Peeling Off The Layers

Written by Karen

Yosemite, California

A couple of blog entries ago, I talked about being a force and starting to get healthy one step at a time.  I’ve actually incorporated working out/being more active each day since then.  I ran – well, jogged, and slowly at that – for a mile at level 4 on the treadmill today.  I was ready to stop after minute 3, but kept going for the full fifteen minutes.  It’s funny.  This is something that I now want to do. I want to be as healthy as possible when I leave my current lifestyle in March and start another life chapter. I want to hit the ground running.  I’ve been pacing myself for some time here – just another day, just another week, just another month – and then we’ll be at our goal. And then life begins…our next chapter starts…and then….

Checking Out Our World

Written by Karen

Yosemite, California

As of July 15, 2011, according to the U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action webpage, there are 195 independent states worldwide.  I pulled the list today off the website, and starting marking the names of the countries that I had never heard of before. I was surprised at the number.  Starting in alphabetical order, they are:

Republic of Benin; Kingdom of Bhutan; Burkina Faso; Union of Comoros; Republic of Djibouti; Commonwealth of Dominica; State of Eritrea; Republic of The Gambia; Holy See; Republic of Kiribati; Kingdom of Lesotho; Republic of Mauritius; Republic of Nauru; Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis; Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste; and, Tuvalu. 

Be A Force

Written by Karen

Yosemite, California

I took another step towards getting me back today.  You can’t see it in my picture (since I’m still incognito posing as a bunch of daisies!), but I have put on about 40 pounds in the past six years.  I haven’t been ok with this – of course – but I just couldn’t shake the excuse that this was just one of the many consequences of working in the Silicon Valley.

Scratching The Surface

Written by Karen

Tokyo, Japan

I’ve been thinking about the idea of moving into different neighborhoods, towns, regions, lifestyles and cultures and “blending in” to understand a different perspective or way of life.  For me, this idea is most closely associated with travel, and it is an aspect of travel that I absolutely love.  

Planning For The Unknown

Written by Karen

Our Packs

Optimism abounds with numbers, budgets, itineraries, rail/plane schedules, ideas, suggestions, things to do, places to see; all considered, some kept, some tossed aside. A Gap Year. Wow, time to go slow, explore, savor life. 

We both now maintain long lists of computer bookmarks to travel events for 2012, newspaper articles, travel blogs, couple travel blog sites and general research of places and activities that interest us. We have created multiple “To-Do” lists.  Somehow, this will all have to come together into some coherent plan.  It’s T-minus 6 months until life as we know it begins to change.  

Hitting the Reset Button

Written by Karen

Potsdam, Germany

I think now, almost compulsively, about the future and wonder, how did I get to this place?  How did we both get to this point in our lives – at the peak of our careers, the height of our earning power and the collection of all that stuff that results from building our lives together – and willingly take this leap of faith into the unknown? To have the fearless courage to hit the reset button and have this concoction of emotions running amok with excitement about the future possibilities way out in front of fear, anxiety and doubt?

Zaanse Schans, Netherlands