With the bank holiday weekend well and truly here my thoughts are definitely turning toward summer. I have a long list of things I’d like to achieve over the summer mostly very practical but there’s always time for a few frolics along the way.

Thanks to a far-more-expensive-than-anticipated house move James and I won’t be heading off to any foreign climes this year. Other than a few jaunts to the UK coast we’ll largely be opting for a staycation over the summer. Thankfully for me we’ve joined forces with the lovely people at Anthropologie to share my summer 2016 bucket list. On to the first goal…

Rustle Up A Few New Recipes

Despite bragging last year about my fancy shopping spreadsheet with a whole plethora of recipes, we’ve definitely exhausted our repertoire. As beautiful as my old Esse oven was it was an absolute pain to cook on, especially in summer, so I’m looking forward to embracing my range cooker and tickling my tastebuds once again. This week I knocked up Deliciously Ella’s Fajita Bowls and can’t wait to put our new barbecue to good use. I’d like to try out a new recipe every couple of weeks so am on the look out for any veggie recipes.

Hold An Almighty House Warming

We had a bit of a bash on Christmas Eve a few days after we moved in to house but we’re yet to host an official house warming. We’re planning on hosting a summer barbecue next week to toast our new home. How adorable would it be to invite guests with these gorgeous totally green Send and Grow invitations? The recipient plants the card and end up with a beautiful bunch of violets. So clever!
I’ve also been checking out lots of options for outdoor lighting ranging from festoon lights to lanterns to light up the patio. It’s quite a large space so by the end of the summer I hope to have created a peaceful and ambient space.

Plan and Plant A Cutting Garden

Staying with the great outdoors, we are so very lucky to have such a well stocked, mature garden. I originally thought I was lacking in shrubs with flowers but the last few weeks have popped up some enormous petals including four peony bushes and mound upon mound of delicate Aquilegia. I plan to plant some more flowering varieties so I can have a cutting garden once again bringing in the freshly cut blooms to the house. I’m also hatching a plan for a shady wild flower garden too which I’ll talk about more when I share my garden shed makeover in a few weeks.

Indulge In A Spot Of Twitching. {Make time for relaxation}

I swear my garden is like an episode of Spring Watch. We’re so lucky to have flocks of birds nesting in the trees and I’ve begun to find listening to the blue tits hugely relaxing. It’s surely a sign of growing old but I can’t wait to carve out some time to whip out my vintage binoculars and watch the host of birds and indulge in a bit of nature’s yoga. I never, ever thought I’d write that! However I really want to make time this summer for a bit of relaxation which I’ve really been lacking recently.

Tie Up The Loose Ends

As mentioned recently James and I have been slogging away on our three upstairs bedrooms. I plan to have a huge Marie Kondo session to get streamlined drawers and embrace the novelty of a bedside table after using the floor for weeks on end. My beauty collection is crying out for a good old sort out.
The new ikea furniture is all painted and I’ve been building up quite a collection of hardware, including these beautiful Seahorse handles to customise the generic pieces into something more personal. I’m also hunting down some of the final pieces to dress the room (currently searching for a grey rattan chair for an empty space). The plan is to finish off all the projects we’ve started by the end of June so we can take a break from painting over the summer months. I’d like to swap my paintbrush for a glass of fizz and enjoy the many summer weddings we’ve been invited to instead.

Breathe Life Into The Interior

I plan to deep clean the house and switch all the heavy throws and woollen cushions for softer versions, such as this very stylish Rocio Embroidered cushion. Oh the tassels!
While I won’t be sipping a pina colada on a sun lounger I’ll be switching the fig and berry candles I’ve been burning over the winter for more of a summer scents. Nothing evokes the feeling of summer quite like the fragrance of coconut.

Tick Off Some Summer Reads

I’m currently tearing through Marcia Clark’s ‘Without a Doubt’, one of our summer book club novels and plan to get acquainted with a few more titles by the time September comes round.

Sort Out The Photo Archives

Once a year I go through my phone and unleash some snaps from my camera roll and I’m well overdue a trip to the printers. I also plan to go through some of my old family albums and frame some of my vintage snaps. Doesn’t it take an age though to go through all the images? Luckily I’ve got all summer…

How are you summer plans shaping up? Anyone planning a staycation too? What things are going on your summer bucket list?

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