My 2020 Socially Distanced Summer Bucket List.

     Hey Friends! This blog post was supposed to go live on Monday, but I took the rest of the work week off from new blog and IG content to honor everything going on right now. I used the time weekday afternoons that I normally spend working on my blog to instead be having some tough but meaningful conversations with dear friends about the current events, racism, politics, and more. I'm also excited for some library books about racism that I put on hold to come in for me.

    Anyways- I will definitely still be educating myself and having these tough conversations in the weeks and months to come (this week has truly changed some things for me), but it is time now to get back to business here on the blog! 😊

     This marks my third annual Summer Bucket List! I started publishing these on the blog in 2018, which was my first summer here in Virginia. The past two have been fun ways to challenge myself to make the most of this fleeting season, and to enjoy activities and experiences new and old that I wouldn't get to do at other times of the year.

    I wasn't sure if I should still make a list for this year, thanks to COVID-19. The truth is this summer will be looking a lot different than the last two. 😬 Even if some of the activities that I'd hoped to do this year won't be open or safe, that doesn't mean I should let this season go to waste! If anything, I want to be even more intentional with how I'm spending my time. Stay-at-home orders will be over and it will be safer to go out and explore certain types of local spots, but that doesn't mean social distancing and general safety are over as well. 

    So here we go- my third annual Summer Bucket List and first ever one created with social distancing in mind!

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     2020 Socially Distanced Summer Bucket List: 

• Visit a beach (Ideally this will be the beach in my hometown in Maine next month! Unfortunately, as of right now Maine's governor is still mandating a 14-day quarantine for out of state visitors during this whole summer, so if she doesn't change this I won't be able to go home. 😥 If that's the case, I definitely want to road trip to a beach here in Virginia or the South!)
• Read 6 books, including at least one about racism in the US: (I'm reading at a much slower pace in 2020 than I was in 2019, but I still hope to read at least a few new titles this summer!)
• Play tennis at least 3x (It's my favorite sport, and I sadly don't think I got to play at all in 2019.)
• Go to Polo at King Family Vineyards (One of my favorite local summer traditions, and amazingly this event will still be a go this summer with social distancing protocol in place.)
• Do a floating trip with friends on the Rivanna River (This will be my third year in a row!)
• Make fun plans for the 4th of July weekend (Ideally I'd like to travel somewhere that weekend, but if it's still safest here in Charlottesville I hope to find a fun and safe way to celebrate.)
• Cross three more things off my 101 in 1001 list  (Not sure what those will be yet but I'm excited!)
• Start re-learning French (I was a French minor in college and even studied abroad, and I've sadly forgotten so much of what I learned. I hope to set aside 1-2 afternoons a week this summer to begin studying it again!)

     Summer 2020 is going to have a slower pace than what we are used to, but I'm going to try to do my very best to embrace it for what it will be, and I look forward to hopefully checking off most (if not all) of these list items.

     What are you hoping to do this summer? I'd love to hear what adjustments you're making to your plans with COVID-19!

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese