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'Tis The Season

That's right...here in America 'tis the season for visiting family, eating too much, catching colds, buying and receiving gifts, and taking stock of the past year. To celebrate we made a video capturing the last 12 months. The first version was over 20 minutes so we cut it, and cut it again, and now we are happy to share a short 6 minute video packed with fun images and good music!

FYI: If you have the time and want to watch the 22 minute "Director's Cut" version with additional photos and video clips just click HERE! Otherwise, to watch the 6 minute video just click on the image below. :-)

Did you watch it? Do you think that the whole year was amazing and fun? Well if you've been reading this blog you know that's not the whole truth. It's been a year of ups and downs and sideways. The thing is...we didn't take photos of the hard times. No one wants to make those memories permanent with a photograph. I mean, do you want to be 80 and looking through old photographs only to find one that makes you think about the day you felt completely devastated? But those days exist. For us, for you, for everyone. It's our common denominator no matter where we are from or what we do--we all have good times and bad times. Hopefully we all make it to the other side of the bad times and learn to smile again.

For us, those good and bad times have been epic over the past 12 months. We've said goodbye to everything we knew to start something totally different and in the process we have dealt with grief, fear, doubt, anxiety, stress, and feeling overwhelmed. How did we cope? Well we slept a lot--like 10-12 hours a night every night. We also ate a lot of comfort food. And we did some healthy things too , like going outside to enjoy nature, hiking, visiting family and friends, and we found pleasure in slowing down. But it was hard! For all of us.

I can tell you something shifted for me when we gave Navi to Sue. Up until that moment I harbored a thought that if the boat thing didn't work out for me then Navi and I could disappear and enjoy a life on land under assumed names. But, after we came to the conclusion give Navi a land life with Sue and drove away, that thought died. On the bright side (if you can call it a bright side) I'm now "all in" and dedicated to making the sailing dream work which means I am motivated to learn as much as I can and do as much as I can on the boat.

So what does 2018 have in store? Who knows??? But I can tell you we are looking forward to attending the Seattle Boat Show in January where we fully intend on soaking up as much information in the free seminars as possible and finding information on the different things we want to add to the boat (composting toilet, solar panels, radar etc). There are also a lot of classes offered in the Seattle area and we hope to sign up for as many as we can to learn skills ranging from navigating with radar to surviving falling overboard to rigging the boat among other things! Exciting isn't it?

And that dear friends brings us to another seasonal tradition...wish lists for cool stuff. Life on a boat requires a lot of different "stuff" than a life on land. Here are a few things we are looking for--and I'm willing to bet any sailor in your life would like them too! Although maybe for other reasons than ours...

SOS Distress Light by Weems & Plath: When we bought the boat it came with a lot of expired flares. In doing our research about what type of flares we want to carry in the future this one came up, I love it because meets the US Coast Guard requirements and it never expires!

The Curve of Time by M. Blanchet and Timothy Egan: Everyone in the Pacific NW recommends reading this book. Apparently it's a tradition to take turns reading it out loud as you sail around the waters described in the book.

Some useful Wild Plants by Dan Jason: I struggle to keep green veggies on the boat so when I saw this book recommended as a way to identify and harvest wild greens in the PNW I thought it would be a great way to have fun on shore and freshen up our boat meals.

Sprouting Kit: Another great way to have fresh greens onboard!

Portable depth sounder: Ever heard of running aground? Well it isn't fun. We had first hand experience this summer and thankfully our time aground was minimal but now we do everything possible to avoid experiencing it again--and a portable depth sounded would help!

Bandaid Adhesive: Stop me if this sounds familiar....ever drill into your finger and need a bandaid to when you are sweating and trying to remember to reverse the drill out? Too detailed? Just ask Rob for the full story. Anyway, this little guy is supposed to help bandaids stick in damp environments. Cool!

Windscoop: Who knew the Pacific NW got really hot in the summer? Windscoops help funnel a cool breeze down below and we want one for this summer!

Range finder: We suck at knowing how far away something is from the boat--like how far we are from shore so we can stern tie. I know we will get better with experience but this little gadget would really help!

Mujjo Touchscreen Gloves: Great for operating the iPad navionics app in cold weather. Unfortunately they don't come in Rob's size so this link is only for me (Lucy).

Deluxe Rigging Knife: Every sailing forum we follow recommends this. We both want one!

Cork shaped light: Because ambiance is fun!

Cards against humanity: Because game night with these cards is super fun!

Lush: Because using these shower products and lotions help me feel like I'm in a spa instead wearing flip flops in a mostly clean shoebox sized marina shower where I have to contort my body to turn around and feed quarters into the machine for 1.5 minutes of water.

And that's a wrap for 2017! We both hope you and yours are ending your years with smiles and looking forward to 2018 too!

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