Safe Summer Activities Checklist | Virtual Concerts

It's Summer! Now What?

Summer is officially here, and we gotta say...it looks pretty different this year.

With many travel plans canceled and even more unknowns due to the virus, we're all going to have to get a bit creative with our summer fun this year.

Luckily, we're here to help! Organizers are particularly clever when it comes to enjoying experiences over things. Below, we're sharing some of our favorite activities you can do locally and still have fun. We hope you enjoy!

As ever, we are here for you when it comes to getting and staying organized. We're back to onsite organizing, with lots of safety precautions in place. Summer is a great time to work on your garage, shed or basement, and our team would love to be of service.

Please give us a call to tell us about your project! We also offer gift certificates if you know of anyone who would benefit from the gift of organization!

Happy Organizing,

Missy and the team

Portland Events and Resources

Summer 2020 Fun-Making Checklist

As promised, here are some of our absolute favorite summer activities to do this COVID summer (please see #8 specifically).

Pack a picnic dinner and take it to the park
Set up a projector screen in the backyard for movie nights
Call a relative and ask for a family recipe you've never made. Make it and share the history of the recipe with your immediate family
Have a family game night
Have a "new culture" night where you cook food from a particular place in the world, listen to music from that place and learn about their culture
Do a 30-Day LEGO challenge
Hamilton is now available to stream on Disney+. Enough said.
Make a coronavirus piñata, fill it with candy and whack the heck out of it.
Attend virtual cooking or mixology classes
Everyone's choice day: each member of the family says what they want to do that day. Take turns doing each thing
Invite a friend for a socially distanced meal
Organize the garage, storage unit, basement or shed once and for all! We have a full-service team and would love to help.
Order takeout and eat in the backyard
Go camping. We love this packing checklist from REI.
Go to the Drive In movie theater
Three words: Slip. N. Slide
Set up a neighborhood scavenger hunt
Have a family dance party
Cooking games - prepare a box of random ingredients for each participant and have a cook-off to see who makes the most creative meal from them
Check out your library's supply of e-books
Visit some of these virtual destinations
Master something new
Start a virtual book club
Charitable giving - donate food to a food bank, create snack or essential toiletry bags to hand out
Watch a virtual concert (Link below!)

Have fun and stay safe everyone!

Local Music Festivals You Can Watch From Home

Portland is known for it's fun summer music events. Due to that thing that rhymes with Billy Ray Cyrus, pretty much everything is cancelled. BOO. In consolation, we found you a couple of fun online concerts to tune into this month.

Chamber Music Northwest Free Virtual Summer Festival

When: June 22- July 26, premiering 7:00 pm each Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. Concerts will be available until 11:59 pm the next day on YouTube.

About: With this virtual festival, you can hear high caliber chamber music from your couch not just once, but three times a week!
Where: Stream online here!

Pickathon "Concert a Day"

When : Every day at 1:00 pm
About : Since April 8, Pickathon, a widely popular three-day independent music festival that takes place on a farm in Happy Valley, has been sharing previously unreleased concerts from its former festivals every day. Even better? These virtual concerts raise funds for the MusicCares COVID-19 Relief Fund that provides support for those in the music community that have been impacted by COVID-19. Performances feature a variety of artists ranging from Southern rock band Lake Street Dive to local Indie folk favorites like Blind Pilot.
Where : Stream online here!

On the Blog

How to Stay Productive When You're
Working from Home*

*Spoiler Alert: Yoga Pants are Still Allowed

With so many people working from home these days, productivity has taken a major dive. The recipe for success when working from home relates to habits. Habits require repeated and consistent effort to maintain, but when established, they allow us to take control of our working environment - critical for productivity.

In fact, there is a chemical reaction that occurs in the brain when we create habits: our dopamine receptors are engaged. Dopamine is the "feel good" chemical that gives us the motivation to continue a behavior. It makes us crave more of that feeling. Dopamine is released when we do things like cross items off a to-do list, receive a reward for a job well done, or experience a feeling of social connectedness.

Here are several key strategies that will help you create those habits to stay organized while working from home... READ MORE

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