2012 ... A Review!

Wow, yet another year has flown by while working towards cruising!  We didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped in 2012, but it was a good year.  After all, any time on this Earth is fine by me!  I thought I'd review our year with a few links and pics of the highlights of 2012.  Here goes ...

It seems every year starts off with celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans!  This year was no exception, and Ken's dad came from Florida to celebrate with us.  We also walked in a parade for the Key West Honorary Mayor as "tacky tourists".  It was a lot of fun!

Shortly afterwards, we were excited to install our new Lowrance chartplotter.  These chartplotters aren't cheap, and we previously did not have any type of GPS or chartplotter on Nirvana.  Saving the money and buying something that was considered crucial for cruising was exciting for us.

In March, we got our passports!  We'd never had any before, and this kind of served as a symbol to us that we'd be going places!   Anxious to use our passports, in April we "cashed in" our credit card miles and spent 7 days in the US and British Virgin Islands!  Now this was definitely the highlight of the year!  Ken and I had been to Hawaii, Cancun and Jamaica but the Virgin Islands were a first for us.  They were definitely our favorite tropical destination so far, and we can't wait to sail back on Nirvana!

Before our trip to Margaritaville, we were lucky enough to have Jimmy Buffett perform a free concert on the New Orleans riverfront.  At the end of the concert, our Saints' coach Sean Peyton surprised everyone by walking on stage and playing the bongos.  Jimmy even wore a shirt saying, "Free Sean Peyton" .. so cool!  We also got to be "KISSED" a couple of days before!

We hung with the sailors in New Orleans during "Navy Week"!

Not all highlights are necessarily fun!  I'd say that this was miserable, but it was definitely "up there" for the year ... we finally renovated our house in order to sell it!  It took a while to find the time and the money, but we did it.  We lived in a construction zone for about 6 weeks, and "ate dust" even longer.  Our house is our biggest anchor, and getting it in shape was a huge accomplishment.

Less than two weeks later, we had an unpleasant visit from Hurricane Isaac!  We had damage to our house, and once again had to make repairs ... Ugh!   It took until the week before Thanksgiving to finish the repairs and get the house ready to show again.  The house was shown 7 times over the holidays, which is better than we expected.  However, no contract yet.  We see no reason why we won't be selling our house in 2013!

In the meantime, we finally did something with the Sail Pack that I had won in a Sailrite contest.  We met with Robin, who lives nearby and who is a great seamstress.  She spent a lot of time listening to what we wanted, and she even came to our house for a sail pack fitting.  We're very happy with the results, and look forward to installing our new sail pack this Spring.  Until then, we're leaving the old sail cover on Nirvana.

In October, we headed to Florida for a reunion with high school friends due to a beach wedding.  Our daughter and her boyfriend also came along, so we spent a day at Epcot since we were so close by.  It was great catching up with long-time friends and the wedding was beautiful!  The happy couple now live in Panama, and we look forward to being able to visit them sometime.

If we're gonna be cruising, we need Coast Guard documentation on Nirvana.  We sent off the application (and the money) in October, and we're hoping to have our documentation any day now.  Another little but important thing off the list!

I love fitness, so when my daughter invited me to attend the New Orleans Color Run, I jumped at the chance!  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.  This is a national event, so check it out!

December brought Christmas, which brought gifts for Nirvana!  Since Ken and I can't buy any big-ticket items until we sell our house, we were excited about all the little things we got each other for cruising.  

As I look back on the past year, I not only think of what I mentioned above but also of great times with our daughter, her boyfriend, and family.  We've really enjoyed our relationship with our daughter, who has now become a young lady and a great friend!  Her boyfriend is great too, and we feel blessed to have the time with them that we do.  These times show us that everything happens as it should and in due time.  While we're anxious to start cruising, we're also embracing every day.

We also did fit in some sailing, but not as much as we hope to get in this year!

With the house renovated and on the market, we see great things for 2013 ... stay tuned!

For more pictures from 2012, 2011 and 2010 as well as some other albums ... check out our "Pictures" page.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!