Obligatory New Year's Resolutions Post: 2020

It’s time for my annual New Year’s Resolution’s post. If you are part of my life or have read my 2019 wrap-up, you’ll know that it has been a hell of a year for us. Life was more complicated than usual and I lost sight of many of my resolutions, including keeping a consistent blog schedule. Luckily, the last month has brought a lot of calm and I have a great feeling about 2020.

Let’s take a look at the goals that I set for myself in 2019.

1. Create a writing schedule with a focus on the revisions for my novel. - Semi-successful. For several months during the first half of the year, I kept on track with writing in the mornings. I made a lot of progress. I owe much of this to a new habit that I created. I began to write a list of small goals on a sheet of paper and leaving it on a clean desk with my computer, so that I was ready to work in the morning. I plan on going with this strategy in the new year.

2. Attend a Writing Conference = I was registered and had begun to travel to the AWP Conference in Portland, when we found out that my mother-in-law was critically ill. We canceled our plans and fly to England. I was disappointed to miss the conference, but family comes first.

3. Maintain a blogging schedule=Semi-successful in the early part of the year and then it fell apart. This was one of my worst blogging years, since I have started “Always Packed for Adventure.” Thank you for sticking with me, it will get better!

4. Read 60 books or more = Big fail. I only read 26 books this year. Unbelievable and so out of character. I didn’t count literary journals or magazines, which I also read. I also recently discovered audio books and those are not included. Michelle Obama’s Becoming was fabulous to listen to in her own voice.

5. Track food and get to a healthy weight = Lasted three months and lost some weight, but then put it all back on and then some. This was made extra difficult by all of our traveling and moving.

6. Track steps and be mindful about exercise -See above.

7. Visit a new country, state or major city = Traveled a ton in 2019- Sweden, England (twice), the Big Island of Hawaii…I had been to all of these places. I did add Colorado and New Mexico as new states. I also visited different parts of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. In my home state of California, I visited Death Valley National Park and Yosemite National Park for the first time. We also went to Sequoia National Park, which I had not visited since I was five. I spent a total of 107 nights in hotel rooms last year! That sounds nuts, until I realized that my husband, with all of his work trips, spent over 200. I love traveling, but more nights in our new home, is what I’m aiming for in 2020.

8. Scan in old-family photos and documents-Success! I’ve done about 80% of this and I’m really happy.

9. Continue to work on family Genealogy project = Success and I look to work on this more deeply in 2020.

10. Work More, Save More, Spend Less = Semi success. I think this will be much easier to achieve in 2020.

I’m fairly happy with what I achieved, especially with all of the upheaval in 2019. Now the fun part: setting goals for 2020. Many of them are the same, with a few additions and tweaks.

Maintain a creative writing schedule: Work on novel and other non-blog writing for a minimum of five hours a week. If I know I am traveling, make sure to work ahead to meet this goal. The ultimate goal is to finally begin looking for an agent.
Blog: Commit to two blog posts a week and catch-up on old book/travel reviews.
Attend a Writing Conference
Read a Minimum of 50 books.
Start my Youtube Idea: Keeping quite for now, but I have a business idea for YouTube, which ties into my tutoring job.
Start my Podcast =. I have the equipment, I have a name, and I have a solid plan. I hope to get this going in the the first quarter of 2019.
Maintain Going to the Gym =. Dan just bought us gym memberships and I’m hoping that we can get this to become a routine. We both need the exercise and to shed a few pounds. I’d also like to get better, build up to a longer, more intense cardio workout. I love strength training and pilates, but I currently avoid cardio.
Maintain Food Log = Be aware of what we are eating and focus on eating more sensibly. This always works when I need to focus on my health.
Achieve and Maintain good Blood Test Results = Earlier this week, my annual blood test came back with high triglycerides ( a problem I’ve had throughout my life) and prediabetes (a new and scary diagnosis.) I need to do my best to focus on healthy eating and exercise to change these issues. This is definitely the most urgent and vital resolution of 2020.
Visit a new country, state, or major city.
Finish Scanning photos and documents - this should be easy to accomplish. It just feels great to know that precious photos are backed up on the computer.
Add several new recipes to our repertoire. We can throw a great dinner party meal, but we usually resort to the same tricks..I’m looking at you, English roast dinner! I’d love to expand and be more creative in the kitchen.

2019: Annual Wrap-Up

It’s my annual wrap-up post: time to take stock of my year and to appreciate all of the incredible things that happened in these past 365 days.

Admittedly, 2019 was a hard year. It was filled with difficult changes and challenges. We had losses and blessings. We are hoping that 2020 will be easier.

We started the year with a blessing. We had my step kids, Zoe and Felix with us for the holidays. We rang in 2019 with fireworks at Knott’s Berry Farm and spent the first day of the year on the beach in Santa Monica. It was wonderful to have the kids with us and we even experienced a magical “White Christmas,” when it began to snow as we were in the middle of opening presents.

Then the plague hit…on the drive home from Santa Monica, I started to get the chills and had a high fever. I was intensely ill for several days, but had to fly the kids back to Sweden, so I got started on a course of antibiotics. Dan caught my cold the day before the kids left and was ill for over a week. Zoe and Felix miraculously escaped catching our bug.

I flew the kids home and on the way back, I stayed three nights in England at my sister-in-law’s house. It was great. I spent time with family and even went with my niece Pippa, for a day of drinking and theater in London. We saw Kit Harington in a production of True West. On that trip, I also spent time with my mother-in-law, Jan, which ended- up being very special.

On my flight home, I had the good fortune to be upgraded to British Airways Club World (essentially business class, with my own pod area). The guy ahead of me in the queue to board was obnoxious and basically demanded an aisle seat, so he was given my original booking and I was granted a major upgrade! It was awesome, but mid-way through the flight, I started feeling achy and by the time we landed, my fever was back. I was very ill for about two weeks and needed more antibiotics.

January, February, and March were a blur of bad weather and mini-trips, especially to Palm Springs for Dan to under-go painful dental work. Excuse my language, but it was a shit-show really. We had a massive storm on Valetine’s Day, when Dan was away at an annual conference, that actually made me feel worried that the house would slide down the hill. It was swaying and we lost power, so I cuddled with my cat and tried to keep calm. In the end it was okay, but there was more snow than this Glendale girl could handle. I was trapped in the house for a few days and had to dig myself out.

We took one memorable to trip Arizona, visiting Phoenix and Flagstaff on a four day road trip. We went in an attempt to find sunshine and warm weather, but ended up realizing it wasn’t quite as nice for the pool as we had hoped. The best part of the trip was a morning spent at Bearizona. Bearizona is a wildlife park where visitors can drive through some of the exhibits- animals coming up to your car! We visited during an off-peak, weekday and we were alone with the bears, wolves, and other wildlife. It was one of the best days of the year!

At the end of March, I was booked to attend the AWP conference in Portland, while Dan worked, but we got terrible news that Dan’s mom was in the hospital. We changed our plans to fly to England, but she passed before we arrived. It was unexpected, sad, and surprising. It’s also weird to think that now, all of our parents have passed. The upside of the situation is that we did get to spend time with Dan’s sister and her family, plus a day trip to see Dan’s uncle Barry and his wife Jo. We also saw a few friends, including Dan’s best friend Paul. Despite the terrible circumstances, the time we had with family and friends is to be cherished.

In April, we went to Las Vegas for a trade show that Dan attends annually. I like to tag along and get pool time. Of course, the weather was unseasonably cold and windy.

In late spring, we started to push getting our house ready to be sold. We knew that we wanted to move, but had severel projects that needed to be completed in order to put it on the market. Getting contractors moving was a full-time job and nothing moved fast. It was expensive and frustrating.

We spent the 4th of July holiday at our favorite resort, The La Quinta Resort and Spa in Palm Desert. It was boiling hot and we both got sick again with fevers. We went to a local urgent care and we were both diagnosed with sinus infections. I suppose if you have to recover, a fancy hotel isn’t a terrible place to be sick. We mostly slept in the room, but as soon as the antibiotics kicked in, we were poolside..

Zoe and Felix were back with us in mid-July and this was the best part of our year. We took a two-week family trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, where we snorkeled, went horseback riding, attended a luau, toured a chocolate plantation, went rafting through an old sugar cane irrigation system, rode a zodiac boat, visited the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory, and spent a day at Volcanoes National Park. It was the best vacation that we have ever taken! To book-end the weeks in Hawaii, we spent several days at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Desert. I’m surprised that we didn’t turn into raisins from all of water activities.

August was spent putting the final touches on getting our house ready to sell. In the last few days of the month, we embarked on a road trip to Oregon. We went through Death Valley and Yosemite National Park. On the drive back, we went through Sequoia National Park. California has so much natural beauty!

Dan left his job in September, which occurred right around the same time as we put our house up for sale. We also brought Slinky to stay with a family friend, until we got settled in our new place. This was a very stressful time for us, but we tried to keep positive and we enjoyed a few small trips. We went to Las Vegas to relax at the Waldorf Astoria and we also traveled to San Diego, where we bought annual passes to the zoo and wild animal park.

Our house got an offer in October and Dan did too, a great new job that brought us to Colorado. Prior to his accepting the position, we visited Colorado, to make sure that it would be a good life for us. We were worried after our bad experience in Portland. Colorado immediately won us over. It is so beautiful and the people are welcoming. Plus, although it has snow, it has tons of sunshine. We treated that first visit as a bit of a tourist trip, incase the opportunity didn't work out. We visited the Coors Beer factory and saw Buffalo Bill’s Grave.

November was spent anxiously hoping that the sale of our Big Bear house would go through without any delays. We found a new construction home in a new estate called Sterling Ranch, in Littleton and put a down payment to start the buying process. We drove our Camero out to Colorado, taking the Arizona/New Mexico route. In New Mexico, we took the cable car up to the top of Sandia Peak, discovered “Christmas” chili, and had our car cleaned at the car wash from Breaking Bad. We flew back to California to finish packing up our house. Our move was not simple and involved three different companies. Our big Timothy Oulton furniture required a crane to get it out of our house. We also had to have certain items crated. It was a logistical nightmare that somehow worked out. We had a goodbye dinner with our friend’s Bryan and Valerie, hitting several of the local restaurants in Big Bear Village. The next morning, we set off in our Ram Truck, taking a Nevada/Utah route to Colorado.

We spent about two weeks at a local Hampton Inn, as Big Bear was nearing the end of escrow and the finishing touches were being made on our new home. The staff at the Hampton Inn were terrific, but we were thrilled when we finally moved out the week before Thanksgiving. With a huge amount of luck, everything regarding the sale of Big Bear and buying in Littleton worked out exactly as it needed to. Our new home is gorgeous and our neighbors are welcoming. We live near a giant field with cows!

I’m writing this a few days before Christmas and we finally feel settled into our home. It feels like our home in a way that the previous places we lived, never did. Last week, I flew back to California to pick up Slinky. He experienced his first plane ride. I was very worried about flying with a cat, but it was less traumatizing for both of us than I Imagined. We missed him so much and are just happy that he is back with us.

Speaking of cats, we have a new one! We adopted a ten month old kitten that we named Tom. He’s a long-haired ginger, fluffy ball of trouble. Slinky isn’t so sure about Tom, but Tom adores Slinky. Slinky can’t eat or use his litter box, without Tom following him.

We are ending the storm of 2019, on a calm and happy note. Dan’s company even closes for the holidays, so we get a bonus vacation that starts on Christmas Eve. We tossed around the idea of a holiday trip to Orlando, which I never thought I’d think was a bad idea, but we decided that it would be better to stay home and just relax with the cats. We haven’t decorated for Christmas and we have zero plans for either Christmas or New Years. Yesterday, we did join a local gym, so maybe we will just get a head start on those resolutions.

England 2018: Jack the Ripper Tour with Ripper Vision

Since high school, I’ve enjoyed reading true crime books and in particular, anything involving the mystery of Jack the Ripper. In the late 1800’s five prostitutes were brutally murdered in London’s Whitechapel neighborhood. A serial killer, whose identity has never been solved, taunted the police with cryptic letters signed “Jack the Ripper.” Not only is the identity of the murderer still a mystery, but he may have killed more than five people.

One of my London tourist goals was to take a Jack the Ripper crime tour. Even though his crimes occurred nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, the Ripper lore still captures the public’s imagination. To this end, there were many different Ripper tours to choose from. So many different tour companies in fact, that we shared space with other tours for a majority of the evening.

Naturally, a Ripper tour takes place at dusk for maximum effect.

I took the tour with my niece, Pippa, who lives in England. Pippa has been a great sport, joining me for various London outings. She was coming from class, so we met at the Whitechapel tube station. The Whitechapel tube station has several entrances/exits, on opposite sides of the street, so we had some confusion with meeting each other. If you’re taking the tube to a Ripper tour, I recommend allowing for extra time.

We planned to meet early enough for dinner and decided on sushi. I adore sushi and I have to say, we have awesome sushi in California. Even cheap sushi, is usually top-notch. I’ve not experienced good sushi in Europe or even within the US, when traveling outside of California.

Dinner was at a quick-serve chain restaurant called Wasabi Bento & Sushi. My visit was just two weeks after the royal wedding and I couldn’t resist trying the When Harry Met Meghan box. I have no idea what spicy tuna had to do with the royal couple, but it was a fun tie-in. That said, this was very much “not yummy California sushi,” but to be fair, it was also not freshly made.

For dessert, we had lattes and cakes at the ExMouth Coffee Company. I highly recommend this cute cafe, plus for a bonus, head to the bathroom where they have fun art on the wall and a nod to Jack.

Our guide was Ripper expert M.P. Priestley, who is also author of the book, Jack the Ripper: One Autumn in Whitechapel. As you might expect, he was selling copies of his book at the end of the tour. I like to always support authors, so I bought a copy, although I’ve not had the chance to read it. Throughout the tour, Priestley gave plenty of background information regarding the leading suspects, but when he gave the pitch to buy his book, he basically teased that the book would give his real, expert opinion on the true identity of the killer.

Here is Priestley in action, the guy in the grey cap.

I was pumped for this tour and after decades of interest, how could I not be? I’m not sure what I was actually expecting, but it definitely wasn’t even in the top twenty of favorite things that I’ve done in London. Priestley was a good tour guide: energetic, enthusiastic, and knowledgable. The walking tour lasted about 90 minutes and he was a good storyteller, setting the stage for the events as he took us to crime scene locations. In addition, he pointed out other London landmarks, like the Gherkin Building.

The Whitechapel area is certainly worth a visit. It has historic buildings and cobblestone streets that mix with modern businesses. Here are a few pictures.

As odd as it sounds to say this, I enjoyed seeing the crime scene sites and walking around Whitechapel. It brought to life everything that I had previously read. However, the tour didn’t add any new information to what I already knew. If anything, the information felt basic, like Wikipedia level and was perhaps best-suited for those with limited knowledge of the case.

Everyone on our tour was intrigued by the promise of “Ripper Vision.” We didn’t know what to expect, but it felt like it would give added value when compared to other tour operators. We were taken under a bridge and Priestley cast pictures from the Ripper case on to a wall. This was “Ripper Vision.” I guess it was nice, but they hype made me think it would be more impressive. It really wasn’t much better than if he had passed around a few laminated photos.

Behold! Ripper Vision!

The tour wasn’t very expensive. I think about twenty pounds each. I’m glad that I took it, otherwise it would have always been on my London bucket list. That said, I’m not sure that I would recommend it. There are so many amazing things to do in London, including great tours, that the Ripper Tour didn’t come close to matching with regarding to the quality or being memorable.