25+ Cute Coolers for Summer
and some of our summer plans! ☀️
Hi friends! This newsletter started as a monthly-ish round-up of life things - what I'm enjoying, reading, learning, buying, doing, thinking about, and more. Sometimes I share about one specific topic, like chic diaper bag alternatives, and other times, I share a little ‘Life Lately’ which is… a little bit of everything! Today I’m sharing our summer plans and a crowdsourced cute cooler bags recommendations, and our summer 2025 plans!
25+ CUTE COOLERS FOR SUMMER
I recently was on the hunt for a cute cooler for this summer! I know I’ll be out and about with the girls a bunch, and wanted a cooler that is easy to carry, has space to hold allthethings but isn’t TOO big and bulky, ideally a tote bag style (personal preference), and is cute. ✨🫶🏻 Because the tattered gray cooler we got for free from a winery for free years ago isn’t cutting it for me anymore. 🫣 I asked my IG followers for some recommendations and received a TON of great ideas!
I don’t want to bombard you with a million links in this newsletter, but you can see them all pictured below, and everything is linked and shared in this blog post. I also tried to organize all of the coolers by type (tote style, lunchbag style, backpack style, etc.). I’m truly shocked how many cute options there are, at all price points! Why didn’t I find a cute cooler sooner?!
There are so many good options in my blog post, but the coolers I landed on are this Striped Cooler Tote Bag (perfect for family picnics and roadtrips) and this Insulated Snack Bag (perfect for a few snacks inside the pool bag!).
OUR SUMMER PLANS
Summer starts EARLY in Nashville! Winnie has been out of school since last week, and yesterday was Lucy’s last day! I cannot believe I have a soon-to-be kindergartener and second grader! 🥹 🎉
I’m feeling really good about our summer - it’s a good mix of family travel, downtime at home, a couple weeks of summer camp with friends for Lucy and Winnie, etc. I don’t have a ‘Summer Bucket List’, but I do want to make a list of fun activities and outings we can do with the girls - hikes, adventures, playgrounds, little day trips, etc. I also want to just soak up time at home - we were at a rental last summer during our renovation and missed our backyard, so looking forward to lots of blow-up pool and sprinkler days here. We also rejoined the YMCA so we can meet friends there to swim! Oh, and Eric has five weeks off in June/July (the second half of his paternity leave), so that’s a huge highlight of the summer!
We’re kicking off the summer with a family weekend trip to Asheville this weekend! We love it there so much. It’s our first time going back since that area was hit by Hurricane Helene, and I’m looking forward to being back and to some quality family time. 💛 If you haven’t been and are curious to go, here’s my Asheville travel guide, and here’s a saved Instagram highlight with more Asheville favorites.
In June, we’re going to Ohio to visit family and celebrate my sister’s wedding reception up there! She got married in our backyard in May, and this is her Ohio celebration. ✨ Some of my college besties are coming, so that will be so fun to have a little Ohio reunion with them too! 🥹 After that, we are going to drive down to the Hocking Hills area for a few days and then spend the weekend in Cincinnati before coming back to Nashville. I haven’t spent time in Hocking Hills (despite Ohio University being so close!), and E hasn’t been - I’m excited to hike and explore down here. And we drive through Cincinnati all the time and I’ve visited family there before, but never really explored as an adult, so that should be fun too!
In July, we’re doing a big summer trip to the UK! Nashville finally has some nonstop international flights (yayyyy!) and we’re flying direct to London and then flying direct back from Dublin. We’re staying at four different places over two weeks, and so excited! The girls are so tickled and excited to have afternoon tea!
And then school starts back up in early August! Which again feels so early. I’m considering doing some ‘summer’ trips with Daisy (maybe visit my sister and a bestie in Vancouver?? 👀) but not quite sure yet! I’m also back to teaching at Belmont in August and hopefully, slowly doing a little more consulting work this fall.
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Sounds like you have the best summer planned! I have to shout out my friends' restaurant in Asheville... Liberty House Cafe! They have a great outdoor patio area AND it's right across from Trader Joe's. Just saying!