So, it’s a new year. I’m not really into New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, I made a New Year’s Resolution on January 1st & I kept to it! I’m finding it better to find a goal to work towards at the beginning of each year.

Have you ever tried doing a SMART Goal worksheet? I find it very helpful. You can break down a big goal into smaller steps that make the whole project more manageable & less overwhelming. It’s pretty easy to find an example to download. You do need to fill it out & look at it every day though. -Yeah, that’s the key part. Put it in a place where you can’t ignore it. Maybe tape it to the TV?

**Just start taking steps towards your goal & additional steps will reveal themselves along the way.**

The rain has been pretty continuous for almost a week now. We got a break today but it will start again tomorrow & who knows when it will stop after that. We need the water. Although, I do pray for my friends in flood zones & next to rivers. That can be a scary situation.

For the last week it was kind of nice to be cozy by the fire & use the rain as an excuse not to go out & do stuff. But with the holiday ornaments coming down & festivities stopping for a while, it’s going to start being pathetic to keep staying inside. As much as I’d like to compare ourselves to people who get snowed in for weeks up in the mountains, I can’t. It is actually possible to get in the car & go out into the wet weather. However, we do need to get out a rain coat and/or umbrella to do such things. Waaahhhh! Life is hard! 😂

I did make it to the boat today, while there was a break in the rain. Thank you to whoever bailed water out of our dinghy! Scott? Glen? Karen? Sven? Sandy? I did see evidence of a beverage left on our power station. So I have an idea. -We owe you many beverages!!! Thank you soooo much! Did I mention to everyone out there that we have the best dock-mates ever?! We might be there on Friday -if the weather prediction is correct & the rain will let up for a day that day. If so, we will bring refreshments.

We definitely need to get back to regularly attending to MerSea. She’s got the dew growing inside her. -Mildew that is. Couldn’t get to cleaning it up today. It’s one of the things hopefully we can take care of on Friday. No leaks inside that I could see. So that is marvelous!

I’m sorry MerSea! We will get you clean very soon!

What are our plans or goals for this year, you ask? Well, our biggest goal is to sail to Mexico in the Autumn & be away from Santa Cruz for 6 months. It’ll be fun to go through some of the same ports as last time & see if we actually learned anything. There’s a lot to do to prepare. Matt & I are starting weekly meetings to make sure we are on track. Paperwork, boat projects, sailing practice, Zephyr’s needs, itinerary, finding more clever ways of storing things & learning how to control the weather are just a few items on our to do list. Okay, well maybe controlling the weather is a long-shot. I’ll have to put that at the end of our list to see if we have time to learn that before we go.

In April, we will be joining my dad in a race to Ensenada! So I guess we’ll be going to Mexico 2 times this year! It’ll be good practice. Hope we can be super helpful as crew for him. Once the weather clears up we need to get back out on the water!

**Just imagine that Matt & I are on a trimaran with my dad & brother in law, Colin, in this picture.**

That’s about it for this week. This next week, there should be a lot more happening in steps towards our goals. -Or I’m going to have to put a bunch of sand & palm trees in our house to make me feel like something extraordinary is happening.