bucket list

(Note: Sorry for any complications with this post. I accidentally hit “Publish” before it was ready, so I had to revert it to draft and finish it. Oops!)

At the beginning of summer, I posted a Summer Bucket List, aka some of the things I hoped to do this summer. Are you ready to see how I did?

Key:

Green = Check!

Yellow = Sort of

Red = Nope

(Thanks for the “key” idea, Loren!)

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1. Read the Bible every day. I did pretty well with this! I didn’t read it every single day, but definitely most days. I read through Revelation, Romans, Galatians, and I’m almost done with 1st Corinthians. I’m going to try and continue this goal throughout the year.

2. Go to a movie theater. Yes! We did go to the movie theater for one of the special $1 days. (We saw The Peanuts Movie.) It was a fun experience. 🙂

3. Get more sleep. Heh heh. Probably not. XD I did pretty much stick to my goal of reading my Bible every night before bed and not reading any other books unless it was before 10:30… but I still went to bed late a lot. 😛 So the sleep part, I don’t think so, but the reading schedule, yep!

4. Do stretches more often. Yep! I can just barely touch my toes now. XD I know, that’s pitiful. XD But at least it’s better than at the beginning of summer.

5. Paint and redecorate my room. YES! This was one of the highlights of my summer! You can see my post about the room makeover here. It looks soooo much better now!

6. Improve my swimming. Weeell, I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to tell for sure. I’m not super fast, but I feel like maybe I’m more confident and at home in the water. I love just being underwater – it’s so peaceful and beautiful! I also got a little better at diving… but my flips aren’t too polished yet. XD So I’m going to say I DID improve my swimming, if for no other reason than I swam a lot this summer and feel more comfortable in the water.

7. Watch the Olympics! That was so much fun! I really loved the Olympics. It felt like this year especially I was witnessing history being made: Michael Phelps’ last Olympics, Katie Ledecky smashing the world record, Team USA grabbing another gold for Women’s Gymnastics (not to mention the talented Simone Biles collecting a few more for herself!), Team USA winning the most medals in the Olympics overall, and so much more. Way to go America! 😀

8. Cook something weird. If Turkish Delight counts as weird, then yes, yes I did. (See the recipe here.)

9. Decorate cupcakes with friends. Sadly, we did not get to do this. 😦 Maybe we can make some fall-themed ones this season.

10. Go fishing. Uh… does holding a fishing pole over water for, like, five minutes count? XD We went fishing a tiny bit with some friends while on vacation, but I didn’t catch anything.

11. Make “masterpieces” from my three [or four] favorite mediums. I think so! I made this dragon from polymer clay, sewed a quillow in sewing class, drew Casey (in this post), and took lots of pretty pictures, many of which I posted on this blog.

12. Have a shaving cream fight. This. Was. So. Fun. Ahhh! We should definitely do it again. (See my post about it here.)

13. Do a photoshoot with friends. I did this photoshoot with our friends when they came over and played on the barn roofs with us. 😀 Those are some of my all time favorite photos!

14. Add more things to my Etsy shop. I sold several custom orders over the summer, like this owl, and this German Shepherd dog. I also added some necklace pendants and this dragon to my shop. I sold… let me see, 5 things this summer! Yay! 😀

15. Take lots of pictures on our vacation. I guess it depends on what you mean by “lots.” I took 260 pictures, not counting the ones I deleted. Would you say that’s a lot? I think so. 😀 I did two posts so far (here and here) with some of the pictures.

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So out of 15 goals, I completed 11, sort of completed 3, and didn’t complete 1. Pretty good!

This summer was quite eventful. Besides doing the things on my bucket list…

I met a blogger (Rebekah) in real life! Sooo fun!
I got my wisdom teeth pulled. Youch!
My blog got featured on Discover (which you probably already know by now). That also was one of the highlights of my summer.
Megan and I entered lots of stuff in the fair, and we won several ribbons! (I’ll probably do a post about my entries…)
And Willow, my rabbit, had baby bunnieeeeees! (Another highlight.) They’re SOOOO CUTE I CAN’T STAND IT! See pictures of them here (when they were first born) and here (much fuzzier).

Phew! That was a lot of links. XD

So yeah! That was a short review of my summer. 🙂 What were some of the highlights of your summer? Did you complete your bucket list if you had one?

***Allison***

P. S. Thank you for your prayers for my cousin Leisha. 🙂 Her surgery went very well – thank you, Lord! ♥ She has had some pain, though, so please continue to pray for her recovery. 🙂 ♥♥♥

Quite a few bloggers have done summer bucket list posts lately, and I enjoyed reading them! I thought it would be a good idea to make one myself. Some of the things on my bucket list are just fun things to do, and some are more like personal goals. I am actually going to try to do these things! *Gasp* XD At the end of the summer I will tell you if I accomplished these goals or not. 🙂

1. Read the Bible every day. I’m definitely going to try and do this.

2. Go to a movie theater. Guys, this may shock you, but I have NEVER been to a movie theater! (Well, unless museum theaters count.) But this summer we might possibly go see Finding Dory! We also are probably going to a summer theater thingy where it shows movies that already came out for only $1 a person. I can’t wait!

3. Get more sleep. 😛 Heh heh. 😉 My bedtime goal is to read a chapter of the Bible before I go to bed, and then read other books only if it’s before 10:30. Or maybe Mom could let us sleep in more… Just kidding! XD We do sleep in already.

4. Do stretches more often. I am rather un-flexible. (Well, my elbows are double-jointed (or at least hyper-flexible), but that doesn’t really count. 😛 I can sort of twist them around so they stick out the opposite way. XD Yeah, very weird but true.) Annnnnyway, as I was saying… I hope by the end of the summer I can at least touch my toes! XD

5. Paint and redecorate my room. My sister and I have been wanting to redo our bedroom for a long time. The wallpaper is kind of old and doesn’t really match our bedspreads and decorations. After we paint, I want to redecorate our room with goodies from Hobby Lobby. I LOVE HOBBY LOBBY!

6. Improve my swimming. Especially my endurance and speed. I could practice more if the water wasn’t so cold! XD I do love swimming though. Our neighbor has a nice pool that she very generously lets us use.

7. Watch the Olympics! I love watching the Olympics – especially the gymnastics and swimming. It’s so much fun to eat snacks and watch the Olympics with my family.

8. Cook something weird. Maybe a strange-sounding ethnic dish or just something that I wouldn’t usually try. And then eat it, of course. XD Speaking of weird foods, here is a strangish food my family eats: carrot salad (grated carrots, orange Jello, nuts, celery, and crushed pineapple). It probably sounds really weird, but it’s delicious! Have you tried it before?

9. Decorate cupcakes with friends. My friend and my sister and I want to make one of the recipes in my friend’s special-cupcakes book.

10. Go fishing. I love fishing at my uncle’s pond!

11. Make “masterpieces” from my three favorite mediums. In other words, I want to create something really good from polymer clay, take some really good pictures, and make some really good art.

12. Have a shaving cream fight. This would be so fun! And then wash off and go swim in the pool.

13. Do a photoshoot with friends. I would love to do a fun, creative photoshoot with my friends or family!

14. Add more things to my Etsy shop. I haven’t done much with my Etsy shop lately. I hope to add some new products and even get a few sales over the summer. 😀

15. Take lots of pictures on our vacation. This year we’re going to see Niagara falls and travel up around the Michigan/Great Lakes area. There is going to be lots of water (my favorite!) and I really want to get some good pictures. I’m thinking sunsets on the lakes and definitely photos of Niagara falls. 🙂 Also as a side note: it might be helpful if I don’t ruin my camera this year like I did on our last two vacations! UGH! (Both times it was because of sand. 😦 )

There you go! What is the #1 thing on your summer bucket list? Are you going to do any of the things on my list?

***Allison***

P. S. I have some announcements from around the blogosphere to share with you. 🙂 Rutvi is having a writing contest! Check it out here. Also, Clara is doing a really neat blog scavenger hunt. Definitely go check that out too! (I helped with the prize. *Smug look* XD Ha ha!)