Goals...and such

Here we are just 3 weeks after Hawaii. I miss Hawaii. I'd love to actually go to Hawaii some day and not run all over hell's half acre. It sounds good. I'm not sure I could do it, but it's nice to have goals.

When in Hawaii I wasn't overly happy with myself. I have let myself get unhealthy ... again. I got tired easy and the humidity did me in quicker than normal. I hated it. I hated flying since my ass barely fit in the seat. I had to actually ask for an extender to buckle myself up. The Horror.

Post Hawaii I thought, "never again." I was ashamed and mad at myself for letting me get to that point again. I started thinking about Dad. I remember watching him give himself shots daily for diabetes and I used to think, "Gosh. Had he made the right choices in his life he wouldn't be her. That won't ever be me."  And here I am...

Choices. That's what its all about. We get to make choices.  I decided upon return from Hawaii that come the time Janet and I leave for Denmark I'm not going to feel this way. I'm going to be able to keep up with Janet...the energizer bunny.

The first two weeks back I got myself to the gym about 3 times a week. I was proud of myself for doing that. Then I thought, what if you give yourself a goal to go 7 days in a row?  Why not!

7 days! I went every day for 7 days. Now my goal is 10. Can I go 10 days? I don't see why not. In fact, I might even be able to do 14...I feel great. I have a lot still to do, but I feel really good. I know this motivation may not last, and there was at least one day I almost let laziness win, but for the time being I'm going to ride this motivation wave. 

I'm toying with stopping Jenny Craig and focusing on low carb, high protein nutritional meals...but baby steps first. The Niece and I are both discussing helping each other with this. In fact, after every work out I send her a photo...thus the photos above. I purposely make them bad... she just rolls her eyes. 

In other non-health related news, and frankly quite opposite is today Janet, Sherrie and the Niece and I celebrated Mom again by eating brunch at Salty's on Alki. It's a MASSIVE brunch buffet and so very good. We did this last year and I thought we'd make this annual and today was our 2nd annual celebration of mom. 

I'm stuffed still and that was 6 hours ago. But getting to the gym after helped. It's such a beautiful day in Seattle I drove home with the top down. It was 44F outside, but with the traffic on the freeway I wasn't driving too fast. I just love Seattle on sunny days...and in the winter it's a bonus to have a sunny day. 

Post Vacation Woes

So...here we are...Post Hawaii. And what do I get for it...the Hawaiian Plague. I've come down with a helluva cold. I hate being down and out. I have things I need to do and I can't because this cold is holding me back. I feel way better today than I did yesterday, that's for sure. I might actually get to work tomorrow.

Hawaii was an absolute blast. It was a fun filled driving extravaganza. We drove over 1000 miles and covered the entire island, and then some.

We arrived on Dec 27th, later than planned, and went almost right to bed. We caught up briefly with the other travelers with us and then called it a night.

The 28th we took off to the final winery on my list, the Volcano Winery. We drove a good 2 hours to get there, and then tasted a flight of 8 wines. Most their wines were not good. A couple were "just ok" and only 2 were worthy of purchase. Still it was a fun trip and a great way to finish off my 50 new wineries in my 50th year.

Then I work on the 29th to a flood of cards and gifts. The Niece had planned a card bomb for me (Mom would have loved it) and I had over 55 cards to read and appreciate. It was truly amazing. It got a bit worked up a little.

After reading a couple, we loaded into the Jeep and headed to breakfast. The Braspir's joined us at Bongo Ben's and we had a celebratory birthday breakfast, crown and all.

With our tummies filled, we drove up the Kohala coast, eventually ending up in Hawi for ice cream.

Later that night, we all gathered to eat at Huggo's. I love this family so much and they helped me ring in my 50th year with style.

The rest of the week was filled with trips to Hilo, the south end, a black sand beach, the Volcano, and all over the island. We went to a Luau on New Year's Eve (wasn't my favorite Luau, but fun).

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I miss Hawaii. We hadn't been there since 2006 and we were well past due to visit. I'd like to go back, maybe to a different island, in two years.

Now 2019 is looming before me, I find myself reflecting on what I want from this year. The same old goals come to mind, save more, lose more weight, yaddah yaddah...but what else do I want? That's the million dollar question. I've had some ideas/plans in my head for a couple of years of some things I want to do and maybe this is the year to do them. I need to think more on that. I need to get rid of this cold first, so I can think. Blerg!