This coming weekend is Victoria Day here in Canada, the unofficial kickoff to summer and the date when it is usually safe to begin planting our gardens. We haven’t really had a spring yet but here’s hoping that this significant date on the calendar brings some sunshine and warm days with it. I’m certainly looking forward to more time outside!
Inspired by one of my favorite blogs Brocante Home (who was in turn inspired by a feature in Harper’s Bazaar written by Diana Vreeland), Why Don’t You is a week’s worth of ideas for adding a little something special to your life. Simple ideas for lovely days!
Pick and choose what sparks your interest and fits into your schedule. Or use these simple ideas for special days as inspiration for coming up with your own ideas.
WHY DON’T YOU? – SIMPLE IDEAS FOR LOVELY DAYS
Get Ready for Picnic Season
I don’t know about you but I just love eating outside. There’s something about a lovely picnic that gives me an appetite for fresh, local, healthy foods even more than usual. Feeling the sun on my face and a cool breeze through my hair, while sitting on a blanket nibbling away at picnic food is heaven.
If you love picnics too, why not be ready for them ahead of time? Get out your picnic basket and fill it with unbreakable plates and cups, cutlery (I love bamboo!), cloth napkins, a tablecloth or two (with clips in case you end up at a location with a picnic table), sunscreen, maybe a Frisbee, a ball, bubbles or other outdoor toys – anything non-perishable that you usually take along on a picnic!
On the actual day, simply add things like the food and beverages, some wet rags and washcloths in a watertight container (for eco-friendly cleanup), and you’ll be ready for the fun in much less time!
Ideas for packing the perfect beach picnic
Check Over the BBQ.
This is the time to give your BBQ the once-over. Give it a good cleaning and make any necessary repairs. If it’s a propane grill, be sure to stock up on more propane too! You’ll find a more in-depth guide to getting your BBQ ready for summer here.
Get Your Feet Summer Ready.
If you have the time and the money, treat yourself to a salon pedicure. You can always maintain your feet from there on at home but this will give you a head start by having the salon do the hard work!
At the very least, give your feet a good sloughing using a pumice stone, foot scrub, or even a foot filing gadget. I find it best to soak my feet before trying to slough off the dead skin – plus it feels great and is a good way to help relieve foot odor.
Once I’ve removed as much dead skin as possible, it’s time to use a foot softening cream. I slather the cream on and cover them with socks. If you can leave the socks on overnight, you’ll get even better results. In the morning, your feet will be nearly baby soft!
Pack Away Your Winter Clothing.
I have a small wardrobe and a large closet so very few, if any, of my clothes get packed away. I do rotate them so that the spring and summer clothing is front and center though. Sweaters go up in a basket on my closet shelf, trading places with shorts which are placed in the drawer where the sweaters used to be.
Just the act of bringing the summer clothing to the forefront brings a smile to my face, knowing that months of sunshine awaits me.
Change Out Your Winter Bed Linens for Summer Ones
In the coldest parts of winter, I tend to have flannel sheets on my bed, along with thick heavier blankets and afghans along with my beloved quilts.
In summer, I like to sleep on cotton sheets (Threshold sheets from Target. I import them from the US because they are the best I’ve ever found!) with a couple of quilts (we use air conditioning so it’s still cool enough to use those) and maybe keep an afghan at the end of the bed for a chilly night.
Get Ready for Gardening
Are you planning a summer garden? This coming weekend is generally when it’s considered safe (aka no more frost) for us to plant our gardens. So now’s the time to pull out those garden tools. Maybe you even need to find where you stashed the tools last fall?
Take a good look at your tools. Do any need cleaning (hopefully, you cleaned them before you put them away for winter!)? Maybe some are in need of repairs or even replacement? If you’re not sure how to clean and maintain your tools, this article can help.
Some other ideas for preparing your backyard for summer.
Go to a Local Park.
Be carefree like a child. Run. Lie on the grass and stare up at the sky, looking for shapes in the clouds. Swing on the swings – how high can you go? Take some food along to feed the ducks (NOT bread! It’s bad for them. Take defrosted frozen corn or peas, duck pellets from a local pet/animal feed store, lettuce or other greens, or rolled oats.
More information about feeding ducks here.
What will you do this week to make your days lovely? Find more Why Don’t You? posts here.
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