You Better Belize It....

I am feeling a little blue today.  

It is a cold, rainy, Ohio Saturday and too close to that return to the office Monday.

I have been away from the office for two weeks and out of Ohio for most of that time.

It was a couple of weeks of firsts for me.

For the first time:

• I was away from Ohio and my parents and my youngest son for Christmas.
• I travelled internationally (other than crossing the border by car to Tijuana and into Canada).
• I vacationed on a tropical island.
• I experienced snorkeling.
• I swam with some sharks; nurse sharks, but sharks, nonetheless.

Truthfully, I did not want to come home.  If it were not for my family here and my job, I would have found a way to stay on the island of Ambergris Caye, Belize.

I was looking so forward to this vacation for so many months that I thought it may not live up to my expectations.

I was wrong.

I had an awesome time.

I owe a big helping of thanks to my son and his girlfriend (and their dog) for being the perfect and most generous hosts.

I was going to post about all of my adventures in Belize in this post, but decided one post would not do.  So over the next few weeks, when I am feeling the post-holiday, winter blues, I will recall and share tales of sunny Belize and hopefully give myself a little pick-me-up. 

It is time to set some goals...

My 2015 resolutions:

1. Do not make resolutions that I have no chance of keeping.
2. Participate in at least two organized 5k events again this year.
3. Stay active. Average  12450 steps of activity per day in January and increment 50 steps per day each month to reach 13000 by December 2015. This is going to be tough, especially in the winter months.  
4. Get 25 NAT lap time down to 45 minutes. I had hoped to do this by December of 2014, but was feeling the pain of trying to run too much and decided to give my body a break.  
5. Walk/swim at the Nat at least 2 x per week; this is more of a social goal than an activity goal. My socially awkward self tends to sit on the couch with a book rather than accept invites to outings that I would feel better about if I had someone to go with.  I do not need anyone to go to the Nat with. Ok, so the grammar in this paragraph leaves a lot to be desired, but I understand the resolution.
6. Organize my spare room, including scanning and archiving bins of photos.
7. Hang the art/pictures/items that are waiting to be hung in my apartment. I am the worst about putting things on the wall; I may need to have a hanging party.
8. Foster healthy friendships while letting go of unhealthy relationships.   
9. Stay the course on my get-out-of-debt plan.
10. Don't worry...be happy. I tend to worry too much over things I have no control over. I am not quite sure how I am going to measure the results of this resolution yet, but it is a resolution none the less.

Yes, many of these are similar to last year's resolutions. I feel so much better about myself now than I did at this time last year that I feel it is ok to have repeats.