Starting to Feel Like Summer – June Intentions 2023

Hello! Welcome to another post of my Monthly Intentions series for 2023. Back in 2019, I decided to start setting three goals for myself each month. My objective was to be more intentional in my day-to-day life. After a couple of years, I found myself in need of a more gentle, grace-giving approach with a little less pressure. Still striving for a process that offers me accountability, joy, and connection – I decided to shift this to a series of monthly intentions. I’m definitely not always consistent in sharing from month to month, but it has remained a great practice for me! So I’m back with my June intentions and hoping to keep this momentum going!

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“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explode, and every sunset is different.”

― John Steinbeck

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Well, May flew by in a flurry of full days and fun adventures! Construction on our back deck is finally finished just in time for summer hangouts! Paul and I embarked on staining it by ourselves. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be and we learned a lot during the process. We wrapped up our Spring sports season for Niko’s tball team, our adult co-ed soccer team, and Noah’s soccer team. And I got to go see Lizzo in concert with some of my FAVORITE girlfriends which was an absolute blast!

Between Mother’s Day and my birthday this month, I felt incredibly celebrated and loved.

We got a new piano – something I’ve been dreaming of for years! The boys and I spent a weekend at the beach (first time all year!). The very next weekend we all took a trip to the mountains together. Niko graduated from pre-K with the sweetest little ceremony and a class trip for ice cream afterwards. The final week of May delivered us a double whammy stomach virus. That took both kids down back to back and was ZERO fun.

But we ultimately closed out the month with much relief and joy when our little kitty returned home after being missing for a whole 7 days! I had been so convinced that he’d been “eaten by a critter” after reading about coyotes in the area. It was an awful feeling to not know what had happened to him. Then on the very last day of May, he came waltzing in the back door. He was attention-starved but seemingly otherwise unscathed. We were all beside ourselves to welcome him back.

Usually what I try to do in these posts is share how my previous month’s intentions played out for me! Since I ended up not posting last month I’ll do a quick catch up now. And honestly I had a few good intentions to share for May and then ultimately ended up being too busy to post them! I’ll tell you what they were too while I’m here (and how they went!).

My April intentions were:

• Take myself on a Reading Date once a week
• Send out a Spring newsletter before the end of the month (ish)
• Organize our family mudroom to maximize the benefits of it for this season

I LOVED the Reading Date intention – that one was so much fun for me. It actually helped me make it through a few more books than usual in the month of April due to those fun outings I made for myself. I finished: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (⭐️ 1 star), Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars!), Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng ⭐️⭐️(2 stars), and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss ⭐️⭐️ (2 stars). Reading is truly one of my favorite things and making this intention allowed me to find time to prioritize this hobby of mine in a guilt-free, focused way I’d highly recommend to anyone who loves books as much as I do.

If you’re signed up for my newsletter, you may (or may not) have noticed that I didn’t make it around to getting this intention checked off of my list in April (or May haha). Not signed up for my newsletter yet? No worries – I haven’t sent one out in AGES!! But sometime soon I definitely will be, I promise! Click HERE to sign up today so you don’t miss out when I finally DO send one out! It would make me so happy to have you! // Lastly, my April intention to tackle organizing the mudroom was my greatest success! Not only did I get it done, but I also got inspired to tackle organizing several other spaces in our house.

In May I chose organizing the kids’ bedroom as one of my intentions.

Riding the mudroom momentum, I was totally able to knock that one out too! We rotate our children’s books seasonally so I brought out all of their summer books. Then I reorganized their bookshelves which had gotten really crazy. I also went through all of their clothing to sort by size/season (QUITE a feat in itself). The overall finished product is much easier for them to maintain and definitely good prep for summer vacation.

Another May intention I decided on but never posted about was to create a fun Summer Countdown to celebrate the end of the school year. We decided to use the last 10 days of Noah’s school year to implement this. He was feeling jealous about Niko being out of school 2 weeks before him so this helped. I made a paper chain for them with a fun activity written on each piece of the chain for them to tear off each day. It helps them visually grasp the passing of time. And alleviates me having them ask me constantly how many days are left until whatever upcoming thing happens that they are excited about.

Here are a few things we added to our list:

• Get checked out early + pick road trip snacks at the gas station
• Go to a local museum after school
• Have dinner at the pool with friends
• Outdoor movie night in the backyard
• Pick a new summer pool toy from Target
• Choose a place to go out to dinner on a school night
• Stop for an ice cream treat after school

Now at last – Time for my June Intentions!

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My June Intentions 2023

1. Finish Getting Our Deck Ready for Summer Hangouts

We’ve been SO excited about getting our deck finished this year just in time for summer hangs! One of our very favorite family activities is hanging out in the backyard. So getting the deck project completed levels up that experience in so many ways! Paul and I have always enjoyed planning and brainstorming together on design ideas for our living spaces. This one has been a blast to dream up together. Once we got the whole thing stained like we’d wanted, the next thing we did was start making our plan for how to outfit the space. We know we wanted comfy practical seating options and a big table large enough to host dinner parties. And mostly we want a totally chill vibe that will draw us outside year-round!

The places we searched for furnishing were: IKEA, Pottery Barn, Article, West Elm, Costco, and All Modern. Below is a photo from the Article website that we felt really encompassed the vibe we are hoping for. There’s a link to the outdoor sofas – ps. we ordered one of them! Our goal is to get things all set up out there ASAP so we can start enjoying the space before summer is in full swing.

June Intentions Action Plan –

We’ve done the hard work of saving for this project and finding smart discount prices (thank you Memorial Day sales!). Next up is actually getting the furniture, putting it together, and then setting things up like we want them. Paul wants to hang some outdoor lights (yay!) and we have been working on our yard to get the plants/grass in top shape to enjoy. Once we do all of that – we are are gonna host some backyard barbecues with friends! I’ll come back next month and show you the finished product!

2. Make a Family Summer Bucket List

We love making family bucket lists for different seasons! Together as a family we brain dump anything and everything we can come up with on a big sheet of paper. Then we create a seasonal bucket list from that chaos. My good friend Kelle is one of my favorite bloggers/IG accounts to follow and she has shared her family’s bucket lists online for years. You can find this her summer 2023 bucket list here. She’s been an inspiration behind us making our own since even before Paul and I had kids!

June Intentions Action Plan –

We always seem to have the most fun when we brainstorm our bucket list ideas on road trips. It gives us something to do on the long drive! And it gets us super excited about checking off the first things on our list. We always seem to come up with the best ideas when we are untethered to our normal routines and rhythms! There are always a few repeat things every season. Think: catching fireflys, backyard campout, crab hunts at the beach, boogie boarding, making homemade lemonade, etc.). We are headed to the beach the DAY after Noah’s school gets out so we are planning on making our list then! I can hardly wait!

3. Plan Another Fun Summer Bday Party for my June Baby

I LOVE planning events and parties and I love hosting them even more! One of my favorite events all year is when we get to celebrate Niko’s birthday at the end of June. For the past 4 years we have hosted backyard water fun parties for him. Even during covid when we were quarantining from other people we managed to pull off a mini backyard party. That year we dragged a huge wagon full of water balloons to our neighbors house. Then their family and our family had an EPIC water balloon fight ACROSS the street from backyard to backyard. It was a blast. Every year since we’ve done water balloons and it’s a hit with everyone (no pun intended haha)!

June Intentions Action Plan –

Every year my friend Becca makes these incredible cookies for the boys’ birthdays. I’ve already gotten in touch with her about Niko’s theme for this year. I also reached out to book a “reptile” party person who brings a variety of different species for a show-and-tell with the kids. This one is a surprise so shhh don’t tell! I’ve still got to make invitations and figure out what else we need/want to have there. Oh and order all the party supplies. It’s an exciting thing to have on my to-do list and I’m already so excited about it! June is packed with summer events so I want to make sure I keep my intentions fun and doable. One of the best parts of this process is using momentum to help me stay proactive, organized, and as stress free as possible during this awesome time of year!

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I’ll be back next month to update you on how well I kept up with these June intentions.
And to share my intentions for July!
 

What might you include in your own June (or summer!) intentions?
I’d love to know what you’re striving for this month.
Drop a comment below!