New Year, New Goals

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New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a perfectly wonderful festive season.

Christmas and New Year has certainly come and gone by so fast, and before we know it will be Easter.

Christmas preparations seem to go on for weeks and suddenly we find another Christmas is over and we are all preparing for the New Year and what it may bring.

I have set myself a few new goals for this year, the main one being to get my weight down. My weight has been a constant struggle over the years so this time around I hope I can stick with my diet and see some positive results. Two of my children are on diets also so it certainly helps when you can encourage one another.

Although I have only been on my diet two weeks it has actually not been as hard as I had thought. We are so lucky in summer to have all the lovely fresh fruit and vegetables available to us. There is nothing like eating a chilled melon on a hot day, so refreshing. I really enjoy a crisp salad for dinner and I like adding fruit, which some of my family find a bit weird but I think it gives the salad a nice ‘zing'. At the moment I can just lean out my kitchen window to grab some fresh tomatoes. There is nothing like having your own home grown fruit and vegetables. They seem to be ever so much sweeter and tastier than the mass produced ones.

I also want to get myself as physically healthy as possible for our upcoming trip to Japan, Italy and Hong Kong in May this year.  There is so much to see and do and I don't want to be the one sitting in the hotel room waiting for the others to return.

We will be away for seven weeks and travelling with my husband and I will be my daughter, son-in-law and our three year old grandson. We will fly to Japan and spend time with my son who is teaching in Tokyo along with his wife and two year old son. Also joining us in Japan will be our daughter and family from Brisbane. It's going to be quite exciting having all our children and grandchildren in one place for a few days and I am looking forward to sharing new adventures together. Family time is priceless.

From Tokyo we go on to Rome. I have been fortunate enough to have visited Rome before. Each time I visit I am blown away by its beauty, its history and the mere fact I am actually walking the cobbled streets of this incredible city – it reduces me to tears.

From Rome we travel to Lucca, which is about three hours north of Rome. I so enjoy the train journey which takes us via Florence or Pisa. I just love looking at the countryside as the train rushes us to our destination. The trains are great – quick, clean and efficient and most of all comfortable for oldies like me.

We will be spending a month in Lucca and are staying in a little 14th century apartment within the walled town itself. My husband and I just love Lucca, with its simple charm and friendly locals. Everything about Lucca is special and we don't feel like tourists. Once a month they hold an antique market and we love to fossick to see if we can find some small trinket to bring home.

The restaurants are divine and the pizzas are so special. One of my favourites would be Pizza Margareta, so simple but oh so yummy.

Lucca has a few music schools and often you will hear the students practicing and their wonderful arias fill the evening air.

The shops close between 1pm and 4pm but stay open until eight. This is lovely as you can do your shopping then go out for a meal afterwards.

There are many, many things I could write about this enchanting little town but I will save that for my future blogs.

From Lucca we go to Santa Margherita for four nights. It is on the Ligurian Coast and looks so pretty. I understand Liz Taylor and Richard Burton used to dine in the Lido Hotel where we are staying. We will also do day trips to Cinque Terre and Portofino. I am looking forward to visiting these pretty places as well.

From there we train back to Rome for a night then fly home via Hong Kong. I am looking forward to spending four days there. On our last visit I spent the whole time sick in bed with a flu bug – all the more reason to be fit and healthy before we go away this time.

Already we have purchased a new suitcase and I have been planning what I will put in it. This time I will be trying hard not to over pack. My husband is the one who will be dragging the bag around so he insisted we didn't buy a very large one. We have purchased one with four wheels on the bottom which seems to be a lot better for manoeuvring ability.

Thinking about and planning this big trip will be taking up a lot of the first half of this year. From there it will be on to the next goal…

Whatever your plans and dreams are for 2013, I do hope they come true. We all must have dreams. Sometimes they come true, sometimes not, but a life without hopes and dreams would be no life at all in my book.

I do hope you are all enjoying the summer, and the barbeque season.

KSR

By Kay Rayner