Journey & Adventure

I’m not even going to get into how terrible of a blogger I am. In fact, I’m really not a blogger at all. I’m more of a “write something when I feel like it” kind of person or in other words, I’m lazy … sloth-like lazy. So, what’s new with everyone out there? Nothing new on my end. I’m still at the same job I don’t necessarily love, but I don’t loathe it either, so I accept it for what it is - a means to an end. I’m still grinding on my 5-7 year plan, which by the way, never really moves in years. It was 5-7 years five or seven years ago and it will probably be the same next year. It’s still a plan and I’m moving at a turtle’s pace towards it, but I’m still moving forward so, that’s my positive thought for the day. J and I are still running our side businesses (yes, businesses). I call them, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. They too are moving along, but certainly aren’t the million dollar overnight success businesses one could hope for. We seem to spend a lot of time evol...

I have so much going on and “on my plate” at the moment, I don’t know where to start. Summer seems to be flying by, but I can’t recall where it went. I’ve only been to the beach a couple of times, whereas I’m usually there every weekend. The reason for my beachy absence has been a direct result of high water levels and high winds. When the water is high, the beach disappears. Combine little-to-no beach with high winds and waves crashing on shore, there isn’t a beach to walk on. The two times I have been, we’ve had to wade waste deep in the water for quite a distance until the beach opens up. Once again, high winds preclude me from wanting to venture waste deep into less-than-tropical water with crashing waves. Hence, not many visits to the beach. Sooooo, instead, J and I have been seriously hitting the trails on our mountain bikes. When I bought my bike a year ago, I thought it was the dumbest idea…EVER! My cardio was horrible and I could only make it a couple of miles b...

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since October.  Wow!  I don't know where the time went.  There are the usual excuses - work, family and the many, many craft/jewelry shows that I participated in.  There are times when the time passes so slowly and then there are other moments when the time just screams on by.  Apparently, October through December contained a lot of those latter moments. Well, rest-assured I'm still here and all have been good.  I've been lurking, I just haven't had the time or energy to put anything to "paper". J and I were fortunate to spend two glorious weeks on Bonaire at the beginning of December, with plenty of diving, sunshine and relaxation.  You may recall to Bonaire is one of the "finalists" in the places we wish to retire to in a few years, so it was good to spend time looking at the island from that perspective.  We toured many neighborhoods - discovered those that held potential and ruled ou...

I’m so happy it’s Friday.   I’ve been working “summer hours” for the past few weeks and it’s great – work an extra hour each day and then leave at noon on Fridays.   If only we could do that year round. Our friends booked their “one-way” flights to Panama this week.   Yes, they are retiring early!   I’m sooo excited for them – a little jealous too, but mostly excited.   I know our time will come – “patience grasshopper”. We haven’t been to the beach in a couple of weeks now – mostly thanks to bad weather and prior engagements.   I can honestly say that without those weekly excursions, my “life-balance” isn’t what is should be.   I’m not at all at peace with the world at the moment. Our annual reviews are upon us here at work and let me say, what a @#%$ waste of time.   Our raises have been predetermined months ago and no matter how stellar my performance has been, I do not have the ability to earn over and above the predete...

I mentioned in a previous post that J and I were creating a business plan that could assist us with our post-retirement sustainability plan.  I mentioned I would continue to sell jewelry as the area we are looking at retiring to has a great cruise ship business.  Well, J is also getting in on the "crafting" experience.  Here are some of his Surfing Flamingo creations (wine bottle candle lanterns and wine bottle wind chimes).  I personally LOVE them, but then again, I'm kinda bias.  Tell your friends - we will ship with the US, Canada and internationally too!

Apart from our early retirement plans, and our scuba diving/travel adventures, J and I are truly boring people. We have little to no social lives, we don’t go to many movies, we don’t go to many organized events and we don’t participate in organized sports and we are basically okay with that. I like my quiet time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very social person when the opportunity arises, but I don’t need to participate in social activities on a regular basis. This train of thought came about when I was speaking with The Boy this past weekend. He asked what we’d been up to since he’s been off at school. My response was “nothing at all”. To that, his response was “What’s wrong with you guys? You used to be fun.” He’s right. We weren’t always this boring, but have somehow evolved over the years. I realize age might have something to do with it, but mostly it started around the same time our 5 Year Plan came into focus. Preparation for early retirement costs money and mo...

The early retirement plan is chugging along.  I wish I could say it was ahead of schedule, but such is not the case.   If anything, it’s lagging behind slightly. We have made a conscience decision that J would not go back to work.  He would instead spend his time working on the projects around the house, maintaining the yard and really just getting us in a better position to get the maximum return on the house when it’s time to sell.    Well, who knew we had so much unfinished business around our place.  He’s been off work a year now and the to-do list is still a mile long.  Believe me, it’s not for lack of working on things.  In fact it’s far from it - we finish one project and two more come to mind.  There are things we could probably leave and let the next home owner deal with – like new closet organizers, but since we don’t want to leave a dollar on the table, we are working to make things perfect.  Although we re...

My friends have entered a contest to win an all expense paid vacation for one month to Panama. The contest is sponsored by International Living. These are the same friends that have an early retirement plan in mind for next year. So by voting, you'd be helping them out to get a head start. They are currently in second place in the voting, so it would be much appreciated (by me and them) if you could go to this link and vote for them. If you have more than one computer in your house - vote on each one of them, smart phone - vote with that too, at work - even better. VOTE NOW! Let's help them live the dream....

Where to begin?  I promised a full trip report from our trip to the Galapagos in March.  It’s now almost May and let’s be honest - that report isn’t going to get written.   I’ve been too busy at work to mentally process anything by the end of the day. Why have I been busy at work?  Well, while I was on vacation, they finally terminated a long-term, painful employee in our department that has been a thorn in the side of many for years.   Hence the reason for my busyness – I’ve been asked told to take on some “extra” work until they can “figure things out”.  So, in addition to my already busy contract portfolio, I now am responsible for our trademark and corporate portfolio.  Honestly, I’d gladly give up contracts for trademarks and corporate because there is WAAAY less drama and interaction with the outside world.  When did I become so anti-social?  Good question. Now, back to a brief synopsis of our Galapagos trip.  ...

You may remember awhile ago, I introduced a logo, which has a work in progress.  Well, this is the final version… Well, the plan for its use is still forming, but we know the logo will be incorporated into whatever we decide to do when we retire early, which by the way is still 3-4 years away.   *sigh* We have some great ideas, but those ideas are dependent on a number of things that we can’t finalize until we are finally on location.   Surfing Flamingo - for now, is the name of our new Etsy shop.   There you will find some of J’s photos for digital download, his custom greeting cards (not your regular Hallmark line) and some of my beach-inspired jewelry.   I’m still running my shop, Flamingo Tongue Designs (hmmm I see a pattern forming in the names) – could that be a hint of where our hearts belong?  In any event, please feel free to stop by Surfing Flamingo or Flamingo Tongue Designs and see what we’ve been u...

There are days that I just can’t seem to focus.  Today is one of them.  I’m distracted by everyone, everything, every piece of paper on my desk, my pens, calculator – you name it and it will distract me.  I think it would be best described as cabin fever.  I don’t want to be here and I certainly don’t want to be doing what I’m doing.  I dream of far off places, which causes me to search out flights.  Flights to places I won’t be going anytime soon, unless of course, I find a great deal or a bag of money on the side of the road.   But today those deals elude me. I daydream of warm weather and sunshine.  Canada continues to be in a deep freeze with no end in sight.  Although today is sunny, it’s still not warm enough to venture outside without boots, mittens, hats, scarves, and of course a winter coat.  Of course, let’s not forget the lip balm and buckets of skin moisturizer that is needed on a daily basis.  ...

J and I are constantly sharing our hopes and dreams for our early retirement.   For the most part we have been on the same page since the beginning – we agree on what we want and on what we need to do to get there; however we aren’t necessarily on the same page as to where “there” is.   As I’ve shared previously, Bonaire was an early contender for the place we wanted to call home, then Ecuador, then Panama, then Nicaragua stopped by for some contemplation time and then somehow, we’ve arrived back in Bonaire.     On paper, they all make sense.     Bonaire has world-class scuba diving, English is widely spoken, amenities are easily accessible, quality housing is somewhat affordable and there is potential for side businesses to make some additional income.   But as with everything, there is a downside – increasing crime rates, high cost of living (i.e. electricity, water, gas, groceries), expensive to get to and of course the l...