Excuse me? Wie bitte?

I have spent much of my life being the 'I would like to' girl. I rock at the 'I would like to', but I am a horrible disaster when it comes to the follow-through. I want to change that; I'm going to take that 'I would like to' girl and change her into the 'I will' girl. I will (see it's happening already) stop thinking how nice something would be to accomplish but instead set the goal, make a plan and achieve it. Ultimately, that's what I really want from this whole journey that I'm on. "I would like to hike the Chilkoot Trail" became "I will hike the Chilkoot Trail". I set a goal (with a few mini-goals ahead of it), I've made a plan, and I'm doing it. If we were German, I'd be changing from möchten to müssen.

Wow, look at me getting all bilingual with the German! Isn't that random? No, it's not. I used to speak German fairly fluently. I used to write entire papers in German. German people who I'd meet in Victoria (I worked in the tourist industry) used to think I was Swiss because of my accent and vocabulary. Used to. I went to write to a friend a few weeks back and after 20 minutes of struggling to complete the first paragraph, I gave up and wrote to them in English. Well, German, I'm here to tell you that "I would like to speak German again" has become "I will speak German again". I've set my goal, I've made a plan and (as of this past weekend) I'm doing it. For those of you near me, get ready for me to say things in English and then repeat them in German. This is my pre-emptive apology: I'm sorry. Es tut mir Leid.

I continue to set various goals related to health/fitness on top of these 'other' goals. My eatting could still be cleaner, but for the moment I'm choosing to concentrate on drinking more water and going to bed earlier. Water's a big one for me because I'd be lying if I said I drink more than three glasses a day. I know... BAD! My goal for the next two weeks is to drain my 750ml Camelbak at least twice each day. As for the sleep, I've gotten into the really bad habit of staying up until midnight when I have to wake up for 6:30. It hasn't totally done me in yet as I have days off for school and usually find myself still averaging out to eight hours a night per week, but sleeping until 10:00 on my days off is really annoying for someone who used to never sleep in past 8. Hopefully, I can do these two tiny things for two weeks (roughly the end of the month) and I can cross them off my goal list.

And finally, I want to wish everyone a Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Or, as my dad taught me to say it years ago, Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig! I've been listening to the Fureys (my dad's favourite band), Christy Moore (my favourite aunt's favourite singer), and Na Casaidigh (a completely Irish group from Co. Donegal) to get into the right frame of mind for the celebrations. I with you all a safe and happy day of pretending you're one of 'my people' ;-)

All of my Ireland pictures are on my family computer, so I am reduced to finding ones online. I tried to find something personal to me, so here you go. It was in this church that I used to light candles for my granddad who passed away when my dad was eight. That row of houses includes my Grannie's old house. I remember playing in the front yard and my Uncle Kevin running out of the house to shoo us all inside because a funeral procession was coming and it is disrespectful to watch it go out. It was an exciting day when we were finally deemed 'old enough' to be given money and walk into town on our own to buy our 99's. I could go on and on about it, but I will just say that the regular trips to Ireland as a child are so much a part of who I am today that I often just tell people I'm from there because it's easier than explaining the real story.