It feels so good to be back! Until I sat down and tallied it up, I just didn’t realize how much traveling I’d done the last few months. Now, I like to travel and I’m glad I’ve gotten to go to the places I’ve been to, but right now, I just like being home for the foreseeable future!

and I'm so happy to be back cuddling this guy (especially since we can't talk on the phone)

Anyway, I don’t know how it happened, but September 1st is upon us. Several months ago I announced that I was taking the summer off from my “countdown goals.” I’m glad I did this, but as a number of us have observed, September gives us the “back to school/new year” feeling and that means resolutions…or goals. (By the way, can anyone believe were 2/3 through 2011? How’d that happen?)

In Chicago (which I will write more about in another post), I had some “can’t get home, so I can think about life” thoughts, so I thought along the lines of “when I do goals again, what do I want to do?” I sort of like the combo I’ve come up with (an “exercise” goal, a “new experiences” goal, a “get your house in order” goal, a “do something you keep saying you want to do but never do” goal [somehow, this is different from “new experience”) and decided on the following.

I want to run 5.5 miles in September. I was back up to 5 miles, but I haven’t been running the last few weeks, so time to start working on that.

I want to get back to reading books, so I want to read 25 pages 4 times a week (ie, I want to read 100 pages a week/400 pages in September)

Once again, I want to have 3 new experiences (thanks for the idea again, Cathy).

I want to make 2 recipes that come from blogs. I see all these freakin’ recipes on blogs that look really good and constantly claim that I’d like to try making them, but I never do. This ends now (well, in September).

I want to clean out 1 closet (ie, time again to go through my clothes and get real about what I’ll probably never wear again).

So, even though these goals are similar to previous goals, I figure it’s a good way to get back into the world of goals (or I’m just making excuses…on the other hand, I do want to get my distance up, have obscene amounts of reading I want to do, enjoy the new experiences, and want to tackle a few things I’ve been putting off).

So there you have it!

What do you miss the most about home when you’re away? Have you been thinking “September thoughts”?