Planning my Summer Plans

It's almost here. The time of year for swimming, working outside and reading for fun. And I'm so ready for it!

I'm finding it hard to work and prepare for finals. First, the weather is getting nice, and why stay inside to type a paper when you could be outside on a blanket taking a nap in the sun!? Besides that, I know that my days of living with my Franklin College friends are extremely limited. That realization makes me want to do nothing more than hang out with them and goof off. It's ironic because this is the time of the semester when I have the most work to do; however, it's also the time when I feel like doing the least amount. Funny how that works.

People start asking me about my summer plans weeks before summer arrives. This only encourages me to think about the summer even more, and not concentrate as much on all the work I have at the moment.

Honestly, I'd rather think about my summer plans because it's a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to summer vacation because of exactly that -- it's actually going to be a vacation. I'm not planning to get a summer job, which will be the first time in five years that I haven't worked during the summer break.

Well, that's not entirely true. I'll still be working this summer. I plan to help out a lot around the house. There is always a lot of yard work to do! And after the sun sets, I'm going to scrapbook until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Scrapbooking is a TON of work, and I have a few ambitious projects to work on.

Other summer plans include spending lots of time with my family and friends, swimming and reading. I recently wrote a list of books that I want to read. They include: Blue Like Jazz, Jesus For President (I love the title of it! I also enjoy my "Jesus is my President" pin.) and several books by Karen Kingsbury, one of my favorite authors in the whole wide world.

And of course, I'm also going to be preparing for Japan this summer, which I wrote about last week. In fact, another book I want to read is one that Mrs. Streit, the Japanese teacher at the high school, recommended to me -- Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan.

I plan to give my room the most thorough cleaning it's had for a long time. I want to go through my stuff and give a lot of it away. After all, I can't take much with me when I move to Japan. So the stuff I don't take with me is just going to sit around the house collecting dust, which won't benefit anyone. Plus, my mom despises clutter, and I don't blame her.

Then there's the packing I need to do this summer. Ugh.Thinking about it kind of stresses me out a little bit. I just need to look at it as an exciting challenge! I still need to come up with a packing strategy. I know that I'm going to pack using the cool plastic bags that suck all the air out. They're guaranteed to save a whole bunch of room in my suitcase.

Well, I need to go. There's still work to be done tonight, and it's going on midnight! As much as I hate to say (err..type) it, I need to stop thinking about the summer for now.