Five Projects to Save your Summer
The Reflector has five summer ideas to hone your holiday and squeeze the most out of your summer
Byline: Kaity Brown, Publishing Editor
Finally, Summer is just around the corner. You’ve wrapped up the semester and you are either fast-tracking your degree (or catching up on your electives and GNEDs) or maybe you’ve just acquired a new summer job.
And despite the fact that you’ve waited for summer for far too long, suddenly it doesn’t seem to have the pop and sizzle that you were expecting. Why is that?
You’ve likely fallen into a routine already and similarly to your school year, you find yourself brain-dead at the end of the day eating peanut butter out of the jar in your underwear.
But the Reflector has some brilliant summer saver ideas of projects to try to get the most out of your summer, without breaking the bank.
These 5 ideas are sure to impress your friends when they ask the inevitable “What did you do this summer?”
1. Volunteering
Before you skim over this option thinking that you don’t have the time, really think about it. There are countless volunteering opportunities and needs around Calgary. So many that you are sure to find something that not only helps other people but that can be personally rewarding too. Maybe you love to cook – well they could use your help at the Drop-In Centre. Or you love to sing? Go to an Old Folks Home and sing some songs for your elders. Love kids? Why not become a big brother or sister? And those are just a few quick ideas. If you are looking to find a niche volunteer opportunity, the best way is to go to Propellus.org and checking out the complete volunteer need list. You could be a volunteer for hire and jump from event to event earning t-shirts left, right and centre.
2. Take Up a New Sport
There are countless opportunities in this area. A simple Google search would yield countless new teams popping up, new summer classes, runs and walks, triathlons, you name it. One way to get into a new sport is to network. Ask around and you will likely find that maybe the place you work has created a team that is going to ride their bikes together for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, or maybe your company has their own bowling team that gets together every Tuesday night. If you’re not working, check in with your friends, maybe they are going for hikes every weekend or they’ve joined an awesome kick-boxing class. You knows, maybe you’ll become a Karate Master before September rolls around.
3. Farmer’s Markets
Have you always had a get-rich-quick idea but you’ve been too scared to try it out? Maybe you make the best cherry pie that Calgary has ever known? Or perhaps you know how to make fancy decorative knitted hats because your grandma forced to learn at the age of 6? Well, a Farmer’s Market is the perfect place to try that entrepreneurial dream out. Or at the very least, try to fatten your wallet. Calgary has four major Farmer’s Markets: The Crossroads Market, The Kingsland Market, the Calgary’s Farmer Market and the Blackfoot Trail Market. An idea, a couple of phone calls to book yourself a stand, spare hours making your product and voila! They’ll be asking you to come on to CBC’s Dragon’s Den in no time.
4. Write a book
So maybe you don’t have to be the next J.K. Rowling (although maybe you day dream that your novel idea get picked up like the Harry Potter Series) but maybe you don’t have to show the whole world your novel, maybe it can just be a project for you to work on for yourself. Journaling is said to be very therapeutic but not only that, it’s a way to immortalize memories. You could create a scrapbook of your summer adventures like the time you ran your first 5K race, the memory of helping out that homeless mom and kids at the DI or the time you sold 29 necklaces you made.
5. Garden
Out of the 5 options so far, this one would be considered the most costly. But it’s spring and summer time and the smell of sweet flowers should be in the air. Indoor gardening is the new outdoor gardening! Okay, not quite. But it’s a very viable option. Especially in light of all the resources online to help jump-start your gardening project. So you’re not a green thumb? Not a problem. Be candid. Tell that know-it-all garden centre guy or gal and they can hook you up with some info. Start small. Don’t try to plant one-hundred things at once. Look online and figure out how demanding different plants are. Maybe start with a cactus and build yourself up. Herb gardens are also a fun project that give back – you can use the stuff you grow in recipes throughout the summer.