit of an impulse buy.  Still, the idea has been percolating in my mind for several months now that I may be outgrowing culinarilycourtney dot blogspot dot com.  It's quite a mouthful, and I have interests beyond food.  The recipes would still be weekly, but hopefully, in sharing my name, my new blog will also share more aspects of me.  This is a summer project to be sure.  Somehow I  need to figure out how to migrate posts from here to there, along with comments, stats, and oh dear...I'm getting scared.  I guess it's a good thing that summer will be three months long.

5. Read.

I plan to finish reading East of Eden this summer.  It has been lazing around on the bookshelf all quarter whilst I read other tomes of despicable size.  I would also like to finish reading the Hunger Games, not because the first book was stellar or anything, but just because I hate leaving a series unfinished.  I want to pick up Mere Christianity too, and I will attempt to finish the Old Testament this summer.  I have been stuck in Jeremiah for far too long.

and of course...

6. Bake, cook, eat, and share.

I will be making a fruit tart when I go home in the next week and a half (Gma's favorite), so stay tuned for that.  I would also like to make a pizza once from scratch; some Tzatziki sauce (I could eat that stuff on it's own with a spoon); and some such decadent dessert (suggestions?).

Summer cannot come soon enough.  Farewell for a bit as I go write papers and study for finals.

What are your summer plans?