And So It Begins...

Considering that this is my first post, I should probably explain a little about myself and why I am keeping this blog.

• Firstly, it is to keep in touch with family and friends in the USA and elsewhere around the world.  As most of you who will be reading this probably already know, I moved to Johannesburg in the beginning of January 2010 and I hope that this blog will better enable me to keep in contact with everyone back in the good ol' US of A. 
• Secondly, I am using this blog as a way to keep track of my 50 things for 2011 list.  It is a list that I hope will motivate me to actually get out there and accomplish certain activities or goals that I thought about all of 2010, but never actually got around to doing.  Now that I have been living in Johannesburg for over a year I figure that it is about time that I start pushing myself harder to meet new people, participate in more activities, commit to volunteering on a more regular basis and set aside more "me-time" to recharge my batteries and collect my thoughts. 
• Lastly, this blog is a way for me to document my day to day thoughts, experiences, successes, frustrations.... you get the idea.  I somehow recently came across my previous blog which I kept during 2006 when I studied abroad on Semester at Sea and it brought back so many good memories and reminded me about a lot of experiences that I had forgotten all about.  In fact that's what really motivated me to "re-join" the blogging community.

That being said, I think I will keep this post short and sweet.  I am excited to start this whole thing and hope that whoever is reading this will also enjoy reading about my not always so ordinary life here in the Rainbow Nation.