Friends, it’s time and here we are suspiciously just in time for this year’s summer bucket list. My punctuality probably has everything to do with the fact that I’m writing this in the wee hours of the morning. In the last 12 weeks postpartum, I’ve gotten out of the habit, but here’s the thing. my baby seems to sleep through the night. What is this!? what is this gift silent and dark and time all my time? (Let’s ignore the fact that I should have been sleeping.)
In these glorious, midnight minutes, let’s talk Summer buckets. I’ve been making these summer lists for the better part of ten years (2015 // 2016 // 2017 // 2018 // 2019 // 2020 // 2021 // 2022 // in 2023), although the blog post shows that I missed the last two summers because I was treading water at the deep end of fertility treatments and managing minor emergencies in this very old house. But this year (!!!) baby John is on my shoulder, time for a sweet summer and a list to make it so.
It turned out to me that this summer was not one for John to remember as much as I was one to cherish. It is for me to keep the vibrations exceptionally, persistently high.
So will this year’s Summer Bucket List the video series is over on Instagramso lock it. We’ll pursue whimsy and joy, stay up with the sun, and otherwise make some really great days. Here’s what’s on my list, and I absolutely insist on hearing what yours is.
SUMMER BUCKET LIST sum•mer buck•et list (name). If done right, it should include water guns, pool time, and possibly rollerblading.
Summer Bucket List, 2026
1 • Paint terra cotta pots for The Bakehouse with Mom My mom has been taking it easy this postpartum season with an extended stay here in Texas, where she’s been mothering me while I learn to be a mother myself. I keep finding little corners of the house that she tidied up or organized while I wasn’t looking, something sewn, something arranged. There are small episodes of his love everywhere. it’s the most incredible thing. One of our very favorite things to do together is crafts and dilly dailai, and we’re going to do both with acrylic paints and terracotta pots for The Bakehouse.
2 • Make a batch of homemade ice cream and eat it at every artisan ice cream shop in Houston. I think the internet is having a big summer, but I came out with some good stuff. Summer without ice cream is just…hot. Do I want to get out the ice cream maker and make summer strawberry buttercream (and incorporate the basil somehow) or peach ice cream? The world is my oyster (though obviously NOT oyster ice cream). And then (because I’ll always commit to a little bit) I want to travel to Houston and find every small-batch, handmade scoop situation the city has to offer. I will report.
3 • Take John on his first plane ride to California and put his toes in the Pacific Ocean. This one makes my heart sink just thinking about it. I grew up running by that cold California water, sand between my toes, protecting my lunch from the very aggressive seagulls on the beach. I want John to experience it for the first time. we’ll start small, putting her four-month-old toes in the channel to be christened a California baby born in Texas.
4 • Open Little Free Bakery in Belleville. This has been on my heart for a while and this is the summer we’re doing it. The idea is simple. a little free library but made with my baked goods. My husband Will designed and built the box, I’m doing my best to get it painted (while John sleeps) and we’re almost there. Belleville is such a kind town, I want to give something sweet while I’m on maternity leave until The Bakehouse Texas opens in September. (More details to follow @thebakehousetexas)
5 • Make a Strawberry Brita Cake I’ve been dreaming about this cake for weeks, ever since I saw it By Susan Spungen. Strawberries are passable (good, good) and deserve the respect of butter tart and baked meringue. I’m not sure if this cake comes together for 4th of July celebrations or a random Tuesday night, although I tend to host an entire dinner party with this cake as the star of the show.
6 • State Will’s half-year Listen to me. everyone with a winter birthday should experience the glory of a summer birthday by celebrating their half-year anniversary this summer. Will’s birthday is right around winter break and… it just never gets what it deserves. Last year I made a half birthday cake (chocolate layer cake with peanut butter whipped cream and banana slices), finally bought him a birthday present, and there we were in full birthday mode on a random Monday in June. Highly recommended!
7 • Give the gift of zinnia bouquets I planted an embarrassing amount of zinnia seeds this spring and they hit the ground ready to go. Zinnias are the most generous flowers. Even without a green thumb (and Lord knows I don’t) they continue to bloom in their almost cartoonish colors as long as I keep cutting. I will be picking up bunches for neighbors and friends and probably stocking The Little Free Bakehouse with them too…. yes i planted that many. LOL, hundreds!
8 • eat a really good sandwich out. Here is a truth that is universally accepted. a sandwich always tastes better when he makes it for you. I don’t make rules (and I’m not making sandwiches this summer). I’ve never had the Godmother of Bay Cities Deli in Los Angeles, and I think that’s where this list item begins and possibly ends. A classic Italian entree eaten outside in the California sun on the same trip I first put John’s fingers in the Pacific Ocean. Some days just write themselves.
9 • Great love. Everything. I write this at the bottom of almost every summer list and I mean it every time. This year it looks like the wide toothless grin John gives me when I wake him up from his nap. The way he nuzzles his head into my neck right before I lay him down. Love for warm, steamy mornings (sort of). Slower in the afternoon. And come September, when The Bakehouse reopens and closes for this little summer, I hope John is in the baby carrier while we make the pies. This is the whole dream. Everything else is just details and hopes for cake, ice cream and a really good sandwich.
What’s on your summer bucket list this year? Share in the comments below.
Hope you are enjoying your days friends.
My love to you.
xo Joy!