Is it really almost time to go back?

Do you ever feel like you need another vacation to compensate for vacation? We traveled to the US and then went to Berlin for New Year's and now I feel like I have a ton of "around the house" stuff to to do to make up for the time I was gone. I don't exactly feel relaxed and ready to go back to work.

The washing machine and dryer have been running all day. The cycles on our German washer/dryer take SO long that I can literally do laundry all day and not get it all done. Oh wait...we did wake up at 12:45 pm, so I guess I can't really say I have been doing laundry all day.

We went grocery shopping since we had literally nothing to eat. Ok, that is a lie. We had nothing healthy to eat. We loaded the cart with fruit, veges, and chicken and I am ready to resume eating healthfully. I am planning on making some good salads this week to detox from the holiday and travel eating.

I also need to get my butt to the gym and put an end to my lingering 500 km of biking goal. I joined in with Kelly and some other bloggers in setting a goal to bike a certain number of miles (in my case kilometers) before the end of 2009. I came super close and biked 455 of the necessary 500 kilometers, but I dropped the ball at the last minute and did not finish the last 45 km before the ball dropped on New Year's. Crap! Being the overachiever that I am, I set my goal high, which is fine, but I am bummed that I am the only one who participated in the challenge that did not meet her goal. Ugh. But, being the driven person that I am, I don't care if it is now 2010, if I said I would do it, I am going to follow through and meet my goal. I won't win Kelly's awesome Trader Joe's prize package, but that is probably a good thing for both of us because shipping to Germany would be a pain/expensive for her and I would probably have to pay a tax on the package once it arrived. If you are not familiar with Kelly's blog, check it out. Especially if you are looking for some inspiration in the fitness/get off your butt and get moving category. She is continuously challenging herself and others to get active which is a great source of motivation.

I said I would post some pics from our New Year's in Berlin, so here are a few for your viewing pleasure...

(I posted better ones on my other blog about our life in Germany. That blog is by invitation only since I am paranoid about posting photos of where we live etc, but I am happy to invite my readers if anyone is interested. If you email me, go to my profile page for the address, I can add you to the "approved readers" list. That sounds so snobby, but as soon as I had a creepy looking guy pop up on the followers list, I got nervous about having the content out there for anyone to read)