New Year, New Home, Same Old Goals

My holiday blogging break has ended and so apparently have many others of the blogs I like to read. I always enjoy reading first of the year posts, seeing what you're all planning and dealing with as the new year begins.

As for me, I just want to get back to the writing. After publishing Afraid of Everything, I took a break for travel and it ended up being a two month hiatus due to house-hunting. We came back from our trip to learn the landlord had sold the one we were living in.

At first it was bad news, since we were settled there and thought we liked it. But now that we are in our new place, a larger home filled with light and open space, we realize the other house was dark, dreary and depressing in comparison. Plus it had a wooden loft type ceiling, which housed all kinds of critters: birds and squirrels nesting in it, not to mention the horrid termites.

Since we're out, I wonder how we stood it for as long as we did. Not like there were squirrels and birds inside the house, but we often heard the pitter patter of little feet above us like upstairs tenants.

We now live behind this gate:

The lane leading into our property with the house on the right, an orange tree on the left. The garden has an orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime, banana and coffee tree. Clearly, someone was thinking breakfast when they designed it.

I am checking out the closets. You wouldn't believe how many of the houses we looked at had no closets.

This outdoor thatched patio is ideal for big parties, probably wasted on us without our family. Otherwise, it would be used every weekend for bbq's and birthday parties. There's another one just like it in another corner, that my husband wants to use as a workshop. Only thing is, he got rid of all his tools when we left the States. I guess he can sit in it, relax and dream about what he'd do if only he had the tools.

We were relieved to hear this place is not for sale. We'd like to make it our permanent home in Guatemala, not leaving until we move back to the States, whenever that will be. As I begin the new year in a new home, I reflect on a fresh start and new goals, except they're the same ones I had when we moved to Guatemala last year:

Get fluent in Spanish
Walk daily and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables
Write a novel

What are your goals for the new year?