summer fun list

If you haven't noticed yet, I kind of love goal setting and lists. Writing lists of things makes me feel wonderfully in control, and crossing things off them gives me a vastly greater feeling of accomplishment than just doing the thing. (Also, I get to use my colorful sharpies for these things, which doesn't hurt.) I thought a summer fun list would be a good way to keep track of all the things I've been meaning to do around town (now that we've been here a full year already!) and to take full advantage of the warm months.

That all sounds like fun stuff though, and my love of lists sounds more about my neuroses... so I admit this summer list actually has another purpose: calming me a bit about year two of residency. We've been hearing over and over that year two is so much harder than year one (which was no cake walk) - and with year two starting in less than a month, I'm starting to get a bit anxious about the whole thing. It's not my favorite to think about having a hubby who's overworked, worn out, on call practically every weekend (it'll be 3 weekend calls per month next year...), and still needs to find time to read medical-y stuff on top of that.

So: a list of some fun things to make the most of our time together, and some other things for me to look forward to when I need to occupy myself.

Thought I'd better whip up a summer reading list too, since I've got a super long plane ride coming up for my work conference in Japan, followed by some time at the beach: