One of my pictures from last summer!

GO SOMEPLACE NEW (BIG OR SMALL)

I live in a city, but there are tons of quaint little towns surrounding it.  One of my favorite  things to do is take a day trip to explore a town I’ve never been to before.  Cool photo ops, yummy eats, and little boutiques are things I look for.  Any small town always has its treasures.  So even if you live in a smaller town, hop in the car, get on a bus, use any transportation you want; and head to a town near you that you’ve never been to before.

Me on a road trip I took last summer with my fam.

TRY OUT A NEW MAKEUP LOOK OR HAIRSTYLE

For me, summer is the perfect time to try out new things, especially those pertaining to your physical looks.  You have a bit more time for yourself, so if there is a new eye shadow palette, a new lip color, or a new braided style you want to try, summer is great for that.  I recommend doing this on a day you know you’ll be at home the majority of the day.  Then, you can see how much you really like it and whether or not it lasts before going out in public to showcase the new look!

A new eye look I tried out recently.

READ A CLASSIC NOVEL 

This one is pretty self-explanatory.  Classic novels are typically lengthier than other books, but are great to read and can be used as examples/quotations in school essays. Also, they’re perfect beach books for when you’re just laying out in the sun!

MEET UP WITH SOMEONE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IN A WHILE

Throughout the rest of the year, it can be hard to keep up with your friends, especially if you don’t see them everyday or they moved,  Summer is the time to reconnect to with old friends.  You can meet up for a meal or just talk on the phone, either way this is one of my favorite things to do in summer.

SWIM!

Swimming is probably the top activity of summer and I totally get why!  As a girl from South Carolina, where temperatures that are 90+ are in no way abnormal, swimming is one of the best ways to cool off.  Going to a public pool, a lake, a water park, or a beach is fun, but if for some reason you can’t get to one of those, a sprinkler, hose, or cold shower works just fine too!

MAKE NEW OUTFIT PAIRINGS

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut of wearing the same/similar outfits when you have school and work keeping you occupied.  That’s why in the warmer months you should sift thought your closet and mix-and-match pieces to create new clothing combos.  Some may surprise to be super stylish and be something you never would’ve worn if you hadn’t experimented with your clothes.  And if you’re still struggling with finding your own style, summer is the season to work on building it!

GO THRIFTING/YARD SALE-ING

Not gonna lie, a lot more clothes in my closet are from thrift stores than you might think!  Which I am not ashamed of, as some of my most unique pieces are a whole lot cheaper than others because they were thrifted.  Thrifting is something so easy to do when you’re bored and it can actually be quite fun to go through racks of interesting clothes.  You can laugh at the crazy T-shirts and be awed by a beautiful blouse.  One of the most thrilling things is finding an absolute gem of a piece at a second-hand store, that you know is one of a kind.  And for all my vintage-loving ladies out there, thrifting and yard sale-ing can be the perfect place to add to your collections.

This skirt and top were both thrifted. (Festival Lookbook 2017)

This shirt was thrifted. (Festival Lookbook 2017)

This vest was thrifted. (Solo Style: Chill Day)

This jacket was found at a yard sale. (Solo Style: Epitome of Fall)

DIY AND UPCYCLE THRIFTED ITEMS

To go along with the last idea, another thing you can do in summer is DIY or Upcycle clothing items you thrifted.  I’ve personally done this a lot of times and have never regretted it.  Upcycling can easily take a cute t-shirt and make it a million times cooler.  This is also an easy way to change clothing items to fit your personal style better.

A denim jacket I bought at a thrift store, then added light pink pearls to the pocket and sleeves.

LEARN THE BASICS OF A NEW LANGUAGE

I’m noticing a recurring theme in this post 🙂  I keep repeating how summer is the perfect time to do things you wouldn’t normally do the rest of the year, but hey, it’s totally true! Learning the basics of a language is one of those things (I say basics because learning an entire language in a summer is unrealistic for most people, including myself, especially if you’re teaching yourself).  Great apps to use that I love to teach myself Spanish and French on are Duolingo and Memrise.

PHOTOGRAPHY

When I say photography, I’m being extremely general.  There are so many options like visiting a cool place to take pictures, learning more about your camera, and reading up on how to take better pictures (Check out my post about How to Take Professional Looking Photos on Your Phone and Part 2).  This season also happens to be a wonderful one that holds many photo ops!

3 of my photos, you can find all of them on my Photography page.

That’s all for the third installment in my Top 10 series, Things To Do In Summer.  I hope you enjoyed and that this has given you ideas for your summer plans and activities.  I would love to hear in the comments your ideas for my next Top 10 post, I am pretty much open to anything, but would love for it to be fashion or beauty related!

My other Top 10 posts:

Top 10 Accessories

Top 10 Places I Have Been

Really quick before I sign off, I want to talk about something I am going to be adding at the end of all my posts.  From now on, I am going to link an article/post/writing that I enjoyed reading and things I think others should read.  The first post I will be sharing with you is by Natalie from the website Boats of Oats.  It’s called What Every Non-Muslim Should Know About Islam, and I highly recommend reading this as it shed light on some things for me and I’m sure it will for some of you.  Anytime you like something you read from these links I leave, please let me know in the comments what you think about.  **Disclaimer: These are optional to read as some of them may relate to politics.

Love, Olivia

Check out my Instagram, @absolutelyolivia, to see what I am up to this summer!