stocking island

When I found out we were going to the Superbowl Sam said since we are already in Miami the Caribean or other islands aren't very far away so why not extend the trip. I wan't a hard sell and started my Internet research. After looking all over I finally found something that had a vacancy and was in our price range. I thought that would be easier but with less than a month notice it was a bit challenging.

I found a place online called Stocking Island. Best of all I found out that this area is where many cruisers hang out in the winter and the place we would be staying was where quite a few of them would gather in the evenings. While Sam would have preferred being on a boat ours wasn't going to be arriving down there and this could be the next best thing. Besides this place was only accessible by boat and that definitely increased its appeal in Sam's mind.

About a week before we left Sam opened up one of his sailing magazines and the Georgetown regatta was featured - this was right where we would be. He was excited before but this was the true stamp of approval and I was now quite the travel planner.
After the excitement of the Superbowl a bit of relaxation and down time sounded pretty good. Where we stayed was an 8 person resort and you could walk for miles on the beach without seeing anyone else. Being the first one to have footprints in the sand is a pretty incredible thing - especially since I could never ever get out of bed early enough before - now I could head out at 10 and still be the first.


Sam loved the interaction with other sailors but really what he wanted to see when he looked out over the harbor was his boat sitting there. I reminded him that we might have to get a bit better at this anchoring thing when the winds picked up to the 30's one night. When some of the boaters we spoke with talked about taking shifts during the night while at anchor in windy conditions I didn't share quite the same excitement. Sam then cut his losses and pointed out the mooring pin options. Hey he knows when to make a transition and sell me on something new.

Turns out where we were you can actually make it in day trips from Florida - long days but all in daylight hours if all goes well. Now when we say that I am well aware with boating more goes wrong than right but at least it was something I would attempt in hopes I would be one of the lucky ones. Many people we spoke with stay most of the winter and really don't venture much further than Exuma. This only made me look quite adventuresome since even I would want to venture further as long as I could make land in a day or 2.

The vacation was everything that we hoped. Sam got in 2 dives (though I am still a little bitter he didn't catch the lobster he saw for dinner), we snorkeled a bit, walked the beaches, rented a boat and went exploring, and made a quick adjustment to island life. If we had been there on our boat I might not be writing this as Sam would still be there figuring out how to leave for good.

So in reality maybe it was a good idea that we flew down there so we could return back to reality and be a bit more prepared before we head off. Plus we need to figure a way to get our boat down there that doesn't include me going down the Pacific Coast through the Panama canal. Unfortunately for Sam this is going to take a bit of time, planning, and even more importantly a ton of selling on his part. Now one good thing in his favor is that one lady we spoke with mentioned how cheap it was to have her laundry done for her so I might be okay now without my washer and dryer.

So please if you want to take a boat from Seattle to Exuma Island please wait a few years to let Sam know. I don't want to be the only one living in Seattle and I am pretty sure he would be gone without a backward glance.

1 item checked off

Well I checked one item off the bucket list - going to the SuperBowl! It was a once in a lifetime experience but now I want to go again.

Sam and I decided to root for the Saints since they hadn't gotten there before and amazingly enough they won. All the teams we had been rooting for in the playoffs seemed to keep losing so having the Saints win was great. I have never been to a game where it went by so quickly. I couldn't believe when it was already halftime an when the end of the 4th quarter rolled around I didn't want it to end.

An amazing experience and one I hope that someday I can repeat again. Maybe now my bucket list will have to read - attend the SuperBowl twice! Now I just have to figure out how to get the tab picked up again.

snow birds

The 2nd week in January Sam had to go to San Diego for work. Now San Diego in January sounded pretty appealing so we decided to make a weekend out of it and spend some time in the sun.

Granted I had just taken time off around the holidays but who wants to get back into work mode all at once so I decided a few more days of vacation would do me good especially if I could go somewhere warm with water.

I have always wondered about the snow bird phenomenon - I enjoy sun and warm weather during the winter but a break or 2 always seemed good to me and I was ready to go back to Seattle. On Sunday on the boardwalk in the sun in San Diego I changed my mind - I was starting to understand the concept. Having a place in San Diego to visit in the winter while still living the rest of the year in Seattle suddenly sounded like a fabulous idea. I mean I could really get into this sunshine thing during January, February, March, and if I am honest about our weather April, May, and sometimes June as well.

Not sure what was in the air down there but I began fantasizing about a vacation condo in San Diego. Of course then Sam mentioned that he would definitely need a boat in San Diego since the water is right there. I was the voice of reason by reminding him that bringing our boat down in November or December along the Pacific coast wouldn't be a very smooth easy ride and he would need to find a new first mate. Of course that didn't go so well since then we would now need 2 boats for this to work. Suddenly reality set in I was back on board with winters in Seattle. I can visit warmer destinations to get some sun and then head home once again.

So while I understood the snow bird deal for a brief, brief time I realized probably I had gotten a bit of sunstroke while getting so much sun all at once after months of deprivation. Really I think much clearer in a cooler wetter climate and now I am back to not understanding the snow bird thing but that may be my lack of ownership in San Diego.

2010 resolutions

In the spirit of 2009 and the resolutions I made I am going to do the same thing this year. I want resolutions I look forward to and want to accomplish instead of being disappointed or setting resolutions for things I should do like loosing weight, eating better, exercising more, and all those other ones that we all wish would happen each year but suddenly we need to have the same ones again the next year since they didn't quite happen like we had hoped.

So I will leave the gym in January for the rest of you and concentrate on what I want to do this next year.

visit a country I haven't gone to before . . . try making homemade cheese . . . take 2 days off every quarter for no reason other than I need a break . . . run a 5K in less than 32 minutes . . . decide to fly somewhere on a weekend with less than a weeks notice . . . live on the boat for a month or 2 . . . take at least 10 random pictures every week . . . go visit 4 new places we haven't gone before on the boat . . . write 5 blog entries per month . . . try wakeboarding . . . try to stay off email on the weekends . . . learn to make sushi . . . call a different friend each week I don't normally get a chance to talk with much . . . drink more tea . . . try new entrees at my favorite restaurants . . . take more walks in the rain . . . go to to the Superbowl in Miami . . . go somewhere warm and tropical . . . do absolutely nothing for an entire day . . . send a handwritten letter once a week to someone . . . try a new recipe every week . . . go swimming or wading whenever I have the opportunity . . . give out more compliments.

Now these are reasons to look forward to 2010. Goodbye 2009 I am ready for the next year and all it brings.

fond farewell to 09

Dear 2009,

While many seem to be happy to see your end I am sad to see you go. 2009 was my favorite year yet though I have to admit I told 2008 as well, and I hope to tell your close friend 2010 the same thing in a year.

Your first month started out well for us. January started with chilly weather and snow but finished with sun, beaches, and incredible food in Mexico. If I had made losing weight a resolution I would have been far behind the eight ball after that trip but I had a bit of foresight and didn't make a resolution that I would have broken in a few weeks.

February brought more chilly weather but it came with skiing so that was all good. It was finished off by a birthday party for a 6 year old with Wall E being the theme.

In March you kept the snow coming and the skiing was still pretty incredible if only my skills had kept pace as my nephews were starting to give me a run for my money through the trees. I decided I am more of a groomed run skier now and will leave the trees to them. The end of the month brought us a new nephew though he had to literally be yanked into the world to make the 1st quarter cutoff. March also included my favorite new toy - a Kindle that I still haven't been able to put down since.

April and you still allowed me to go skiing and get a head start of my seasons pass for next year. It is a great month when both skiing and boating are involved and the weather was perfect for both. It also brought out some good boating weather and we got in some time on the boat though Sam of course wished for more.

May was kicked off by opening day of boating season and the Cougar Yacht Club. Again the Cougs showed their spirit and the 2 oldest nephews joined us. Their loud voices came in handy chanting Go Cougs through the cut and I am sure they will be joining us again. Memorial Day brought incredible weather and a great boating weekend in Bremerton. Sam is now a bit more concerned about currents now in a marina though.

June seemed like a Seattle July or August with all of the sun. All of our free time was spent on Zig Zag and the month flew by. We even managed to get in a round of golf in Port Ludlow but sadly our golf game showed we hadn't been getting to the courses much. We talked about fixing this but by the time November rolled around we realized it didn't happen again. Too little summer and too many things to do. Unfortunately the end of the month we had to say goodbye to Calvin our dog for 14 years. It was a great run and we had been in a bit of denial he wouldn't be with us for another year. The house has never felt so lonely and even by the end of the year I was still expecting he would come running to greet us though towards the end it did take him a bit to hear us in the house.

July was another great boating month. We spent the first week in Poulsbo commuting via a ferry and realizing living someplace where a ferry would take you into work would only work if you didn't have to be in the office every day. We took Zig Zag to Anacortes and enjoyed some weekends in the San Juans though the weekend when our engine wouldn't start was a bit more exciting than I would have liked. After that I am not super eager to do a transoceanic crossing since sailing at night isn't quite my idea of a relaxing evening. The crabs found our pots so the fresh crab alone was often worth the Friday night rush hour traffic on I5 getting to Anacortes.

August started off like how every month should - on a boating vacation in the San Juans. We had a bit more wind for our race this year except at the starting line. Once again I wished I could climb aboard after the start. Zig Zag was our new entertaining venue and we invited many friends to enjoy a sail with us.

In September Sam went to Paris over Labor Day weekend and I headed to Wenatchee so at least one of us could get in some boating over the 3 day weekend. Turns out that if it is choppy on Lake Chelan and looks like it might get a bit nasty heading out might not be a great idea. Dave was able to learn first hand how his boat handled in some chop and wind and luckily the results were good. Sam learned you can't fight jet lag when he flew in from Paris, immediately boarded Zig Zag and headed to Bell Harbor Marina, went to the Coug Game, and then headed to a wedding all within 24 hours. Turns out this might not be a good idea after all but we managed to get it all in. The month ended with a long weekend in Poulsbo where I got to see Sam run for the first time - when I convinced him it would be a good idea to train together.

With October came back our Seattle weather and tons of Halloween decorations. We spent time in Chelan and realized the lake is just as pretty if not prettier in the fall. For the first time ever I couldn't wait for the Cougar football season to end and put me out of my misery. I even convinced Sam to carve some pumpkins with me since we were too busy entertaining at our carving party to carve our own. The Halloween cruise was a bit scary with the winds and rains but the boat gave me another place to decorate since our house was already covered in decorations. It was also my first 5K where I ran the majority of it and even decided I might be up for another one.

November didn't bring the snow I was hoping for on the slopes but it did bring plenty of good food for Turkey Day and a nice long weekend. It brought some early, dark morning when I tried to get my runs in hoping I would be ready for the Jingle Bell Run.

December as usual was a short, crazy month. Even without having to do much Christmas shopping it seemed to fly by. All the holiday baking gave me an excuse to eat way too much fudge and almond roca candy. I ran the Jingle Bell Run 5K and ran the whole thing until the hill at the end but running all of it except for a few hundred feet I thought was pretty good considering. Of course I promptly undid any good I might have done with a large brunch. Christmas was a beautiful day with just Sam and I in Chelan in direct contrast to Turkey Day. The end of the month brought some good ski days so we could use our seasons passes and be happy we decided they were a good investment. 11:00 at night on New Year's I was sledding on a hill racing towards the lake so the year ended zipping by too quickly once again and I was left wondering what happened to all of it.

2010 if you are as good to us this year it will another good one. Looking forward to it but also looking back on 2009 wishing it was still here.

2009 resolutions in review

In 2009 I decided to try resolutions I would look forward to and want to do so I thought I should see how I did.

1. Try out a new recipe at least once a week - for the most part I accomplished this though sometimes it would be a couple a week or then I would get home and just go for the old standbys. . .
2. Don't pass up any opportunities to travel - I am sorry to say in 2010 I didn't travel nearly as much as I would have liked but at least I visited our neighbors to the south in Mexico and our neighbors to the north in Canada. Both countries could use another repeat very soon. And I plan to do it the same way - Canada by boat and Mexico by plane at least for now.
3. Eat more of the good chocolate - mission accomplished and then some! This may have been the easiest resolution to keep and I discovered new brands I love like Theo's and Choxie.
4. Go out to dinner with friends or have them over at least once a week - well looking at my credit card statements from the past year I definitely got the eating out part done though I needed to have more people over this year.
5. Take a day off at least once a quarter for no good reason - done, now I think I need to shoot for 2 a quarter.
6. Spend more time doing crafts with the nephews - not as much as I would have liked but we did do their photo albums again. Maybe next year I can actually do one for myself at the same time.
7. Take more pictures - what I should have said here was to actually organize the pictures I take and stop deleting all the ones of me I don't like which is pretty much all of them.
8. Shut off my cell phone occasionally - does it count that I turn it to silent at night while sleeping? Sam would beg to differ and remind me of all those times where I didn't even turn it off at night. Sorry - but if I remember correctly your phone was the one with the alarm going off the other night - not that I would keep track of things like that.
9. Spend more time in the water - a pool, a lake, the ocean - while I didn't grow scales I did spend more time in the water and I could always use more time in the water - warm water that is.
10. Work on my Spanish - while in a Spanish speaking country - well I went to Mexico and tried to speak Spanish though the locals may not have realized what exactly I was trying to say.
11. Book our trip to Italy - didn't do this I am sorry to say but isn't it good to still have things to look forward to?
12. Reach out to old friends I haven't been in contact with recently - did a little better but I am sure some of my old friends may be reading this and don't remember I did so I will have to keep working on this one.
13. Try a new restaurant at least once a month - now this was a fabulous idea if I do say so myself. Several times with a few friends we checked off 2 or 3 in the same evening having appetizers. Yum just thinking of some of the new places my mouth is watering - though I am sure my hips and waistline will attest to how often I found new favorites.
14. Have a date night with Sam at least once a week - done and needs to be on my list every year.
15. Redecorate at least one room in my house - as amazed as everyone will be this is one I didn't do this. This doesn't mean there wasn't any shopping done but not a single room got redecorated this year, maybe this means it really is time to move.
16. Have more fires - in our fireplace and out in the fire pit on the deck - had more fires in the fireplace but not on the deck though that could have been that we were gone almost every weekend and we haven't quite figured out how to get a fire pit on the boat yet.

Going through this list made me want to have a redo on almost all of them but we will see if I can get just a bit more creative and try not to recycle all of them even though it is hip to be green.

a christmas for 2

Well Christmas this year was a big change from Turkey Day. Instead of 39 people together it was just Sam and I. We had decided to just have it be the 2 of us this year and hang out at Lake Chelan enjoying ourselves. I have to say there are arguments for both sides but it is great to have a balance - 39 people on both holidays would have been too much and just 2 for both holiday might have seemed a bit lonely.

Instead of the craziness and bustle and 3 tables at Thanksgiving and a houseful of people and children running about it was Sam and I just relaxing and hanging out. We had planned to go skiing on Christmas Day but instead went on Christmas Eve with my sister and nephews. On Christmas Day Sam decided staying put was a better idea though I think this may have had something to do with his quads and how they were feeling after the previous day of skiing though he never fessed up to it.

Instead he said he wanted to just hang out together and go for a walk and spend most of the day eating. Of course our best intentions to just make it a total hang out day didn't quite pan out since I can't actually seem to sit still that long but we were actually able to just sit down for a few hours together over dinner and go for a walk though we didn't have the white Christmas Sam had been hoping for. Have to say an 8 pound ham goes a long ways with only 2 people eating it. Ham sandwiches and ham and eggs will be served for quite a few meals to come.

I did find out this year the absolute best time to hit Costco is on Christmas Eve just before they close - who knew? Since it is such a zoo the rest of the year I might just have to make this my new holiday tradition. While others may have more traditional holiday traditions I think my new one of hitting Costco may be the best one yet. Walking up to the cash register and having them just waiting for us to show up was a whole new experience and the front row parking without having to circle the lot a few dozen times was almost surreal.

So no matter where we end up for Christmas next year I am going to make sure there is a Costco close by.