Journey & Adventure

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...

Up and down like a see-saw… Round and round like a merry-go-round… Back and forth like a ping-pong ball… Do you get the picture? No? Me neither. Indecisiveness is the name of the game at the moment. I’m not typically an indecisive person, but when it comes to this 5 Year Plan, I can decide which end is up. Those of you that have been around long enough know the story. Before we decided to put the 5 year plan in motion, we had always talked about “wouldn’t it be nice to win the lottery and move to Bonaire”. Then when we heard about how economically one could live in Ecuador, we realized we wouldn’t need to win the lottery to make our dreams come true, but instead we would just need to focus our energy into paying off our debts within the next 5 years and with that “The 5 Year Plan” was born. When started looking into Ecuador in greater detail, we were excited about all of the opportunities that would be available to us like cheap real estate, cheap cost of living,...

I hope not because here we go…   Summer is fast escaping my grasp.  All I’m hearing about these days - how chilly the nights are becoming, back to school shopping advertisements are everywhere, soon the first frost will arrive…BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…  When it comes to my summer – I’m a glass half full sort of girl.  If you’re not on the same page as me, you need to stay the hell away or shut the hell up because you’re stressing me out.   J and I are going “camping” with friends this weekend.  I use the phrase “camping” loosely because we are actually staying in a trailer (with air conditioning and television) in a trailer park (with a pool).   I’d honestly prefer to rough-it, in a tent in the woods with no modern amenities or patio lanterns.  Trailer camping is not my version of camping.  I loathe the idea.  It’s tacky and unappealing.  What was I thinking?  Oh yeah, apparently I wasn’t…...

I’ve always struggled with the question “where do you see yourself in 5, 7 or 10 years”?   Realistically, I don’t really know.       In my fantasy world - I know that I don’t want to be working.   I know that I don’t want to be living in Canada during the winter months and I know that I want to be independently wealthy.   I said it was a fantasy world…enough said.   On the other hand, the real world tells me that - I’ll still be working, still be living in Canada during the winter months and I won’t be independently wealthy.     BUT   I do have a 7 to 10 year plan to get me somewhere closer to my ultimate goal…   To own a vacation property somewhere in the Caribbean.   Ideally I would like to own a vacation property on Bonaire, but I’ll go wherever I can get the most “bang for my buck” - without pirates or warlords of course.     My Plan to Get There…   I kn...