A Brief Glance Back at 2013

I am not usually someone who looks behind me. I prefer to rush headlong and enthusiastically to the next adventure… often somewhat naive but always eager.

But today is the last day of 2013 and I am feeling a bit nostaligic.  I have had a really wonderful year and I am going to prolong it a few hours longer.  I want to savor some of my favorite memories of 2013… like the 5 km run that The Captain and I did together to kick of the new year.

I started the year with a new part-time job as a meeting room receptionist with Weight Watchers.  I love greeting and weighing my members each week at the different locations I work and have come to enjoy great camaraderie with many of my co-workers. I love that the program is concentrating more and more on whole, natural foods, and encouraging exercise and good routines and habits. 

I also participated in my first Whole 30 Paleo Challenge in January and have fully embraced this way of eating.  The few times I have eaten rice with my sushi or gluten free bread since then, I have paid for it with bloating and stomach pain.  I know that it is not for everyone, but it IS for me.

The Captain and I have come to love our inner urban environment and the activities that it affords so much that we finally let the sloop that was our home for 11 years go to new owners… an oncologist and his lovely wife, getting read to retire, and whom we hope will love her as much as we did.

We have continued to enjoy walking to different local markets for groceries, growing flowers, herbs, strawberries and some veggies on our balcony garden, and have found living so close to the beach as good as being on the boat… especially in big storms!   Definitely do not miss wakeful nights on the hook worrying about the anchor giving way.

Running took a bit of a back seat this year to other types of exercise.  I participated in two of Tina Reales’ Besty Body Boot Camps and loved them… and they gave me a hunger for more strength training.  I started reading and doing research and found Tom Venuto and his programs.  I managed to complete and whole 12 week lifting program, and have just started another based on his theories as well. 

In the early Spring I was lucky to win a Goodlife Fitness 30-day pass and thoroughly enjoyed my new exposure to group fitness classes… Flow Yoga, Spinning, and some Les Mills classes, too… Body Flow and my favorite… Body Pump.  I will never be a gym rat but I did love those classes.

My theme word for the year was KAIZEN - which is a Japanese word that roughly translates to DAILY IMPROVEMENT.  I think it fit quite well and I kept it in mind throughout the year.

I have found a wonderful immunologist who is working with me to get to the bottom of my health issues.  We have found that my body is making antibodies and that my immune system is much healthier than I had feared which was a big relief to me.   And now we are trying to find out why my body seems to be leaking protein through my gut.  I am convinced my Paleo lifestyle is helping with this because the amount of edema I have in my legs has decreased significantly.

I have added blue algae to my diet, too, in the way of ENERGYbits.  And I have become a brand ambassador because I believe in them so much.

I have worked with some awesome corporate partners this year and have been honored to offer some fun and generous products to my readers via giveaways. 

So, as I ready myself to head out for my final run of the year, and then celebrate the start of 2014 later with The Captain over a lovely homecooked seafood-fest, I am remembering how blessed I am, and grateful for the wonderful year that 2013 has been for both of us.

I hope to see you next year!

What is your favorite memory of 2013?