"Any given moment can change your life, you just have to be there"
-Curly Girl Greeting Card from Lake Wanaka, NZ
"Everybody needs a change, a chance to check out the new
But you're the only one who sees the changes you take yourself through."
-Stevie Wonder
It's hard to believe it was more than 12 months ago when I made my first post to the blog. Since I got back from my last trip a month ago, I've had a lot of time to reflect on what the year meant to me. It's hard to sum up in words, but there are times when something will happen and I'll think, "This is what Gretchen 2.0 is all about!" For example, in the picture at the top - I'm in a helicopter on top of Fox Glacier in New Zealand. My friends have given me the front seat for the ride down, and I've just realized what a fantastic view I'm going to get.
Tomorrow, I'm starting a new chapter as I begin my new job. While I could keep hanging out for longer and be happy, I know there is a time to move on and now seems like the right place.
Rather than philosophize on the blog (something I try to avoid), I made a list of everything I did this year. I'm sure I left a few things out, so apologies to anyone who got slighted inadvertently. A lot of my blog readers were involved in these things, and to all of you I say a big THANKS! Let's do it again soon.
- Things I did during Gretchen 2.0, in no particular order:
Rode my bike through a rubber plantation in Vietnam in the pouring rain
Visited a sheep station in New Zealand
Learned to ride the bus around Austin and Sydney
Got to know my neighbors
Spearheaded a vicious animal hearing which never happened
Worked with my homeless neighbors in downtown Austin
Wrote a book
Bought new clubs and worked on my golf game
Worked out a LOT…
Visited with friends I hadn’t seen in years
Hiked in the Smokies with my dad
Went to Vegas three times!
Got Neil married off
Snorkeled in Bali and contracted a skin rash
Visited Botanical gardens in Singapore, Adelaide and Sydney
Saw the Sydney Opera House for the first time
Rode in a helicopter over a glacier and landed on top of it
Saw Milford Sound from the air and from the ground
Visited the tomb of Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi
Bought too many purses to count in Thailand and Vietnam
Cleaned up my own yard for the fall
Went to Thai cooking school and learned to make Thai food
Took a cooking class in Vietnam
Saw the hotel where my dad was based out of when he was a journalist in Vietnam
Stayed in a hotel on top of the tallest building in Bangkok
Saw rainbows in Austin, Thailand and New Zealand
Said goodbye to my loyal cat and longtime friend, Hugh
Had too many massages to count
Helped my sister move into her house in Portland, OR
Fixed Lory’s thermostat
Helped Susan and Pablo move into their first official home in the US
Helped Andrea bail out her backyard after a thunderstorm tested the drainage system
Met some koalas from afar but did not cuddle with any of them
Fed kangaroos and saw a joey in its mothers’ pouch
Lived in the same clothes for 2 days when my bags got lost on the way to Fiji
Saw John Mayer and Maroon 5 concerts
Made great Australian friends sho I know will be lifelong - Wore lots of sunscreen (thanks Valerie!)
Tasted wine all over Australia and New Zealand
Sat on a beach in Fiji and contemplated my navel
Tried possum jerky and whitebait in New Zealand (yuk)
Realized my mom is my best friend
Went to church in Austin and Australia
Running on Sunday mornings with Eric, Eddie, Valerie and the gang
Had a psychic reading - Lived in the Gluskoter’s house in Singapore for 10 days and made myself into a local
Took my mom to Asia for the first time
Rode the Star Ferry in Hong Kong and went to the top of Victoria Peak
Lived on my own for a week in Bondi Beach – bringing up average age on Bondi Road
Attended and even co-hosted some of Fifi’s fabulous parties
Three trips to LaGrange, TX starting with the Gretchen 2.0 kickoff party - Rode in a tuk tuk through Siem Reap Cambodia
Saw the sunset over Angkor Wat
Stomped grapes in Milton, Australia
Walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge
Walked along the Sydney coastal beach path
Walked with Sheila along Marginal Way in Ogonquit, Maine
Ate lunch at Stonewall Kitchens in Maine
Learned how to say “hello” in Fijian (Bula!) - Skiied in Breckenridge in mid-April
I still plan to keep the blog up to tell about my adventures, it may not get updated quite as much, but I know you'll understand...
