February Mini Goals

 February Mini Goals

I enjoy the feeling of a fresh start that each new month presents - I may have stumbled the month prior, but the 1st of any month is an invitation to try, try again. 

My mini goals for the month are:

1.  Cook a new Hot Air Fryer recipe. Currently I'm guilty of using it for primarily two purposes only - making sweet potato fries, and reheating leftovers back to their original crispiness. So this is an effort to get out of my hot air fryer rut.

2.  Run a mile in less than eleven minutes. My best speed in my peak running years was about nine minutes and low change. But anything under 11 minutes at this point in my older life is a win. Oh, how things have changed!  😄

3.  Organize my tee shirt drawers. I have two drawers full of close fit tees in a variety of colors and styles - from white to black, spaghetti strap to full sleeve - and I know that more than a few of them should be tossed due to either overwear or now being too large for my smaller frame. Plus I want to refold them the Marie Kondo way once done, so I can see exactly what I have, as opposed to having to root through stacks.

4.  Talk to neighbors about trimming their trees. I really do not want to do this, but my plan is to approach each neighbor from a place of assumed cooperation, and also to offer to pay for the first trim if they might agree to carry forward on their own. Sigh. Maintaining our blue ocean views is both a blessing and a curse, even as they are protected via our HOA CC&R's.

5.  Lose 5 pounds. I gained two pounds in January (so currently 110), and I had losing three pounds as a general 2026 goal, so I want to focus on both now ahead of our upcoming Panama Canal cruise. I have no issues maintaining my weight when we cruise - we walk and walk and walk while on the ship, plus I love the slow, steady service in the Dining Room more than I enjoy the food itself - cruise food is never going to be memorable given how much needs to be prepared in advance for any one meal.

 

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How about you??? Any new goals for February you care to share?

Friday Five - Lots Of Sunshine

 Friday Five - Lots Of Sunshine

1.  We have embraced this week's beautiful weather here, walking and spending time outdoors each day. I feel a renewed sense of appreciation for S. California's year round temperate climate after watching last week's Arctic storm level so much snow, ice, and sub zero temperatures in Middle Tennessee, where my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters live. I am so thankful they did not lose their power at any point during the weather event.

2.  I spent a lovely afternoon with my brain cancer-stricken girlfriend. We sat outside in the sun for hours, first enjoying lunch, then iced coffees. She spoke about accepting that she will not likely beat the cancer this time around - it's her fourth bout, though first with it being in her brain. She seemed somewhat at peace, which is my only wish for her. That, and that she remain pain free.

We see her and her husband again tonight, for dinner at our water fronting social club where a guitarist, Happy Hour, and hopefully a beautiful sunset awaits.

3.  Speaking of which, the sunsets this week have been other-wordly in their beauty. They have literally stopped me in my tracks. And I wish to never, ever take them for granted.

4.  The Giant Birds of Paradise in the HOA area next to our home have been removed, and the opened up views have been wonderful. We're now enjoying sitting outside as often as we give thought to doing so, particularly at dusk when the homes atop the ridge begin to light up and twinkle.

During the day I'm enjoying watching the many birds fly overhead, particularly our local population of Cooper, red-tailed, and red-shouldered hawks.

5.  I am cooking up a storm for a series of entertaining events occurring this weekend. So far I've made and frozen this Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Candied Ginger & Marscapone Frosting, made the base for a sundried tomato bruschetta I'm bringing to a wine club event tomorrow, and prepped for making pumpkin and sausage chili in the morning, so it can meld a full day in the refrigerator before I serve it on Sunday.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Walk four miles to and along the beach, file for online UK Visas for upcoming summer trip to British Isles (I am so badly procrastinating on this one, oof!), pick up this week's loss leader supermarket sale items, go through my shoe closet to remove shoes that I can no longer bear to wear due to my bunion, and also to make room for the six pair of new and comfortable boots and shoes I bought yesterday. Yes, six pair - it's how I roll! 😆

Friday Five - Happy To Pay The Weather Tax

 Friday Five - Happy To Pay The Weather Tax

1.  I had not been paying attention to the weather because, well, Southern California, and so this morning was the first I heard of Winter Storm Fern. My dad lives in one of the projected-to-be-deep-cold areas, and so I spent time this morning chatting with him about his preparations. He has been through this before, so I knew he'd have already prepared (which he had), but I still wanted him to know I was aware and concerned.

As a side note - I've been trying to talk him into returning to California in order to be closer to me as he continues to age into his 90's, and perhaps this will give some added weight to my 'push' in this area.

2.  I restarted HRT, after weaning off of it last Fall. Within weeks, the hot flashes returned, and after a couple of months, they began to affect my ability to sleep through the night, leaving me feeling increasingly exhausted. So, I threw in the towel and restarted HRT a few days ago. Nicely, already, the hot flashes are diminishing, and I am able to get through the night without waking in a sweat. I'm still waking up unreasonably earlier, however, even after hours of exercise, so looking for improvement to occur there as my body continues to adjust to the resumed hormone medication.

I'm also encouraged by the recent release of studies indicating that remaining on HRT, once begun, for pretty much the rest of a woman's life, turns out to have some benefits not previously noted. 

Link to FDA study here.

3.  So happy to have received a call from a girlfriend that is dealing with brain cancer to say she was done with treatment for the time being, thus feeling stronger and better, and would I like to get together for coffee? And also, would my spouse and I like to get together for dinner with her and her spouse? 

Yes and yes!!

I was not about to put something like this off, so she and I now have plans to meet up for coffee next week, followed by a couples get together the day after at our water-facing social club for conversation, music, sunset viewing, and dinner. What a gift to have another opportunity to enjoy her company, and the company of her spouse.

4.  Slightly annoyed that I didn't stock up on pumpkin puree when it was on sale everywhere this past Fall. I needed to hunt some down yesterday for this absolutely amazing Pioneer Woman recipe for pumpkin & sausage chili I'm making for an event next week, and it was nowhere to be found at Aldi's, so I had to resort to, horror of horrors, the regular supermarket. I found it, but at what I consider a stupid not-on-sale supermarket price of $2.99 a can (vs the $1.49 a can it was at Aldi's during the Fall season). So, lesson learned - I'll buy a few extra cans next season.

In the meantime, I really cannot exclaim enough about this rendition of Pumpkin & Sausage Chili. It's incredible, and even more so if topped with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of roasted pepitas and cilantro- 

5.  Looking forward to a social wine event we are attending tonight, and also looking forward to wearing a gray knit dress that I tried on last night after putting it in the back of my closet years ago when I felt it made me look thick. 

It doesn't make me look thick anymore after last year's Herculean weight loss efforts, and I'm excited to wear it after wearing it only once previously. I'm pairing it with gray suede boots and a chunky silver and pearl necklace and earrings.

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Today's Healthy Focus Plan - Walk six miles, blow patio clean, finish off pre-Panama Canal cruise plans in Fort Lauderdale (booking a Segway tour among other things - fun!), file for online UK Visas for upcoming summer trip to British Isles, pick up charcuterie board supplies from Trader Joes for an upcoming dinner event here, leave early for social wine event to help with setup. 

Tuesday Tidbits

 Tuesday Tidbits

Just some minor tidbits happening in my life currently.

1.  Reading and loving this book that I downloaded from the library for an upcoming Book Club meeting. I haven't laughed out loud this much while reading a book since I read my first P.G. Wodehouse book some decades ago. Well done, Mr. Graeme Simsion!

2.  Scanning an online menu for a Korean cafe I'm going to today with my spiritual community ladies group. I've eaten only Korean BBQ up until now, and so this is a new cuisine for me for the most part and I want to be ready with my selection before I arrive. 

3.  From the restaurant I'll head straight to ukulele group play, and I'm looking forward to it, even though I'm generally wiped out mentally when I leave. It's so much fun to play with the other group participants, but my guitar-trained brain still has to hyper-focus on playing the ukulele version of chords.

4.  If I'm not brain dead at the end of ukulele practice, I'm planning to head to a Toyota dealership to see if they have a Camry hybrid on the lot in this gorgeous color for possible purchase for hubby later this year -

5.  Since I know I'll be wiped when I get home, happy to have leftovers from last night's dinner, Chicken Parmesan, ready to go. Before dinner, hubby and I will make an effort to go out to catch the sunset, as they have been outstanding. Last night's was brilliantly pink, the night before a fiery red, the night before that a deep orange. So we'll see what tonight's brings.  

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What small things are you looking forward to doing or dealing with today? Inquiring minds!

Decision Paralysis

Decision Paralysis

This is not intended to come off as a humble-brag - I clearly recognize our  privilege. However, frustratingly, I am finding my anxieties more and more of an issue as I age, and they recently rendered me sleepless for two nights in a row as a result of struggling with which decision to make for our big 2027 international trip.

If it seems a bit crazy to be already working on 2027, I think its notable that we were not first out the gate on the trip we were trying to put together. We did not have our pick of rooms on the lengthy cruise we were interested in - already, even 18 months ahead of departure, the Cabin pickings were getting slim.

There were so many things I was wrestling with, mentally - Could we get a direct flight? Could we easily get from the airport to our hotel? Could we easily navigate trains for day trips from the hotel? Could we easily get from the hotel to the cruise ship on embarkation day?

None of these in and of themselves would I have considered remotely challenging 10, even 5 years ago. But the stress of aging is real, and what used to be fairly simple issues are now increasingly stress-inducing.

I don't like that this is occurring, but am trying to accept it as my new reality. So, increasingly, I find we are paying more to reduce stress. As an example, we select nonstop flights, we pay for easy airport to hotel transportation via a taxi, we select centrally located hotels, we prefer larger cruise cabin accommodations.

The tradeoffs we are making are we are traveling less than in years past, but more comfortably when we do. And I'm really fine with that, because I genuinely love where we are now living. We've gotten much more heavily involved in our community since moving to our new home two years ago, and I find that I miss my community groups and activities when we are away too frequently, or for to long.

What a change from when we first retired some 15 years ago, and went-went-went every single chance we had. I am so very thankful we were able to retire as young as we did (late 40's for me and mid 50's for my spouse), and would encourage anyone else wrestling with a similar situation to do same. The change in energy as we age is real, quite shockingly real.

I did finalize our 2027 big trip this morning, a relief, and I can now put any more thinking on it to bed until early next year.

So, after all that, here is where we are going - We are doing a 40 Day Cruise into the fjords of Norway, the coastline of Denmark, a few islands in N Scotland, a circumnavigation of Iceland, some stops in Greenland, and then stops along some of Canada's eastern Maritime provinces before reaching our disembarkation in Boston, where we'll have an easy flight home.

Lots and lots of research in my future, which I do very much enjoy.

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If you likewise have found that manageable stress levels or other are changing for you as you age, feel free to chime in here. I think we all benefit by sharing our aging journey.

January 2026 Plans

January 2026 Plans

I'm currently immersed in the Palm Springs International Festival, where we are viewing 15 films over 8 days, plus assorted Directors and Actors talks. It's been GREAT, but we are running like crazy here, as we work through each day's very detailed and coordinated schedule, attempting to work in lots of walking miles to and from the various movie showing venues, plus our meals, which are at times eaten standing up while waiting in line for our movie seats to open up. Fun stuff, but definitely not for the weak of heart. 😆

Post-movie stage talk by Director and the two leading Actors for India’s 2026 Oscar film submission, Homebound, which we absolutely loved.

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The gynormous Forever Marilyn statue

Hollywood Reporter-led panel, which included the Director of every Golden Globe nominee
 for best Non English, i.e. Foreign Film category

Once we return home this upcoming weekend, we have a number of other January events and plans to look forward to:

- We are hosting a fund-raising walk to the beach and back, followed by bagels, fruit, and mimosas back at our home. Our 12-person event bid out at almost $200, proceeds of which went to our spiritual community. 

- We have two winery dinner and tasting events to attend, always a good time. 

- We’ll be attending the symphony, followed by dinner, with friends.

- The jungle of HOA plants adjacent to our home will be removed, opening up our sight lines of the surrounding hills substantially.

- This large canvas print will be ordered and delivered from one of my favorite Etsy shops, the first step in my living room refresh.

- I’ll begin shopping for new sofas for the living room, the second and final step in this year’s selected home refresh project.

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If you likewise have a list of plans for January, please share - I would love to know what they are!

Favorite Purchases And Experiences In 2025

 Favorite Purchases And Experiences In 2025

I think I've shared here before that I maintain a very detailed spreadsheet of our spending. It serves two purposes - it forces mindfulness in that I have to revisit every single purchase as I log it onto the spreadsheet. If I experience a fleeting sense of annoyance during the process, that's a good sign that the expenditure I'm entering was not made from mindfulness.

And secondly, it allows me to revisit our year and revisit our choices on where we put our money. So far I've only come across one somewhat irritating entry, which I'll list at the bottom of this post. Nicely, the majority delivered a lot of satisfaction or pleasure, both in the moment and in the afterwards.

Some of my favorite 2025 purchases:

• My new hybrid SUV. Such great gas mileage at 41+ mpg so far, so reliable, and so much fun to drive along the coastal highway that I live adjacent to, ideally with the sun roof open and my arm extended.

• My new wardrobe of pants, the result of losing 25 pounds this year. Additionally, I've purchased a few pair that were $100+ each, because they look that good, and this is the first time in my life that clothes shopping has been wholly fun and easy. 😀

• Our front row seats to watch the American Ballet Theatre perform Swan Lake. Even all these months later (we saw it in June), the beauty, excitement and energy we experienced is still lodged in my brain. 

I likewise keep a very detailed calendar, and likewise enjoy going back over it at year's end to remind myself of how I chose to spend my time.

Some of my favorite 2025 experiences:

• Joining a women's club and getting involved with both the women and the various charities we support.
• Becoming more heavily involved at the library where I volunteer, and becoming appointed to it's Board. 
• Losing and keeping off 25 pounds. This has been life altering in that I have also laid down a lifetime of negative messaging that I had become immersed in. 
• Joining a social club with my husband. Even after just a couple of months we have made a number of connections and the club's water view restaurant is a lovely and comfortable place to enjoy and hang out at. No pressure, ever, to buy more drinks or food, or to pay our bill and move along. We can simply sit and enjoy for as long as we care to, including the lovely and prolonged sunsets.

And as I mentioned above, the one entry I reviewed and was annoyed by, meaning it will not be repeated, was a murder mystery dinner event at a nearby golf course. The event was pricey, at $200+ for the two of us, the event was more work than I'd anticipated (we had to solve the mystery vs simply watching it acted out) and the food was mediocre.

But really, that was about the only entry I came across that was a regret, so overall I am very pleased at how things played out in 2025.

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If you likewise have a list of favorite purchases or experiences in 2025, please do share - I would love to know what they were.