Journey & Adventure

My brain is a tangled mess these days.   Honestly, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.     Somehow however, I manage to stay organized amongst all the chaos – mostly thanks to J.     It’s been almost 2 years since J left his job and since then, he’s become the “man” of the household or as I affectionately call him my “domestic engineer”.     In an effort to grow our businesses, have more time on weekends, get our life under control and ultimately get ready for our eventual relocation, we made the decision that J would stay home and work on unfinished projects, household chores, business growth, etc.   Let me say this – it was the best decision of our lives (at least in my opinion).     With my growing responsibilities at work and the hectic pace of life in general, I don’t know how I would have survived and maintained my sanity.   J looks after everything, except finalizing the meals.   He takes care of dishes...

I say this to myself every…single…morning.  There are days when it works beautifully and then there are days, like yesterday and today when things are not working out as planned.  *sigh* The days start off on the positive side but then work happens, people happen, reality happens and shit happens.   I’ve always been fairly proud of my ability to shed the toxic people from my life, but today, I may be one of them.  I’m down right cranky.  Shame on me.    So, with that said, I’m self-imposing solitude by shutting my office door, not answering the phone, keeping off social media and generally not making eye contact with anyone.  I’m choosing to be happy and I’m damn well gonna like it.

As I’m sure everyone is well aware, it’s been a long winter - everywhere.  Longer than usual in my opinion.  Here in Ontario, Canada “winter” started a bit later than is typical.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t tropical beach weather by any means for the months of November or December, but the real “winter” with the snow, blowing snow, ice pellets, more blowing snow and polar vortexes didn’t arrive until sometime in January.  But since January, it’s been constant cold, little sun, snow and wind.  It’s been a never-ending story of misery - for me at least. Having said that, I see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel”.  Slowly but surely, we’ve had a few warmer days, a little more sunshine and only trace amounts of snow.  I’m still wearing my winter coat, but I have now given up my winter boots for shoes.  Seems like a minor detail, but for me, it’s a BIG deal. There have been other signs of Spring in the air (m...

Well, if we want to get technical, it's more putting fingers to a keyboard, but nonetheless, I've had some ideas, checklists, methods brewing in my brain for sometime and I've finally decided to do something about it.  What is "it", you ask? I've decided to create a digital, downloadable, fillable travel planner.  I know, it's been done - many times; however nothing out there will compare to mine (yes, that's my opinion).  My travel research methods, checklists, packing lists, etc. have been honed, tried and tested many times, with many destinations and for that, I think I've included insight that you might not find with the existing digital travel planners out there (once again, that's my opinion). Initially I'm offering it solely on Etsy, but who knows where it might lead.  There will be deluxe and basic versions, packing lists, budget templates, etc. - all in various color choices. Stay tuned...who knows what I'll start to c...

Today is apparently "Blue Monday" - a.k.a. the most depressing day of the year.  I'm not sure about the "most depressing day" thing, but it's more like all of January that gets me down.  With all the hype of the holiday season out of the way, New Year's resolutions that have not started, cold and damp weather, bad roads and of course, lack of sunshine, all of January saps my strength.  With the beginning of every January, I try to convince myself that I'll be okay.  By mid January, I've lost the "you'll be okay" battle with myself and have chance my mantra to "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger", "you can keep going long after you think you can't" and of course "suck it up buttercup". *sigh* If I could call in sick for the month of January, the month would be manageable.  BUT, since that's not an option, I continue to trudge along in my cold weather gear with the knowledge th...

New year, new beginnings...

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...