Once more, dear friends.

I can scarcely believe it, but just over a month ago I was still tooling around England (P.S. I was just in London - did you know that?!), drinking about 15 cups of tea a day, enjoying a daily apple-n-peanut-butter, and and trying to keep those blasted kids out of trouble.

Almost immediately upon my return to the U.S., I felt like I had never left. I jumped into celebrating Christmas, New Year's, and birthdays. I had an absolutely amazing, fantastic, incredible month, but now I go once more unto the breach.

I've already chewed over how nervous I am about this whole venture. I'm happy to say that I am now officially over that. Not to say that the fear isn't still there, because it is - I woke up on Sunday feeling suddenly overwhelmed, anxious, and pretty nauseous (and may or may not have teared up in the shower a little bit. And sobbed on my mom's bed later that day.).

But mostly, I'm kind of just annoyed that I have to wait to just get going already. It's kind of like when you know you have to go get your wisdom teeth out or something. You know parts of it are gonna suck, but you just want to get it over with so you can be on the other side (enjoying the pain meds HEEYYOO).

And in the spirit of this very jumpy post, allow me to publicly discuss my GOALS for the next few months! Anyone who has met me for three minutes knows that I can't just sit around twiddling my thumbs. I need something to work towards!! And so I shall make them public so you can feel free to hold me accountable.

The one that is not really feasible but would be nice if it could happen: I've decided to do the Couch to 5K. THAT'S RIGHT! Mama downloaded the app and everything. I appreciate that it dictates exactly how I have to do everything. Plus I think I can knock out 3 miles. I am an Amazon woman. I would really like to be able to kick it off while I'm traveling, but I'm not sure how realistic that is given the climate and what I'll be up to. So, considering the training plan is about 2 months long, I'm going to say that I will run a 5K sometime between April and July. How's that for non-committal?

The one that I really want to make work: I know I'm not going to be some awesome travel blogger who gets all this money from whatever, but I would like to use my blog to learn more about HTML. I would like to be able to use it as a resume booster and as something to tell employers when they ask what I've been up to since December. Anyone have a suggestion for a good resource?

The one that might not happen but would be awesome: I would also like to look into designing a mock study abroad app - not the technical infrastructure, just the design. I have a pretty snazzy idea and again, could be a good thing to brag about.

I also have all sorts of travel-related goals that basically boil down to "Don't be such a wussy" and "Actually talk to other people, you misanthrope." So we'll see how that all works out.


Time to jump in, my friends! Next time we talk shall be from Bangkok.

image via bangkoksuccess.com

P.S. This is totally off-topic, but I was just thinking about how this time last year I was sitting in a cafe tucked away on a top floor of a random building in Istanbul, drinking salep and enjoying this view:

I was remembering this because I was sooo freaked out before I went to Turkey the first time, but fast forward a year and I'm completely content and pleased in this cafe. In memory of this I dove back into my FB timeline from last year and was reminded of what happened on my birthday - ALL that happened on my birthday:

Started the day stranded in a blizzard in Anatolia. Ended in AK Party HQ awkwardly walking three inches behind a Very Important Politician strolling down a hallway and shaking hands with admirers lining the hall. Now I get to party with Kevin McClure. WHAT UP.

I TOTALLY FORGOT about the random AK Party politician!!! God, that was awkward. AAAAND scene.