2019 just doesn’t feel like 2019

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Because….. I have not written one single check with 2018 on it. The last check I wrote was in July so that’s why. I was in safe territory for not messing up a check in month 7 of a year. Luckily, I slowly started banking online a few years ago. I just felt as if electronic transactions somehow felt less REAL so I put it off. Would I then fritter away money if it felt less real? I was an early bird onto the internet, but some stuff I just didn’t jump at. However, living in China, I had to fully embrace electronic banking. So, here I have had no constant reminders that oh ya it’s a new year when I have to rewrite a check for the 5th time.

Otherwise, how is everyone’s cleanse going or not going? Eating clean for 2019? That rhymes!!!! A blog name in the making….. Getting super thin for bathing suit season?? I love to see transformations of people who change their lifestyle, but yoyo diets are a joke. Don’t yoyo diet! Eat healthy in MODERATION and MOVE.

twenty18 is over

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I’m not a new year’s resolutions kind of person. It’s a good time for gyms to make a lot of money, but I have no interest in paying for a gym pass and not using it. When I have had a gym pass, I used it regularly. I don’t want to get ripped. I just want to be physically fit every day of my life. When I was on the track team in 1990, I was ripped. I didn’t know it at the time. All I knew was that all my friends were faster than me and I could not keep up. Do you want to get fit? You don’t need to do something extraordinary. You don’t have to win any races or beat anyone. You just need to move. Walking is a great form of low impact exercise. Hiking is also a great form of low impact exercise. Biking is too!!! If you have weight to lose, it will come off if you stick to it. If you don’t have weight to lose, it will still benefit you. Make 2019 AWESOME!!!!

Christmas time

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78595B75-36AE-4E89-882C-07F90D88BF2B I didn’t really want to spend Christmas in China. You can get cheap flights to Australia from there if you look, but I didn’t want summer for Christmas either. My Christmas dreams include a foot of fresh falling snow so Australia was out. We came to Europe where cold temperatures and Christmas markets would put us in the Christmas spirit. We took some long flights and ended up in Prague. The winter chill was definitely there. Was my coat up for the challenge?

Sausages and meats cooking makes you hungry and yes we enjoyed. The kids couldn’t get enough sausages.

European toy stores are so much more interesting than toys at big box places.

Puppets are huge in Prague

Good King Wenceslas’ memorial

Lots of walking

A building is a piece of art in Europe.

Utah hikes

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Emerald Pools in Winter. This hike is for most abilities and you won’t find a better one. Occasionally, I choose a different hike for a longer workout, but you cannot improve on this hike. It has a little water year round. It is currently partially closed due to a rock slide. Hopefully it can be fixed by spring 2019.

A few Zion locals

Virgin River near the exit of the famous Narrows in Zion National Park

I’ve just spent a week at home in Utah, USA. I was there to visit my family, but I always manage to get in some nature hikes. I flew into Las Vegas and it was funny how small the skyline appeared in comparison to my Chinese city. I have been to Vegas innumerable times, but never really for any of the stuff it’s famous for. **usually just hitting the airport** Or… before internet shopping it was for actual shopping other than the small town stores’ slim pickings. Las Vegas is not just for losing money, it’s a great launching pad for awesome destinations. For me, it’s pretty much my airport of choice. It’s closer to my home and the famous Southern Utah parks than Salt Lake City.

Bored with my walking path

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I have been growing tired of my daily walking path. It’s pretty. I walk to the ocean. There are people who are starting to get very used to seeing me EVERY DAY. Ever since school started up around the beginning of September, it became a lot of old folks and some of their grandchildren too. They don’t interact with me. Some are super afraid of my sweet dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soa3gO7tL-c I prefer walking alone. I love it. My path was growing stale though. This week, I invited a friend to meet up and walk the dogs. I had to go near her house and it’s like 40 minutes away. She was busy, but then I figured why not take the dog there anyway and walk there. It was super fun. Totally different and just what I needed. I think I’ll start doing it regularly. Today, I’ll be back to my usual spot though.

I bought a bike 🚲 .

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Our bikes are in storage while we are in China. All over there are people who ride these really old bikes. I actually wanted to buy one cause I think they’re so cool. I don’t know where to find one that doesn’t have a person attached to it though. So…. the other day, my daughter said she was missing her bike. I knew where to find normal newish bikes at a sporting goods store so I decided to get one for her since it’s her birthday today. It works for me too. The guy thought I’d want a gear bike, but I didn’t. This one looks pretty plain like the local bikes too so #woohoo. Pretty close!

I love the rack on the back. Now, I need to find some bungee cords.

In the city

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Tokyo is a big city is an understatement. I’m not really a city person though I’m living in one in China at the moment. Tokyo is made up of massive buildings that seem to go on forever. We have not scratched the surface there, but this was our second glimpse. It’s an expensive place, but there is a good website called : www.tokyocheapo.com I used their information on both my visits. We were able to get a 24 hour subway pass though for a pretty good deal. We allowed my 16 year old to choose our city itinerary and it was fine. We travel a fair amount so I rarely get set on must see stuff cause there is stuff to see everywhere. I think you could really enjoy some amazing food there too if you want. We really just end up eating where we are when we get hungry. We had watched some YouTube people showing us what to eat in Harajuku so we planned that. We had ice cream for breakfast, but I couldn’t wash that down with more crazy sweets like they do so that was the extent of our wild foray into YouTube recommendations.

Almost 4 years after our first trip….

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The locals have some really fun whacky style. The pig hat was very popular. Japanese like to dress all the same in friend groups and wear the same hat. It was a normal sight to see a dozen boys and girls wearing the pig head or some other matching ears. Sooo funny and fun!!! ❤️

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They are celebrating 35 years of Disney Tokyo this year. ⭐️

218C4E0C-B684-4C02-A94A-69CBD7760F21 we came back to Tokyo Disneyland/sea. We got some super sore feet from lines and saw a lot of tourists. I know social media has made tourism grow exponentially, but we were really surprised by the difference. When we were there in December 2014, there were about a dozen (max) of us white folk in the park that day. The other day, it was tourists from all over. AND LOTS OF THEM! It was so much more diverse. Was it social media or simply October? Maybe a bit of both. The crowds were doable by Disney standards, but sore feet are my worst enemy there. It seems that my feet do not enjoy standing in one spot. At ALL!

First time ever on JAL. It was a very nice experience. A tasty lunch was provided on a short 2 1/2 hour flight. That hasn’t happened for me on a US carrier that I recall since the eighties.

Boat rides are a fun way to get off your feet. The lines are usually a bit shorter on the non-thrillers.

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It’s not the best burger 🍔, but maybe the cutest.

And then what???

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You quit your job to travel the world and then what? My blog is about a pretty mundane subject, but the years of blogging have come and gone. I know (in a way you know strangers on Instagram) some people who have “sold it all” and have zero sponsors after a long time. They quit their jobs. They sold their homes. They cashed in on the equity in their house; their furniture, their clothes, their doodads, to travel. It sounds crazy! Cause it is!!!!! I feel like I’m watching a train wreck. Maybe they’ll get famous and it will all be made right. Not likely! It took us years to get where we are with our not so perfect furniture, but good career. I realized early on I couldn’t sustain any momentum to do what it takes. I’m not going to hike Kilimanjaro one day and follow it us with something better the next week. It’s too much. We had a trip to Chile planned for this summer, but our career sent us to China. I could have done both. Nobody was stopping me, but me. It’s no piece of cake to do what moving entails. Nope. I don’t want to throw a first trip to South America into the mix. I’ve been trying to go for 20 years. It will be or it will not be. I tried a thousand times to use my funds from my Aeromexico flights that were going to go unused to no avail. I learned that I’m not going to book flights with them ever again because of the headache. My seats were empty, but they won’t get another dime from me. Lesson learned!

What have you bought that was worth the money?

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Besides a national park pass, the best thing I’ve spent my money on is family pictures. We didn’t have engagement pictures done. We set a timer on an old fashioned nineties camera on a hike and went with those. I didn’t have a dime so I didn’t know better. When we went to Hawaii for the first time, I wanted to book a professional to take pictures of our family. It was one of my best purchases.

2009 The North Shore