18 (Awesome) Things To Do This Summer

1. Kayak & hike

These are my two favorite workouts in the summer. Kayaking is so fun to do on a beautiful day when you can enjoy the weather and the scenery. And there are places where you can rent a kayak for an hour for just $30. It’s an amazing core workout, and you’ll be enjoying it so much you won’t even feel the blisters growing on your hands. Same with hiking. If you’re enjoying everything that you’re seeing around you, you won’t realize the strenuous workout.

2. Have brunch on a rooftop

Need I say more?

3. Redecorate your whole room

In the winter, we are filled with excuses. It’s too cold, it’s already dark out, we’re too tired. We don’t have the motivation or energy to do random tasks, no matter how necessary. Our bedrooms become our caves. But in the summer, we wake up to sunshine pouring through the windows and a warm breeze blowing through our curtains. People are generally happier during the summer (Sun=Vitamin D=Happiness). Now is the time to make some changes, and that can start in your bedroom. Change your color scheme, paint the walls, buy new sheets and blankets and pillows, rearrange your furniture, box up old knick-knacks that are collecting dust on your shelves and fill your room with flowers and color. We get so accustomed to things in our lives that we don’t realize how necessary it is to switch up the energy in our favorite spaces. Redecorating your whole entire room will make you feel accomplished and ready for a new season. 

4. Plant a garden

This is a great hobby to pick up in the summer when you have picturesque days with nothing to do. Gardening is therapeutic, and you create something beautiful in the process.

5. Adopt a pet

Obviously this is only if you’re able to afford it and take care of them properly. But the summer is the season to be outdoors, so who better to do that with than a new canine companion? They’ll keep you active while providing great company.

6. Take a road trip

Whether it’s across the country or to the state next to yours, take a road trip with friends. Find if there are any festivals going on, any cool places to explore, any sites you’ve always wants to see. Get in your car, roll the windows down, crank the music, and drive somewhere new.

7. Be a tourist in your own city

I have lived on the outskirts of NYC all my life, I’ve gone out there hundreds of times, yet I’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, or any tourist site for that matter. When things are accessible to you, they are less desirable. I know those are tourist hot spots, I glimpse them every time I’m in the city, so why go? This summer, become a tourist and actually explore the place you’ve grown up in. Discover the history you’ve never bothered to know. And if you don’t want to go to the really popular spots? Doing some research online will help you find some of those interesting spots close by that are kept on the DL.

8. Visit thrift and antique shops

Thrift shops are great spots to explore, and in the summer, lots of places have whole days dedicated to markets for serious shoppers. They don’t make furniture like they used to, so find a nice piece and make a project out of repurposing it. There are so many unique items that can be used decoratively too. I don’t understand why people spend so much on things like overpriced glass vases when you can buy cool, vintage bottles for a buck each.

9. Start reading

This is another thing people are always putting off in the winter. They’re always claiming they don’t have enough time to read. Please. There’s always time to read, especially if you find authors that you love. The summer is no excuse, because there is a lot of downtime out in the sun. Go to the beach, lie on a blanket in your backyard, stretch out on a deck chair, and just read.

10. Donate your old stuff

Along with redecorating your room, going through your old things is not a fun task to do in the cold, dreary nights of winter. But summer is the perfect time to go through your old things and toss stuff. Go through all of your winter clothes. Were there some sweaters you didn’t wear this year? Or the year before that? Get rid of them. Are there sandals that are falling apart? Old blankets you never use? When we see the same things every day, we stop noticing them. We forget that we haven’t used them, and have no reason to keep them. So take a day this summer to fill up bags and boxes of stuff that you’re done with, and either toss them or donate them.

11. Go on a booze cruise 

If you’re not impossibly far from water and are sick of doing the same old bars (but still want to drink somewhere fun outside), try a booze cruise. It allows you to just escape from it all for a few hours on a beautiful day (while boozing). Go for a casual lunch or get dressed up and go out for a nice night. Either way, drinking on the water in gorgeous weather is better than sitting in a dive bar staring at the same four walls all night.

12. Go somewhere REALLY fancy

For just one night, get ridiculously dolled up with your friends, take out half of that paycheck you just made, and go out for an extravagant night on the town. Go to a high end restaurant, a top-notch hotel bar, and act like you go there every night. Throw money at champagne like you own the place. Flirt with all the millionaire businessmen. Make it so fun that you don’t even regret spending that much the next morning.

13. Go to every outdoor concert you can

Even if you’re not really familiar with the bands, just go! You’d be surprised how many concerts and festivals they have all over the place in the summer filled with beer tents and grassy areas and chill people.

14. Take a mental health day from work

If you’re not going away on vacation this summer, chances are you have a few vacation days at your disposal. There’s a big difference between doing something fun over the weekend and doing something fun when you’re supposed to be at work. Plan a mental health day for yourself, take off work, and go do something adventurous and fun and spontaneous. Turn off your cellphone, don’t check your email, and just allow yourself to enjoy a guilt-free, relaxing day in the middle of the week.

15. Go camping

If you’ve never been, try it. Even for a night in the woods behind your house. Set up a tent, cut yourself off from technology, hike through the woods, swim in streams, and just go off the grid, so to speak.

16. Go to an outdoor movie screening

Bring a few cozy blankets, a bottle of wine, some snacks, and lounge outside in the grass to watch a movie on a huge screen. Why rush to a theatre to be frozen by air conditioning when you can enjoy the outdoors, stretched out on a blanket?

17. Make a slip & slide

When was the last time you did this?!?! Have your friends over for a booze-filled BBQ, put a piece of tarp down, run a few hoses over it, and have a blast. Nothing is more fun than drinking games that involve a slip and slide.

18. Make a big change

Summer is the perfect season to make a change in your life. Take a risk, try something new, throw caution to the wind and do something you always were scared of. Stop putting things off – there is no time better than now.