A Year of Yes

Howdy Howdy Howdy, it's been a while! I actually started this blog right after the new year, so it was going to be a "year in review" entry. You know what? I think it still will be. It's over half done already and I've decided that 2016 is going to be a "year of yes,"  so i'll just go for it.

Looking back, I think my 2015 was pretty alright. Actually, no, I can say it was a good year. Nothing terrible happened, no big changes in my life and mostly good things were going on around me. The only weird/bad thing that first comes to mind is Andriy's sudden necessary gall bladder surgery, which meant a night's stay in the hospital and bills bills bills. But we survived that with just some tummy scars (him, not me.)
Other than that, I did mostly what i wanted to do without too much interruption, aside from, you know, having to work for a living.

Here are a few things I LOVED about 2015:

Travel is almost always at the top of my list. This year, I traveled to the East Coast twice. First was to visit Maine and Vermont with my husband, ending with a visit to our best friend Jdo in Ohio. Maine was AMAZING, especially where we were, which was Bar Harbour/Acadia National Park. It's SUCH a beautiful place. Here's a photo, just to brag/reminisce.

Yeah, it was so good. Go there.
Then we spent a week in Vermont, because it is our plan to move there in 2017. We have set a year. Now we just need to figure out how the HELL you move to a brand new place where you don't know anyone or have a job. So, we're going to figure that out. But we're going to do it. We love Vermont so much. We spent a week there, exploring different areas, scoping out the neighborhoods in Burlington, checking out job availability. I even spoke with someone at the New England Culinary Institute about their programs. I'm not saying that's what I'm going to do, but it kind of sounds like something I might really enjoy. We'll see.
After hiking/driving/eating our way around Vermont, we headed home, but not before stopping and visiting Jeremy Doughty in Bowling Green Ohio. I'm so glad we got to see where he's been spending his time recently, earning his doctorate (way to go, Dr. Doughty!)

I also took the opportunity to visit my sister, Jessica, in Maryland. Mom and Dad were going and asked if i wanted to join them. I thought about it for a half a second and then said YES of course! Jessi and her family moved there in December of 2014 and I hadn't seen much of them since then. So, we had a lovely visit with them, spending a lot of time with her and her sweet, beautiful daughters. We did a little hiking, a little exploring. I was so happy to see their nice place and that they live somewhere that's actually really pretty. Now I want to bring Andriy back so we can explore more.

More things I loved:

After hurting my back doing something boring and normal (didn't love that,) I started doing yoga very regularly again. Since I'm cheap and impatient, I decided to explore the options on YouTube. I found Yoga with Adriene. And it is great. Adriene is so laid back and kind of silly, not so super serious like some yoga instructors I've encountered that take themselves and their practice waayy too seriously. So, she fit right into my life. I've been practicing yoga from home since early last year. Check out her channel on YouTube if you're interested in adding some yoga to your life.

I tend to not talk about work much, but my business did relocate to a new, much better location. The move was a lot of work, and I had to miss a family reunion because of it, but it's done. And I had the opportunity to have the layout exactly as i want it/need it. To get the updates on what's happening there, like us on the Facebook page that I manage: https://www.facebook.com/ProductionXpress/

Andriy and I have taken a new fun step into nerddom. We started watching Doctor Who and we LOVE it. It's got the right mix of playfulness, dorkiness and Britishness. I find it very comforting to immerse myself in the world of Doctor Who. I find that as time goes on, we find ourselves watching more and more British TV...we're a couple of angliophiles over here. Thanks Netflix & Hulu!

Wrapping this one up for now. More soon...

go listen and play outside

So, I've been working on this Spotify playlist for some time. It's called "Summertime Playlist" and it's full of fun, upbeat songs that I want to hear when I'm enjoying a nice day outside. I've been editing this playlist for a couple of years now. It started with a classic rock base, because once the weather is nice enough for me to roll down my windows in the car, that's what I turn to. But, I keep my ears open all the time, and when I hear a song that I think makes the cut, I make a note of it on my phone and I test it out later in my playlist.

At this point, I have 147 songs in my playlist, and right now that's 9 hours, 13 minutes worth of music. I'm constantly adding or removing songs, based on what I think is appropriate. I'm trying to grab as much music as possible from as many genres and decades as possible, so please make suggestions for what you think should be on my summertime playlist. And if you're on Spotify, go follow this playlist of mine (it's public,) give it a listen and let me know if you have any suggestions. I would love to collaborate with anyone else that might enjoy this playlist too! Click here - Summertime Playlist - if you want to help me perfect it. FYI, you need to have a Spotify account to listen to it, but it is totally free and totally worth it. I love listening to music on Spotify!

Moving on, I've got some spring tasks that I've set for myself. One is a flower garden for my front yard. My front yard is boring, apart from the rose bush growing (out of control) and our Ukrainian flag blowing in the wind. So, it's time to make it prettier. I love getting my hands dirty and it's such a satisfying ongoing project, keeping up a garden. So, I'm on it. Right now, it's just sketches on paper and an outline in the yard. I'll post photos as it develops.
We're planning a nice trip for spring. We'll be exploring New England again, just Andriy & I, and we're heading all the way out to northeast Maine, up to Acadia National Park. I'm psyched to go that far east and to explore somewhere I've never been. We'll be doing a lot of hiking, eating a lot of shellfish, and enjoying some nice coastal views. CAN'T WAIT.  http://www.barharborinfo.com/acadia_national_park/
Then, we're spending some more time in Vermont, which we are still examining as our possible future home. This will be an exploratory visit to Vermont, checking out what kind of jobs and homes are available out there and what kind of $$$ it might take to move. It's exciting, and terrifying at the same time, to think about moving somewhere completely new on a permanent basis. This is coming from the girl that packed up and moved to Ukraine for 2 years, I know, but I knew that would be a temporary thing with Peace Corps and I didn't have a mortgage to worry about then. I'm sure Andriy understands this feeling better, but even he had a home base to start at here in Jacksonville when he moved from Ukraine. It would really be helpful if one of us were to find a good job in Vermont, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe some day, we'll just decide to DO IT and see what happens. If anyone has connections in Vermont, holler at me! I'm serious!