60toSixty

Several years ago, I won a trip from a home builder here in Austin. The prize options were several packages for vacations spots here in the US. When I was chatting with the builder's travel agent, I mentioned that none of the options were really interesting to me. She said that if I wanted to, I could build my own trip up to the value of the packages so that is what I chose to do. It is somewhat of a running joke that I have a relative or know somewhere everywhere I go. This is really true and so I chatted with my daughter and decided to visit some friends across the pond. Nicole and I set off on a European adventure to Austria, POland, Belgium and France.  We started in Vienna, Austria to visit one of my former foreign exchange students, Astrid. She was the best tour guide showing us highlights of the city. We went to a small amusement park where Nicole and Astrid rode roller coasters (while I watched from the benches), at pig knuckle, and road the ferris wheel. We also got to swi...

I know, I know! I am pretty behind on posting. Thankfully, work has picked up for me...and the drama in the outside world is somewhat affecting my motivation. I will do more of an update on that this weekend. One of the list items is to try 6 boxes of Universal Yums with my kiddo, Nicole. For now, we are testing the food together while Zooming.  This is the first box we tried from Greece! Enjoy the video, beautifully edited by Nicole! I promise, I will work on being more consistent with posting, I have several posts in the queue.

I have been swimming now for over 5 decades. I am both proud and astonished that I can say that. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been with the same Masters Swim Team for almost 17 years. We have an awesome swim coach who plans intra-Y swim meets so we can do some racing for fun and times. In the past, she has also hosted swims in Lake Travis to prepare us for open water swims. I have a couple on my list in hopes to do them before the end of 2027. One of my earliest 'swim' memories was when I was around three years old. Our family spent most summer weekends at Lake of The Woods club in Ohio. We had an older mobile home that my dad added alternating bunk beds to accommodate all of us and added a wrap around porch for hanging out and eating meals that over looked the extra large fire pit. We were spending time by the pool as a family and I vaguely remember someone pushing me from behind into the pool. Since I didn't really know how to swim, I mostly remember seeing b...

I am a creature of habit and convenience, I readily admit it. I also have my personal 'Hassle vs Pleasure' principle that if an activity that I might want to participate in is more of a hassle than the pleasure of attending/partaking in it will be, then I opt out. Of course, sometimes, the hassle is in my head and if I psyche myself up, then I can overcome that ratio and still enjoy myself. Related to being a creature of habit, most Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings when I am at home in Austin, I set my alarm for 4:30am to have sufficient time to wake up, have some coffee, prep my bag and get my suit on so I am on deck at the YMCA by about 5:45 for my 6am masters swimming practice. I also have my pre-swim routine where I shower to wet my hair and apply leave-in conditioner to protect from all the chlorine that seeps into my cap during an hour-long practice. Yes I wear a cap and no, it doesn't prevent my hair from getting wet, just keeps it out of my face while swimming....

Decisions On Tuesday, I had an appointment for an intro class for Pilates. Silly me thought I could just sign up at the beginning of January and get going. Instead, I had to reach out to two studios near me (I am a creature of habit and convenience) to lessen the hassle of going in order to build up the habit. Due to my work schedule and opportunities for an intro class, it took me almost half the month to find an opening. When I drove up to the Club Pilates location, right next door there was a donut shop. The first thing that crossed my mind was, "I can go to the pilates intro or I can go and get donuts." I literally hesitated then remembered I set a goal to take Pilates and begrudgingly walked in the studio door.  Many forms of exercise require specialized equipment. My swimming gear consists of swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, fins and paddles. For Pilates, its yoga-like clothing and socks with 'treads'. I wondered about the need for the sticky bottoms but the minute ...

 I love to read, always have. My mom used to talk about the fact that if anyone was looking for me and couldn't find me, I was probably hiding out somewhere with my nose a book. Reading also reminds me of my dad. I still have very vivid memories of crawling in his lap while he was reading one of his Louis L'Amour books. Often after snuggling in his lap, I would read bits and pieces of his yellowing paperback and drift off to sleep. I'd barely gain any consciousness as he would carry me to bed.  Today, reading seems like a luxury, however spreading one book out over a month is really only exchanging time from other perhaps less productive things like mindless TV or doom scrolling on social media. This month, I have already finished the first book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I saw the trailer for the movie coming out in March before watching Fantastic Four with a friend. She mentioned that she read the book and liked it and since I like the trailer, figured I would read...