9 Fun Summer Past-Times

Hey guys! Summer is quickly approaching and school is almost over! Everyone loves the fact that we have a bunch a spare time but as soon as school is out, we seem to get bored and lay around watching TV and surfing the web. Then it turns out to be not as fun and exciting as we expected. So my brother and I have decided to come up with a few ideas to keep you busy during the summer.

1. Make a Reading List. This is always a good way to keep your brain agile so that when school starts up, your brain will not have to catch up so quickly. I always like to buy books and then say "I can't read it YET! I still need to finish the books that I just got from the library!" And then they get forgotten and land up gathering dust. So the first books on my list are from my own house. But if your library is within reasonable walking distance, you could also get moving and borrow books from there instead.
• My choices include many classics I have never read such as Little Women by Louise May Alcott, many books by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, and more current books like the Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.
2. Buy a Sketchbook. I am an artist and I love to draw, but I think that everyone should at least try to do some art and sketchbooks are actually really inexpensive. You don't need the fancy special paper or binding; just a spiral bound normal paper book would work great! If you do want to get one for Multi Media, then you could use wet mediums too instead of only dry.
3. Square-a-Day Challenge. You know how you always buy lots of graph paper at the beginning of the year and then have some left over? Well now you can put some creativity into it! Now a regular piece of 1/4 inch square graph paper has 1299 entire squares...It would take 3 and a half years to fill it out with only one square a day (a cool challenge but WAY too long for summer). So here is my advice: cut one piece of graph paper into fourths (20x15 not including the border) and then you only to 3 squares a day. Then you can do one pattern, one object, and one letter everyday and you will have such a wonderful piece of art to put in a scrapbook or memory box! And you can share!
4. Make the Stuff You Pin on Pinterest. Face it girls. We don't do that. So this summer, how about we all make the stuff on our boards! It would be so fun to see what could happen and what holy grail recipes or creations we will find!
• I found one recipe for grain free pancakes that are the best things I have ever tasted! I eat it most days! I can do a post on how I cook them if you want!
5. Re-Do Your Closet. I don't know about you guys but I am always so busy in spring (or if spring is really a 2 week period between freezing winter and boiling summer) that I can never rearrange my closet. So summertime is the best time because it is completely different from winter and fall so no warm clothes or pajamas would be needed!
• It is also great to remake some stuff. Add embellishment to things or add some flair! I am turning some torn up jeans into shorts and making them gorgeous!!!
6. Go Through Your Makeup Collection. So this is a good time to go through your cosmetics and hair collection to see if anything has expired or if you don't like something anymore. This is also part of the spring cleaning in summertime. You could even reorganize or relocate your collection to change stuff up!
7. Take Summer Classes or Workshops. Lots of art schools, dance companies, and other things have summer workshops  that are really fun and definitely worth it! You could even take a school class but if that is not exactly your picture for summer, there are so many other options!
• I am actually taking a school class (Algebra 2) so that I don't need to next school year. I am half a year through and I don't want to have separate subject in the same year (I am taking AP Pre Calculus next year). I am also doing lots of dance intensives and maybe an art workshop in there!
8. Start a Blog. If you don't have a blog and you are passionate about something (or multiple things) then a blog is a great idea! I started mine for a past time one summer and I have enjoyed it immensely!
9. Get in Shape. Because there is no school to worry about, we can think about how to improve our lives. One way that makes life easier is to get in shape and be healthier. you are at home so you can think about what you are eating most of the time. And whenever you think of it, you can go exercise! I personally wear less makeup in the summer since so much of it just melts off...that also allows me to not worry about exercising with makeup on.

Well those are my ideas! What are your ideas/plans for summertime?