It’s Christmas night at 11:30 and Tyler just left to head back to his apartment. Rick’s in bed and I’m sitting in the living room by the fire enjoying the tree and cuddling with the dog. What a nice day! Really enjoyed seeing the friends who dropped by to have lox and bagels and mimosas. Lots of laughter, lots of fun!

For as long as I can remember, if Rick was asked what he wanted for Christmas, his standard answer is peace and harmony. And that is the best way to describe the day. The not having to outdo one another with expensive extravagant gifts and keeping our Christmas gift giving to a minimum, made for a much nicer holiday. Really thinking about what the kids wanted and needed and getting it exactly right was so much fun! And the gifts from the kids were so thoughtful and wonderful. I feel so happy and content! It would have been great to have our daughter here, but it doesn’t seem to be possible since she moved to Texas…..we did get to FaceTime with her and that was really nice! We are heading there in a week and a half for a visit. So looking forward to it!

Can’t believe Christmas has come and gone, but thoroughly loved it! There’s a lot to be said for peace and harmony!

God, I love this time of year! The decorations, especially the decorations. Who doesn’t love all the lights and red and green? Tamales. The weather. The street fair. Sweaters. Jackets. Boots. All of it!

I feel like I really need to write something positive. I just went back and read my last post about my friend Valarie. Wow. That was almost harder to read than it was to write. I apologize for that. What a downer.

Sooooo-It is December 10th and I have my Christmas shopping done and the presents for our daughter and her boyfriend were mailed to Texas this morning. The ones for here are wrapped and under the tree. Back when I worked, hearing someone say that this early annoyed the hell out of me. When you have all the time in the world, stuff gets done. Quickly. It helps that neither Rick, nor my mother, nor I want anything. I never would have believed that I would get to the point that there is nothing I want. Or need. In fact, looking at the massive amount of stuff my stepdad had when he died (and trying to figure out what on earth to do with it all), really made me realize we all have way too much stuff. At the risk of sounding sappy, I truly enjoy getting things for the kids that they want or need or making donations to my favorite charities. Yeah, that happened. I think that means I’m old. Crap.

Instead of buying more stuff, we are focusing on experiences. More dinners with friends. Travel. Duh! Live music! That never gets old. And takes no room in the attic. (We really do have an attic. And it is a disaster! I digress……) Staying up late. Sleeping in. Going to the gym (to be honest, I like leaving the gym more than going TO the gym, but I do love the way I feel when I exercise). Cooking good food. Eating good food. Good wine. Tasty cocktails. Enjoying the wonderful people in our lives. Our adorable dog, Idgie. Reading. Appreciating what we have!

A side-note….I finally found a way to avoid spam comments! Wish I would have a long time ago! When I signed in to write this post, I had 1025 comments ready for moderation. Geez! It was total BS! So, now, if anyone submits a comment I will actually be able to see it instead of all those crazy ads.

Enjoy the holidays! Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah or whatever you choose to celebrate! And make the most of what’s left of this year……another one is right around the corner!

Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of my best friend, Valarie Miller. That means that I have experienced the sadness of November 8th several times already, but somehow, today is particularly tough. Maybe it’s because it’s the number 5. I don’t know. Maybe it is because it finally hit me that I will never have another best friend like her. Maybe I had hope that I could-I feel like I’ve been unknowingly interviewing women friends to take Valarie’s place in my life. No one really can though. She got me. I got her. We left nothing out. Every topic was fair game. And on that topic, there were no games. Just an honest friendship. I knew she was there for me whenever I needed her. We didn’t have to talk every day or even see each other every week, but she was my person. Of all the women I have known, I probably never would have thought that she would be the friend I would be the closest to. We weren’t that similar. We had different likes and dislikes. Different backgrounds. For god’s sake she was a republican!

Today, I just miss her so much that it hurts. I miss having a friend that listens as well and shares as much as Val did. It makes me feel so lonely.

Day nine of the cleanse and feeling great. I’ve dropped 6 pounds already and can’t wait to see how the rest of the challenge goes. The first 10 days include the herbal cleanse, probiotics and more while the next 14 days concentrate on weight loss. Obviously, exercise and healthy eating are involved. And no alcohol for the first 10 days, and limited for the next 14. I miss wine. Not gonna lie. Like when I watch Scandal. I feel like I should join Olivia Pope and have a glass. But I do think it’s a good idea to get out of the habit of just mindlessly pouring myself a glass at a certain time of the day. And I also get that one of the problems with a drink is that you are more likely to make poor food choices. Like order a heavy appetizer in a restaurant or a fattening dessert. I thought I generally make fairly good choices both when I order something or when I cook something at home, but now realize there was definitely room for improvement. Limiting carbs to healthy complex carbs and furthermore only consuming them once a day, preferably earlier in the day is another great idea. Having a protein, vegetable or fruit at every meal is another one. While all of these changes are great, I find that the Advocare 24 Day Challenge is a nice organized way of accomplishing my goal. It’s kind of nice to have a blueprint for the journey. The fact that it’s kind of expensive is a great motivator.

On Saturday night we went to the Boondocks and listened to some great music by Straight Shot Again-we have a couple of friends in the band. And yes, I had club soda with a twist of lemon. The bigger issue was smelling the nachos and the french fries…….but I did it! I did not give in to temptation!

Sunday found us on Mt. Lemmon taking a 3 hour hike. It was beautiful and cool and we felt great doing it! So in short, everything is going well, but I am feeling a bit restless……

The final route for the trip

We got back early Friday evening. Dorothy really had it right-there IS no place like home! I think all this traveling really made me not only appreciate our great home and family, but it made me look at friendships in a new way. Friendships need to be nurtured and respected and treated with love and care. Friends cheer each other on. They keep you moving forward. There is no room for envy or rudeness. There are times we need to ask ourselves am I being a good friend, and if not, why not…..

Since Rick will still be working some now that we are back, but not nearly as much as before we left, we will keep this blog going. I did pay to have it for an entire year, so if anyone is interested in checking out what we are up to or to read my lengthy ramblings, it will be here.

I thought that I might jot down a few last thoughts regarding our adventure.

It is not possible to eat three meals a day on a trip of this length. You will get fat. Rick gained no weight whatsoever, me 4 lbs…..they and some their friends will be gone VERY soon. Had we eaten three times a day, I can’t even imagine…..

Use the gyms in hotels. They will save your waistline.

Whenever we checked in to a hotel room I entered the room number in notes. Yes, with 61 rooms, in 73 days (1 day longer than Kim Kardashian’s last marriage), you can forget your room number…..awkward.

Talk to strangers! Pretty soon they are not strangers anymore, and they make the whole journey so much more interesting and fun!

Stay away from heavy rainstorms on freeways. They are no fun whatsoever.

If you are anywhere in the east, get an EZ Pass from the beginning. No one has that much change with them.

Stay away from Citgo gas stations. Unreliable restrooms and rudeness.

If you think you have a good relationship with your spouse before you take a trip like this, it will be tested, and if you are lucky, it will be even better afterwards. I am very lucky.

Laugh out loud whenever you can. Hug often.

Don’t take pepper spray to Canada. I believe I covered this topic in excess already.

Something else I covered in excess-use Priceline Express-it will save you tons!

Figure out how the heck to get rid of spam comments before your trip. I am looking at the comments symbol as I type, and since I haven’t logged on since Thursday there are 920. I just hope some of them are from people who are actually reading this and not just  #@*&%*# spam. Now it’s 926!

We had a deal from the beginning. We will continue on this adventure as long as we are both having fun. We asked each often, are you having fun? It kept us on track and having fun.

Favorite comments on the trip: Me-I thought I had to Spokane, and only Quincied. That probably won’t make sense to anyone, but we laughed for days. Rick, while listening to Unchained Melody: Great song-you need to be making pottery, and I guess I need to be dead. That cracked us both up.