Happy New Year the 2018 edition!

Happy New Year y'all!  I don't know about you, but personally, I was kinda glad to see 2017 end. In my immediate life, things weren't all that bad, but it was a rocky year at large. Looking ahead I wonder where this year will lead.

I don't really do "resolutions". Instead, I make plans. Do you have plans for this year yet?  I do. Some large, some small, and knowing myself, most won't come to fruition. Am I lazy or am I just so laid back that I realize it is all small stuff...and I don't sweat the small stuff. My first plan was to end the old year and ring in the new with local hikes. Nixed. Two very good reasons why.

One:

 And to be honest, I've hiked in weather this cold and even backpacked. I've got the gear and know how to keep myself pretty warm.

But as luck would have it I ended 2017 and began 2018 with a touch of a stomach bug. Just about the time I think "Whew, that's over..." then I run back to leave tribute to porcelain god. I hope I'm tributed out... and glad I wasn't out on a trail either day. I'd have a frost bitten hiney for sure.

So, yeah, I didn't make my first goal of 2018, but I'm okay with that. I just hope I can get this over with today. We go back to work tomorrow...lucky us. Too cold to take the kiddos outside, we've been off for two weeks AND we have a full moon tonight. Yay me.

The nonexistent hike from today is part of a grand plan for this spring. I decided back in the fall that I wanted to do two things this year: 1) backpack during spring break and 2) walk the Derby mini marathon. The hike today was my to begin my prepping for the mini.

Uh oh. I hope this stomach bug isn't an omen for the new year. I really don't need a shitty year that's for sure because I have some cool things planned so far. Between now and April I need to really work on training for my backpacking trip. I'm planning about 5 days somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. Where?  I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking either back to Springer Mountain or jump up the trail to Virginia and hike the section with wild ponies through Grayson Highlands. Decisions, decisions. At the end of April I have the mini marathon. 13.1 miles through the Louisville area. 

In June one of my oldest friends and I are crossing a bucket list trip off. We're  headed to Prince Edward Island to visit the place that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery to write her Anne of Green Gables stories. 

After that I don't know what I'll be getting into yet. I started working on a quilt last January with my mother.  That still isn't finished. I had a nasty bout of tendinitis back in the spring and summer that I am still recovering from. Carpal tunnel as well and fingers just don't have the dexterity they need to handle a needle for hand piecing/hand quilting. I did manage to make a machine pieced/machine quilted for a friend's first child. I'm also toying with the idea of crocheting a temperature afghan. Heard of those?  Basically you crotchet or knit a row or three every day and the color yarn you use depends on the day's temperature.

What do you have planned for 2018?  Are you going to go somewhere new?  Learning something new or just keep on plodding along steadily?