spring at home: a seasonal bucket list
herb-y cocktails, spring baking, and shifting your home to a new season.
We have just a few weeks left (officially) of spring this year and I have bucket lists on the brain! I love writing down a few simple things each season that I would like to do to embrace the time of year. This spring, I have really prioritized getting outside and enjoying all the flourishing plants (and bees and butterflies and birds!) that the season has brought. Some of the things I meant to do this season indoors have fallen by the wayside. I still have a recipe for cheesy leek scones I have been wanting to bake and there is another recipe for a rhubarb pisco sour that has on my list forever. As we’re nearly to the end of rhubarb season, not to mention the time of year when I’m willing to turn on the oven quickly passing, I am prioritizing crossing these items off my spring bucket list in the next week or two.
On that topic, I am sharing a few of my favorite spring activities you can do indoors - this week or anytime this season. This won’t look exactly like your spring bucket list; I encourage you to this use as a starting place. I’ll share more at the end of this post about drafting your own spring bucket list.
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Reading a spring book.
Digging into a great book is one of my favorite ways to embrace the season. From stories of personal growth to a focus on gardens or plants, there are so many themes connected to the season of spring. I have mentioned a few favorite spring reads earlier this season, but you can find my full spring reading list here.
Passing a rainy day indoors.
A cozy rainy day in should be on everyone’s spring bucket list! Come summer’s heat and endless sunny days, we will be missing cozy days snuggled up indoors. Your rainy day might include movies, a baking project, or a board game with family. For me, the perfect rainy day starts with a lazy morning reading in bed, then cooking up a big pot of something tasty on the stove, and finally whiling away the hours on a puzzle. I shared a complete rainy day bucket list here, in case you’re interested.
Planting windowsill herbs.
This was such a highlight of my spring! Seeing seeds burst forth into green shoots out of nothing (ok, soil, sunlight and water), truly felt like magic. Our tall skinny window required a little ingenuity, but in most windows you can just plop a few pots right on the windowsill and get growing.
Cooking with (and eating!) your favorite spring produce.
After several months of root vegetables and relying on pantry items, spring produce is a delight. Fresh, tender peas. Garlicky ramps. Crunchy asparagus. Tangy rhubarb! Pick a favorite spring vegetable and make a meal that celebrates it. I have a great set of recipes in my week of spring meals here.
Mixing up a spring-y cocktail.
Rhubarb is the star of the non-alcoholic shrub in this photo, but rhubarb is just one of many spring ingredients perfect for a cocktail or mocktail. With lots of fresh mint sprouting up at the moment, mixing up a citrusy mojito is top of my bucket list at the moment. I’ve also been really interested in trying to make a rhubarb pisco sour.
Watching a springtime movie.
Romantic comedies are a classic for spring - Notting Hill, You’ve Got Mail, 10 Things I Hate About You. Anne of Green Gables would be another lovely spring watch. For a less well known recommendation, I love On the Rocks. It’s a slow-moving Sofia Coppola film, full of charming New York City street scenes and rainy evening drives. It even includes an impromptu trip to a oceanside resort in Mexico for a bit of spring break imagery. Centered around the relationship between a father (a lifelong womanizer) and his adult daughter navigating her own marriage and family, it’s meditative and comedic and one I will be rewatching.
Shifting your home for spring.
Spring cleaning might be part of your spring bucket list, but it’s not the most exciting routine to look forward to. What I do love each spring is making a few seasonal changes around our home - trading in thick winter blankets for a light summer quilt, packing away winter decorations, setting out a bouquet of flowers, and lighting a spring-y candle.
Whipping up a spring baking project.
There are so many fun things to bake in spring! A classic rhubarb galette or cake are both lovely. There is a recipe for lemon poppyseed cookies in the Minimalist Kitchen that I absolutely adore; they taste like a bit of pure sunshine. Anything with pistachio feels very spring-y to me, perhaps its the gentle green color. Not to mention savory baked goods, like a leek-filled scone.
Now onto creating your own bucket list.
Start small; listing a hundred thing is setting yourself up for certain failure. Try to come up with four or five things that you’d like to do sometime this spring. Importantly, write them down, ideally in a place that you’ll see every now and then.
For me, the perfect spot for my seasonal bucket list is inside a little notebook I keep on my bedside table. You could use the notes app on your phone, a sticky note on your computer, a sheet of paper on your fridge. Whatever is most accessible for you right now, just do that.
Now: go! Find a piece of paper and write down your own list. Check back on it regularly and keep the list in mind when planning your schedule or the next time you’re scrolling for a new show to watch. Once we officially turn the page to summer, if you’ve completed one item, that’s a win. If you’ve completed three, amazing! Don’t stress about completing every item, but rather think of it as a smorgasbord of ways to enjoy the season. Savor springtime and make the most of these precious months!
You may also enjoy:
Thank you for reading! If you’d like more nudges to live seasonally, please subscribe to seasonal things.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase of any of the books linked in this post.
Greetings from the very chilly UP -
I think you recommended The Minimalist Kitchen, and after reading a library copy I liked it so much I bought my own copy - I have her summer fritatta in the oven right now.
I'm really going to dig into your movie recommendations in particular - I just had some minor throat surgery and am fighting a cold, so I told my husband what I really need is a weekend off to REST. I'm going to load up on your movie suggestions and watch them in bed!
Thanks for your lovely inspirations!