Several Reasons My Life Sorta Rocks Right Now
This time last week, I was walking around Barbados in the Caribbean, drinking a local beer and shopping for ridiculous shirts. Amanda and I spent a week on a cruise touring the Caribbean sea. We spent time in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. And on one of those stops, I got to see one of my best friends (Justin) get married to a fantastic woman (Danielle). I also got to reconnect with another of my great old friends (JJ) and his wife (Nell), and make new friends besides. It was a Good Trip.
In just a couple of weeks, Amanda and I will be returning to the Caribbean Sea, this time via Mexico with our fantabulous friends Scott and Roxi. We’re spending a little more than a week there, renting a remote house near a tiny town on the far southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula. Here’s a look at the house:
And here’s a view from the rooftop patio:
We plan to spend a week mostly lounging about on the beach and drinking everything but the water. We’re also planning a day trip to visit some Mayan ruins. Fun!
These trips are made easier now that Amanda has left her job at Aquarium to freelance full-time, meaning she can take vacations pretty much whenever she wants. Right now she has a steady freelancing gig with Midwest Living, which helps pay the bills while she looks to expand her client base. As a bonus to me, it’s been a long time since she’s been this consistently happy, which makes our marital bliss legitimately blissful.
Once we get back from our vacations, it’s time to start working towards a new milestone: my 30th birthday in August. Now, this may sound like a not-awesome event (and I may agree closer to the date), but right now it’s pretty cool ,mostly because I’m hoping to serve gallons and gallons of homebrew at a nice big party at our place. This means that I’m seriously ramping up my brewing production over the next couple of months, starting tonight with a nice nut-brown ale. I’m planning to brew at least 40 gallons of beer/wine/mead over the next 8 weeks. And since I love brewing, that’s going to be enjoyable.
And in between it all, we’ll be exercising regularly. Amanda and I have our plans in place for staying super-active this summer. For starters, we’re on a volleyball team again this year. Our first game is scheduled for next Tuesday, which is forecast to be in the low 80s and sunny.
We’re also planning TWO half-marathons this year! Our first is in late August in Minneapolis, and the second is in mid-October here in Des Moines. Between those two races, we have 24 weeks of scheduled training, which started this week. After those races, I’ll have four half-marathons under my belt, which is something I never thought I’d be able to say. I’m also still doing Hapkido a couple of times per week. Eric and Renee have jumped on the Hapkido bandwagon, which means I get to see them regularly now, in addition to getting a great workout. I’m hoping to test for my green belt this summer sometime.
