to do 2014. | personal, health, travel

personal.

1. Read 26 books- and write them down :) my good reads list of books to read is here, and my books that I have read is here. 

2. Go thru my clothes and get rid of all the things I don't wear.

3. Finish all the quilt tops that I have, there are at least three.

health.
1. yoga, more yoga, always.

2. running, ideally I want to run a 10k at some point this year.

travel.

1. San Diego. planned! MLK weekend.

2. Los Angelus. 

3. San Francisco. planned! February.

4. NYC. hopefully Spring Break.

5. St Louis, Missouri. hopefully Spring Break.

6. Seattle. tba.

7. Bend/ Redmond. tba.

8. Utah. tba. I've been missing it lately. winter, or summer. I don't mind either. 

9. this waterfall. I must go! tba. 

germany | black forest (part 3) December 2013

Black Forest: one, two and three. 

More pictures-

2013 to-do list, review

A run down of my 2013 to-do list, and how I did on it (a new list for 2014 coming soon!)

career

► leave work every day at 4 ✓ I am/ was really good about this. Okay, I take home work a fair amount but I always leave before 4, especially now that I am living farther away.... Except when I have a meeting. 

health 

► walk 12 miles a week & do yoga once a week X Honestly, I was running a TON in the spring, but summer was crazy busy and I am planning on picking this up again when I get back to the US. Also, my Mom now wants to do yoga & I have promised to go with her... so maybe this will happen in 2014!  

► stop drinking soda & milk X/✓ I am way better about both these things, but it's something I need to be more aware of still. 

personal

► read a book (every other) week ? I MAY have reached this. I wouldn't be surprised if I did...but I can't prove it. I read some great books this year, but I didn't track them. 

► quilt more ✓ I quilted a bunch this year! Now I just need to FINISH them (bind them). 

► spend more time in the kitchen :) ✓ Yum. And definitely yes. :)

germany | black forest (part 2) December 2013

Black Forest: one, two and three. 

At the top of the tram, there isn't a LOT to do. But it is really pretty, and it was really cold as well. Most Germans were sledding (which was adorable) and though I heavily petitioned for a trip to a miners museum, I was over ruled when we got to a potion of the trail that was covered in snow.

^ I wish we could take the credit for this adorable snow man!

After walking around and freezing (everyone else was in full on snow gear!) we had lunch, then went on one more little walk after. 

germany | black forest (part 1) December 2013

Black Forest: one, two and three. 

Josh, Mom and I were all wanting to go to the Black Forest, so Mom found a tram that is apparently the longest single tram in Germany. WHY she both found and suggested this as a good idea is a mystery, because she is TERRIFIED of trams- totally logical since she has no problem whatsoever with ski lifts and trams and ski lifts are pretty much the exact same thing. Actually in my humble opinion I would say ski lifts are more scary since they have no sides and are usually not inclosed at all. But since I have a totally irrational fear of flying and small patterns, I guess there is no real logic to why we are afraid of things. 

So one train ride and a bus ride later, we took this tram to the top of a (small) mountain in the Black Forest. 

I wont name names, but one member of our party called this portion of our day the "ride of terror" the "tram of terror" and clutched the door handle for dear life. I don't have any pictures of this because I am a really good and kind daughter/ person.

switzerland | Basel December 2013

The town we are staying in is wicked close to both Switzerland (and France!) so we decided to go to Switzerland for the day, and settled on going to a little town right on the boarder, Basel. The train ride was about an hour, and we were there in time for lunch. 

^ Josh loves apple cider, so he always gets it wherever we do. He thought this one was especially delicious!

We had no real plans, we just walked around and tried to find all the things that looked cool on the city street maps we'd sometimes see.

Always amused by the fact that so much stuff happened before our little country was even a country.

And when we found this cool mural (also older than the USA), it was the perfect backdrop ...

Are handstands the new planking??

^ Can you see the knight stabbing the dragon thru the head? Awesome.

^ this was the biggest/most impressive Church in Basel, it is right on the river.

On the way back (around 6) our train stopped. For TWO hours! So much for Germans always being on time. On the bright side we were really warm and cozy in the train, on the negative it ruined our dinner plans/ my plans to get some lotion from the store (all stores are closed Sundays). We didn't get back to our hotel till almost 9.

But we did pass the time productively-

Basel was really cute, and a great day trip! It was not very crowded and small enough that we just walked everywhere. Despite the train issue on the way back, it was a pretty perfect day!