Jolanda and Marcus

On January 20th we drove up to the Adirondacks to pick up our beloved Princess Luna who was on vacation with Ewa, Bill and Hope.

On January 31st it was Marcus special day. I love to spoil my love of my life, but as I felt still very exhausted it was not easy and every idea I had fell apart. However in the end I took Marcus to our nearest Restaurant which had a bubble tent we could sit outside with heater to make the experience memorable.

Also our wonderful neighbors, friends and boat mentors felt bad for Marcus and invited us for another celebration a few days later – Thank YOU for being in our lives and for carrying and spoiling Marcus.

For the first time in January I have been most of the time in the North East. As I can work from anywhere, I made a promise to myself that for 2024 I will never do this again and plan to be in the warmer Hemisphere.

On February 5th finally my airplane left for California. I was still suffering with shingles so traveling was harder than normal, but as soon as I felt the California sun I had every day more energy and the joy of life I experienced was incredible. California is my love of my life….. maybe one day…..

Vicki one of my best friend in California, business partner and mentor moved to Florida. I wasn’t the first time without her there, but it was the first time since she left I was there for such a long time. I missed her a lot, but looking forward one day visiting Vicki in Florida.

Due to the rain everything was green like never before in California. I couldn’t wait to start walking / hiking and Ana my hiking buddy made my dreams come true. I also have co-workers who love to go for walks during lunch breaks and thanks to another friend Connie, I found this amazing yoga at the park with ocean view at Dana Point. …. Also every corner has a fresh pressed juice or plant based inspired health place. A true paradise for me.

I also had the opportunity to meet up with an old friend in Palm Springs. Again I found a hike to make my stop over extra special.

Then on Feb. 18th I drove to Fresno to meet my lovely friend Melissa and her family. After a pretty drive I arrived in a little community near Fresno surrounded by hills and grass fields. I truly enjoyed to spend time with Melissa and her family and had such lovely conversations and a lot of walks.

Back in New York we had the honor to be invited by our wonderful friends Noelva and Alex to join them at a Brunch at the Larchmont Sailing club – what a treat.

Again Malisa & Todd had this amazing idea to open their common lounge area to all their boater friends and neighbors for Friday night pizza and it has become an instant hit. Some people discovered special pizza making talents….

Despite the wonderful catch ups back in New York, the weather was getting to me so when my friend Ana said she is traveling to her hometown Mazatlan in Mexico and if I don’t want to join them, I didn’t need much convincing.

After a week of many walks, one of them sunrise Farro hike at 5:30am , friends and new friends made, tequila, good food I’m re-charged on the way back to hopefully spring New Jersey…..

I believe the main reason that I’m feeling so good is that I really follow my Bold Bodacious goal for this year. Actually they are not so extra ordinary, but have changed my life….

Hard stop at least two evenings to finish work and not to be on the computer anymore no matter what

Every day doing our morning and evening ritual with the the daily inspiration, review of yesterday and aspiration/goals of the day

Joined the tapping summit solution

Malisa allowing me to join her core and arm strength workout challenge

Basically prioritizing our well being before anything else and it feels like a new life

If anybody else is looking for some new inspiration in their lives, here some links of motivations I use:

https://www.youtube.com/@BobBaker

https://www.facebook.com/MargoInMexico

The Tapping Solution (EFT): How To Get Started

2022 was an exciteing year for us with a lot of changes and fun.

In December we planned to spend time with family and friends, plus a few adventures.

Christmas we celebrated twice with

• my family in Germany

• Jolanda’s Mom and friends from far and near in Switzerland

Afterwards we enjoyed the last days of the year with the Swiss family and friends who came as far as Koh Samui and Australia. We even had some surprise guests: Jolanda’s Mom and her friends Rabe and Otto. What an incredible time we had.

Short video of our skiing days in Laax.

On the way back we stayed in a hotel in Zurich to recover and to meet up with our friends Rabe and Otti. As a surprise Jolanda booked a fondue Tuk-tuk. We were cruising throught the streets of Zurich and enjoyed the awsome cheese.

We were flying back to the US via a 3 day stopover in Istanbul. What a great city. We walked to Jolanda’s customer from our hotel, enjoyed the suroundings, incredible architecture and ate like queens and kings. Even the taxi ride from the airport was an adventure as our original one broke down and we were transferred (lucky not kidnapped) to another taxi on the highway.

Unfortunately we found out that Jolanda got shingles after she arrived in the USA. She is still recovering. It was a scary and humbling experience. However, always seeing the positive – she actually said the sickness helped her to make life changing decisions, she should have done a long time ago.

We are looking forward to a beautiful 2023 and hope that we will build more memories with many of you!

Trip to Newport 

Visitors are coming to New York again.

Our friends Susanne und Davide who live in Switzerland visited New York end of October and we thought it would be nice to take them to Newport (Rhode Island). We have been there is the past, but the weather wasn’t great so we were excited to explore the sea town city with them. 

Now I know why everybody raves so much about Newport. It’s gorgeous and we are thankful for experiencing such a wonderful weekend thanks to Susanne and Davide. 

Trip to Soap Lake Washington State 

After coming back from the long weekend in Newport, the next day I flew to Spokane in Washington State to a “feel good retreat”. I have been following Margo thanks to our friend Malisa who introduced me to her facebook page. Any tools for making me feel better I embrace and the tools Margo provides just make me a happier and a better person.

I learned during the retreat to give self massages, learned about postures (gets even more important the older we get), received tools to reduce stress “evo size”. We learned what to eat when you get older, how to create our own positive affirmations, explored the area of Soap Lake and bonded with the amazing other retreaters. I will cherish this experience for ever. 

Check out her facebook if you are up for craziness :-): https://www.facebook.com/MargoInMexico

Trip to Europe 

Another night in NY and it was time to fly to England for work. The trip was inspired by my Mom. She didn’t do so well earlier this year and just reminded me there is no better time than now.  So I said I’m going to Europe to spend time with my Mom and combined it with visiting customers. Ever since Covid customers visits are even more special. 

It was a fascinating experience. Besides knowing that I want to see my Mom and visit customers, I didn’t make any plans. Before my trip I got reconnected to a wonderful friend who I met in California when I was super young and now  lives in Geneva. In the inspiration of the moment I visited her and her husband in Geneva. I had an amazing time talking about god and the world and even being invited to my friends cousins 50th birthday party and speaking more French than the last 30 years………

Marcus and I still have wonderful friends in England and it was super special to catch up with Jackie, Mairead and Clara.

After my work was finished in England I flew to Zurich and enjoyed every minute with my Mom.  We did yoga together, visited my Mom’s friends, my sister Karins new place and went to a spa together. We also visited my Dad’s grave and just enjoyed each others company like there is no tomorrow. It was really precious. I also managed to squeeze in my favored walk with more than 1000 steps with my girlfriend Patricia and her husband.

Thanksgiving

I flew back to NY right before Thanksgiving to be with Marcus and to relax… Temptation came calling and we ended up celebrating with our friends.

Marcus enjoyed his sunfish passion with glorious November weather.

Sailing in Jamaica

Somehow I got the inspiration…. to offer myself to participate in  a J22 Regatta in Jamaica in December and when you ask you get. I found a boat who took me on and sailed with the nicest skipper and his mates and daughter in incredible strong winds. We came 3rd, were one of the few boats who didn’t have anybody going over board or retire. Super proud! Added bonus we were able to spend time with Vicki and Clive in their paradise. 

2022 in conclusion 

Now I’m sitting on a plane to German to celebrate Christmas with Marcus parents and I was wondering why I was so stressed in December. I believe it was the most stressful December in my life…. even though I wouldn’t want to give back any moment I had the honor to experience, my resolution for the next year is to plan LESS. 

Life can be so tempting with all the wonderful opportunities it presents and it’s not easy to say no! 

Marcus and I had so many highlights this year – what were yours ?

Our highlights:

• Marcus running the Berlin Marathon he tried to get in for 6 years. 

• Marcus teaching his first class by himself 

• Marcus racing on many different sailing boats from Sunfish to Match 40

• Me overcome losing my wonderful colleague Clara of 12 years – Clara to another great job she landed

• Me running a half Marathon in Sonoma

• Me taking the time, even though I didn’t have the time to go to the retreat to find tools to make me feel better 

• Me to say no when it doesn’t feel right (still working on it, but huge improvements)

Both:

• Buying a camper with an F150 Truck

• Visit from our god child Lucas and family to our boat 

• Surprising my brother in law Philipp in Switzerland for his 50th birthday 

• Safety at Sea course and Marcus getting his US Coast Guard Captain’s licence

• Trip to Nashville with our new camper and Luna & sunfish camp

• Living in the Long Island Sound for a good part of the summer 

• That we do continued to cherish each other, motivated each other to be better person and encouraged that either of us can do anything we put our eyes on 

We are looking forward what 2023 will bring and sending you love and many new wonderful experiences which turn into your highlights for the New Year, 

Jolanda & Marcus 

Ever since we moved onto our boat one of my biggest wishes was that I would be able to show my parents how it feels living on a boat. As both my parents are over 80 years by now, I was concerned that I have missed the opportunity. For the last few years they told us that they don’t want to fly anymore. I was so happy when they told us this spring that they changed their mind and they like to visit us.

So in October my wish came true and they arrived at Newark airport, where I picked them up. After showing our boat, we introduced them to our sailing friends with a fondue party at the next door sailing club. The first night went well and they still looked like they enjoy the boat life. The next day we took them out on their first sail ever, on our friends saling boat. The sail was very exciting as the wind was gusting up to 28 knots and the boat which belongs to our friends Dragona and Kjartan’s was heeling a lot. To all our surprise my parents enjoyed every minute.

After surviving the sail, my parents were ready to go out with our boat. The following day we took them on a river cruise to see the Statue of Liberty, Governers Island, Brookyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan. After the cruise we visited our friends Don and Pam on their boat to have a view of New York during our sunset drinks. Another adventure was the ride in our little dingy (Jolanda calls the tender “Ugly Duckling”).

The following week we took our boat up to City Island to visit two of our longest friends Alex and Noelva. I think I mentioned that they own an island so we did a little sighseeing tour. In the evening we went to the local Japanese Hibachi and next day we did some Yoga all together.

We also did a little road trip to Sandy Hook to go to the beach, it was a very beautiful day.

My dad joined us for our workout with our personal trainer, with 84 he is still very fit.

Conclusion written by Jolanda:

It was a true inspiration to have Marcus parents visiting! They embraced our boat life like pros. Got up and down the steps and deep steps. Got on and off our boat and even managed to get into the dingy and out well. They had the choice to stay at our friends place, but preferred to stay with us on our boat while we were on a mooring ball at City Island. Marcus Dad was invited by Marcus to go and see a soccer match, but he preferred to watch me racing during our yearly end of season Regatta instead. We had a beautiful time together and are so grateful they decided to visit us.