Okay so now the dust hasn’t settled quite yet but I’m sure there are those out there who are already regretting the food they ate over this holiday season, am I right? While I haven’t been perfect I have stayed relatively eating within my whole food plant based eating. Yes, I had a little too much sugar, but no oil! I say no oil but actually it is avocado season here and they are so tempting. But I think the real problem is just eating too much food. I have also been running little experiments like eating like a nutritarian at one meal and like a starch eater a the next meal, this experiment failed, sad to say. I thought I was really on to something. I’m having a hard time getting nuts and seeds in my diet in a way that doesn’t effect the scale. I haven’t found that way yet and I have decided to quit trying until I am at my goal weight. I’m almost there just have to get a little further down on the scale. Following the McDougal plan has been the most fabulous way of eating and is also how I have lost over 100 pounds. The next big hurtle is the exercise. I do the walking but I need more strengthening of the core. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to do this because I think I actually may have a small hernia. I am hoping to find a natural cure for the hernia, I don’t want to have surgery. Anyone have any ideas? So many issues !!!! But as you can see it can keep a person quite busy.

As the days draw closer and closer to Christmas our grandkids get more and more excited. You can just hear their prayers “no clothes PLEASE!!!” They make a point to tell me what they are interested in on the internet, in stores or just talking together. Oh the joy of having little ones around. I used to worry that I wasn’t getting my boys what they would like or not enough ,on and on, but now I am free of that worry. Interesting how things change over time. I’m glad to be free from the chaos and turmoil of both the Christmas season rush and the thoughts and emotions this brings for me.

Now , it is more a time to contemplate the past year and the coming year. As I think about this, I realize that it is all about each moment and how can one plan for each moment , so it becomes about who I am more than what I do. Of course, my actions are critical because you can’t be one way and act another and be authentic. So to become more of whatever virtue I may choose to work on I must align myself with that virtue. I think about what that looks like and how it will play out and touch on everything around it. An example of what I am talking about is: say I want to be more loving. Well ,I could not talk about others when they are not present and still consider myself loving. Another example, say I want to be more generous. Well I would have to be accepting of others way of thinking on a subject not just my own way.

So for now I think instead of saying “how are you” ,I will say, “how are you being today!”

Being sincerely seeking,

Steph

Here’s the current status of Covid in Costa Rica – less than 300 new cases a day nationwide. And in the mountains and isolated beach areas hardly any. So come on down and enjoy the mountains and/or the beaches. We look forward to seeing you.

Well, we finally finished the beach cottage. It is a rustic cabin on the pacific coast west of San Jose. Just a 2-3 minute walk to the beach. Located along a beautiful non-touristy, private area. The most beautiful sunsets in Costa Rica, numerous multi-colored Macaws playing in the palm trees, and monkeys frolicking in the distance. There is a pulperia within 6 kilometers, otherwise no other businesses, no resorts, no guided tours, nada. Nothing to interrupt your Perfect Get-A-Way. (click on Beach Cottages link for details)

We are in the process of updating a cottage on the coast and preparing it for rental. It is located on the Playa Guacalillo. This is an area where you can see the real Costa Rica—No High-Rise resorts, No cute little boutiques, or No cozy coffee shops. COSTA RICA! PURA VIDA! The perfect get away for you and your friends.

We live in a country that has many different zones or regions. We have the mountains and along with mountains come the valleys.  There are oceans, the pacific ocean and the carribean ocean, and the broad plains.  All these very different areas have different weather as well.  The weather ranges from very very hot to chilly. So, where do you feel comfortable? I, personally, cannot take the heat very well. I turn red and sweat profusely, not a pretty site. So for me, finding Santa Maria de Dota was truly a Godsend! We are 1.5 to 2 hours from San Jose and we are a mile high. Our weather is warm at times and chilly at times but never too much of an extreme. I think just a little above 90 degreees is the hottest we have experienced here in the last 7 years and 55 degrees is about the coldest it has gotten. We don’t have heat or air conditioning in our house and we haven’t needed it. They call this a cloud forrest because we are really up in the clouds. Places like Orotina are the worst because they are the hottest and they have no ocean breeze to compensate for the heat.

I know, we are all so very different, some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot nine days old!!!!! Come check out Santa Maria or Los Santos in general, I think we have the best of the whole country right here. We have the warmth, coolness (and the coolness factor LOL), the vistas here are spectacular along with the amazing sunsets. Fabulous!

The first place we rented we didn’t stay for long because although the place looked nice, the back of the house was slowly breaking off and heading downhill. This was outside of Desamperados. Don found us a great house in the middle of a mango orchard near the volcano Poas. We absolutely fell in love with this place. We enjoyed our stay there and met so many wonderful friends. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find property that we could afford. We actually looked many places such as: Guanacaste, Punteranus, Grecia. Then, we came up to the Los Santos area..  We had been here before and met some people that lived here.

Wow, from the first moment I knew we would live here. Looking for property is a little different here (more about this later)! We found the perfect piece of property, with a creek that flows year round, a small forrest, and plenty of room to build, and plant lots of fruit trees and have a garden.  We were told to be very careful with builders etc. but truly we haven’t had any problems. We met our architect and felt very good about going ahead with our project. He had been working with a builder that worked beautifully for us. We continue to be very happy with our decision to build here.