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| At Crossroads Winery in Hawke's Bay. I was driver and expert wine sniffer. |
Bonjour and happy new year to you! I am back at work now after a petite Christmas holiday. It�s lovely and warm here in New Zealand and summer is definitely showing her sun-kissed face.
Since we went all out for our Hawaii trip last Christmas, we kept it a bit more budget-friendly and close to home this year. My darling and I embarked on a road trip that took us to Havelock North in Hawke�s Bay where I grew up, then down to the city of Wellington for a few nights and finally we stopped in Martinborough, a bijou wine-growing district. Our entire trip was around 2,000km/1,250 miles and our final day we did almost 700km/435 miles! I haven�t driven that far in a long time (well, been a passenger that far in a long time).
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| Going out for dinner in Wellington, wearing my Banana Republic coat-dress. |
Despite the travel, our holiday was extremely relaxing and I read a few good books (including A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable, which I did not want to end).
Following on from my last post on the importance of a good routine, well, I did get out of routine a little.
How can you not when you are away from home and doing different things and staying in different towns.
I enjoyed the walks I took but admit I did rather over-indulge in treat foods. Oh well, you have to do it every now and again to re-remember that yes, it might seem fun at the time but no, you still feel as unwell afterwards as you did the other times you did it�
Whilst I was out on one of my walks I got to thinking about life. What I thought about is that we spend most of our time working in a job, saving up money and paying off a house (if we�re lucky), so we can sit back in retirement and enjoy our hard work. That�s if we are still alive or in good enough physical shape to take advantage of our free time.
Before I got myself too depressed, I got onto a different track. Yes, we all work hard (whether it�s paid employment or not) and hope there is a payoff at the end of all that work, but that creates all the more reason to enjoy ourselves during our working life and not save up all the fun for �one day�.
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| We stayed at the Intercontinental in Wellington and it was very modern and luxe. |
So I began to think of all the things I dream of doing one day when I�m retired and have all the time and money in the world (wouldn�t that be nice).
The retirement me will be fit, slim and healthy because I have been committed to a lifestyle of nutritious food and regular exercise for a long time.
I might even have a light tan from daily potterings in the garden. Because the retirement me will be doing things such as weeding small areas at a time and tidying plants as I see them, we can enjoy park-like surrounds (that might be stretching it but it�s nice to have a goal) on a daily basis. When I�m out walking it is so obvious the cared-for homes and gardens. It�s not necessarily lots of money, but 'little and often' time spent on maintenance.
I also imagine our home being clean, tidy and organised. We will live in a place that is just the right size for us, and, I hope it is rural. In Martinborough we stayed in a tiny one-room cottage and it was so peaceful with no neighbours nearby, and a big open sky.
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| This very cute little fox terrier came over to greet us (from the main house on the property) on our first night in Martinborough. She didn't make a peep and was such a honey. I love terriers. |
Naturally my retirement wardrobe will be a user-friendly and stylish collection of clothing in colours and shapes that flatter me, as I will have honed my style over the years. I think I am closing in on that style now actually, although I did the amateur�s mistake of taking way too much with me on our trip. I did the same in Hawaii. That really is a skill I have to learn, but I go away so infrequently so can I use that as an excuse?
The ideal/dream/retirement me is a writer. How can I make that a reality? By writing daily and seeing how I can progress that.
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| Our cute cottage in Martinborough. It's called Puha Palace, such a great name. |
So that�s my vision of retirement, but really, what is stopping me from having and doing all these things right now? Of course I have the small thing called �working in a shop five days a week� but surely I can work around this and make, as Tonya Leigh says �the journey to the dream as beautiful as the dream itself�.
It just takes a little dreaming and planning.
How do you picture yourself spending your golden years? And if you are already retired, does the reality match up to how you imagined it would be? I would be interested to hear.