Starting a New Year - Welcome 2019

Well, it’s been a whirlwind of parties, visiting, eating drinking, family, friends, game playing, eating, drinking and generally enjoying our 2- week stay in Boston with Lin and family … while eating and drinking. It was, however, definitely time to get back home and back to a routine. We’ve both been nursing colds (darn those airline flights).

We’ve walked infrequently. We blame it on the cold and it was cold ... but truth be told (and we always tell the truth at the new year), we were just lazy. David made it to the local health club a couple of times … alone. I tried to go once, but I’ll be darned if the electricity was out when we got there. Geez, what a major disappointment. We settled for a Dunkin Donuts coffee instead, then went shopping. We didn’t write blogs. We didn’t even open our computers much or visit Facebook.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve back in Las Vegas on the Strip with David’s sister, Mary. Now, we’re back to reality, making our New Year’s resolutions. I know, I know … I do this every year and the same ‘to-dos’ are always on the list, but I’m changing it up just a little this year. 2018 was good to us. We’ve actually done quite well on most of last year’s resolutions. Other than this holiday season, we’ve maintained our weight; we’ve walked and exercised regularly; we eat healthy and we’re both feeling well. We’d like to think walking, exercise and healthy eating have become habit and don’t need to be resolutions.

We traveled lots as planned. That was kind of a given. David made good progress on Blue this year, but there’s lots more to be done. We’ve got a big walk planned in 2019 and Blue may take a backseat to trip preparations, but still, we feel he deserves some attention.

So resolutions for 2019? Well, some of the old ones still need to get onto the A-list, like

1. FINISH A BOOK, for heaven’s sake. We have several book ideas and even have outlines all ready to be fleshed out. Maybe 2019 will be the year of getting one done. To this end, we’re resolving to include time specifically for writing 3-5 days per week. Maybe if we include it with our walking/exercise regimen, it’ll get done. One can only hope … and resolve.

2. Determine what projects need to be done and can realistically be done on Blue and complete them.

3. Learn Italian!

4. Plan the Via Francigena walk and do it!

5. Work on the website conversion from the old to the new, while still keeping updates current.

6. Last, but not least, an old one returns to the list … year after year. Be kinder; be less snarky; be less judgmental; be more patient. I seem to be reasonably good at all these things at one time or another, just not consistently. It’s the consistency I need to work on.

7. Drink more water … and less wine (whine?). This is stupid because there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell, I’ll do it, but hey, January 17th is Ditch Your Resolutions Day.

We wish you a Prosperous, Healthy and Happy New Year!