The List: Summer Edition.

All things summer: edible flowers, breathable linen, garden parties, beach scenes, summery music and more!

It is officially summer and I just can’t believe it! Time flies! My favorite seasons are Autumn and Spring (in that order) but the summer nostalgia is hitting hard right now! I cannot think of summer without thinking of Palm trees and Southern California beaches. You can take the girl out of Los Angeles, but you can’t take Los Angeles out of the girl, ya know?

Unfortunately, I’m not able to travel to LA this year so I’ll just have to settle for some California dreaming…

Here’s what I’ll have on replay this summer:

🌴California Dreaming 🌊

I’d rather be at the beach.

Photos I’ve taken over the years in L.A.

🌸 Hosting

Summer is the perfect time to host outside! Whether in the backyard, on the porch, or even on a balcony. Last month, I hosted a garden party. It was delightful! You can read more about it here.

Hosting doesn’t have to be a big ordeal. Keep it simple by doing it potluck style so you don’t have to prepare all the food. I had guests bring their own charcuterie board and there was plenty to eat and leftovers! Also, lean on your friends. Maybe you don't have serve ware or drink dispensers for example, but one of your friends might!

🎸Listening to

🎵Summer came like cinnamon..so sweet…🎵

Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae (I had to add the video because the imagery says SUMMER!)

Silver Tongues by Louis Tomlinson (whose voice and music instantly make me smile.) I recommend blasting this in the car on a sunny day with the windows down.

Magic by The Cars

Nel Blu Di Pinto De Blu (Volare) by DOLCE VITA

Here’s the rest of the playlist! I’m warning you that this playlist may not make any sense as a whole. I’m not the best at making playlists that feel cohesive, but all these songs gave me a certain vibe so I chose to add them.

🍦Eating/Tasting

*Experiment with edible flowers

• Lavender lattes/ice cream

• Rose lattes/rose tea

• Try new ways to drink Jasmine tea (beautifully floral and fragrant. underrated imo)

• Coconut rose panna cotta (sweet and refreshing)

• Garnish with rose petals/other edible flowers

• Throw some petals in your lemonade pitcher

• Make flower ice cubes

• Add edible flowers to your salads

• Garlicky lavender lemon chicken

  

  

  Source: summer Pinterest board linked below

*Add warmth with fire and smoke

• Roasted vegetables (highly recommend broccoli roasted with sriracha, Trader Joe’s Chili Onion Crunch, and a bit of sesame oil)

• Grilled peaches/pineapple

• Grilled corn

• Smokiness from chipotle (I’m working on a Mexican mocha with a sweet cinnamon chipotle sauce. Yes, sounds crazy. Maybe crazy enough to work!)

• Smoked paprika

• Smoked cheeses

• Add smoked salt or sugar to your lattes!

• Smoked sea salt s’mores cookies

Note: I love roasting veggies in my Wonder Oven. I also used it for baking for the first time last month, and it won’t be the last. This is the adult version of an Easy Bake Oven!! It lives on my countertop because I use it nearly every day, from roasting, to toasting, air frying, and reheating leftovers. Apart from making my counter cuter, it doesn’t heat up my apartment like my stove oven would so it’s ideal for summer.

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*Add warmth with cinnamon

• Churros at the county fair

• Cinnamon French toast with fresh strawberries from the farmers’ market on a Saturday morning

• Elephant ears at the zoo

• Iced horchata lattes

• Cinnamon sugar dusted donuts on a picnic blanket

Source: summer Pinterest board linked below

👗Wearing

This summer I want to try and wear more natural, breathable fabrics to help keep me cool (or at least cooler than synthetic fabrics). I just got a pair of these linen pants from Quince and really like them so far. MUCH better than wearing jeans on a hot summer day. I also want this 100% linen button-down dress. It’s so cute and I can see it becoming one of my summer staples.

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🏡 “Spending warm summer days indoors…” 🎶

I do not like hot weather!! More than that, it makes me feel ill. So as much as I like summer activities, I hole up in my apartment with the AC on during the hottest days of summer.

✱What my cats and I look like in the summer:

Ideas for an “indoor” summer:

• Have an indoor picnic

• Spend more time with God

• Find your new favorite hot dog topping

• Spend the day reading with some ambience music in the background — I suggest finding a lofi playlist or a beach scene with ocean sounds on YouTube.

• Invite people over for board games/card games and popsicles

• Have a movie night, solo or with a friend or two. Pop some popcorn, dim the lights and blast the AC while you watch one of your favorite movies (bonus points if it reminds you of summer).

• Try your hand at watercolor. It’s ok if you’re not good at it or have never tried it before! First of all, you can learn! I promise. And second, it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be fun. Watercoloring can be relaxing — just enjoy seeing the water and paint play together on paper.

📋 The bucket list

I made you a PDF version and a blank one, too, so you can make your own summer bucket list! I hope you like them! CLICK HERE

*For more summer inspiration check out my summer Pinterest board HERE <3

I’d love to know what’s on your summer bucket list! Comment and let me know :)

Keep reading:

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📌 follow for inspiration here

🎶 curated playlists for you here

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