My last day of work was Thursday and I had wanted to do something to celebrate.  John takes trips to Foxwoods Casino, which is on an Indian Reservation in Connecticut about 3-1/2 hours away.  It’s also close to my friend Helen’s house, so I suggested to John we go there for the weekend so I could have a chance to meet Helen in person finally! I was a little concerned about the weather as on Thursday we had a whole bunch of snow dumped on us.

The snow stopped early enough that we were able to finish shoveling Friday morning and still head out to Connecticut.

We arrived in the early afternoon and John showed me around the huge casino complex to get oriented. We had plans to meet Helen and her husband for dinner that night at a Thai restaurant close to our hotel. It’s always so much fun to meet a blogger in person. Unlike just meeting someone new and trying to get acquainted, you already are through the internet, so conversation is easy. I’m normally fairly reserved with people I don’t know, but this was different. We spent over 2 hours at dinner! It’s amazing how time flies when you are conversing.

On Saturday, John went to the casino and Helen (despite having a cold) and I spent the day together doing window shopping and having lunch. She took us to downtown Mystic and also Mystic Village, which is super charming. Selfie on the bridge!

It was a little chilly, but certainly not all snowy like we left at home! We had a good time browsing shops and chatting.  I was thrilled to finally meet Helen in real life! 😀

Here is a shot of the bridge we were standing on.

I just thought that was a cool shot. Very steampunk.

We had some lunch at Bleu Squid, which is kind of a strange name for a bakery/cheese place. I had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich, which was delicious!  Bleu Squid also seems to be pretty well known for their cupcakes and there were so many choices!  I picked up a cupcake for myself and one for John to have later.  Mine was salted caramel.

Yes, please!  This was yummy!  It had a lot of frosting on it, which is my favorite kind of cupcake.

The day went fast. I hope to come out again for a visit and maybe get Helen to come up our way!

John and I spent New Year’s Eve at Foxwoods.  Foxwoods is really 4 casinos all interconnected.

You can walk for miles all around the inside. Seriously – I ended up with over 3 miles of walking in the casino that night.

There are smoke free areas, thank goodness or I probably would have come at all. Still, walking through other areas and it was stinky. Yuck.  The casino is really pretty inside. Not quite as lavish as Vegas casinos, but very large and spacious.

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We met a new friend:

There is also an outdoor skating rink. It was closed this night I think because it was raining, but it would have been neat to skate out there at night.

There was a ton of entertainment going on at the casino from a big ballroom event with Ice T and Coco ($$$$) to all the bars and lounges with music. Tons of people, too.  I pretty much hit my people quota for the next 6 months.

I can’t believe we actually made it to midnight. I thought I was going to conk out, but we did it!

I wish a wonderful 2017 to all of you!

I have decided that I am not calling them resolutions or even goals this year.  They are just things to do and work for.  A task list, if you will.  I think I like that idea.

Fitness:

– We are going to do another 100 mile bike ride this year.  I also would like to log 2000 miles on the bike.  I almost did that last year, and provided I stay injury free,  I should make this.

– Maybe do a half marathon.  Why I cannot seem to commit to this definitely is beyond me, and that could be a good reason to go for it as it is obviously very much outside my comfort zone.

– I hope to do a different duathlon in May (5 K run, 20 mile (33K) ride, 5K run).  That will be a real challenge since it is so early in the season.

– Definitely a few 5K races.

– Keep stretching.  The stretching that I did for the Hot 100 challenge really noticeably helped me in general.  I think that had a lot to do with how much more comfortable running became again.

Food and Weight:

– I don’t want to say I want to lose some weight.  That is so lame to do on January 1st.  However, the scale did pop up a little towards the end of the year and while it is starting to go back down, I really would like to get it to go down further.  I am not shooting for a specific number, but I do have a pair of pants I would like to have less tight. 😀

– I hope to do more cooking and food recipes on the blog.

Misc:

– I am going to work on my classical guitar this year.

I really hope to practice 3 times a week and keep at it.  I tend to go in cycles with this.  In fact, to do this, I will commit to putting a video of myself on the blog playing something at the end of the year.   😯  It may be Mary Had a Little Lamb, but I will do it… gulp…

– Learn to do more than just basic plumbing so that we can install a water softener ourselves (after I save up for it), and possibly install a half bath in our laundry room.

– Tinker with the blog a bit.

– Earn more money.  That will either by a new job in a different field, or with a different company doing what I do now.

– Just try to be a better person in general.

So, nothing really earth shattering.  No huge changes.  Funny how a lot of things that happened to me in 2010 were not planned, so I am curious as to what happens this year!

Here’s is to a fantastic 2011 for everyone!