Tag Archives: 2012

2012 Goals How Did I Do?

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2013 already, where did 2012 go? I had a great year, it started in Paris and ended in Hawaii with the Galapagos in-between. Certainly a great year and I do feel that I accomplished a lot but looking back at my goals for 2012 how did I do with those?

Now bad, I didn’t get to everything but that makes the 2013 list easier we can carry a few over! This is how I did:

  1. Yoga Workshop – no I did not attend a yoga workshop. In fact I’ve been a little lazy with the yoga lately. The good news is I am signed up for a yoga workshop at the end of February, so although it didn’t happen in 2012 it was planned in 2012.
  2. Read Great Expectations – YES I did, I also read “The Old Curiosity Shop”, “Nicholas Nickleby” and “A Christmas Carol”. I really enjoy Dickens and am planning on reading more.
  3. Save an extra $1,200 – YES I did and then spent it on the Yoga Workshop/Conference I am going to in San Diego!
  4. Straighten up office into proper work space – no I didn’t. In fact it looks more like a walk in closet now than it did before.
  5. New playlist on IPod – YES which I did in early December, yep it took me that long. I am LAZY with the IPod.
  6. Go to Iceland – no I didn’t go to Iceland but I did go to the Galapagos. Iceland will be on the list again but might be bumped to 2014.
  7. Go to the Glenbow Museum – I don’t know where the time went? I didn’t make it, seemed like such an easy one but another year has gone by without me visiting the museum.
  8. Ride bike twice a week from May – September – YES I bought a new bike this year and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It was a pleasure and a joy to get out on it!
  9. Blog 5 days a week – YES I made it! I wasn’t sure at  the beginning of the year if I would make it but I did. Some were just pictures and some was crap but I did it!
  10. 1st draft of novel – no, I did do quite a bit of writing but never got down and focused to construct and write the novel. I do have pages and pages started though and I think there is some good stuff in there, also a lot of crap.

Tomorrow it’s time to look ahead and tomorrow I’ll share my goals for 2013.

Finishing Up New Year’s Eve

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After the church we went to a Salvador Dali exhibition. It was wonderful and had pieces from his “Alice in Wonderland” drawings, “Tristan and Iseult” series and also a few sculptures. We spent a good hour wandering through the small exhibit and who doesn’t love Dali?

From Dali back to the hotel to get ourselves cleaned up for New Year’s Eve. We were going to a friend of Mel’s called Mikko and it was a lot of fun. Mikko was a great host, there was a wonderful group of people. There was good food, a raspberry tart that was to die for! AND of course red wine, I believe a good time was had by all!

Rebecca and Mel certainly look like they are having fun:

I wish I could remember what everybody is looking at but I don’t so I keep making up new stories…. feel free to add your own caption:

The plan had been to go to the Eiffel Tower for midnight but we were having fun and we lost track of time. In the end meeting people and having fun trumped the tower and we did make it to the tower the next day so all was not lost!

Arc de Triomphe Paris

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The Arc de Triomphe…. I squealed when I saw it. It’s one of the sights that I remember the most from a trip to Paris when I was eight years old. There was at that time a great arcade (as in video games) up the street, the arcade was one of my favourite things about Paris at that time. This might be an argument for why you shouldn’t take an eight year old to Paris. Now I squeal because it conjures up images of the winner of the tour de France. I love cycling and knowing I’m standing where the winner of the tour stands was pretty exciting to me. Not so much to my travelling companion Becca, who is a tennis fan but she indulged me and let me squeal and spew cycling stories. No cyclists in site though, I’ll have to come back in July.

It is HUGE MASSIVE so impressive and beautiful.

 

Christmas Market Paris

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When we arrived in Paris the Christmas Markets were still open. Lots of people wandering around with vin chaud, looking at the stalls. There was still a little train running with Santa and reindeer.

A little bear looked like he had enough and was about to throw himself from the roof, okay he’s skiing but I still think he was trying to escape.

There was a creepy doll stall, all the blank stares and I think the one in the green jacket was a little Chucky just waiting to be taken home.

There is food lots of food. Cheese, meat, bread everything you need to make a pretty inexpensive lunch or snack.

If you want something hot there are lots of choices as well, like these sausages and potatoes.

Of course you need a glass of vin chaud to go with the food. Hot wine and there are choices there as well, red or white and some are sweet, some are more spicy. Perfect for keeping warm while wandering around the market.

To top it all off there are of course chocolate filled with a sort of marshmallow filling in different flavours. So many choices it’s hard to choose.

The market was fun and although it was cool out it was the perfect temperature to enjoy the fun atmosphere and the vin chaud. I didn’t buy very much mostly just looked, I almost brought home a stuffed donkey because he was so cute. I don’t need a stuffed donkey and with only carry on luggage I didn’t really have room for him. Instead I bought handmade soap that smells wonderful and by the end of my trip all my clothes smelled like it as well reminding me of my first day in Paris.

 

HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR!

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What a trip! I definitely recommend starting the New Year off in Paris.

New Years Eve was a great night, even if it didn’t go to plan. The plan was to go to a friend of a friend’s and then head out to the Eiffel Tower for midnight. We got distracted and didn’t make it but instead danced, laughed, drank red wine and rang the New Year in with a great group of people. So all was not lost.

January 1st to make up for it we did go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. What a gorgeous view! The experience was a lesson in patience though. Wait in line to go up to the second level. Wait in line to go to the third level (the top). Wander around the top, where it is very windy and take pictures. Oooo and Ahhhhh at the view. Stand in line to go back down to the second level. Look at line in gift shop and decide that the shop at the bottom of the tower looks like a better option. Then line up to go back down. You can take the stairs but….. it was January 1st and well red wine and I had gotten along like gang busters the night before. We also returned later to see the tower at night and upon approaching the tower all the blinking lights came on. I believe I squealed with delight!

So Paris was lovely, although I was unable to find an onion soup to live up to the one in my memory and of all the ones I had I can honestly say I make a better one at home. After Paris we went to Prague. What can I say about Prague? It’s so beautiful, easy to get around, has great food, wonderful people and I can’t wait to go back! Budapest as well did not disappoint. I want to live next door to a bath. We made it to two of them and on a cold windy Budapest day there is no better place to be!

So the next few weeks will be all about London, Paris, Prague and Budapest!

Wonderful trip but it’s really nice to be home.

Goals 2012 – New Playlist On Ipod

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Okay so this might seem like a strange goal but I am so lazy when it comes to updating my ipod. I think I’ve had the same playlist on there for years. While I know it’s not difficult to update a playlist, somehow I just always seem to find something else to do.

This is why I like the radio, they shuffle my songs for me.

Update the IPod is the goal. I’m going to say 4 playlists of at least 50 songs each. To be completed by end of April and revisited again in October.

Goals 2012 – Save $1,200

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I already have a pretty hefty savings plan in place. Travel is a priority and I always save the year before for the next year. The problem is most of my savings goes to travel.

This 1200 is for a bookcase for the office, a new camera or maybe an ipad.

There are several things I would like that just don’t fit into my budget. So by rolling change, selling stuff, saving from my weekly spending allowance, whatever. I’m going to see how much of a slush fund I can come up with by the end of the year.

Or even half way through the year I’ll check in and see what I can do for the office.

It’s money for me, for whatever I want. Not something I need but something I want.