January is the time to look back and reflect on experiences in order to outline the year ahead. As I mentioned in a post from August, my life objective has been on things other than client / design work. My main focus is now on my own home, garden, and personal travels. While I still do home and interior design work, I do it part-time. I maintain my trade accounts and contacts in the industry so that I am able to assist clients with all aspects of home design.
Here are the highlights of my 2023 that will shape my plans for 2024. First is that I have embraced gardening; I never thought I would ever like it.
Once I created a new garden from scratch using only hand tools, I understand why people become so enamored with gardening.
The aspect that I like is planning and learning about the plants. Learning new things is enjoyable and keeps our brains engaged. Before I plant anything, I research options to decide which are the best plants for the area in the garden.
A benefit of doing the actual garden work is being outside in the fresh air and sunshine while getting physical exercise. Expanded gardens and native plantings are planned for 2024.
Second, sourdough bread. I started the journey in June and have been obsessed ever since. I have shared many loaves with friends and one friend was inspired to start the journey. You can read about my journey here.
RV travel continues to be a big part of life. Some trips are work related for my husband's business which we turn into an adventure. In 2023, we traveled to Hilton Head (and stops to and from), NY Finger Lakes, Long Island's wine country, Harpswell Maine, and an October trip that was 2500-mile circle from NH to Knoxville TN, bourbon country of Kentucky, Ohio, then to Clayton NY on the St. Lawrence River. It was a great trip.
In Hilton Head, I went to RBC Heritage which was my first time attending a professional golf tournament. It was neat to see the process and the scenes. There is a lot that goes into the tournament.
Other firsts in 2023 was taking our cat on the road with us in the motorhome. It was an adjustment for all of us, but the kitty seems to really enjoy it now. He even walks on a leash!
Our dog Bell got her first boat ride! She did great and now does not require a life jacket. Other
firsts include towing a vehicle with our motorhome. I am very comfortable driving our rig but adding the tow vehicle added a bit of stress. The stress is worth it because the freedom of having our own vehicle once at our destination is great.
While I tend to not focus on the negative, the abundance of rain in the summer of '23 is hard to ignore. We acknowledge we are blessed to have a boat on Lake Winnipesaukee, but it was very frustrating not being able to use the boat much because it is in a marina on Back Bay which requires traveling under a bridge to access the lake and the water was too high for our boat to fit.
Once out we enjoyed many lovely sunsets and cruises. So, life is good.
Wrapping up '23 with a festive Christmas season was perfect. We had friend meetups, parties, and dinners.
I am delighted to be in this phase of life where I can still do design work and take on new personal projects and have time for RV travels.
My plan for 2024 is to do all of that and create more videos and posts on my lifestyle blog, I'll be adding new features and elements to our Wolfeboro vacation rental, and I'll write a bit more for my vacation rental industry blog.
Click the logos to go to the websites for each if you have interest in the other parts of my life. We all have many dimensions to our lives, and these are parts of mine. Thanks for reading. Happy 2024 to you!
