Aja and I have spent a good part of the past few days making plans — for concerts, comedy shows, restaurants with patios — so it felt right to swap out our typical Monday recommendations for summer bucket lists.
For the first time ever, with the exception of deep pandemic days, I have no aspirations of getting on an airplane between Memorial and Labor Day. During a typical summer, my suitcase is perennially packed.
Rather than being disappointed, I feel liberated. I feel like I’ve reclaimed summer — albeit a new version. (This will be our first summer as parents!)
The dramatic shift in summer plans is largely coincidental; all of our upcoming weddings are within a three-hour drive, and I’m fortunate to have parents who waste no time jumping on a plane to come visit or babysit their grandson for a few days.
Before I first moved to New England ten years ago, I didn’t anticipate the magic of its summers. Impromptu day trips to the beach or the mountains are always within reach. The days are warm, but not too warm. And as daylight stretches into the evening hours, parks and sidewalks and patios — still brimming with a scent of sunscreen in the air — come to life. It’s why we tough it out through 40-degree days in April.
Read our summer bucket lists below and let us know what’s on yours.
Go to outdoor concerts. Trombone Shorty and The Revivalists at the Leader Bank Pavilion. More fresh air (and often free!) festivals like the Prescott Park Summer Series in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Harborwalk Sounds at the ICA.
Host potlucks and playdates with friends.
My son started crawling, so I’m full of questions of what a beach trip will entail (e.g. Will we still have fun? How do we keep him occupied? Can babies eat too much sand?), but it’ll be worth figuring them out to get the whole family there.
Learn how to attach a child seat to my bicycle. (This might have to wait until my son turns 1 in September, but why not start preparing?)
Take spontaneous day trips. Like I said, beach and mountains!
Catch a dance performance at Jacob’s Pillow in Western Massachusetts. (A truly magical place.)
Read good books. I’ve linked my Summer Reading List here,1 plus the New York Times released an interactive Summer Reading Guide.
Sam and I’ve been talking about a quick trip to New York to splurge on a Broadway show (maybe Kimberly Akimbo or Parade). I’d also love to visit
’s bookstore, Books Are Magic, in Brooklyn. Her latest release is on my summer reading list.Stay up past midnight (on occasion). At last summer’s weddings, I was very pregnant — a.k.a. tired. This summer, I’m bringing all I can.
Try out three to four new-to-me restaurants around Boston. Eater Boston is my go-to guide, and they cover more than a dozen other cities, like Nashville and the Twin Cities.
Oysters, oysters, and more oysters.
And, the real reason to live in New England: lobster.
Visit a new city abroad. I’m going to Berlin for work in August and decided to tack on a few days to explore what Conde Nast Traveler has deemed “the world’s coolest capital city.” If you have recs, please send them my way.
Apart from Berlin, copy Aliza and stay local. For the Fourth of July, Sam and I are going to Nantucket with some friends. Also a place I’ve never visited and am excited to explore.
I’m drinking less these days, so: try new non-alcoholic wines and cocktails. I want to start with this mixed set featuring two sparkling NA wines, one red, and one white. Will report back on taste/experience.
See the Barbie movie. Apparently the set caused a global shortage of pink paint, LOL.
Get (artificially ) tan. I love spray tans and these glow drops.
Take some day-long bike rides.
Lead a book club discussion. We just finished The Guest by Emma Cline. As I described it to my book club, The Guest is “very summery and easy to read but not at all dumb,” which is my personal definition of a beach read.
- writes, “This is how we are meant to live: with each other, in and out of each other’s lives, attending to one person’s errands and daily routines and then, naturally, at some point in the future, the other’s.”
Move. Not particularly looking forward to the process, but I am looking forward to the new place and the housewarming party we’re going to throw (hopefully the first of many parties).
Eat lots of oysters and lobster, yes, but most of all… fried calamari and fish tacos.
Before we wrap up this week’s recs, I’d be remiss not to share two more important updates:
We didn’t give up. Aja found the holy grail of wedding shoes 🙏
My jaw dropped last Thursday when I learned our, ahem, shit-show of a Supreme Court gave the Voting Rights Act a tenuous new lease on life. Chief Justice Roberts "completely rejected" the arguments to replace the VRA with race-blind districting — preserving the landmark law rather than gutting it, as many expected.2 No win is too small — especially now — and it’s important for this to be one place for us to celebrate 🏳️🌈
Have a good week!
xx,
Aliza
We loooove Bookshop! Every purchase supports independent bookstores. I’ve created a page of Bookshop Favorites to more easily share recs. Platonic Love is donating 100% of any affiliate revenue from Bookshop to reproductive justice organizations The Yellowhammer Fund and Partners in Abortion Care.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Voting Rights Act, start with Give Us the Ballot.