Your End-of-Summer Bucket List

We’ve got just one month to do it all, so take 30% off the summer print issue

I am a card-carrying member of the Girls-Who-Love-Fall club. I’m not planning my Halloween costume or drinking pumpkin-spice-anything, but I am starting to think about all the suede I’ll soon be layering (and taking off right away, because here in LA it’s hot until Christmas.)

That said, I am trying to get in the habit of not wishing time away. There’s still an entire month left of summer, and that’s plentyyyy of time to squeeze out a few last drops of the season’s picnics in the park, cocktails on the stoop, and books about people falling in love in a quaint and quirky beach town.

Lucky for us, I made us a bit of a guide: The À La Carte Summer Print Issue! I’ve restocked the zine, just for the next couple of weeks, and it’s now 30% off, so now’s your time to grab a copy. The print issue is like a bucket list in itself, full of snacks to pack for an outdoor hang, books to read from a hotel bed, a playlist to listen to with a glass of chilled Lambrusco, and so much more.

Here’s what’s on our end-of-summer bucket list:

1. Pick a day to have a good ol’ fashioned staycation at home. Start with breakfast in bed, then head to the backyard with a chunky magazine. Later, put on your fluffiest robe and hop in bed for a TV marathon—I suggest OG RHONY. Bonus points if you order french fries from room service (AKA Doordash).

2. Host a movie night. Guests are responsible for bringing movie snacks related to the film, like Oreos and peanut butter à la The Parent Trap.

3. Sit outside at your local wine bar—sidewalk seating preferred—and have a glass while you read. (The zine, perhaps?) Or, create the feeling from home! In the print issue, Andrea Jaramillo of Mas Vino Please shows us how to choose a bottle of wine for optimal patio drinking.

4. Take your camera (or phone, preferably on Airplane Mode) on a magic hour walk and document all the flowers you see along the way. (Fun trick: Using the front-facing camera, I like to shoot a flower from underneath, like I did here.)

5. Head to your local bookstore and pick up a couple of summery titles before the weather cools off. Both

   Becca Freeman
   and
   Tembe Denton-Hurst
   recommended some great reads for any summer scenario in the print issue! (Page 14, if you’re following along at home.)

6. Do a pre-fall closet clean-out of the clothes you haven’t worn for over a year and don’t want to take with you into the next season. Replace your pit-stained white tees, send your sweaters to the dry cleaner, and get your loafers resoled so when the temp drops, you’re ready to party.

7. Take a trip to your local shoppy shop (or any gourmet grocery store) and stock up on snacks. In the zine, Brightland founder Aishwarya Iyer put together a menu for the ideal backyard dinner hang, the Bucatini girls shared their go-to lay-in-the-park picks, Long Weekend’s Tracy Georgiou took us through her road-trip snack list, and Big Night’s Ariella Sperling listed out everything you need for a rooftop aperitivo hour.

8. Shop the sales! So many of the brands featured in the print issue are running end of summer deals, like Mansur Gavriel, Loeffler Randall, and The Great.

9. Plan an entire meal using tomatoes. Tomato salad, a tomato cocktail, a spaghetti pomodoro… tomato sorbet?!

10. Wear your pajamas outside. I promise, it’s not scary! Boxers with a tee and a metallic sandal, a nightgown with a bunch of beaded necklaces, or floaty pajama pants with an oversized tee. When else will you get away with daytime pajamas?

11. Have a leisurely breakfast outside—on your porch, in your backyard, on the fire escape—before the work day gets going.

12. Load up on farmers market strawberries and make yourself a strawberry shortcake.

13. Make a mood board that sums up your summer! I asked a bunch of you to send me photos you’ve taken and art you’ve made that evoke a dream summer abroad, and then I made a massive mood board with the submissions. I’m using it as my vision board for next year.

14. If you’ve still got a vacation ahead, practice “souvenir thinking”, or the exercise I do when I travel to soak up inspiration from each of the places I visit. On page 20 of the print issue I take you through it step-by-step!

15. Commit to taking one last roll of film (or using one last disposable camera) to document the last days of summer. Prioritize getting photos of your friends so you can look back at this month fondly.

16. Find a body of water. Sit beside it. (Wear sunscreen.)

17. Listen to the playlist of the season, À La Carte Summer, curated by Latin Gold Records just for us.

18. Make a plan for Labor Day Weekend now so you don’t get hit with a case of summer ennui when the time comes. (I always find myself without LDW plans, bummed that I’m not somewhere by a pool or at a BBQ.)

19. Take a second to list out all the best parts of your summer. A highlight reel, a gratitude list, whatever you want to call it—just a quick moment of reflection to cement in all the good stuff.

20. Snag yourself one of the last few copies of the À La Carte Summer Print Issue—grab yours for just $12.60!

x

Ali

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